Book

Its on ebay at:  https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/282923978455?ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1558.l2649

Its 1971 and you’ve just got your first set of 15 MM Napoleonics from miniature figurines.  You want them to look good.  And accurate.  So, where do you go?  Off to the local library to get a copy of Funcken’s uniform guides.  There it is, on the shelf so you grab it quickly.  But no, you have doubts.  Didn’t what’s his name down at the club say a lot of it was made up?  And it’s in French - your O level is still two years away.  Yes it’s got pictures but you want to make extra sure that your voltigeur plumes are right.  Shaking your head sadly you leave the library despairing of the fact that your minifigs will ever see Humbrol enamel.

Cycling home you pass the model shop and decide to drop in.  You notice other bikes outside.  The gang is here – what can they be up to?  As you walk in you hear excited voices.  “Hey” cries Justin “have you seen this?“ He holds up a small slim paperback book.  You make out the words “Regiments at Waterloo” on the cover written apparently by a man called Rene North.  Justin keeps going ” Mr. Grimm says that it is 100 per cent accurate”.  The slightly sinister shopkeeper gives you a subtle wink.  You flick through and realise it is 72 pages of gold dust.  There is no question of what colour the plumes are now.  How much?  £1.25 – but it is 1971 so it helpfully let you know that it’s also 25 shillings in real money.

Rene stayed on your painting table for years.  Always there, always right.  Spurning the Johnny come lately Osprey books you stayed loyal until in a moment of foolishness you swapped him for a copy of Anarchy in the UK.  Now is your chance to right that wrong.

This book has provenance.  Oh yes, the cover may be battered and bruised but all the pages are there and in pretty good condition.  It deserves to go back on your shelves alongside the other classics such as anything by the WRG and Featherstones Advanced war games.  Retro it may be, but this is timeless and your plumes will be the right colour.