I have mentioned my so-called AIRFIX Project a couple of times, and several of you have asked for more details … so here goes.
Firstly – and most importantly – I have renamed it the ‘Nostalgia’ Project for reasons that will become apparent.
Secondly, this project is a product of my age. As I grow older I look back to my earlier wargaming exploits for inspiration … and because they were FUN! That is not to say that my current wargaming is not fun; it is just that, with hindsight, the wargames of my youth have acquired a probably totally unjustified sense of importance in my mind. They now seem to have been epic struggles that lasted for days, whereas the truth is that they probably lasted a couple of hours and had to be packed away in time for the family’s evening meal.
Thirdly, it is a reaction against the seemingly endless progression of new ranges of new figures in a variety of scales – 6mm, 10mm, 12mm, 15mm, 20mm, 28mm … and more! My boyhood wargames were fought with a very restricted range of 20mm/1:87th scale figures and models – almost all came from AIRFIX and ROCO Minitanks, with the occasional Matchbox vehicle thrown in for good measure. The models were basic – and there was not a lot of choice – and the figures were small and the detail was minimal. Oddly enough, this made them easier to paint using what was then the ‘standard’ method of painting – blocks of colour with no shading.
So I am planning to indulge myself by creating a series of 20th century imagi-nations (just like the two I had as a boy: Opeland and Upsland) that will be ‘armed’ by AIRFIX, ROCO, and any other manufacturer of ‘proper’ 20mm/1:87th scale models. They will recruit their ‘armies’ from suitably sized 20mm/1:87th scale figures, and the uniforms will be generic.
Interestingly I know that I am not alone in going down this path. Chris Kemp outlines on his NQM (Not Quite Mechanised) website how he ran a Summer Holiday Toy Soldier Campaign in his youth, and lays down some very helpful rules for doing the same thing now.
So the ‘Nostalgia’ project is now officially underway … but don’t expect too much to happen in the near future.
Firstly – and most importantly – I have renamed it the ‘Nostalgia’ Project for reasons that will become apparent.
Secondly, this project is a product of my age. As I grow older I look back to my earlier wargaming exploits for inspiration … and because they were FUN! That is not to say that my current wargaming is not fun; it is just that, with hindsight, the wargames of my youth have acquired a probably totally unjustified sense of importance in my mind. They now seem to have been epic struggles that lasted for days, whereas the truth is that they probably lasted a couple of hours and had to be packed away in time for the family’s evening meal.
Thirdly, it is a reaction against the seemingly endless progression of new ranges of new figures in a variety of scales – 6mm, 10mm, 12mm, 15mm, 20mm, 28mm … and more! My boyhood wargames were fought with a very restricted range of 20mm/1:87th scale figures and models – almost all came from AIRFIX and ROCO Minitanks, with the occasional Matchbox vehicle thrown in for good measure. The models were basic – and there was not a lot of choice – and the figures were small and the detail was minimal. Oddly enough, this made them easier to paint using what was then the ‘standard’ method of painting – blocks of colour with no shading.
So I am planning to indulge myself by creating a series of 20th century imagi-nations (just like the two I had as a boy: Opeland and Upsland) that will be ‘armed’ by AIRFIX, ROCO, and any other manufacturer of ‘proper’ 20mm/1:87th scale models. They will recruit their ‘armies’ from suitably sized 20mm/1:87th scale figures, and the uniforms will be generic.
Interestingly I know that I am not alone in going down this path. Chris Kemp outlines on his NQM (Not Quite Mechanised) website how he ran a Summer Holiday Toy Soldier Campaign in his youth, and lays down some very helpful rules for doing the same thing now.
So the ‘Nostalgia’ project is now officially underway … but don’t expect too much to happen in the near future.
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Hi Bob, I had a sneaking feeling the Airfix project would 'morph' into something like this!I must confess that it makes a change from 18th century 'imagi-nations'and IIRC Charles Grant in his Battle! Practical Wargaming (one of my all time fave wargaming books)used Airfix Russian Infantry with Roco Hanomag halftracks. Will this be a WW2 era set up? All the best, Ogre
ReplyDeleteOgrefencer,
ReplyDeleteI have not yet set the time frame for the project, but I expect that it will be mid-20th century i.e. sometime between 1935 to 1965.
Many countries were using WW2 surplus kit right up to the end of the 1980s (and beyond in some cases), so I can use almost anything from the AIRFIX/ROCO ranges.
As they say ... 'watch this space' for further developments.
All the best,
Bob