Joe

The Military Round Up - November 17

It been another couple of weeks of interesting events in the world of military history, and I’ve got my highlights for you here.

Guest Blog: Conquer or Die! The British Troops who fought with Simon Bolivar

Over the next few months I will be contributing a series of blogs promoting Conquer or Die!, a forthcoming Osprey title on the British troops who helped Simón Bolívar liberate Venezuela and New Granada (modern day Colombia) in the early nineteenth century.

Leigh Neville’s Operation Uruzgan by Ambush Alley

Over the last two years, few of Osprey’s books have been reprinted and sold-out more often than Leigh Neville’s Special Forces Operations in Iraq and Special Forces Operations in Afghanistan. Now, this talented author has turned his prowess to writing one of the year’s best wargaming supplements.

The Military Round Up and Osprey Swag!

It’s Friday here at the Osprey office and instead of working, I thought I’d share some of the fun and interesting Military related items I’ve come across during the last few weeks…

The World of Military Fandom

With the sad resignation of blogmaster Mike, it is a time of quiet reflection here at Osprey, a time to examine all the mistakes, errors of judgement, and general bad calls, that permeated the Mike regime. It is time for the blog to heal, to grow, and once again strive to be the centre of military fandom that both you and I know it can be. So let’s get started!

Rick Scollins: Artist, Writer, Friend, and now permanent landmark.

Guest author Peter Dennis finds a note in the Nottingham Post about an old friend and fellow Osprey artist.

Two Eisenhowers for a Rommel?

World War II collector cards: Buy them, trade them and maybe even learn a thing or two along the way.

The Historical Miniature Showdown is Over!

After six weeks of voting, the 30 entrants have been whittled down to one.

Osprey Historical Miniature Showdown – The Finals!

30 Miniatures entered, only 2 now survive. Here are the results from the Semi-Finals.

Historical Miniature Showdown – The Quarter-Final Results

After a week of nail-biting voting, the Quarter-Finals has reached a conclusion and the results can be announced!

Historical Miniature Showdown - The Quarter Finals have begun!

This week in the Osprey Historical Miniature Showdown saw two of the closest match-ups of the competition. Here are the results from this weeks voting: Pulp Figures (308) defeated Venexia (172) Bolt Action (269) defeated Scarab Miniatures (219) Crusader Miniatures (250) defeated Brigade Games (241) Empress Miniatures (251) defeated Perry Miniatures (244) Voting has now opened up on all of the Quarter final match-ups!

Historical Miniature Showdown - First into the Quarter Finals!

The first quarter-finalists have been chosen. After a week of heavy voting, we can now reveal the results:

Historical Miniature Showdown – Round Two Begins!

The first round of the Osprey Historical Miniature Showdown is over and the results of the last week of voting can be revealed.

Historical Miniature Showdown Week 2 Results

The second week of voting in the Historical Miniature Showdown has closed and the results can now be revealed.

Historical Miniature Showdown - Results!

The first week of the Osprey Historical Miniature Showdown is done! Hundreds of you voted and the results can now be revealed:

The Osprey Historical Miniature Showdown has begun!

After much ado, Osprey Publishing has launched the first-ever Historical Miniature Showdown. We have matched up some of the best 28mm historical miniatures from 2008 and 2009 in a bracket-style tournament.

Save This American Civil War Standard!

Your chance to help save a little piece of military history. While working on a recent miniature project, I found myself searching for images of the battle flag of the 13th Regiment of South Carolina Volunteers from the American Civil War. Eventually, I found one rather grainy image, and I felt darn lucky. The truth is that many of these flags have been lost, and many more are slowly deteriorating in basements and back rooms of museums across the US.

Not Forgotten - recovering missing soldiers

A recent National Geographic article reviews just how many US Soldier are still missing.

Micro Modelling: A Russian Amphibious Jeep

I am a wannabe modeller. I have tried many times to buy one of those beautiful plastic kits and assemble it into a fearsome death machine, but it never seems to work. Instead, I end up with a misshapen plastic lump, coated in glue clots, and adorned with my fingerprints.

Force on Force – The Modern Kriegsspiel?

The makers of Ambush Alley return with a new game, that may take many wargamers by surprise! About two hundred years ago, the Prussian military used a strategic military simulator using a map and little wooden blocks called Kriegsspiel (literally, wargame). Since that time, wargaming has grown into a popular hobby, but the games themselves have tended to get simpler and simpler....

Helicopter Dogfight?

Even before some of us had our morning coffee, tea (or coke), an argument broke out in the no-man's land between Marketing and Editorial. Has there even been a helicopter dogfight?

New Stuff at Salute!

This weekend, Osprey is off to my favourite show of the year: Salute at the London Exel, the biggest show on the wargaming calendar. We’re going to have some great stuff on offer this year.

Win a Men-at-Arms: Celebration and Battlefront Miniatures!

Our friends over at Battlefront Miniatures, makers of the super-popular Flames of War, World War II miniatures game, are currently running an online poll and offering some great prizes.

Osprey Publishing Historical Miniature Showdown!

Beginning in April, Osprey Publishing will host the first-ever, “Historical Miniature Showdown”. We are inviting all makers of 28mm historical miniatures to submit their best figure released in 2008 or 2009. These figures will be matched up in a bracket-style tournament format, and then we will ask you, the voting public, to decide which figure should advance to the next round.

Osprey heads to London

This weekend, Osprey will be loading up the van and heading down to London to take part in Who Do You Think You Are, the genealogy show based on the popular television show. It’s running from Friday, 27 February to Sunday, 1 March in the London Olympia.

Two Remaining Leather-Bound Men-at-Arms A Celebration

Two of the ultra-rare limited-edition Men-at-Arms: A Celebrations have found their way back to us!

Re-watching Gettysburg

Gettysburg has long been one of my favourite war movies, but even I have to pause before watching it and ponder if I can really handle four hours of big beards and musket-fire. This weekend, I was. While watching such a sprawling epic, it’s unavoidable that a lot of thoughts and questions will spring to mind, and here are a few of mine.

The Way Wargaming Should Be! (Battlegames: Table Top Teasers Vol. 1)

These days, wargaming is dominated by points-based systems where two equally matched sides slug it out. It is a style of play encouraged by most of the industry’s big names including Warhammer, Flames of War, and Field of Glory. However, in my humble opinion, these games often lack the flavour and the tactical challenge that makes wargaming so appealing.

A Pike and Shot Renaissance?

There was a time when “Pike and Shot” was one of the most popular periods in which to wargame. It’s not surprising; The English Civil War was the last major war fought on English soil and its battlefields are littered about the country. And yet, over the last few decades “Pike and Shot” gaming has declined until it has become something of a rarity at shows and conventions.

Taking the Plunge (Testing out Army Painter - Quickshade)

There has been a lot of talk lately in the wargame community about “dipping”. That is, taking a quickly painted miniature and then dipping it into a shading solution to provide instant depth to a paint job. Now, when it comes to miniature painting, I’m a bit of a traditionalist. I like nice, clean paint jobs. My own style tends to involve black-lining, dry brushing, and layering in that order. So, when I was first handed a can of the new Army Painter – Quickshade, I turned up my nose and scoffed loudly.

The Auction Ends Tomorrow!

This is your last chance to place a bid for one of the forty copies of the Leather-Bound, Men-at-Arms Celebration

Gobble Gobble!

Here at the Osprey UK offices, it is just another Thursday filled with tanks, muskets, and cavalry charges. But somewhere over the ocean I know my family is just rising to a tough day of food, football, and more food. It is Thanksgiving Day, a holiday wonderful for its simplicity. It is also a day that American’s tend to think a lot about their Armed Forces, about the soldiers, sailors, and airmen who are far from home.

Atlanta: Sherman didn’t burn it all!

A priest and a doctor fight to save their city. While researching another project, I came across a couple of interesting notes concerning the burning of Atlanta during the American Civil War, or rather, the parts of the city that didn’t burn. The Union army captured the city of Atlanta in 1864, and General Sherman decided to make a statement of warning to the rest of the confederacy by burning the city down. However two men, a doctor and a priest, conspired to make sure that at least some parts of the city were saved.

Special Ops vs. Zombies!

When the guys over at Ambush Alley Games sent me a copy of their new game, Ambush Z, I was initially sceptical. Not at the quality of the product. Having read, reviewed, and loved, the original Ambush Alley game, I knew this would be a quality publication. However, I had to wonder if throwing a few zombie rules into Ambush Alley really warranted a full new game and the $20 sticker price?

Only 40 Copies Exist!

Simply put, it will be the rarest book that Osprey has ever produced. Bound in blue goatskin leather with pages trimmed in gold and protected in a slipcase, it will be the ultimate Osprey collectable.

Do You Know Military History? Prove it!

Word is starting to leak out into the internet about the Osprey Quiz, and the reaction seems pretty consistent. It’s hard!

Osprey is off to Euromilitaire with Peter Dennis!

This Saturday and Sunday, Osprey will be down in Folkestone for the last edition of Euromilitaire, Europe’s largest military modelling convention.

Ambush Alley - A very clever wargame

In an industry that cranks out new, slick-looking rules-sets faster than most people’s pay checks can handle, few wargames are as interesting, clever, and seemingly less-likely to succeed than Ambush Alley.

The debt owed to a moss-covered soldier

In war, casualty figures are often broken down into three categories: killed, wounded, and missing. In my opinion, it is that third category that is often the saddest. It’s true that some of those missing are later found or have been captured by the enemy, but in many cases they have simply vanished, lost in the violent chaos of war....

Osprey is at Military Odyssey this weekend!

This weekend, Osprey will once again be making an appearance at Military Odyssey. Our stand is in the usual position - so if you are there why not pop in for a quick chat, to catch up on the latest news, to enter some great competitions or just for a quick browse? As always we will have our suggestion book with us - if there is a subject that we have missed, come in a let us know about it!

Georgian military hardware

A flurry of emails have been flying round the office over the last couple of hours, all saying more or less the same thing, something along the lines of "You have to see this video taken in Georgia"...

Napoleonic Prints for Sale!

Napoleonic Prints for Sale!

Fourth of July

Growing up in the southern United States, my overriding memory of the Fourth of July is heat. Hot, sticky, oppressive air that caused the sweat to run down your face before you’d made it from the air-conditioned house to the air-conditioned car. Most years, it also rained, which just made things worse, turning the whole world into a giant steam bath. But it never stopped anyone…

More Great Military Science Fiction after Starship Troopers

Dear John, Now that you have read and apparently enjoyed Starship Troopers, I thought it might interest you to know that it is only the beginning. When Robert Heinlein invented powered-infantry armor and dropped soldiers in pods from spaceships, he also helped create a new subgenre called military science fiction.

Baseball and War

There is a spring-time crispness in the Oxford air, and even though I now live in the United Kingdom, it still reminds me of baseball. My favourite team, the Atlanta Braves are off to a good start and their long-time third-baseman, Chipper Jones is having an incredible season, currently batting .418...

Weird War: Bullet-Proof Boxers and the Cosmopolitan Cannon

By the end of the 19th Century, all of the major colonial powers were busy attempting to stake their claims to various parts of China. In 1899 the Chinese populous rose up against these foreigners in a wave of violence that became known as the Boxer rebellion....

War on Terror - Political Satire or a Board game too far?

It was almost impossible to go to Salute this year and not notice the guys from TerrorBull Games. Dressed in bright orange jumpsuits and surrounded by quotes that declared their own product “Sick” and “Subversive,” they managed to make a board game the surprise hit of a miniature wargame convention...

The Great War In Miniature

Despite its size and historical significance, World War I has never been a popular subject for wargamers. There is a perception that compared to the wars that came before and after it, World War I was a conflict filled with drab uniforms, little unit variation, and few tactics other than sitting in a muddy trench and the occasional suicidal charge into machinegun fire. Thus, when Warhammer Historical announced their next game would be The Great War, they set themselves quite a challenge...

Who Do You Think You Are?

For people interested in their family history, there is little better than discovering your ancestor fought in the war. The specific war doesn’t matter, because any war allows new opportunities to trace where your ancestor was and what he or she was doing...

Triumph and Tragedy, Pulp Era Wargaming

Released late last year, Triumph and Tragedy is a simple set of rules for fighting skirmish battles in the “pulp era”, the years between the two world wars. Unlike several other rules sets covering this period, T&T focuses on actual battles between military or at least paramilitary forces, with rules for all kinds of heavy weapons, tanks, and aircraft....

Salute here we come!

The books are all stacked in the staff room. The shipment of FOG 2: Storm of Arrows reprints arrived this morning. The Angus McBride Poster has been rolled and stored safely. It is almost time for Salute, the wargamer’s shopping paradise...

Flying the Hump

Later this year, Osprey will be releasing a book on the 23rd Fighter Group, that famous unit of American flyers who painted their planes with sharksmouths and led a guerrilla war against the Japanese from secret bases within China. 126 pilots lost their lives while fighting for the 23rd, but they were far from the only Allied casualties suffered in the campaign...

Want to get your Miniatures published?

Slitherine and Osprey are currently searching for good quality photographs of well-painted miniatures to be used along side the appropriate army lists in upcoming Field of Glory Companion books. If you've got the necessary painting and photography skills, why not send us a picture...

Alcohol, Violence and America

There is a story in my family that when my great-great-great grandfather marched off to join the ranks of the Confederate Army, his wife set up a still on the farm and sent her husband regular shipments of liquid courage. This story is especially strange since she was a prohibitionist...

The Stress of Wargaming and New Year Resolutions

Happy Thanksgiving from Osprey!

Although Thanksgiving is generally associated with the Pilgrim settlers, it actually became an official United States holiday under Abraham Lincoln during the height of the Civil War, a time of blood and sacrifice. So, as you polish off the eighteen-pound turkey and settle in to watch the Dallas...

The Loot from Warfare

This weekend I took the short train-ride over to Reading for Warfare 2007. This annual convention, which is hosted by the Wargames Association of Reading, is one of the best deals on the convention calendar. Just £4 buys a full day of games, talk, and access to around 70 dealers...

Victory at Sea - Winners and Miniatures

A Great Collectable at the Royal Mail

While I understand that many people in the UK are still feeling a little bitter towards the Royal Mail after weeks of on-again off-again postal strikes, there is now a good reason for military history fans and collectors to take a trip down to their local post office.....

Victory at Sea (WWII Naval Miniatures Rules)- Review and Giveaway!

For years now, I have been interested in World War II naval gaming, but I have always been scared off by the complexity of most rules systems. Thus, when Mongoose Publishing sent over a copy of their new game, Victory at Sea, I picked it up with a bit of trepidation...

My "Battlegames" and Growing Into "Old School" Wargaming

Can you remember the exact moment you became a wargamer? I’ve read accounts of people (okay, just men) who got their first look at a wargame table or an army in a glass cabinet and were hooked for life. Not so for me. As a youth, I was a proud role-player...

World War II Air Combat, Science-Fiction Style

For years now, Forge World has been quietly making a name for itself by providing high-quality miniatures for Games Workshop's series of games. Now, for the first time, they’ve produced a game on their own, and presented it in a style that is unequalled in the gaming community...

Christmas Card Results

Voting has indeed closed on the Osprey christmas card competition, and it was a landslide victory for the Angus McBride Vikings. Of the 41 official votes cast...

Weird War: Legend of the Tarheels

During the American Civil War, many Confederate units were poorly equipped, and one of the items they commonly lacked was shoes. Although there is no historical evidence, there is a legend that some of the North Carolina troops coated the bottoms of their feet in hot tar, in order to protect them on the long marches...

The Osprey Christmas Card - You Decide and Win!

Over the past few years, it has become a tradition here at Osprey to send out Osprey-artwork Christmas cards to all of our suppliers, business partners, and contributors. Unfortunately, most of the artwork that appears in our books is not exactly “Christmassy,” ...

War at Sea - Fantastic Little Toys

Wargaming beyond the Comfort Zone

Last week, my co-worker Phil and I decided that it was time for a miniature Viking throw-down, warband versus warband. Since neither of us had a strong opinion on a rules-set, we decided to see what was available on freewargamesrules. Eventually, we settled on a game called Ages of Blood by Tom Hinshelwood....

Weird War: Death on the Privy

On a recent holiday to Slovenia, I got the chance to visit Predjama Castle near the town of Postonja. Constructed inside a shallow cave halfway up a sheer cliff-face, the castle is one of the most impressive defensive structures I have ever seen. Not only that, but its history contains one very odd episode....

Songs of Battle: Jack Hardy's the 111th Pennsylvane

Along with books and miniatures, one of my favorite items of military history to collect is music. Not the contemporary music of past wars, though I’m sure that is an interesting pursuit, but modern songs that tell the tales of battles long ago. I have songs about Napoleon, Custer, and the trenches of the Great War...

Have you painted an Osprey miniature lately?

Like many couples, my wife and I recently encountered a big problem. We didn’t want to order two copies of the final Harry Potter, but neither of us could stand the other knowing what happened first. We compromised and decided that she would read the entire book out loud, while I got some painting done...

Weird War: Shaka made the Zulus Dance

There are many stories of the brutality and ruthlessness of the Zulu warrior-king Shaka, and a few of them might even be true...

The Great Pre-Paint Debate enters another stage?

As someone who paints miniatures both for fun and profit, I have watched the debate about pre-painted miniatures raged across wargaming and role-playing forums. Although interesting, I've never been particularly worried about it. That is until recently...

The Ultimate Guide to Napoleonic Uniforms

The two volumes of John R Elting’s Napoleonic Uniforms crashed onto my desk with an impact that tumbled my 28mm Romans and shook the battleship Iowa from the top of my monitor...

With Crusader, Simple means Great!

For years Mark Sims at Crusader Miniatures has been producing some of the best historical miniatures on the market. Now he has brought his uncomplicated style to a new set of historical miniatures rules entitled Crusader. Released at Salute 2007...

Cheaper Humvees!

Need to mechanize your 1/72 or 20mm modern troops on the cheap? Try checking your local toy store. The problem with toy cars from a gaming perspective is that they lack scale. That is to say that all toy cars tend to be the same size, whether they depict a mini-cooper or an ambulance...

Battlefield Evolution - A breath of fresh air

With the release of the Battlefield: Evolution Advanced Rulebook, Mongoose Publishing has demonstrated how a few simple rules can add up to a very elegant system. In fact, there are three rules/concepts in particular that deserve mention...

Weird War: Island of Open Graves

The Sad Passing of Wargames Journal

The return of Willie and Joe: America's funniest GIs