Osprey historical miniatures showdown

It seems like ages since Osprey announced they were going to run this competition and it’s finally been announced today. Miniatures from 30 different companies in a good old fashioned cup knock out. So two have got a bye in round one. It’s a nice bit of “just for fun” and kudos to the boys and girls at Osprey for organizing it.

The idea is that you vote for your favourite in each pairing and the winner goes through to the next round. This looks like it’s gonna run for quite a few weeks, so I’m putting my feet up and cracking open the popcorn. Which are your favourites to reach the final?

Historical miniature showdown

I picked up on this in a couple of places over the weekend, but today saw the official announcement on the Osprey Publishing blog.

The rules seem a little idiosyncratic, the timeframe in which the miniatures have to have been released is a little ambiguous and there’s no stated closing date for entries. But I suppose an e-mail to Osprey at auction@ospreypublishing.com can clarify all those things. I’m also slightly disturbed by the graphic at the top of the posting that mentions several figure manufacturers by name but none of them are acknowledged leaders in the Napoleonic period. I think that’s slightly unfair.

Regardless of my reservations, this could prove to be interesting, very interesting…

Postie delivers the booty

Napoleon's Scouts of the Imperial Guard

My winnings from the recent Osprey blog Napoleonic competition arrived on the doormat the other day. Deciding on the five books I’d like and actually getting them was a slightly “interesting” experience. The stipulation from Osprey was that I could choose any five books from their Napoleonic range that were in stock on their Web site. Sadly, my first nine (yes, nine) choices were all out of stock.

So, not one to get easily disheartened, I e-mailed Mike at Osprey with a list of the nine titles in question, explained the problem and asked if there was anything that could be done. Mike came up trumps after a trawl around the offices and the various other dusty hidey-holes that all publishers have (I know, I work for one too) he was able to dig up five from my list. Namely these:

1. Napoleon’s Cuirassiers and Carabiniers (Men-at-arms)
2. Napoleon’s Red Lancers (Men-at-arms)
3. Napoleon’s Scouts of the Imperial Guard (Men-at-arms)
4. Prussian Line Infantry: Vol 2 (Men-at-arms)
5. Prussian Light Infantry, 1792-1815 (Men-at-arms)

And by way of an apology for the incovenience, Mike threw in an extra: Jena, 1806: Napoleon Destroys Prussia (Osprey Military Campaign)

So I’ve got a nice big pile of bedside reading to keep me going now.

Eight victories, five books

A few weeks ago, the Osprey Publishing blog announced a competition to win five Napoleonic books from their range. The question posed was to name the eight victories listed around Napoleon’s tomb.

Now, I’ve visited the tomb at Les Invalides but I couldn’t recall the eight victories so I had to use all my research skills to solve the puzzle. None of the books in my Napoleonic library provided the answer and Googling the Web was surprisingly ineffective too. That’s when I hit on the idea of searching the Flickr photo sharing site. Surely plenty of people like me must have visited the Emperor’s tomb and taken photos. Sure enough, with some diligent piecing together of different views of the tomb I was able to assemble a list of the eight victories and post my entry in the competition.

At the time I assumed that many others would also have been as resourceful as me so I didn’t hold out too much hope of victory. However, my Friday was brightened by an e-mail from Osprey informing me that I had indeed won the competition. On checking the Osprey blog today, I see a post that confirms this good news.

Needless to say I’m delighted and my thanks go to Osprey for running the competition. Now I have the challenging but enjoyable task of choosing the five books that will comprise my prize. Hurrah!

Anybody got any recommendations?