battle

Battle (DK Eyewitness Books)
$16.99
As with all the eyewitness books its a great factual book for children to learn. The book is full of many pictures each with annotations describing in simple detail what is going on in the picture. The books are full of knowledge and enjoyable for both children and adults alike!I recommened buying this book for your child if they are wanting to learn about battle.

Wolverine Electronic Battle Claw
$24.99
One of them broke. The strap came unstitched after 40 days. My kids love these, but you might want to consider purchasing from somewhere with a 90 day return policy, otherwise you may ending up dealing with the manufacturer. Having said that, I will tell you that they are super cool, and my boys all love them. They are big, there is only one per box, which makes them expensive, and they require batteries. They work okay for my 3-7 year olds. They are easy to use, and pretty good quality, compared to my other kids toys like GI Joe and Transformers. I would also say they are no more dangerous than a plastic sword. I haven't been worried about them hurting each other with them.

Battle at Sea: 3,000 Years of Naval Warfare
$40.00
This richly illustrated book has some stunning illustrations and diagrams. For these alone it is worth purchasing.
However, if one is interested in the subject, battle at sea, then one will encounter some frustrating issues with this book. The diagrams use models in some cases, and in others the ship icons are too large for the space of the battle. The result is that the actual battle maneuvers cannot be understood well from most of the diagrams presented.
Granted, the exact course of many ancient battles are barely known, if at all. Even so, the battle diagrams are a great disappointment. In going for an "artsy" touch, whatever real information about a given sea battle might have been available is obscured, if not lost altogether.
In addition, the layout of the book seemed overly crowded, like so many books today, with the pictures and text visually giving the feeling they had all been shoehorned onto the page.
If you want some pretty pictures, this is not too bad a book. If you want some real information about battles at sea, this is not the best book to buy.

Battle Strikers Tournament
$39.99
Battle Strikers are a new take on the classic battling tops theme of toys. The Battle Strikers Tournament set comes with everything you need to get started - 2 tops, 2 launchers, the arena, plus the addition of 2 "controllers".

On the top of the tops are 4 areas which contain magnets. These line up with 4 magnets on the bottom side of the launcher. To get the tops spinning, you stick the top to the launcher, pull the trigger, and rev it up. Then you hit the top of the launcher with your other hand to pop the top down into the arena. You have to be carful! These things spin fast, have hard protruding edges, and sometimes hop out of the arena - especially if there's a hard surface (wood table or floor) under it. I recommend placing the arena on carpet to help absorb some of the shock.

The arena is ok - it's fairly thin plastic. If it gets stepped on, it'll probably break, but the tops don't seem to do any damage to it. It has a spot on each side to store 3 tops, so 6 in total. Unfortunately, there's no case, and the tops, launchers, and controls don't "snap" in anywhere. So maybe save the box to put everything in when you're not using it.

The launchers are pretty good. They take 3 AA's each, so you'll need 6 total. The only way to get the tops spinning is with these. There's no rip cord like the old days, and no manual way to crank them up. I do see that sometimes the launchers spin very smoothly, and other times it's rattling like crazy. It can do both with the same exact top, so I'm not sure why. Either way, they do the job, but I think down the line one launcher might become the favorite if the other seems to wear out faster.

The tops are customizable and modular. They come as six parts each. The variations of the parts determine what makes the top better in terms of "Attack", "Defense", and "Control". The widest part of the top is actually two pieces that give different shapes to the areas where the tops collide. The bottom piece is either made of a metal marble or a plastic spindle. The marble gives a more consistent, controllable spin and the top won't wander as much. The plastic spindle makes contact with the ground on a small cylinder. Because of this, if it spins on an angle, it'll run all over the arena. This makes it more aggressive. You can also mix and match the pieces of the different tops.

You control, or steer, the tops by putting the controller thing on your fingers. It contains a magnet in it which attracts the magents on the top surface of the top. In this way, you can help guide your top toward/away from your opponent. You have to get the controller fairly close to the top, and the downside of this is that if you're not careful you end up getting the top stuck to it. When you get close, you can actually feel a little vibration in your fingers as the three outer magnets spin past.

Some watchouts:
-Of the tops included in the set, the green top always seems to win.
-Kids can get hurt with these. My son got hurt a couple times when one bounced out of the arena into his stomach.
-Also, younger kids may have a harder time dropping the top into the arena.
-Anyone that tries to pick one up at full speed will have some sore fingers. Short of taking one to the head, though, and it's nothing that won't wear off after a few minutes.

Overall, the game is very fun. The modular aspect adds some learning and expirimentation aspect for the kids. I did find that the green top usually wins in my set, even after swapping the marble for the spindle. It must just be something about its design. The tops are fairly inexpensive, so they make good impromptu gifts, stocking stuffers, or cheaper items on a birthday list. The instructions say to have each player pick three tops each and play "best 2 out of 3". At fifteen dollars per top, that would put this starter set plus four additional tops at a total of $100. I think that's a bit expensive to get started, so don't feel compelled to buy that much all at once. I definitely recommend getting either this starter set or at least buy the arena. Extra tops can then be purchased later on if your child really shows interest in them.