"This handsome collection from Osprey Publishing represents forty years’ worth of the best military history illustrations in the business. Larger than normal post-cards, they are ideal for correspondence, decoration, or just keeping in the bottom of your desk to look at whenever the mood takes you. There are times, as Bertie Wooster might say, when a gentleman wishes to see the 78th Highlanders storming Ahmednugger, and times when he does not. Having cards like this in a sturdy box would seem to be the ideal compromise.

What a cornucopia of martial endeavour we have here! ‘Battle: Scenes from History’s Greatest Conflicts’ provides us with pictures, among others, of ‘The Charge of the Polish Winged Hussars’; ‘HMS Bellisle continues the fight’; ‘The Storming of Carey’s Redoubt’; ‘Panther Tanks Advancing’; and, my personal favourite, ‘Lithuanians and Tartars Clash with the Teutonic left-wing’. Hmm. It’s not their left-wing you should be worried about, dears. As these captions courageous suggest, there is a bias here towards pre-20th century wars. From an aesthetic point of view, this is probably the correct decision. Less khaki means more scarlet, after all, and if you’re looking to frame these cards and hang them in your forward command post — or ‘upstairs loo’ as it’s known in other families - there’s no denying that Napoleonic cavalry and Samurai make for more striking pictures.

Heaven knows, I’m no armchair general (I’d barely qualify as an armchair lance-corporal), but I can think of more than a few people who’ll be getting these cards from me for birthdays and Christmas. Their moustaches will twitch with pleasure." -Henry Coningsby, Waterstones