Thursday 25 March 2010

Great Gilder Set Pieces 5


Peter Gilder's version of the premature demolition of the bridge over the Elster on the 18th October 1813. You'll find this on the cover of 'The Campaign of Leipzig 1813' - the second, and last, title in the short-lived Osprey Wargames series.

The Wargames series was similar to the current Osprey Campaigns series - you got an overview of the campaign and combatants, and a section on wargaming (which was always frustratingly short). Neither fish nor foul i suppose Osprey were trying to please both wargamers and history buffs in a single short volume; i much preferred the more wargamer focused approach of the similar Knights and Bellona series. Four years later Gilder's 'Let's Fight Leipzig' series in Miniature Wargames perhaps completed the picture begun by this Osprey title.

Of course where the Osprey series did score highly was the illustrations, and not just the half dozen Gilder set pieces in each volume, but also the numerous line drawings and sketches of relevant equipment and locations - in general they were well chosen and useful.

As for the toys - the majority of the figures in the foreground are obviously standard Hinchliffe 25s, but the figures in the background are intriguing - they must be 15mm, or perhaps System 12? Can anyone identify them?

3 comments:

Lee said...

Great shot! I remember buying both that book and the Naseby book purely for the photos of Gilder troops.

Would you happen to have the copy of Wargames Illustrated that featured Gilders write up about the use of artillery gun teams on the table top by any chance? Had some great photos, I'd love to see it again.

Anyway, great blog as ever.

Lee.

Anonymous said...

I always thought the 15mm figures were Minifigs (there are some still at the WHC). I still have both books-nice shiny figures!

Matt

DC said...

Matt,
I have been reliably informed that the tiny chaps in the background are in fact Heritage 15mm - which seems logical as Hinchliffe Models imported them into the UK at the time.

Lee,
The article you are thinking about was in Wargames World. As WI (publishers of WW back then) are still a going concern (and potentially stand to lose income from back issues if all and sundry post old articles willy nilly) i feel i'll have to obtain permission from WI before posting that article. So we'll see...

Cheers all.