New Oddzial Ozmy Napoleonic 3mm Now Available, 18th Century May Be Next

Exciting News
The big news came out at the end of last week:  the new range of 3mm Napoleonic figures have finally been made available and orders are being placed. It is okay to order now. We have been hearing since last spring that these figures would be released in September, so some fans were getting impatient, but the word is that 9 out of 10 types were ready then, and two more weeks were needed for processing the production, and now they are all ready to order. Ten out of ten are now shipping, a few weeks later. More will be released some time.

The types now out include infantry with shakos, the same but with plumes also, skirmishers, infantry with helmets close enough in this scale for either the Austrian or Bavarian or Wuerttemberg ones, heavy cavalry with French helmets such as the dragoons, cuirassiers, carabiniers, there are foot grenadiers with bearskins suitable for la creme de la creme, and so far 6-pounder medium guns and gunners with shakos.

So it's not a complete line, yet, but it's complete enough to get started for sure, and there will be more later. Shakos don't need to be Belgic and stovetop and bells so much in this scale 3mm, so the same sets could be French, Austrian, Russian, or others. Once they are in your hands you can make decisions what will be good enough, and what might work better. Oblong hats would suffice, and when you see them you'll see they actually do have brims, and other tiny details, smaller than your finest brush. Also details you see and try to paint turn out to be too small to actually see on table without using a jeweler's loupe.

It may not be clear to the viewer just how hard it is to get the paintbrush to pick out the details which are present. When you see them in a photo, they are enlarged considerably from the actual size. Depending on your computer, the whole figure may not be bigger than the number 8 right here on your screen.

These here in this pic are most of a pack of ACW Artillery. This isn't the new Napoleonic but I just thought the readers seem to like pictures, so here's one we took several months ago, showing four colors of paint so far I think. The 15 "pieces" for $4.00 USD consist of two cannon each piece, cast nose to nose, which you can snap apart with your fingers, so fifteen pieces means 30 cannon, for four dollars. Crews, limbers, etc sold separately, which is 75 crew for four more dollars, or 15 limbers with 30 horses, etc. Of the two guns, if you look carefully one is banded like a Parrott Rifle, and the other is more like a smoothbore Napoleon 12 pounder.


"They Look Like Ants!"
When I showed them to people, they said, "they look like ants!"

There is a 3mm Yahoo Group also called 1/600, where the latest news and talk is actually going on, and then next we will hear about it in places like the forum TMP, etc. It won't be long before some people will hurry to get their pics posted to show off their paint and base jobs. It's just out since Thursday so give it a week or so, and someone will have them up somewhere.

I have not ordered any yet, but I will soon. 

This year I have been collecting something above 8,000 of the ACW figures. I have pictures somewhere, taken last March, of the Civil War and also who knows how many World War Two, British, German and Russian but I can't be arsed to dig them out right now from the files, just because I happen to be talking about this. We were using one of the Nemesis' cameras since I don't have one.

Note, I changed my mind since writing that line, and pulled up the artillery picture from that set of pictures after all, just to have a picture of something very similar. I can show more later.

It is occurring to me too that I have a set of Vietnam era stuff as well, in 3mm, now that I think about it. So that's what I have been working on all this time. They also have modern, meaning right up to date, and a set aimed at Yom Kippur War, which was October 1973 in the Middle East. The difference of course is the models of tanks and vehicles are different over the years.

Sometime later in the spring of 2012 there was a set of TMP threads here about people's ACW 3mm in which Marcin, the designer of the figures, stepped in and showed a picture of the Napoleonics, and predicted September as the release time.I think that's the right thread, there were a couple of them. Yes, there it is, for Marcin's post with the first picture, which are ten shako infantry on a 2cm front (2mm frontage each file) scroll down the TMP thread to May 1, it starts with April 28. There are some very interesting ACW ideas and pics there too.

That was the first glimpse anyone outside the Yahoo Group had of the Napoleonics, and it sparked some enthusiasm. There are over 500 members in this Yahoo Group. The excitement there is palpable right now, since they are the very ones who have been waiting. The ACW line has been out for a while now, along with 20/21 century stuff.

Even More Exciting News --  Nearly Exclusive to Here So Far:  18th Century Next!
There was also some discussion back then when we had Marcin paying attention of some desire for 18th Century troops types, as well as wagons which are lacking so far. At that time he showed the Naps.

The latest news this weekend, even later than the Napoleonic release is that Marcin has now said YES there may be Seven Years War types, maybe next after the Napoleonics. He did not confirm nor deny a time frame of 18 months, although to be fair that was just the poster's words and not his to be accurate. He just said next, and a couple maybes, and nothing about the time frame except 'next.'  That's good, because I could not wait and already did it myself, I started to look at the ACW as substitute 18th Century,  but to have dedicated figures would be better.

We should get on the group and fora and press for tricornes, mitres and all that. The fact that we already did has had an effect, he did listen, this will push him over the edge.

PICTURES ARE HERE, and you can also order there too click on title link

This link in the title above is John's site at PicoArmor.
Okay, so there is a link to one place the figures can be ordered now, and at this same link you can see photos of all ten currently released Napoleonic packs. They are priced at $4.00 at this site and come with 150 infantry, or 45 cavalry, or 30 pieces of artillery. This shop is here near Chicago, Illinois, USA. The boss there, John, said go ahead and place orders although his site still says coming soon; they are on the way and pretty fast, this is only Sunday of the first weekend right now. Free shipping deal may apply depending where you are, see his site for his details.

I will add a link for another shop that Marcin mentioned also where they are available too. I checked it out, this is Assault Publishing and that is Marcin Gerkowitz' own site, which has online store, so this would be right from the horse's mouth, no wonder he recommended it. The site is in English, but he I think is in Poland, check his ordering details to see about his shipping and all that.

"which has online store," now he has me writing with Polish accent, from reading so much of it! At least I didn't put a u in color this time.

Then a third place I saw mentioned was Fighting 15's, that is someone on the Yahoo Group 3mm miniatures said they are ordering from there. Not sure where they are but some of you might know.

Just pick whichever one sounds most convenient for wherever you are. For myself I will probably go to a store down the street mostly, although they keep running out of figures right after I go there,  but would go to the PicoArmor site if I have to order online, since they are right in my own vicinity.

The ACW have 120 infantry, 45 cavalry, 30 guns. Some specialized types are different as far as numbers, because he is counting it as 15 pieces either way, and the difference is how many figures are on a 'piece.' So 8 ACW infantry, ten Napoleonic infantry, three cavalry, 2 guns, all of these times 15 pieces give the varying totals.

A good way to experiment and see different types in different periods is to order the Sample Packs, as they pack in maybe three pieces  of several different sets all in one, usually for around 8 dollars, instead of buying full packs of ten different items. This way you can get a few of many items all at once. The Battle of Britain Sample set for instance has Hurricanes, Spitfires, Dorniers, Heinkels and Junkers as well as Messerschmitts, just like three each or so instead of fifteen of one type.

The Yahoo Group I have been talking about is called 3mm miniatures, and there is also another one called 1/600 which specializes more in aircraft, whether World War I, World War II, or more modern types.

Tumbling Dice also carries a very nice range of compatible pieces for those.
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