Knights by Marcel Vergeylen and Fusilier Miniatures

 Hot on the heals of the London Toy Soldier Show came the Sandown Park Toy Fair, it's much more of a General toy collectors show but there are always figures to be found and I can never resist rummaging around in the junk boxes, I came away with forty pieces for an outlay of £30, here are some of them:

The two knights on the outside above with dark green bases were made in France by Marcel Vergeylen (1948-2015) and have the name of the character portrayed written under their base, the one on the left is Sir John Lydevusers and on the right is Englebert de Harze.  The Childhood Knights website tells us that Vergeylen was a keen painter of heraldry and figure converter who went on to create his own range, and amongst his work are several examples based on Roy Selwyn-Smith's "Knights of Agincourt".

The knight in the centre is unfinished and is engraved "F MIN" under the base for Fusilier Miniatures, one of the brands offered by Mark and Paul Turner who are well known dealers and manufacturers of figures on the toy soldier circuit, their other ranges are Tommy Atkins (started by their father John) and Hussar Military Miniatures.

They'll need a bit of work to finish them off so it's a good job I picked up those spare shields and weapons packs from White Tower  Miniatures the previous week

Medieval Wargamer Video

During the recent exceptionally hot weather I have been spending an inordinate amount of time basking in the cooler climes of social media, where I came across the Medieval Wargamer YouTube Channel and thought I might share it with you dear reader:

I don't know who runs the channel but it showcases all aspects of Medieval wargaming with lots of spectacular videos, the one above features still pics of 1,000 miniatures resplendent in their heraldry and is accompanied by a narration from Bernard Cornwell's novel Harlequin.  A word of warning it runs for 26 minutes which may cause a bit of sensory overload but you can always take a break and come back to it.

Here is the official introduction to this video:

"This cinematic showcase features scenes from my large Hundred Years’ War collection, assembled and deployed for visual and atmospheric purposes rather than representing one specific historical battle. The goal was to capture the feeling, scale, and character of medieval warfare through a series of still images and cinematic moments.

Featured throughout are warriors, banners, and formations inspired by the Hundred Years’ War period, accompanied by audiobook narration from Harlequin by Bernard Cornwell, including passages describing the combat and atmosphere surrounding the Battle of Crécy.

Sit back and enjoy this visual journey into the world of medieval warfare.

A big thank you to Steven Comunale for editing this videos cover photo and creating such a beautiful battle ground image."

Landsknecht by Rose Models

 A final post on finds from the London show, a couple of modern white metal collectors figures rescued from a junk box:

On the left a Landsknecht by Rose Models, a matchlock in one hand and length of match in the other hand.  A great figure but not a very useful pose, I've been looking out for one of these a while, the plan being to make a silicon mould of the head and copy it for use in conversions.  We'll see.

On the right is a Jacobite Highland officer which looks a lot like an illustration from the Osprey book, so it could be made by New Hope Design but I need to check.  Both are nice crisp castings, I plan to mount them on MDF bases and add them to existing projects.

The modern phenomenon that is predictive text never ceases circumvent and undermine me, on typing matchlock I find I have been translated as MacBook and my attempt at correction insists I mean MacBollock.  Heaven preserve us!

Mittlealterliche Reiterschlacht by Babette Schweizer.

 An unusual find at the Toy Soldier Show last weekend were these three figures from the "Medieval Knights Battle" series made in Germany by Babette Schweizer, the oldest manufacturer of zinnfiguren still in existence.  

I was drawn to the group because they are unusually large for flats, measuring 95mm from the base to top of the helmet. I also liked the shape of the horse' head and neck together with the accurate portrayal of long spurs which gives them the look of illustrations from a medieval woodcut.

The style of armour appears to be 15th Century and they have retained their original paint, happily sword and lance on these two are also fully intact.

It was suggested to me that this was Joan of Arc (it isn't), while I thought maybe Richard III (not him either!) because his standard has a rose engraved on it although the colours are those of the Holy Roman Empire.

There are by far and away more books on Zinnfiguren than any other genre of toy soldiers and as I started searching for more info on these knights my friend Claudio de Angelis not only identified them for me but very kindly sent me the picture above which shows the complete set in the Babette Schweizer catalogue, the designs for the set were commissioned from the artist Hans Rohm in 1908 and they are still available today.

The firm was founded in 1796 by Adam and Monika Schweizer.  Babette Schweizer ran the firm from 1872 until her death in 1896 after which it was run by her son Adam who retained the business in her name.  After 230 years it is still run by the same family, the current owner being Karin Schweizer.

More from White Tower Miniatures

 There's a lot more to White Tower Miniatures than the new Mexican Revolution range, Matthew also brought along enough of his "Legends of the West" range to fill an additional two tables:

I've been eying these fine resin copies of the Elastolin composition tipi for some time and couldn't resist the temptation any longer, Matt told me that he kept the original and uses is as a guide to match the colours and style when he paints them, and I think he's really caught the vintage character here.  I've bid on original tipis several times in the past but never been successful so I'm particularly pleased to have picked this one up.  The damaged Chief kneeling, made in Germany by Leyla, was languishing in a junk box, unloved and unwanted, so I felt compelled to rescue him - No toy soldier left behind!

This is a selection of the spare parts offered by White Tower Miniatures, as you can see the castings are very crisp and clean of flash.  The shields and visors are replacement parts for Britains Wars of the Roses Swoppet knights, very useful as these are invariably missing from the originals, I'll be using them on conversions.  The bunchuk with cattle skull is a replacement for the one carried by the Elastolin plastic mounted Mongol.  I can find plenty of uses for the pitchfork, mace and axes which comes from White Tower's own range.

Knowing that I have been steadily building up a Samurai collection for wargaming, Matthew very kindly gifted me these Tamiya figures which he'd found at at car boot sale and thought I might find a use for. Although they are quite delicate it won't take much work to complete them and just look at how much work someone has put into painting the designs on their leggings!  Many thanks Matt.