At last I have managed to get hold of the latest Airfix figures "American War of Independence -- Washington's Army" and I have the greatest pleasure in reporting upon them. I think this is a very interesting offering that may well start an upsurge of interest in 13th Century wargaming. With a minimum of 35 usable figures in the box for 15P you cannot really go wrong, can you? About the only snag that I can see in using these figures for other than the American War of Independence is that they are positioned in typically informal poses which, in most cases, would not be adopted by the rigidly trained formations of Marlborough's campaigns or the Seven Years War.
The kit contains six kneeling, firing infantry; six standing firing infantry; six infantry advancing at the high-port; four infantry standing re-loading; four infantry laying down firing; four infantry crawling along; a drummer; two officers and a character with his hat in one hand and either a flag trailing on the ground or his shirt hanging out on the other side. Then there is a mounted officer and two men straining themselves in a hernia-inducing position by lifting two barrels (could be rum or gunpowder). Finally, there is a useless if touching little group of two men carrying a wounded man sitting on a musket with his arms around their should- ers. Knowing the ingenuity of wargamers I have little doubt that this will be con- verted into something but I will be interested to know what! The figures are more 20mm than 25mm, in accordance with the normally accepted Airfix scale but out of Rroportion when compared to the latest line of Niniature Figurines models or those (Napoleonics only) put out by Hinchliffe.
Since the introduction of Helmet 54mm kits in December last, ten different heavy cavalry models have been released and at least another five will be available during the year. The manufacturers are tooling-up to make a new series of kits which will be moulded in the same plastic material that has proved so successful with the original models. Following requests for a model of a standing horse to add to the present range of three horses moulded in action positions, Helmet have made arrangement with Britains Limited to make available a special horse. This is a delightful 54mm scale horse originated by Britains and not normally available through retail shops. It portrays a Hanoverian/Holsten horse and is typical of the Craceful war horses used throughout Europe during the 18th and 19th centuries.
The new horses will be moulded in brown polythene but they can easily be painted with any modellers, paints. No harness has been moulded onto the horses but bridle straps and reins can easily be added with thin strips of self-adhesive label. The horse will be very suitable for use with a gun carriage teai standing behind cannon which Helmet intend to produce later.
Still on figures Barry Carter has sent me a fascinating advert headed "Soldiers Galore!" It reads "Rare opportunity to purchase an assortment of exceptionally well-made coloured plastic soldiers 2" high. Historical, finely detailed soldiers "through the ages" - many varieties. 40 soldiers for only 40p, postage and packing price. Supplies are limited. Proceeds for charity. P.O./Cheques to7 Gr Road, Sonning Common, Near Reading, Berks.11
Knocking around the hobby shops are some very interesting and low priced pieces of terrain known as "Power Play Battle Grounds" (Hallam Street, Stockport, Cheshire, SK2 6QQ). They measure 24" square and cost 60p each. Each sheet is designed to join on any three sides by one or more other sheets so that they can be linked up in a variety of permutations to make up different terrains. So far it is possible to obtain Beach Landing, Trench System, Blockhouse Defence, Harbour, Ravine and Ruined Village. They are made of thin plastic and paint up very well - fixed on to a piece of hardboard or chipboard and embellished with bushes etc., they are a very cheap and excellent piece of terrain.
The excellent selection of British and foreign Military Band L.P's obtainable from N Hartley of 41 Swanmore Road, Bournemouth, Hants, has been mentioned previously in this magazine. Their latest list includes "The Vanishing Regiments" by the Royal Military School of Music, Kneller Hall (REB 89); French Cavalry marches (140DE 9563); French Military marches (CV 970); Marches of Napoleon (MuDE 9564); Soviet Military marches (25433/4); Old Austrian Military marches (AVRS 9228) and many others.
J.T. Newton of the Newcastle Wargames Group, (County Hall, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, N.F.1 1RQ) has sent me two sets of rules. One is for Vorld War I Air wargaming and, although I have not played with these rules, they are seemingly a very useful addition to a much neglected facet of wargaming. Glancing through them and recalling the brain-pounding it took to write my book "Air wargames" they seem to me to be very workable and good fun. The second set are English Civil ,jar Rules and Joe Newton tells me that ".... they were really produced due to your own and Mr. Neville Dickinson's ideas from your own sets of rules". I don't know about Neville but I do not mind this providing the rules are for use within the Club and not being put out commercially. I might add that when I made a set of rules for the Wessex Military Society's English Civil War project each set was numbered and marked to the effect that they were my own copyright. If anyone is interested, I have a few sets of these English Civil ,.Iar rules left at 20p per set including postage.
For the last two or three years the list of "The Literature of Wargaming" shown regularly on the inside rear cover of this magazine has included a booklet "WARGAMES TERRAIN." For some time this has been out of print but I now have it back in circulation, completely re-styled and commercially printed with 31 photographs plus 11 black and white illustrations. This sells at 55p including postage and packing and gives a very fair basic idea of how to improve ones wargaming terrain with many excellent examples of other people's handiwork from the photographs.
Alan Sapherson, the well-known Leeds wargamer, has started a wargamer's "emporium" at 146 Harrogate Road, Chapel Allerton, Leeds 7, Yorkshire. lie is selling figures, books, etc., and, of considerable interest to those who are "terrainconscious" he stocks a fair variety of those lovely cut-out cardboard houses and castles manufactured on the Continent.
Readers may have seen the full-page coloured advert (for whisky) appearing in the Times Supplement, showing a very fine Waterloo terrain with a host of figures (many of them seem to be Hinton Hunts). To the many who have asked if the terrain is by Peter Gilder, the answer is no -- but at Hull a few weekends ago I saw his 24 x 6' Waterloo terrain with about 4,000 of his incomparable figures and it is even better than that in the advert!
The Military Philatelic Section, 98 Dominion Road, JorthinL7,, Sussex, U.K., have produced a series of 12 prints by Stadden of British Military Uniforms - in varying sizes, these seem to me to be remarkably cheap.
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© Copyright 1971 by Donald Featherstone.
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