I never actually owned any copies from volume 5... so it was nice to have a read and visit the past.
One article really caught my eye...
An American Civil War Wargame Army For Beginners... by A. Mason.
I have scanned it so that you good readers can hopefully enjoy it as well.
The thing that I love about this article is that the information and advice is in my opinion as relevant now as it was back in 1972...
My basic starting point for an army is 8 infantry units, 2 cavalry units and 2 artillery...
I love the costing up at the end... £2.89 for two whole armies... I wish....
Here are some pictures to increase the nostalgia...
And yes... I am tempted...
All the best Aly
Love it Aly - love the relevance of a well written and researched article which aims to make a period easy to understand and game.
ReplyDeleteThank you Carlo...
DeleteIt’s interesting that it is just one page with no photos... yet it manages to fire the imagination...
All the best. Aly
I had several of those Airfix sets back in 1972.
ReplyDeleteMy first set was the Grenadier Guards... then the Union Infantry...
DeleteThey fought each other constantly...
All the best. Aly
Excellent interlude--the addition of the shots of the Airfix packages really brings it home (and brings back memories). This approach from '72 resonates well today (as you suggest).
ReplyDeleteThanks Ed...
DeleteThe article enthused me to look at the miniatures on line... but it doesn’t come over as a mere marketing ploy...
All the best. Aly
I had all these Airfix sets too Aly, although I don't recognize these boxes - I think I must have been next generation....the cost IS incredibly low - even adjusted for inflation (see below) By contrast, I remember when I first started buying Minifigs metal figures around 1978, they were 8p each!
ReplyDeleteTook this from the Bank of England site:
What would goods and services costing
£ 3 in 1972 cost in 2018
Show amount
£37.63
I suspect that as the Airfix figures now have “vintage” status they will cost a lot more...;-)
DeleteAll the best. Aly
Great find of an article and very tempting to create some armies with the available plastic figures.
ReplyDeleteYes it is indeed very tempting...
DeleteAll the best. Aly
Those boxes take me right back to my childhood. I liked the way you could have a peek at the contents. At our local Post Office Mrs Thomson had infinite patience even if you were just buying a single plastic knight. Time to choose was given happily. I recall these Airfix boxes up on racks waiting... not to mention the kits in polly bags.
ReplyDeleteThose classic ‘window’ boxes are so evocative... I am surprised no one has tried to replicate them...
DeleteAll the best. Aly
A wonderful, nostalgic find Aly! Takes me right back to the 1960’s and my Airfix ACW armies!
ReplyDeleteCheers David...
DeleteIt’s fairly obvious that we are all of a certain age/generation...
All the best. Aly
OMG ! that takes me back ! I remember those boxes in Woolworths . I started my first 'proper' wargaming with them using Donald Featherstone rules .
ReplyDeleteI remember Woolworths in Edinburgh previewing future releases beside the Airfix racks.... it used to drive us all mad with impatience,excitement and frustration...
DeleteAll the best. Aly
It was these figures and 'Charge' that got me going in wargaming.
ReplyDeleteIt was Featherstone for me...
DeleteAll the best. Aly
Pretty much all been said above but "Wonderful!". Those were "my" Airfix boxes. Don F suggested 20 men + 2 officers and the same system of grouping poses. Oddly my 1/72nd plastic are now in units of 18 all ranks but mixed poses with a common theme.
ReplyDeleteIf I do my calculations right and buy mostly the cheaper brands of plastic (esp Imex) it looks like you could do these armies for about 100 UK pounds or about twice the equivalent price which is actually pretty good.
I was looking at some of the current brands ... I think Stelets are the only ones quirky enough to come close to Airfix... but Airfix win out on pure nostalgia alone...
DeleteThey are currently rereleasing some of their Classic kits and miniatures...it would be nice if they revisited the ACW...
All the best. Aly
Interesting article Aly - I bought 6 boxes of airfix confederates from the "Timmer" market in Aberdeen when I was a primary school lad. I had just read an article in War Monthly about the Siege of Port Arthur which I found in my classroom (proper stuff to read in those days, none of your mamby pamby nonsense) and with my local library's copy Featherstone's "Wargames" set out to start gaming....
ReplyDeleteI've never looked back!
My first look at “Wargames” was in my local library along with Little Wars...
DeleteThey had me at hello...
I was also given a book on WW2 tanks as a school prize... I can’t imagine that happening now...
All the best. Aly
Nice trip down memory lane, a common theme develops as I had a box of each as well, might still have them a in a box somewhere. Never got the cavalry or artillery as I then collected Napoleonics instead. Look where I have ended up nearly fifty years later 😀 the nice thing is we can now play the games we always wanted to or aspired to as kids.
ReplyDeleteYes...as I have said before... I am currently reliving a childhood that my parents couldn’t afford give me...
DeleteOh!... and I also make toy soldiers for a living .
I don’t suppose we will ever grow up....:-)
All the best. Aly
A grand post Aly, but I suddenly feel very old.
ReplyDeleteThank you Phil...
DeleteAt our age you have to be careful... that warm feeling might not just be nostalgia...
All the best. Aly
Nice post,mid seventies I guess, I had those Airfix civil war types,long gone although I'm pretty sure I still have the Airfix ACW guide,I really liked those little books,entirely black and White tiny images,it was the ECW Airfix guide with it's photos and AAR plus army lists for WRG that got me hooked, long ago in the last century!
ReplyDeleteBest Iain
Thanks Ian...
DeleteI’ve still got a few of the Airfix guides... I love them...splendid little introductions to the hobby.
All the best. Aly
Great find Aly. Like most of the commentors I too had these, my first wargames figures, and in 1972 as well. They cost me $NZ0.48 a box about 25p at the time). I had thousands of them and kept them untl the early '80s. I have no idea what happend to them in the end.
ReplyDeleteNostalgia is a wonderful thing...although Frank Zappa thought differently: he thought that the world was more likely to be destroyed paperwork and nostalgia than it was from fire and ice.
The thing about nostalgia is that I get the feeling that I’ve seen it all before...
DeleteMr Z is right about one thing though... paper work... whatever happened to the paperless office we were promised?...
All the best. Aly
Wonderful stuff. Reading that article was as close as I'm ever going to come to experiencing time travel. How far we've come since the 70's - but how much we've lost in the process. I can't imagine the youngsters of today being able to afford to get into the hobby to any degree let alone being happy as I was with the fairly amateurish figure conversions mentioned in the article. The clincher for me was the mention of sticking the figures to a base with bostick. I wonder if that stuff even exists any more?
ReplyDeleteWe have come a long way indeed... but although these articles my seem a bit amateurish nowadays... they are brimming with sincerity.
DeleteI think you can still get Bostick... but I suspect it may be solvent free now...
All the best. Aly
Aly,
ReplyDeleteI managed to get a full set of Miniature Warfare from John Tunstill himself. Those Airfix boxes bring back so many memories and of course I got into the period through Airfix and refighting the campaign from the magazine of the ACW in Ireland - the Storming of Mullinger I can still remember.
Now feelining nostalgically enthused.
I picked up volumes 1-4 from John a few years ago... they are still a joy to read.
DeleteAll the best. Aly
Interesting article, thanks for sharing, my favourite book or the Period is Wise's 'Battlegaming', and this is very much in the same vein.
ReplyDeleteInteresting also that the author makes the point you need to paint the Rebel artillery but says nothing of the Union force, suggesting he was [still?] buying the all-blue set, helping nerds like me date it's availability!
H
Thank you Hugh...
DeleteIt was a pleasure...
I’ve just been on your Airfix blog... a man could get lost in that... splendid.
All the best. Aly
Thank you for the article , i was too on airfix nostalgia ...as i found WWI airfix in Peronne WW1 museum a few weeks ago !
ReplyDeletehow do you plan to paint them ? will you use the famous brown liquid ?
and basing ?
i can't wait to see the result !!
best regards
paco
Thank you Paco...
DeleteIt appears we are all children of Airfix....
Ah! To paint then I would first have to own them... sadly Airfix discontinued many years ago....and I am not sure I can afford the vintage eBay prices...
I only hope they get rereleased age one of Airfix’s classic ranges...
All the best. Aly
Thanks for sharing the Article. To me Airfix ACW are the only figures or what ACW figures should be, however good any new figures are. Animals aren’t the only things to imprint on what is around them as youngsters. Airfix nostalgia - I think it’s just imprinting from childhood ...
ReplyDeletehopefully as you say the Airfix classics range will be extended one day.
It was a pleasure...
ReplyDeleteI think I will always have a soft spot for the Airfix ACW range... they were also the basis for a number of my early conversion attempts...
All the best. Aly