I collect old toy soldiers, I wargame with 54mm toy soldiers, and I have got too much stuff. Like everyone else I have too many collections, too many projects on the go and to be perfectly honest it's all become a bit of a mess.....actually it's a lot of a mess.
To impose some semblance of order on the wargame bit I plan to review what I've already got then for each period create initial core armies of 100 foot, 20 mounted and 2 guns. These numbers were suggested by H G Wells as sufficient for a game, and this seems eminently sensible to me, when I reach the required numbers I will stop and move on to something else. That's the plan, in so much as there is a plan. Anyway it's the only plan I've got so with this in mind I broke out my Celts:
Here is the current foot contingent........and already we have a problem.
I have sufficient toy soldiers to make up the requisite number of foot, the mounted are based, undercoated and awaiting paint, there are also enough bits waiting to be assembled into 2 war chariots. The figures hail from a number of manufacturers including Italieri, HaT, Cafe Storme and Expeditionary Force.
I started this project by painting up units of foot, then got bored and moved on to something else. Then several superbly made units came up for sale and I couldn't resist the opportunity to jump start the project again. The problem is integrating my existing figures on the smaller bright green bases above with the new acquisitions on larger flocked bases.
I always base my toy soldiers individually. Here my old ones are on 2p coins while the new acquisitions are on flocked poker chips, so there is a noticeable size difference. I don't get worked up about frontages and larger bases are fine for irregular troops but I do care about the overall appearance and want them all to look roughly similar as this pulls them together visually as a unit, also the new ones look like they are running across someone's carpet!
So what to do about this? I don't think the new additions will give up their poker chips easily but I could probably scrape some of the plush flock back, at the same time fixing the older figures to washers which would give them a similar base size. have I just answered my own question or can you think of a better solution? All suggestions gratefully received.
I wouldn't remove the flock. I'd probably put the smaller based figures on bigger bases and flock them. I am using poker chips for modern infantry but usually I go for rectangular bases (Most of my medievals on square bases) the reason being I like to rank up figures. I also place a portion of units on two, three and four man bases because they are more stable and help to keep the rest in place.
ReplyDeleteAs my ancient/medieval/Renaissance/fantasy rules borrow from Warhammer it is calculated how many figures are in bases to base in melees. I some units have smaller bases then i calculate this form the bigger based figures - 10 bigger based are still in contact iwth only 10 smaller based ones plus overlapping ones on each side.
Thanks James, I'm mostly looking at Lion Rampant and Billhooks for rules so units of 12 foot and 6 mounted work well for me, I'm starting to think upsizing the smaller bases is probably the way forward.
DeleteBrian, I have to say, I prefer the larger, flocked bases. Wonder if it's possible to just stick the small based figures to a thin, wider base. Then (slope) polyfilla to remove the distinction, and then paint and flock like the others. I have done this sort of thing before, and you can't see they are double based. If any slight increase in height occurres it would be of no great issue? But it would integrate the two collections.
ReplyDeleteMichael
Thanks Michael, yes I think this is probably the way to go, I might try a couple and see how they look.
DeleteYou have a marvelous collection of Celts Brian! I also base individually, hearkens back to my youth playing with toy soldiers I think! I agree with Q and Michael, I would place the smaller bases on larger, preferably thinner bases and flock. They should look fine and blend in for the most part!
ReplyDeleteI too prefer the larger flocked bases. Michael has a good plan which is well worth proceeding with.l look forward to hearing how you decide to proceed…
ReplyDeleteAlan Tradgardland
If you prefer the painted finish, scraping/brushing off any lose flock then painting over the remaining flock works fairly well to help them mix in.
ReplyDelete(I've never gotten over my preference for some sort of flock so I flock the bases even on shiny guys, because I like it on the table.)
Many thanks Brad, Alan and Ross, for the additional feedback, I feel a lot more comfortable now with the idea of moving forward on larger bases and flocking. While going through this thought process it occurred to me that I already had some figures mounted on poker chips with a mix of flock and scatter so broke them out for a look.
ReplyDelete