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.

Usborne Battlegame books

Usborne are a UK children's publishing firm who in their time have produced much of interest to wargamers, including their Make this... series which included medieval town, village, cathedral and castle titles, some of which have been reissued.

The Battlegame books - Wild West, Knights at War, Galactic War, and World War II - by Andrew McNeil were published in 1975 and each included four simple but effective battllegames. The rules and counters were included in the centre of the book. I have posted a little on the contents of each title below.

Their serious credetials included illustrators including Gerry Embleton and Angus McBride, and Games designed by Dave Rotor and Citadel Boardgames, among others.

Usborne Battlegame book 1 The Wild West

I never had this book originally. Illustrators included Gerry Embleton.

The four games are:

1 Buffalo Hunters - native Indian tribes compete to capture wild horses and hunt buffalo

2 Red Cloud's War - warring tribes try to stop the US Army wagon trains reaching beleagured Fort Keogh

3 Iron Horse - player race to lay railroad tracks across the centre of America

4 Lincoln County War - Billy the Kid faces gatling guns in a range war

Usborne Battlegame book 2 Knights at War

Probably my favourite, this book was illustrated by Gerry Embleton and Angus McBride, among others.

The four games are:

1 The Battle of Arsouf - Richard the Lionheart against Saladin

2 Siege! - rival lords (the Earl d'Assault and Baron de Fender) struggle for control of a castle

3 Border Raiders - knights try to drive back invaders who are burning villges and plundering cattle

4 Tournament - jousting in a grand tournament

I remember playing the Arsouf and Siege games. I am missing the pieces for Arsouf and Border Raiders but the rules list the pieces and miniatures should substitutre well.

Usborne Battlegame book 3 Galactic War

This was the book I had the least interest in. It had some serious wargaming credentials as two of the games (1 and 4 below) were devised by Dave Rotor.

The games are:

1 Space Pirates - rival companies race to bring valuable minerals back to Earth from the asteroid belt

2 Deadly Planet - surviving in an alien environment

3 Invasion Earth! - search and destroy mission against aliens breeding in the Pacific Ocean

4 Galactic War - the Stellar Federation battle the Krul, each trying to capture the enemy's headquarters planet

Usborne Battlegame book 4 World War II

Written by Andrew McNeil, the four games were:

1 Winter War - Eastern Front 1943 with the Germans defending a railway junction against the Russians, who have 12 moves to capture it

2 Carrier - flat tops and amphibious landings in the Pacific

3 Air Assault - American daylight bombing raid in 1943 against occupied France

4 Beach-Head - D-Day landing game using The Funnies

The Carrier and Beach-Head games were designed by Citadel Boardgames Ltd.

I remember playing the Carrier and Air Assault games quite frequently but not the others. My current copiy has the pieces for these two games unused, but not the others. The rules pages identify the different pieces so they lend themselves to replacement by appropriate figures and models.

Wargaming Operation Sealion, by Terry Wise, from Airfix Magazine December 1975

Thanks again to Twmas

Humbrol Authenticards Series 2 #3 pictures

Thanks to Mike for these pics of the missing Series 2 card for British Napoleonic Infantry. I have added them to the original post.

Humbrol Authenticards Series 2 Napoleonics

In the long ago pre Osprey and pre interweb days, uniform information was hard to come by. Maybe people of a certain age will therefore remember how exciting the release of the Humbrol Authenticards was. A joint effort to sell Humbrol Authentic Military Colour enamel paints and Hinchliffe 25mm Napoleonic figures, series 2 illustrated Napoleonic uniforms using coloured versions of Norman Swales' line drawings of the Hinchliffe Napoleonics range. (Series 1 included World War 1 and 11 aircraft and WW11 tanks).

I am glad to say that Hornby Hobbies Ltd, who now own both Airfix and Humbrol, have given their permission for me to post the series 2 cards here. I am definitely missing #3, which looks like it must have been British Napoleonic Infantry, and I suspect there may have been a #15 illustrating Austrian Cavalry. If anyone has either of these or can provide scans of them, or indeed if anyone knows if there were other in the series beyond #14, I would be glad to hear from you.

Humbrol Authenticards Series 2 #2 British Napoleonic Cavalry

Humbrol Authenticards Series 2 #2 British Napoleonic Elite Cavalry

Humbrol Authenticards Series 2 #3 British Napoleonic Infantry

Humbrol Authenticards Series 2 #4 British and French Napoleonic Artillery Crew

Humbrol Authenticards Series 2 #5 French Napoleonic Imperial Guard Infantry

Humbrol Authenticards Series 2 #6 French Napoleonic Line Infantry

Humbrol Authenticards Series 2 #7 French Napoleonic Light Cavalry