The reports I get on my Amazon UK affiliate bookstore on madaxeman.com show that they have started shipping copies ordered via my website as of 14/01/08. This is (I would say materially) earlier than date that Amazon has always given as its official shipping date of the 18th Feb.
The reports don't give me access to any more information than this, so its imposible for me to know who they have gone to, or even when the copies shipped were ordered, or when/(if?) any more will be shipped, I just have visibility of total ordered and total shipped.
Total orders via my UK site to date include over 50 copies of the rules, and similar numbers of the first 2 army lists since I set up the site in September or October last year – the orders have come in across this timeline, and several are now coming in each day.
Either way, despite the rumours, Amazon UK have clearly got some copies, and they have clearly now started sending them out.
Its exciting that the rules are out there and shipping. For the biggest problem at this point to be too much demand (despite apparently three increases to the print run) is not exactly bad news for the hobby, although it may be irritating for some of us.
I also think it's hard to pin too much blame on either Amazon or Osprey for failing to accurately predict that a new set of rules for the totally obscure hobby of ancient wargaming (priced at 50-100% more than any previous set) would end up (as of today) as the 186th best selling book in the UK, or even more astoundingly, the No3 in the History category – just behind the biography of someone who is looking likley to be the next president of the USA!
See –
here's the link to Amazons charts (updated hourly) link
One slightly irritating (potential) delay for a bloke who plays with toy soldiers, but one giant leap in popularity for the whole hobby.