Almark Publications

Almark was a company that was hard to get your head round - prolific publisher, of books and the short-lived (I think) magazine Almark Modelworld; producer of the plastic and metal Charles Stadden designed World War 2 wargames figures (see my The Old Metal Detector blog here); and other interests including 54mm figures.

This post is mainly about the books - published in both hardback and paperback versions. With the passage of time the wisdom of investing in the hardbacks has become clear - the paperbacks were produced in the format laughingly called "perfect bound", with individual pages glued into the spine - not a good recipe for frequent use as a painting reference.

Authors included Emir Bukhari, Rene North, Alan Kemp, Michael Head and David Nash. The format included line drawings, colour plates and photographs. They could vary - the Prussian Army volume has delightful line drawings of gnome like figures who look like either children dressed up or early prototypes for Wargames Foundry figures.

I haven't been able to locate anything like a complete list of Almark titles, so have illustrated this post with some of those I have in my library (below). The three advertisments above are all taken from issues of Almark Modelworld.


The Books

Blandford Forum

In the pre-internet days uniform information was at a premium and could be hard to find. Articles in magazines such as Military Modelling, Almark Modelworld, and Airfix Magazine helped, as did a small number of well-thumbed and loved books.

One very important resource was the series of books published by Blandford Press, typically with 100+ colour plates in the middle of the books, bracketed by introductions and text notes. The quality of the artwork could vary from book to book, but included artists such as Carman, Cassin-Scott and McGregor. The archetypal book for me is the Preben Kannik Military Uniforms of the World in Colour.

As well as books on uniforms, there were volumes covering badges and insignia, military flags, tanks and AFVs. Other subjects included ships and aircraft.

This format comprised the Blandford Colour Series. The original editions were small hardbacks; there were later, slightly larger paperbacks. I have provided a list below - this is not supposed to be comprehensive, but I've included the titles I think might be of the greatest interest, along with those I happen to have. The illustrated covers are a random selection from my bookshelf.

Blandford Colour Series

Warriors & Weapons 3000BC-1700AD, N Saxtorph
Medieval Military Dress 1066-1500, C Rothero
Military Uniforms of the World, , Preben Kannik & W>Y Carman
Infantry Uniforms of Britain & the Commonwealth 1742-1855, R & C Wilkinson-Latham
Cavalry Uniforms of Britain & the Commonwealth 1742-1953, R & C Wilkinson-Latham
Uniforms of the Seven Year War 1756-63, J Mollo & M McGregor
Uniforms of the American Revolution, J Mollo & M McGregor
Uniforms of the Napoleonic Wars 1796-1814, J Cassin-Scott
Uniforms of the Peninsular War 1807-14, P Haythornwaite & M Chappell
Uniforms of the Retreat from Moscow, P Haythornwaite & M Chappell
Uniforms of the Battle of Waterloo, P Haythornwaite, J Cassin-Scott, & M Chappell
World Uniforms & Battles 1815-50, P Haythornwaite & M Chappell
Infantry Uniforms of Britain & the Commonwealth 2 1855-1939, R & C Wilkinson-Latham
Uniforms of the American Civil War, P Haythornwaite & M Chappell
Army Uniforms of World War 1, A Mollo & P Turner
German Uniforms of the Third Reich 1933-45, B.L. Davis & P Turner
World Army Uniforms since 1939, A Mollo & D Smith
Army Uniforms of World War 2, A Mollo & P Turner
Naval, Marine & Air Force Uniforms of World War 2, A Mollo & M McGregor
Army Uniforms since 1945, D Smith & M Chappell

Military Flags of the World 1618-1900, T Wise & G Rosignoli

Tanks and other Armoured Fighting Vehicles 1900-1918, B.T. White
Military Transport of World War 1, C. Ellis and D. Bishop
Artillery in Colour 1920-63, I Hogg
Tanks and other AFVs of the Blitzkrieg Era 1939-41, B.T. White
Tanks and other AFVs 1942-45, B.T. White
Military Transport of World War 2, C. Ellis and D. Bishop
Tanks and other tracked vehicles in service, B.T. White



Horse-Drawn Vehicles since 1760, Arthur Ingram



To follow: Almarks, and Rene North

I just liked this....

I am very wary of claims to the spirit of wargaming (you know who you are) but something about this reminded me of the innocent pleasures of Charles Grant's Battle: Practical Wargaming.

Rapid Fire may be a little recent for Vintage tastes, but it has shared DNA with John Sandars rules and that is good enough for me.

The Big Battle League: Et in Arcadia Ego

THE INVASION OF ARCADIA 1975 by the Big Battle League

This article was published in Battle Magazine May 1976 and has been mentioned on the Society of Gentleman Gamers forum.Terry Mutlow and Neil Roberts were the driving forces behind the project and asked Terry Wise to umpire the game by the War Department, a wargames club based in New Malden Surrey.

Other clubs involved were the North London Wargames Society, South London and the Whitehall Warlords and the Hampton and the Wandsworth Wargames clubs.

The game was played on a hall floor 48 by 24 feet over 1100 square feet of battlefield. There were more than 40 players and used models from WWII to 1975, including 4000 infantry, 700 AFVs and 200 aircraft, 40 landing craft and other naval assets.

Tyberius, who posted about the article, is interested in finding out the following:

Is there anyone out there who participated in the original game, or who knows of those that participated in this game?

Is there any more information about this game - who played, any pictures, highlights etc.

Did the Big Battle league organise any other games?

Any comments or further information would be welcome.

Searching Vintage Wargaming

In my recent quest to make it easier to find what you are looking for here, whether you know it is there but can't find it again, or if you haven't seen it here before but wonder if something might be here, I have added a search facility (at the top of the right hand column of the blog).

Don't forget you can also use the labels systems or the blog archive at the bottom of the page.

Steve Hezzlewood, Pax Britannica, RSM and X Range

This post is by way of being a bit of a place holder and statement of intent, as I try to pull together some material of interest about this complicated character. My defining moment of contact with him was being blown away in around 1985 by adverts for a lovely new range of 20mm Colonials under the title Pax Britannica. Having sent off a largish order, I heard no more - it was only a few years ago realised I was not the only one to have had this experience.

Steve Hezzlewood designed some of the best, anatomically proportioned figures - in 20mm the Pax Pritannica and RSM Colonials, Napoleonics and American Civil War figures, now available from Dayton Painting Consortium in the States; the RSM 25mm Seven Years War Range (also available from DPC); and the Hinchliffe X Range American War of Independence - now available from Ian Hinds.

If you have not seen any of these figures, you really should take a look at them. The 20mm figures are what I would call small 20mm - think Newline.

For more on Steve Hezzlewood, including his Raid on Boucharde article from the Wargames Manual of 1983, can be found over on DC's Unfashionably Shiny blog.

There is also a history of Pax Britannica on Vintage20Mil.

Blog Archive

At Foy's suggestion, I have added a blog archive to allow people to track past posts through time, as an alternative to searching using labels. The only space I have been able to find for it is at the bottom of the blog. Maybe not the most helpful place for it, but at least if you know about it and you want to use it, it's there.

"Recent Comments" feature added

Vintage Wargaming is perhaps not a typical blog, as the currency of posts does not depend on how recently they were made (mainly being about old stuff). For a while I have realised that some of the comments left on this blog may be missed by some visitors, as they may be to posts made some time ago, as new people discover the blog and delve into its earlier content. This seems a shame, both for people who have made comments which may not be generally seen, and for people who may miss comments which would be interesting or informative for them.

I have added a blogger gadget to the blog design, under the followers box in the right hand margin. This will display summaries of the ten most recent comments - clicking on them will take you to the comment, in the context of the original post.

I'll run this as a trial feature and if people like it will stick with it.

Marcus Hinton at work and play

MILITARY MINIATURES

Priceless Pathe newsreel footage of Marcus Hinton, tipped off to this by Paul in Oz, and beaten to putting it up by Ian at Hinton Hunt Vintage Wargames Figures blog

Click on the picture to view.

Miniature Figurines WW1 Warships range listings

Following a thread on TMP I thought it would be helpful to post this list here.

There are pictures of some of the models in two posts on Bob Cordery's Wargaming Miscellany blog

here

and

here

Free Form Flags

A recent e-bay purchase of old Alberken/Minifigs 20mm figures included these two hand drawn, rather impressionistic flags. As I rather like them, I thought I would share them here.

Minifigs S Range Seven Years War

Over on the Lone S Ranger blog I have posted some information on these figures. There are a number of figures which I have not been able definitely to identify, and there are also a fair number for which I have no pictures. If you know this range quite well, or maybe even have figures from it, I would be grateful if you e a look at the blog and pass on any further identification help you may be able to give.

These posts can be found here.

HG Wells outgunned

HG Wells famously used matchstick-firing artillery models in his Little Wars, but he would have been seriously outgunned by Franz Stollberg, unearthed by Don Featherstone in Wargamer's Newsletter 101, of August 1970.

Operation Warboard

One of the early books which seems to get unjustly neglected is Gavin Lyall's Operation Warboard (though it does have a number of strong adherents). Lyall was better known as a thriller writer, and was married to the journalist Katherine Whitehorn.

I wonder if anyone out there remembers making the machine gun grid for this game...

I am fortunate that my copy of the book is the original hardback (though I have a sneaking suspicion I may have a paperback copy somewhere too).

The pictures show the front and back covers of the hardback (published Adam and Charles Black 1976) and an ad for the Pan paberback from Military Modelling incorporating Battle for wargamers from November 1978.

Milestone: 100,000 hits

I've been keeping an eye on the blog counter this evening and it has just gone past 100,000 hits. Thanks to everyone who visits, or comments.

The old and the new: Command&Colors: Napoleonics with vintage figures

I'm not really sure which blog to put this on, so I'm posting it here and on the Hinton Hunter.

This weekend saw a visit almost to the Kingdom of Fife, to join Tony of Prometheus in Aspic in test playing Richard Borg's new Command&Colors Napoleonics with vintage figures - Tony's Peninsular French against my Hinton Hunt and Der Kriegspieler Russians and Prussians.

An emergency visit to my local timber merchants on Thursday morning equipped me with around 40 120mm square sabots made from 4mm MDF (£6 the lot); with these and three trays of figure we were good to go.

Others have been playing C&C: Napoleonics with figures (see Conrad Kinch's recent excursion on Joy and Forgetfulness) but the combination of Tony's hex based set up, and the vintage figures we used, made for an interesting spectacle. We played three games - the Rolica first French position and second French position scenarios to a conclusion, all within one day including lunch out and an Indian takeaway. The Russians and Prussians stood in for the British in these scenarios, using French (rather than British) unit characteristics.

The game worked well, was easy to pick up, thoroughly enjoyable and somehow seemed appropriate to the figures. Along with Tony, I wouldn't want it to be the only Napoleonic rules I ever played, but it was thoroughly enjoyable and refreshing to get three games played right through in such a short time. Plenty of surprises to keep you on the toes, and of course Tony had done all the hard work of customising the dice and cards from the game.

Here are two slideshows, one for each of the scenarios (we played the second one twice.

Battle of Rolica: French first position

Battle of Rolica: French second position

Luck in Wargaming? by Tony Bath, in Miniature Warfare Vol 1 No 5 June 1968

By request #1: Napoleonic Fighting Formations by John Davis, Miniature Warfare Vol 1 no 1 February 1968

This and the following three posts have been made in response to a request from Chris, who was looking for specific articles from early issues of Miniature Warfare.

By request #2: Napoleonic Formations Part 2 by John Davis, Miniature Warfare Vol 1 no 2 March 1968

By request #3: Napoleonic Formations Part 3 by John Davis, Miniature Warfare Vol 1 no 3 April 1968