On the road to Gettysburg

Two days ago, April 27th, saw the 1st Annual Gettysburg Toy Soldier Show at the Gettysburg Hotel.

It was sponsored by W. Britains, the legendary toy soldier company, which has teamed up with Osprey North America to increase our presence at events this year. Ever since 1st Gear bought Britains in 2005 and hired General Manager, Rich Walker, and chief sculptor, Ken Osen, the company has seen a resurgence in quality leading many toy soldier collectors to say, "Britains is back." Many have commented to us on the "naturalness" of the Osprey and Britains collaboration.

Not wanting to waste the 200 mile drive to Gettysburg, my wife and I took the opportunity to visit the new visitor's center at the Military Park, which opened its doors April 14th.

The new building is incredibly spacious and inviting. There is a mammoth book and gift shop and the new kid-friendly permanent exhibition is packed with information. The highlight is a series of short movies sponsored by the History Channel that explain the major events of the Civil War leading up to Gettysburg and then the battle itself. Two post-battle movies describe the horrors of the battlefield after the armies had retreated and the poor state of civil rights for African-Americans for the next 100 years. For me, the most moving aspect was the room dedicated to Lincoln's Gettysburg address. Interestingly, newspapers at the time called the speech "silly" and an "embarrasment."

Counterinsurgency in Modern Warfare

It has been a busy few days in the New York office of Osprey. On Friday April 11th we learned that the Wall Street Journal had run a review of one of our April new releases the prior day. The book is entitled, Counterinsurgency in Modern Warfare. It is a collection of essays commissioned by Daniel Marston and Carter Malkasian, both graduates of Oxford and old friends of Osprey. The list of contributors is extremely impressive, including Col. Richard Iron (UK) and Lt. Col. John Nagl (US).

The publication of the review has forced me to get up to speed quickly on the current happenings in Iraq and Afghanistan. It has been fascinating to learn that Nagl is one of the architechts of current US and UK strategy in Iraq, including what has been called, "the surge."

The experience has also helped me track down a book that I had heard about last year in an NPR piece. The reporter mentioned that the book analyzed strategic failures in Algeria and is on the night stand of President Bush, then Pentagon chief Rumsfeld, and several members of Congress. The title, I've learned, is similar to our book: Counterinsurgency Warfare by David Galula. It was first published in 1964, but was recently reissued by Praeger.

First Female MV-22 Osprey Pilot - U.S. Marines

Because we share the same corporate name, I've been following the deployment of the Bell Boeing MV-22 Osprey through Google Alerts. Today I received a link to this interesting story about the first female Osprey pilot. Very cool!

http://longislandgirl.vox.com/library/post/first-female-mv-22-osprey-pilot-us-marines.html?_c=feed-atom

Cold Wars 2008

It is one of the most-anticipated events of the year--The Cold Wars convention, which is hosted by The Eastern Chapter of the Historical Miniatures Gaming Society. It is held each year the pastorally-loacted Lancaster Host Resort in Pennsylvania. This year was the 25th anniversary and the theme was “The Golden Age of Piracy." 

As always, the convention featured dozens of amazing wargames. In addition, the folks from NSDM (National Security Decision Making Game) were on hand running a Cold War situation game.

This year also featured the first-ever Field of Glory tournament, which began on Friday March 7th at noon and ran until about midnight. Some tourney players were a little frustrated that there are only two army list books available and asked whether any of the Four Horsemen army lists could be made compatible with the rules. (We will investigate!) On balance, though the feedback was very, very positive. Fans of the Warrior rules, especially, were taking a strong look at this latest ancient rules upstart.

As many of you know, Wargames Factory will be launching official miniature tie-ins later this year (they plan to have figures ready to go for Historicon). For those of you who can’t wait, or who want your armies in lead, the folks at Battle Honors/Old Glory told me this weekend that they will be compiling armies in packs that coincide with the Field of Glory army lists. In fact, they had a run this weekend on ancient figures, as you can see here from the empty pegs of Roman gladiators and Carthaginian soldiers in their stand. In addition, Bill from Mr. Miniatures, who was sitting next to us in the exhibitor’s hall and is a professional lead soldier painter, told us that he plans to have painted lead Field of Glory figures ready to sell at Historicon.

Here are a couple of photos from the event...

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Wildcats, Bearcats, and Hellcats

This weekend Osprey USA had a booth at the Westchester Radio Aero Modeler Association's "WRAM" show in White Plains, NY. For too long, the focus of our marketing in the U.S. has been on the Wargaming, Toy Soldier and Armor segments of the hobby, so this year we're trying to reach out to those interested in Warbirds.

We were thrilled with the overwhelmingly positive response we got to our books! One of the first things we realized is that while we thought our line of aviation titles was "comprehensive," there are some serious gaps. For instance, many customers asked whether we have any titles on "trainers" such as the T-6, T-34, and AT-6. Clearly, trainers are a big part of the R/C hobby and Osprey needs to come up with some titles to serve this niche.

Another thing we learned is that there is a bottomless appetite for WWII Naval aviation. Indeed, we sold out of our Corsair books on the first day! Also, we learned that there is such an animal as "the Bearcat," which is most definitely not a Wildcat or Hellcat.

Finally, the wonderful volunteers from the Rhinebeck Aerodrome Museum kept demand for our WWII aviation titles very high. They made us realize that we need to sign up someone to write books on the Fokker DR VI and VIII, to complement our titles on the DR V and VII. Attached are some photos from the show. We will definitely be there again next year!

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Hellfire Pass

An army of forced laborers, which included 16,000 Allied POWs, built the Burma railway during WWII. The pass in this link was hand-dug by those workers. And by the way, if you've not yet visited the waymarking site, it is very cool. I recommend you try typing "Civil Defense Fallout Shelters" into its search engine.

Has the Amber room been found?

I heard a report on National Public Radio this morning that among the belongings of a recently deceased man in the Czech Republic was found a map that may lead treasure hunters to find the priceless Amber Room, which the Nazis looted from Russia during WWII. Click here for the NY Times coverage.

Hobby vs. Hobby (Trains vs Tanks)

One of the best-loved Mad magazine comics is "Spy vs. Spy." It features two film noir-era spies who have the most inventive methods for sending the other to kingdom come. I was thinking of those guys this month as I watched sales increase daily for the release of our new book, Armored Trains.

The incredible demand for this book got me wondering, which is the bigger hobby--military modeling or model trains? The fact is that initial sales for Armored Trains put it at fifth best all time for New Vanguards, behind US Nuclear Submarines: Fast Attack, German Panzers 1914-18, Vietnam Riverine Craft, and Huey Cobra Gunships.

Certainly trains by themselves are not in the league of these military heavyweights? Something else must be going on here! I'd love your comments on this "hobby vs. hobby."

In the Details

The New York State Museum and Veterans Research Center has just posted on its website the index from a book published in 1900 that lists all of the men who served in the Spanish-American War. What you won't find when you visit the site is the name of the most famous New York veteran of that war, Teddy Roosevelt.

That's because TR fought in a national regiment and the curators carefully distinguish between local vets and those from other states and the national army.

Amazing Tank Photos!

This page came up in my google alerts today. Does anyone know where this museum is?

In October I visited amazing new Marine Corps Heritage Center in Quantico, VA. It also has some nicely restored tanks on display. Here are a couple of shots, which admittedly don't hold a candle to the pics at funtasticus.

Historian of Marshall Plan dies

Larry I. Bland, one of the foremost historians of the life and writings of George C. Marshall, has died. Professor Bland was working on the sixth volume of the Marshall papers when he died. I have nothing but admiration for people like Professor Bland who dedicate their entire lives to studying the primary sources of history. It's their work that make everything we do at Osprey possible. Our condolences go out to his family and friends.

Bland Obituary

Where do you shop?

I am on a quest to locate every Osprey spinner rack in North America. If you're on this side of the pond I would love to hear where you shop for your Ospreys and whether or not your favorite retail outlet has an Osprey spinner. If it does, can you also tell us the name of the store and the city where it is located? You can click on the comments button below or email me at info@ospreydirect.com. Thanks!

Upcoming Osprey promotions in the US

Look out for our fabulous new book from Terry Crowdy, Military Misdemeanors: Corruption, Incompetence, Lust, and Downright Stupidity, on the "Under $20" table at Barnes & Noble, starting today.

Also, FUBAR, our entertaining look at World War II soldier slang from Gordon Rottman, is now being featured at Books-A-Million on their holiday table. You can pick it up there through Christmas.

Duel 1 Sells Out!

We're very happy over here in the New York office that the first volume of Osprey's newest series has sold out of its first print run in the United States! We think that Duel 1: P-51 Mustang vs Fw 190 has really caught the customer's imagination because it presents one of America's iconic combat aircraft in a totally new way. Hopefully we can continue this success with future releases in the series. To find out more about those, have a look at ospreyduel.com. And for anyone who may have missed out, not to worry, Osprey is already doing an emergency reprint of Duel 1 so more will be available very soon.

Osprey at Reenactor Fest and MMSI Chicago

We just got word that Crimson Books will be displaying their extensive collection of Osprey books at two upcoming US shows. The first is the Military Miniature Society of Illinois Show in Schaumburg, IL form October 12th to 17th. The second is Reenactor Fest in Gettysburg, PA from November 20th to December 2nd. If you will be in the area for any of these events please drop by. Also, let us know if you want Crimson to bring along any particular titles and we will pass the message along.

Goodbye David Halberstam

Saddened when I heard the news, the sudden passing of American journalist and historian, David Halberstam, was a shock to all. He was equally at home writing about modern history, politics, and contemporary sports, but the thing I will miss most about him is hearing his growly drawl on C-Span and National Public Radio, where he was a frequent guest and interviewee. Now, I come to see that Halberstam's last book is a history of the Korean War called, The Coldest Winter. It is being published this month by Hyperion in the US (not sure of the UK release).  According to Publisher's Weekly, what distinguishes Halberstam's version of the war is "his reportorial skill, honed in Vietnam...[and] his pounding narrative, in which GIs and genreals describe their coldest winter." The Korean War is just starting to get the wider recognition it deserves. In Halberstam, it may not have its Homer, but it will now have an historian who can bring home "the forgotten" war to the masses. What a apt closing chapter to a stellar career.

Osprey on the Radio

On Monday (20 August 2007), I had one of the most thrilling experiences of my entire career: I accompanied an author to what I consider to be the most erudite and compelling talk show on the planet. I’m talking about The Leonard Lopate Show, the noon to 2PM program on WNYC, New York’s National Public Radio affiliate. The show is rebroadcast in the US each day via XM Satellite Radio Channel 133.
The author was Kaveh Farrokh, who wrote Osprey's book Shadows in the Desert: Ancient Persia at War. Kaveh was utterly absorbing during his 40-minute interview, talking about everything from the legacy of the Persians to contemporary Iranian politics. If you would like to listen, the show is archived here.

My Favorite Memory of Historicon 2007

It all comes down to personal connections, right? My favorite memory of this year's Historicon was my conversation with an archeologist from Delaware. Who knew that Delaware employs an archeologist? The gentleman (I did not get his name) stopped by our booth to complement us on our latest book on the American Revolutionary War: CAM 176 Philadelphia 1777. What struck me first about him was his youth--he was no older than his mid-30's. He was very soft spoken and I had to strain to hear him over the din in the expo hall. But what really gave me a charge was when he mentioned that there are opportunities for laypeople like me to volunteer for acheological digs in my homestate of New Jersey. I'm definitely going to investigate this. He also told me this fantastic story about a project he worked on to raise an 18th-Century freighter from the bottom of the Delware River, outside of Philadelphia. He said that among the cargo that was recovered was a crate of toy soldiers destined for whatever was the equivalent then of Wal-Mart. Being that we were at a miniature wargamer convention, it gave me a chill to hear that story.

Osprey Author Signing at IPMS 2007

Check this out! I have been working with the owner of Brookhurst Hobbies in Garden Grove, California, to set up a signing with 8 Osprey Modeling authors on the eve of the upcoming IPMS conference. Discounts on our books will be available! Here’s a bit from Brookhurst’s press release: One of Orange County’s oldest and largest hobby stores announced today that on Wednesday, August 22 from 6:30 p.m. to 8:00 p.m., eight of the authors for the Osprey Publishing’s Modeling series of books will be on hand for a book signing event. The authors attending the signing will be: Tom Cockle, Nick Cortese, Gary Edmundson, Mark Glidden, Brett Green (owner and operator of www.Hyperscale.com), Stan Spooner, Steve van Beveren. Also present will be Marcus Nicholls, managing editor for all three ADH Publishing’s modeling titles as well as the creative impetus and Editor behind Tamiya Model Magazine International as well as a contributor to the Osprey Modeling title, Modeling the P-51 Mustang that is scheduled for release on August 21. For more information, please visit Brookhurst Hobbies online.