That Terry Wise article

Thanks to Matt and indirectly to old John, here is a scan of the Airfix magazine article by Terence Wise from Airfix Magazine July 1978.

I'm afraid the quality of the scan isn't so good though I have put it through Paint Shop to sharpen up the text (the photos are particularly poor though)

Request - Airfix magazine article from July 1978

I have had an email from Adrian in Germany who years ago produced a Napoleonic Austrian army from Airfix conversions inspired by an article by Terry Wise in Airfix Magazine July 1978. He no longer has the army or the article, but inspired by Matt's Airfix Wargames Blog he would like to recreate the one with the help of the other. If anyone has access to a copy of the article please could you email me using the Contacting Vintage Wargaming button at the head of this page and I will pass it on.

Mike Blake on Airfix AWI conversions, Almark Modelworld November 1972

First of a series of four articles (the rest to follow) by Mike Blake on converting Airfix figures for the American War of Independence.

Ground breaking stuff for the time, in one of my favourite magazines.

Airfix Waterloo Wargame 1975 - Description of the Battle

With thanks to Airfix for permission to post the contents of the booklet accompanying the game and to Alan for the scans.

The booklet had three sections - description of the battle, construction and painting, and rules. These are reproduced section by section here and in the next two posts.

Airfix have indicated they might consider re-releasing the game in 2015 for the bicentenary, if there is support for this.

Airfix Waterloo Wargame 1975 - Construction and Painting

With thanks to Airfix for permission to post these, and to Alan for the scans.

Airfix Waterloo Wargame 1975 - The Rules

Again with thanks to Airfix for the permission to post these and to Alan for providing the scans.

Airfix Waterloo Wargame

My thanks to Alan for his permission to re-post these pictures and some text from his recent posts on the Airfix Tribute Forum

There is a previous Vintage Wargaming post here with a scan of the original advert. This came from 1976 which gives an approximate date for its release.

While I have some hard plastic Airfix Napoleonic figures which obviously are pieces from the game, I hadn't seen the other contents of the set, and there are few pictures of it on the internet anywhere.

Alan writes:

The game itself is pretty simple. Each side moves 15,000 men each turn and then the clock is moved on 15 minutes. Combat occurs when two or more opposing units come into contact or if they are in range of artillery. The number of men plus whether Napoleon or Wellington are with them for morale and whether any are in a stronghold and the throw of the dice are all taken into account and the winner decided. Napoleon must take 30,000 allies by 4.30pm or Wellington wins. There isn't much more to it than that really, but it's good fun!

First, some images of the mat:

Then the figures:

Game equipment:

The calipers.

Alan writes there is a set for each player/team. They are pretty self explanatory. A straight line under infantry, artillery or cavalry shows how far they can move on road in a go. A bumpy line underneath is how far they can travel on rough terrain. And the 10 is whether pieces are in artillery range. All units are in centimeters. 1cm = 100 yards.

The time/loss dial

Alan writes - again, self explanatory. Each move the player can move 15,000 troops and then the clock is moved on 15 minutes. Napoleon has to take 30,000 of Wellington's troops by the time the clock reaches 4.30pm (20th move) otherwise it is assumed that Blucher has arrived in sufficient force to help Wellington to win the battle.

The booklet (history, uniforms and rules)

Plastic Artillery Conversions by John Edgecumbe

This article from Miniature Warfare magazine February 1970 just about scrapes in to the Airfix ACW theme as these German WW1 guns and equipment are converted from the Airfix ACW set.

At a time when pretty much anything you want is available from a range of manufacturers and in a range of scales, and where you can often view and buy them on line, this article reminds us of a different time, when modelling, converting, bodging and other ways of making do were necessary even for some mainstream items.

This will be the last ACW Airfix related post for a while. I do intend to add further articles to the series on Juhn Tunstill's Miniature Warfare ACW Campaign in Ireland (see earler posts here)