I think it's fair to say that 2017 has been an eventful year - not least for Osprey. By the end of the year, we will have published well over a hundred books across all our series, not to mention scores of blog posts and of course all the book votes. That is an awful lot, and its hard to keep track of it all. Therefore, in this series of blog posts, we are going to be looking back on 2017, starting with the first four months of the year.

Winter & Spring Highlights

What people said about our books

Long Range Desert Group

“These are the remarkable never-before-seen pictures of Britain's first ever special forces unit… In his book, historian Gavin Mortimer has interviewed surviving veterans and gained special access to the SAS archives to tell the story of the origins and dramatic operations of the unit.”  - Mail Online

Sevastopol's Wars

"The story of Sevastopol is expertly told in this narrative, which blends first-person interviews, battle analysis, and archival material. The author deftly explains how the city has come to occupy a central place in Russian culture and imagination due to its history of struggle." - Military Heritage

Aircraft of the Aces 132: Jagdgeschwader 53 ‘Pik-As’ Bf 109 Aces of 1940 

“The book illustrates the dramatic change in appearance of the JG 53’s fighters over time, and is a fascinating and reader friendly study of some of Germany’s most formidable aces.” - Flypast

New Vanguard 246: British Destroyers 1939–45: Pre-War Classes

“The book combines excellent original artwork with drawings and contemporary photographs to give detailed descriptions of these little workhorses of the Royal Navy.” - The Armourer

New Vanguard 245: Early US Armor

“Photographically, there are seldom seen photos of some exotic and unconventional very early tanks like the Holt Gas-Electric and the steam powered flamethrower armed War Tank America.  High quality artwork show examples not included in the photographic illustrations. Recommended.” - Tankette Magazine

Our Favourite Artwork

It's so hard every month to pick out just three pieces of artwork from all of those publishing. so picking out the best of them was a real challenge - but we've had a go nonetheless. Which is your favourite?

WEAPON 52: Colt Single-Action Revolvers by Martin Pegler Illustrated by Mark Stacy and Alan Gilliland This action-packed image shows a skirmish from the American Civil War. Here you can see the dramatic moment when a Union cavalryman charged a Confederate artillery position.

COMBAT 22: Panzergrenadier vs US Armored Infantryman By Steven J. Zaloga Illustrated by Johnny Shumate This thrilling piece of artwork from Johnny Shumate depicts the last desperate moments of the battle of Réchicourt-la-Petite during the Allied advance through eastern France in 1944.

Best of the Blog

Tying into the publication of his book With their Bare Hands, Gene Fax posted a fascinating three-part series of posts on the early history of American machine guns. Have another look at them below:

The Strange Early History of American Machine Guns - Part I

The Strange Early History of American Machine Guns - Part II

The Strange Early History of American Machine Guns - Part III

Right at the start of the year, we had a look at the trailers for war films coming out this year. How many of them did you see, and what did you think of them?

Film 2017 - World War Two

Our partnership with Epic History TV continued, with a fantastic two-part series on the First Crusade. If you missed them, check them out below

Book Vote Winners

January

We started the year with a vote on the Duel series. It was a pretty close race, but in the end two stand-out titles were chosen:  Israeli Missile Boat vs Syrian Missile Boat  with 23.4%, followed by Athenian Trireme vs Spartan Trireme on 22.4%

February

Combat Aircraft was the focusin February and saw Dornier Do 17 Units of World War 2 win with 35.6%. Trailing in second place was A-10 Thunderbolt II Units of Operation Desert Storm with 23.16% of the vote. 

March

This was on some prospective Combat titles, and was one of the closest book votes we have ever had! In first place, with 29.27% of the vote was Russian Soldier vs Swedish Soldier: Great Northern War 1700-09, with Byzantine Warrior vs Seljuk Warrior: 1068-71 only 0.05% behind! 

April

We had another close race in April's Men-at-Arms vote. The winner with 30.79% of the vote was Roman Army Units in the Western Provinces (2) 3rd Century AD, which was a mere 0.37% ahead of Armies of the Great Northern War 1700 - 1729.

Osprey Year in Review: January - April 2017