Lots of toy soldiers at the Plastic Warrior Show 2025

 Two weeks after the event and I am just recovering from the toy soldier overload that is the annual Plastic Warrior Show, I still haven't unpacked the bags and boxes of plunder I acquired but no doubt they'll surface here sooner or later.  In the meantime here are a few gratuitous pictures of plastic toy soldiers to remind those those who were there on the day and to drool over for those who were not. 

Typical of the rummage boxes to be found at the show.

A nice little box with Timpo West Point Cadets, Cavendish C18th Grenadiers, a Kentoys Dan Dare figure, Cherilea Maid Marian, and Nardi Bersaglieri, all in good unbroken condition with original paint.

An assortment of Starlux Sailors and Napoleonics.

Mostly Lone Star figures in this pic with a few Timpo GI's and Bundeswehr in the background. 

Too many early English makers to mention here but includes Speedwell WW2, Sacul bandsmen, and Johilco knights.

More to rummage through!

Mostly modern makers, nicely painted and displayed in a more orderly fashion!

It wasn't all plastic though, this is a Sherman tank hand carved in wood circa 1943/44 by Italian Prisoners of War.  The body is carved from at least two varieties of wood with gun barrels and wheel hubs made from brass rod and rivets, the surprise feature is that the turret and top plate lift off to reveal it's true purpose which is a cigarette box!

The very first Plastic Warrior show was held on 1st June 1985 but it was a very different event from the swapmeet it has become today, it was announced as an Open Day to promote a wider interest in collecting, modelling and wargaming with 54mm plastic toy soldiers.  At that time PW was just a newsletter and had been in existence for less than a year, we called ourselves members because we had become a close knit group of friends but it wasn't actually a club and never has been, it just felt like one.  At the Open Day we only had four people through the door because everyone else involved with the group was already inside displaying their collections and other such activities.

Forty years on and the newsletter has become a magazine while the Open Day has become a Swapmeet which aims to promote and support it.  We are often asked why we don't hold the show more often or let it grow larger?  We have considered both options but the answer is that PW is a hobby for us not a business, holding the show annually keeps it special, like Christmas, while keeping it small maintains our original vision of it being a social event rather than a commercial one.

It wouldn't be the Plastic Warrior show without an element of chaos each year, as befits an unashamedly amateur operation, compounded by the fact that we are now 40 years older with all the infirmities that accompany great age.  With that in mind we would like to thank all the dealers who pitched in to help set up the tables on the morning and especially those stout hearted chaps who helped us to pack them away at the end, without such support the show would not be viable.

Lionheart - more playing with old toy knights.

 Our first trial game of Lionheart worked very well so we decided to expand on it by introducing some terrain elements and and an additional two unit types; Heavy Foot Knights and Mercenaries. The remainder of the armies were the same as in our previous game and we increased the number of actions in each turn from four to six per side.  The basic game mechanics were explained in my previous post HERE.

The French line up with Heavy Foot Knights on the left flank (just visible at the top of the pic) and the Kievan Mercenaries on the extreme right.  For the Mercenaries we used Medieval Russian Knights made in china by Supreme along with some made in Russia by Engineer Basevitch.

While the English line advances with Heavy Foot to the front (Britains Deetail knights just beyond the Timpo Crusaders) and Irish Mercenaries with their priest following in support.

The game allows for one more unit type; Peasants, but I didn't have any suitable figures to hand so we left them out, maybe they'll appear next time.

With their enhanced mobility it's always difficult to hold back the Mounted Knights, they charge across the field when they see an opportunity to strike.  This invariably draws out their opposite counterparts and leads to a duel between the chivalry.

  The Mercenaries are strong in combat and have the ability to induce panic in any unit they attack, forcing them to retire, the danger is that they can be turned if they come in contact with the enemy King and may change sides.

The terrain comprised a line of hills with a road running through them on one flank, a central plain and a forest with a road running through it on the opposite flank.  I like to keep things simple to begin with.

The Heavy Foot Knights (centre) are powerful in combat but very slow moving, it takes two actions to move them one hex, as a result they never really got into the game.

After the Mounted Knights had exhausted themselves duelling the Infantry and Archers moved in, the latter being quite vulnerable if attacked so need close support.

The Kings and their retinues tends to become a mounted reserve, kept safely out of the way behind the lines until desperation draws them out into the fray.

As things turned out all of the action took place in the central plain and virtually no use was made of the hills or forest.  (Note to self: put more obstacles in the centre of the field next time)

I always pick up bits and pieces of Timpo medievals when I see them in the cheap junk boxes at shows, they invariably have no weapons, scabbards or shields but that's easily sorted.  They are notoriously unstable on their small green bases so I mount them on 2p coins, this will be anathema to some people but lets face it they're not rare, you can find hundreds of them on the internet auction sites every day of the week.

This time the game was much less cohesive with small groups of opposing units engaging in clumps of combat dispersed around the field.

It's a good game system and I like the way it flows, I think we will need to give more thought to how we deploy the Heavy Foot Knights or revisit the way we allocate actions in each turn.  

With a little tweaking the system could be easily adapted to the Dark Ages or brought forward into the Renaissance, so we might have a go at one of those periods sometime.

Assorted Ancients now on display.

 Following on from the previous post, here are closeups of the second new shelf.  The shelves are inside a pine wardrobe built into a chimney alcove, long since unfit for purpose but I'm averse to ripping out period features so it now houses toy soldiers and the original doors provide some protection from the dust.

In the background are a group of  Neanderthals made in France by Starlux.  

In front of them are hoplites made in Greece by PAL and later versions made by Athena (Aohna), the easiest way to tell them apart is the earlier PAL figures have a flat square base with no markings underneath while the Athena ones have a sculptured base marked Aohna underneath, the PAL versions also have metal pins attaching their arms.  

In the left foreground are Greeks/Romans made in Italy by Tibidabo (green bases) and to their right are two made in France by Clairet (tan bases)

In the centre, various Roman signifiers by Atlantic, REAMSA, Marx and Elastolin, in front of them are three large rubber figures made in Italy by Xiloplasto.

The large colourful figure in the sentre is one of the Louis Marx Ancient Chinese Warriors.  The large blue Romans beside him are reissues made in Spain by Oliver. 

The two Samurai at rear left were made in Poland by PZG (the Polish Association of the Deaf), in front of them are Ancient Egyptians made in Spain by Jecsan, with more Samurai to the forefront, these ones made in Italy by Res Plastics for Kinder eggs.

A better view of the Res Plastics Samurai, I started picking these up with the intention of creating a wargames army with them but the fiddly parts and loose weapons made them impractical for this, so they are now consigned to the shelf and my Samurai armies are now made up from Technolog, Furuta, gashapon and various kit figures.

In the centre the unpainted Roman and Tribune in red cloak were sculpted by Peter Evans and cast in Resin by Peter Cole (before he set up his company Replicants to make figures in plastic), the idea was that they would make additional poses to go with the Louis Marx Ben Hur playset which had just been reissued from the original moulds by a company in Mexico.  

To their right are two coffee premiums made in Belgium by Cafe Storme.

The four Carolingians marching in the foreground are 45mm solid lead figures made in Germany by Heyde.

The large mounted Roman on the left was originally made France in hollowcast lead by JSF (Jouets Standard Francais), this is a plastic version made form the original mould.  On th right next to him is another mounted Roman, made in Hong Kong it is a copy of a Crescent foot figure on a copy of a Herald horse.

This is the set of four made by Res Plastics for Kinder eggs, they are often described as being Samurai but I am advised (by someone to knows vastly more than I do about ancient armour) that they are in fact Ancient Chinese (they still look like Samurai to me, what do you think?)

Britains American War of Independance Swoppets.

 This past year I embarked upon a review of how I store and display the unruly mass of toy soldiers accumulated in a largely haphazard way over the past six plus decades.  

Everything is being separated out between collectables and figures for wargaming, the former to stand safely on a shelf gathering dust and looking pretty, the latter boxed securely in their units and ranks ready to be deployed on the tabletop at a moments notice.

I started picking up Britains and Timpo American War of Independence Swoppets with the intention of using them for wargaming, back then they were the only figures available for the period, but they were hard to find and by the time I'd acquire enough they were getting too brittle and delicate for the amount of handling involved.  I aught to let them all go but I don't feel quite ready for that yet.

The building in the background is the tinplate "Revolutionary War Tavern" made in America by Louis Marx, the mounted figure of George Washington to the front left of it is an old composition piece made by Elastolin.

In amongst the Britains and Timpo Swoppet AWI are a smattering of figures from other manufacturers such as: Shell Liberty Men of '76, Louis Marx Warriors of the World, A Call to Arms, Res Plastics for Kinder Eggs, Awesome Toys, Casualties of War, Airfix, and a couple of white metal models.

The building shown here is the Louis Marx tinplate "Civil War Mansion" from their "Battle of the Blue and Gray" playset.

Native American allies are provided by Mohicans from Britains Herald range and Charbens.

 These figures have all spent far too long languishing in boxes so it was nice to get them out and put on display where I can appreciate them a bit more.

Travel Battle - A Napoleonic wargame with 54mm toy soldiers

 Travel Battle is a boardgame designed by Michael Perry and produced by Perry Miniatures, the well known wargame figure manufacturers, it's based on battles in the Napoleonic period so Anthony and I thought we'd see how well the system translated to a tabletop wargame with 54mm toy soldiers.  Here's how it went:

As usual we started with a very simple game, without may terrain features, to test out the mechanisms of the system.  The boardgame has preformed terrain and uses a square grid for movement, we opted to use a hex grid (because that's all I've got and I prefer it!) 

Each side comprises 3 Brigades, each commanded by a mounted Brigadier and made up from any combination of the units available, which are; 2 x Heavy Cav. 2 x Light Cav. 2 x Artillery. 2 x Guard Inf and 6 x Line inf.  Either or both of the Artillery units may be attached to a Cavalry Brigade and designated as Horse Artillery, which has greater movement distance but less firing range and effect than the Foot Artillery.

The rules are simple, minimal and there is no record keeping, just how we like them but may be a bit too simplistic for some.  Players dice to see who goes first and can activate all their units, the sequence of play is: Move, Fire Artillery, Melee, Retreat any defeated units.  Then the second player repeats the sequence with their units.

Foot units (Guards, Line inf. and Foot Artillery) move 1 hex while mounted (Brigadier, Horse Artillery, Heavy and Light Cav.) move 2 hex in each turn.  All units can move in any direction and terrain modifiers apply. 

Firing is restricted to the Artillery who can move or fire but not both.  Effect is determined by D6 score: 1,2,3 no effect, 4 target falls back 1 hex, 5 target retreats back to table edge or 6 target destroyed.

Combat occurs when opposing units move into touch, in such case Artillery cannot fire but fight as an infantry unit.  Combat is decided by dice throw, with Heavy Cav. and Guard Inf getting a bonus.  Both players dice, highest score wins and outcome is determined by score differential: 1 losing unit falls back 1 hex, 2 unit retreats back to table edge or 3 unit destroyed. 

Command and Control is an interesting feature of the system, every unit in a Brigade (including the Brigadier) must be touching at least one other unit from the same Brigade, any that are not in touch with the Brigadier through the line of units cannot move but can fight if attacked (and Artillery can still fire).  So if a unit in the centre of a line is destroyed the line is broken and units beyond the break are no longer under command.  There are modifiers for the effects of moving into square to protect infantry against cavalry but make them devastatingly vulnerable to artillery fire.

The figures we used were mostly Britains Deetail with a few DSG toys soldiers from Argentina.  The Brigadiers on both sides are Del Prado Napoleonic personalities, beautifully modelled and their larger size giving a commanding presence on the table top. 

Overall I found it very easy to pick up and the action moves fluidly, the system would work very well for large battles and we could easily have controlled twice the number of units or Brigades, it would be ideal for multi player games.  With little modification it would also translate well to cover European battles of the Seven Years War. 

I particularly liked the Brigade structure and control system but not so much the Combat where the outcomes are either fall back, rout or be destroyed, there are no casualties depleting unit as you get in say Lionheart or One Hour Wargames, so it's good but it ain't no game of toy soldiers!