Fnurban #16 : The Airfix Guide to.. Serendipity

Serendipity is 'an unplanned fortunate discovery';  I experienced a small moment of serendipity the other day.  Walking near home, I chanced upon a few books which had been left out on a front garden wall, for anyone to take. Amongst them, this:   

 

Airfix magazine guide no.7 ,  Warship Modelling by Peter Hodges, published by Patrick Stephens Limited, 1975.   Well, I could hardly leave that unclaimed, could I?  Especially given that the weather forecast was for thundery showers, which duly arrived later in the day and might  have meant a soggy doom for this nice little volume.

So I picked it up and took it home. It's  a little 'spotty' and yellowed on the first few pages, but otherwise in pretty decent condition and thankfully looks to be mostly acid-free paper. The back-cover 'blurb' sums it up : 

"Now anyone can build accurate models of famous warships! This invaluable book provides detailed, easy-to-follow instructions on assembling, converting, painting and displaying models from the Airfix 1:600 scale range. It includes practical conversion examples as well as guidelines on such diverse subjects as flags and when they should be flown, altering full hull to waterline models, and creating 'sea' dioramas."

It packs a surprising amount of detail into 64 pages!  I'm afraid this is not my subject area, though, so I hoped I could find it a good home.  Quite surprisingly, that only took one email, and it will soon be making its way to a new and appreciative owner. 

Just before it goes, though, I thought I would take a picture of it, temporarily united with my own collection of these splendid little books, all acquired 'back in the day' when they were originally published.   And of course, I had a browse through them, for old times' sake..

 

I am pretty sure I will have acquired Bruce Quarrie's 'Napoleonic Wargaming' first - it was the earliest in the series ( 1974, price £1.20 )  and I suspect it was ideal for junior wargamers looking for something 'grown-up' and sophisticated. Maybe it also  found a gap in the market, as I think earlier introductory wargaming books by Don Featherstone and Terry Wise tended to use the ACW as their 'Horse and Musket' period - perhaps due to the earlier availability of Airfix ACW figures? 

Bruce's Napoleonic game, and one of many rules charts

Looking at it now, there is a lot of information in it, for example about the varying  organisation of units in the main armies of the time - he suggests different battalion strengths and structures  for different nations to reflect that. I rather like the use of 1:33 'men to figure' scale  ( each figure representing 3 ranks of 11 men? ),  3 figures for 100 men seemed quite easy to grasp, and battalions were a bit smaller than the monster 'Grant-size' units of 48-plus figures in 'The War Game', for example - and thus affordable!  But the rules were pretty complicated - loads of charts and tables ( different movement rates for Old Guard, Young Guard, Fusilier, Grenadier, Chasseur - blimey!), detailed 'national characteristics' which seemed to advantage the French (Pas de merde, Monsieur Sherlock!), and recording individual casualties and removing a figure once 33 'men'  were hit.  Too much book-keeping! But of course, complication meant 'realism'...  Still quite fondly remembered, though. 

Phil Barker's 'Ancient Wargaming' (1975)  I liked, though I didn't actually get as far as doing much Ancient Wargaming.  No rules here, as of course you were meant to buy the WRG Ancients rules which pretty much  held a monopoly at the time. That allowed Phil to use the book as more of a primer on the subject, and he certainly knew his stuff - quoting from Ancient military manuals from page one!   It's a great introduction, it has a nice chapter on how WRG got started, and really useful wargaming advice and tips -  how not to deploy your army on a given battlefield, for instance, and how to deploy effectively on the same ground. There's a pictorial battle report where the much-vaunted Macedonian Successors get thoroughly trounced by a bunch of hairy Celts - a great lesson. That sort of stuff should be relevant regardless of rules, and Phil certainly knew what he was talking about. I've spent an enjoyable hour on a sunny afternoon this week leafing through this one, I think it may be the best of the bunch. 

Macedonians getting drubbed by Celts - and tactical advice

Bruce Quarrie's 'WW2 Wargaming' (1976) - well, again it seemed a step forward in 'accuracy' from Charles Grant's 'Battle: Practical Wargaming' and again, it had masses  of information, this time on a huge range of armoured vehicles, so that kit of a Jadgtiger that you'd bought and hurriedly built could be fielded, alongside all the Airfix Tigers you had  ( and hardly any Panzer III or IVs, I suspect! ). The Tiger I movement rate is 168mm per turn, that's very Bruce Quarrie  ('you  moved it 170mm - you cheat!')   Tank guns could fire more than once per turn - the 88mm could fire 4 times, ouch!  I think that made for pretty bloody battles; and I suspect the Germans usually won - 'national characteristcs' again.  Overall, I don't think I got on too well with these  ( and in contrast, I think Charles Grant's elegantly simple rules probably stand up pretty well today ). 

Bruce Quarrie WW2 move rates - to the mm !

Terry Wise 'ACW Wargaming' (1977) - I had loved his 'Introduction to Battlegaming' ( another book I still have ) which had featured simple ACW rules and a great game report - this was another case of a step up in detail and seriousness, though encouragingly Terry was still happy to use the Airfix ACW figures ( and I suppose Airfix didn't mind that!).  Again lots of useful information on the armies, tactics and campaigns, and a full set of rules, which introduced the concept of the differing firearms carried by various units in  the opposing armies at different times, quite an important 'period' feature.  But I admit some features of those rules put me off - for example he dispensed with dice-rolls for firing.  Maybe the number of casualties could be just calculated based on averages, and that seemed more 'scientific' and accurate,  but it just seemed a lot less fun with no dice to roll! And how to allow for the randomness of damp powder, smoke in the eyes, stressed officers, panicky troops etc?  I had a few boxes of the Airfix figures, still have a few ( on beer-mat bases, very 1970s! ), but it never quite  took off with me. 

Terry Wise 'no dice' firing tables - quite bloody, too

George Gush's 'The English Civil War' (1978) was my favourite  back then, I think - partly just becuase I liked the period so much, having been introduced to it by Stuart Asquith's series of articles in 'Battle' and 'Military Modelling', and George's brilliant 'Renaissance Armies'. Like the Ancients book, there was no rule set included -because again, you were pointed to the WRG set for the period, which had also been written ( of course ) by George.  It's a straightforward introduction with chapters on  The Course of the War, Weapons and Equipment, Organisation and Tactics etc, and of course George really was the expert in the period.  Actual wargaming gets just one chapter, but I loved the account of a  game, an exciting convoy ambush  between 'Puddleby' and 'Little Pottering'  which I still mean to actually play someday.  I  just need to get some wagons.. ( says he, 40 years later ).

Puddleby and Little Pottering immortalised

So there we are - serendipity indeed!  A chance find has led to several happy ( or wasted - should be painting !)  hours browsing through these nice little books and invoking fond memories. I'm sure some of them still have quite a lot to offer, even if the rules systems they propose are no longer in favour.  I am quite tempted to get the George Gush  ECW rules out and try that convoy ambush sometime!   Overall, I think Phil Barker's 'Ancient Wargaming' is the pick of the bunch, for his depth of learning and his fund of good  advice, which has not aged - I bet current gamers  getting into 'Strength and Honour' or 'Mortem et Gloriam'  could learn just as much from it. 

Right, I must get  'Warship Modelling' packed up and posted to its new owner, who I'm sure will thoroughly enjoy it.  After that, I should be doing some painting.. Prussian 9th Infantry 'Jung Kleist' are tantalisingly close to completion at last!   Keep well, and safe, everyone.