Airfix Products: The French Artillery for Waterloo has been observed in England and is reputed to have 6 infantry included. This may be an error, since foot artillery of both line and guard look very like the corresponding infantry until painted. Also of interest are the now 1/32 Japanese infantry which include the Nambu light machine gun (why the 1.m.g. was missing in the 23mm group is a tragic mystery to wargamers.)

Almarks: This firm has come out with 1/32nd Japanese infantry and German Panzer-Grenadiers about 19 pieces for $2.95. These do not appear to be better than the Airfix, which sell for less, but are in a hard plastic which promises superior paint holding qualities.

Der Kriegspeiler This new firm is offering packaged Napoleonic Infantry battalions, cavalry squadrons, and gun crews with guns at about 1 man to 30, cast in metal, 23mm scale. Each battalion, be it Russian, Austrian, French, British, or Prussian conforms to the relative sizes of the real battalions. Thus the Austrian battalion is far larger than the others. We have yet to review their wargame rules.

TAMIYA: Several sets of figures have appeared over the past few months to provide crews and infantry support to that firm's 1/35th scale armor. Among those observed were an infantry group with 1 kneeling firing rifleman, 1 marching rifleman, 1 man advancing with schnauser, and a prone light machinegunner. The latter may be furnished as an officer with field glasses. A clip fed and a belt fed m.g. come with the kit. Other sets include German and U.S. tank crews. All groups include decals for helmet patches, arm bands, etc. Figures are hard plastic, fair to good in design and execution. Weapons are excellent when cast separately. Why do people keep inventing new scales.?

G.H.Q. Micro-Armor: Among the best detailed and most comprehensive lines of armor models, these 1/285 tanks, guns, and miscellaneous vehicles are designed to permit things like a 1 for 1 representation of the Kursk Offensive on the dining room table. You won't believe the quality of these models without a magnifying glass. Unfortunately, when you use these, you might as well give up on infantry support, and in lieu of the customary wargamer's eye view, i.e. something like the view from a tactical reconnaissance aircraft or fighter bomber, you get the U-2 perspective. For 25~ you can get a catalogue which explains their reason for inventing a new scale.

Mini-Tanks now offers two sets of tank commanders to be stuffed down the hatches of their vehicles, which have long been the standard elements of WWII and later period wargaming. These figures are positioned giving arm signals, looking through binoculars, firing machineguns (guns not included) and just standing in the turret. One set with large helmets and berets is supposedly U.S. and Buncleswehr, another covers various WWII tank crew uniforms. However, as British, German, Russian and French tankers had berets, and various helmets were used, the figures can cover most of what's needed. 

Jack Scruby, P.O. Box 3125 Visalia, California 93277 strikes again. Not satisfied to have invented more scales than any two other manufacturers, Jack has returned with a vengeance to 54mm scale to offer, for the first time in years, infantry for a dollar, and cavalry for two dollars and a half. The horses are designed by Holger Erickson, and all show a flair for livliness with simple casting lines, both horse and foot. I rather like the idea myself, and was particularly pleased by what appears to be a British Grenadier of the American Revolutionary War reaching for a cartridge. Various accouterments are not supplied, but may be quite easily added by the hobbyist. For example, the saber of a Virginia Cavalryman holding a pistol goes a little beyond the edge of the horse blanket, but an extended scabbard may be added in almost any material. The minimum order is $.500. Also received were some of Jack's latest 25mm figures, which look like 23mm to me, but I'm not going to measure, the greater part being Bavarians of the Napoleonic era, others apparently troops of the American Revolution. These are very fine figures, and the collector who has cursed some of Jack's earlier efforts will be in for something of a shock.

Don Featherstone has done it. Wargame Campaigns, London, Stanley Paul, 1970, continues to bear witness to this perennial author's long standing threat that he could go on about wargaming (and on . . . and on . . . ) indefinitely. Featuring such diverse oddities as an 1859 Austro-French campaign, a flying column campaign based on Agincourt, a 1935 British Indian Army expedition, and all manner of more commonplace campaign notions. Any reader who has gone to the trouble of devising a campaign game will recognize in this book at least a statement, if not a definitive solution, to most of the crucial hurdles to be overcome. To the novice, I can only recommend extreme caution. The narrative, the maps and photos, etc. may prove intoxicatingly inspiring. Wargames of a campaign nature can be a lot of fun... but they are always a lot of work. Try not to saddle yourself with too many of them at one time. It is also a very good idea to get someone else to do all of the work - well, at least most of it, unless you can get several people all fired up at once.

Also cropping up are two new sets of modern wargame rules. Arnold J. Hendrick, after complaining about other rules, sent in a mimeograph copy of his own 1944 Game, 15 pages of basic rules plus appendixes, and a longish introductory preamble. In spite of the length of these rules, and their obvious complexity, the rules seem to be playable on reading them, and those who have had the opportunity to use them confirm this.

Yet another set of rules, commercially available in paperback booklet form, may be had from Michael Reese and Leon L. Tucker, A.01S. 707 South Mattis Avenue, Champagne, Illinois 61820. These are simply titled Fast Rules, and are being carried by some hobby shops, including The Hobby House of Laurel. I have been unable to review these rules as carefully as I should have, but they do appear to have much in common with earlier systems.

Gerhard Tobinnus, 3 Hannover Auf dern Dorn 24 is announcing a price increase of about 10%. My brief cram course in German was not needed to decipher the message. When I saw that the prices had done something, I knew what they had done. What else do prices do these days but erhohen? He also announces the following new items:

Spanish troops 1500: Sp 112 pikeman advancing. Sp116 pikeman halted, combination.
Horseman, 1500: Ri (Ritter) 57 halted, lance on shoulder. Ri58, faling horse injured. Ri59, 1/2 frontal, plunging horse. Sr19, halted, lance in hand. Sr8 holding horse, 1/2 front view. Sr32, halted, looking around.

Germans, 1500: DL14 pikeman standing, combination, and DL15, pikeman, 1/4 frontal, combination.

Don Featherstone has done it again. Owing to the inordinately long time spent in producing Volume II No. 8, Don has put out two new books. Besides Wargame Campaigns he has Battles with Model Soldiers. I did not find Battles with Model Soldiers as interesting as the other. Most of the photography was staged on the same terrain piece, and the examples and notions on rules were less thorough than his original efforts. However, Battles makes a more up to date summary for inexperienced players than is elsewhere available.