A Medieval host at the Plastic Warrior Show 2025

 You never know what will turn up at the PW Show each year, it's a perfect mélange of toy soldiers, all scales large and small, collectable rarities rub shoulders with terrible tat, it's anybody's game and it's always a lot of fun.  I never go with any expectation of what I might find, mostly I'm looking out for figures to flesh out my 54mm toy soldier wargame armies and this year there was a bumper crop of Medievals:

I'm always in the market to buy knights converted by Vince Mattocks, these ones were commissioned from him by an old friend of mine, Dave McKenna, who sold his entire toy soldier collection last year and I have been picking up tranches of them as they have become available.  I mention this just to give the provenance to these fine figures for whoever might own them in the future.

Much of the collection has been shown here in the previous posts covering our Lionheart wargames (see link in the Labels column on the right), the personalities are all conversions and painted in the correct liveries, the men at arms shown here are mostly unconverted.

I'd already had the pick of the collection last year then the seller found another box unexpectedly and offered them to me as a clearance lot, they worked out at about 40p each which was well worth it for the amount of time I saved in painting and research.

Vince marks all of his conversions with a stylised Vm and adds the date he made them, he also gives the name of the personage portrayed and marks them E or F to indicate English or French.  They are mostly 100 Years War but some are Wars of the Roses, there was bound to be some overlap, so now I need to list them and see who I've got!

Another converter who's work I always look out for is Eric Kemp, and his figures have graced many a post on this blog.  Several of Eric's collections were on offer and I picked examples from three of them to help rekindle inspiration and kickstart a couple of my own projects which have gone off the rails recently. 

I always enjoy working out what the donor figures were for conversions and seeing how they've been reconfigured, I particularly liked the two slingers in the picture above, a common troop type but sadly neglected by the toy soldier manufacturers.

For some time I've been quietly squirrelling away the raw material for a Renaissance period collection, Eric's painting style is very distinctive and make his conversions instantly recognisable, which is helpful as he doesn't sign his work.

Another three of Eric's Normans will be joining my Dark Ages armies which are nearing completion now.

Other plunder from the Plastic Warrior Show 2025

 I've been going a bit overboard with the medievals this past year or so, to the detriment of collecting other historical periods, but I haven't neglected them entirely:

My last sweep of the show turned up these four odds and ends for just £1 each, two late version French Revolutionaries made in France by JIM, a Crescent Russian for my Winter War project and a large resin touristy tat knight, not really my thing but I just loved the pose.

The PW Show has always been as much (if not more) of a social occasion than anything else, for many who attend it's the one day of the year they get to meet face to face with friends they've known for many years and there is often a gifting of figures.

Graham Apperley gave me the first two, a cowgirl on bucking bronco made in USA by Beton (Bergen Toy and Novelty Co) and a Gaucho made in Argentina by EGToys (Ezio Guggiari) who were producing these distinctive figures between 1943 and1965, 

Michael Mordaunt-Smith gave me the red plastic figure of Jim Hardie from the 1950's American tv series "Tales of Wells Fargo" which he is currently producing from an old mould, the original figure was made in America by Louis Marx but the consensus of opinion is that this is a copy as it is noticeably smaller. 

The 70mm green figure of Sir Gawain was made in Spain and is very similar to, but not a copy, of the figure made by Elastolin for their Prinz Eisenhrz set, based on the Prince Valiant comic strip created in America by Hal Foster. It was given to me by Paul Stadinger (aka Stad) who at one time was the U.S. agent and distributor for Plastic Warrior magazine, and has been attending the show regularly since the 1990's. 

This group above came from Andreas Dittmann another regular long term visitor to the show from Germany, an Elastolin trumpeter, Lineol grenade thrower, a pair of plaster sheep with a lamb and an early post war East German infantryman made in a papiermache/plaster composition mix by P G H Effelder.

My thanks go to Graham, Michael, Paul and Andreas for their kind gifts and the many years of friendship we have shared. 

And finally......this was actually my first purchase of day, an Art Deco Renault tank, carved in wood, roughly in scale for 54mm figures, the consensus of opinion was that it had been manufactured commercially rather than being "shedware".  I'm tempted to paint it, but I won't!

Rare Sacul knights at the Plastic Warrior Show 2025

 It has been three months now since the Plastic Warrior Show and we are still unearthing the goodies that emerged, here are some more:

These three Sacul mounted knights in plastic were on the table of Joe Bellis at the Plastic Warrior Show last June, notice the one on the right has a shield which is copied from the Britains Wars of the Roses Swoppet range. The Sacul knights were originally made in hollowcast lead and are fairly common in the UK but not so much overseas, later they were made in plastic from the original moulds for a very short time and the plastic versions (above) are very rare. There is just one horse and one rider model but the rider was issued with four different articulated right arms holding an axe, a sword, a standard or a lance.

Curiously the horses turn up more often than the riders and the moveable parts; visor, right arm, shield and scabbard are always moulded in these garish bright colours. The shields are invariably missing, I have one with the original heater shaped shield but I've never seen one with this copy of the Britains WOTR shield in lead or plastic. The Sacul foot knights are extremely rare in plastic, I have only ever seen one example.

My friend Norman Joplin told me "I believe one of the Barrett brothers (Bert) may have been responsible for these along with plastic items marketed as Luntoy and Paramount when I visited his home in Croydon some years ago."  Norman is referring here to the family who originally founded Taylor & Barrett in the 1920's, then later split to form F G Taylor & Sons and A Barrett & Sons after WW2.  The Barrett Brothers bought up moulds from various defunct manufacturers such as Benbros, Paramount and Sacul, which were in due course sold on again to Giles Brown of Dorset Model Soldiers, but that's another story for another day.

The two plastic Sacul knights in my collection, the hollowcast lead versions had a feather plume in their helmet made from the darts used in air guns, the metal point of the dart being pressed into the lead pouring hole of the helmet to leave the brightly coloured tail sticking out.  The same method as used by Timpo in their "Ivanhoe" and "Knights of the Round Table" series, Sacul had been set up by an ex Timpo employee called Lucas (who reversed his name for the firm).  The lead pouring holes were capped off and new plumes engraved into the moulds when they were adapted for use on a plastic injection moulding machine.

The knight on the right has the correct Sacul shield (in plastic) which came with the original hollowcast figure, there is a spigot on the reverse which plugs into the bend in the left arm.  It's curious to note that the horses are made in various colours of plastic and always appear to be factory painted in the Sacul style while the riders are made in a base body colour plastic with multi colour accoutrements in the early swoppet style, this has led us to speculate that the horses might have been produced first in the Sacul factory then sold as a job lot along with the moulds and the riders moulded at a later date.

Also on Joe's table was a good selection of the 60mm Crescent Hurons/Mohicans (I'm never sure which they are supposed to be but I'm sure someone will enlighten us), these are also very hard to find so I thought I'd squeeze in this pic just because they are so nice!

Battle of Saguntum 1811 - 54mm Battle Cry game.

 For our latest game we decided to try a Napoleonic version of Battle Cry and Anthony suggested the Peninsular War Battle of Saguntum 1811.

The scenario sees a Spanish force under General Blake attempting to relieve Sagunto Castle which is under siege by the French under Marshal Suchet.  The Marshal leaves a blocking force at the Castle and heads off to face Blake with his remaining French, Italian and Polish troops.

The Spanish are supported by gunboats offshore protecting their right flank.

The Spanish outnumber the French but both sides are short of artillery and the French are better quality troops.

Blake placed a holding force facing the French left wing while he concentrated most of the Spanish Army on his left flank to lead them in a mass attack against the French right wing.

The French opened with a vigorous attack on the lightly held Spanish right and centre.

Both sides fought themselves to a standstill on the French left as the course of the battle crept across the field to the centre and was finally drawn out on the French right.

The high ground in the centre held by a body of Foot Dragoons was hotly contested, changing hands several times.

On the French right Polish Voltiguers and Italian Hussars under general Chlopicki lined the crest of the Sancti Espiritus hills to await the massed attack of the Spanish.

A spirited counterattack by the Foot Dragoons drives off the Spanish Voluntarios and forces the supporting Horse Artillery to retire

The valiant Poles and Italians hold their ground in face of the Spanish advance.

On the gunboats the gun crews watch the action drift further inland away from the coast and out of range from their broadsides.

The French are finally overwhelmed on their right leaving the Spanish to their victory and the road open to the Castle.

The outcome of the game couldn't have differed more from the course of the actual Battle, in which the Polish troops advanced against the Spanish left and threw them into disarray, fighting in the centre and on the Spanish right was fierce and indecisive but the collapse of the left wing demoralised the Spanish and led to a general withdrawal with heavy losses.  The gunboats along the coast provided a threat but actually saw little action.  With no hope of relief  the garrison surrendered the Castle the next day.

The figures used were sourced from several manufacturers, the Spanish cavalry and most of the infantry were from DSG of Argentina, with a stiffening of grenadiers from the BMC Yorktown set and REAMSA of Spain, the Voluntarios in their distinctive green jackets were made from Helmet kit parts, the gunboat is the remains of a Playmobil pirate ship and the crew are various conversions, General Blake is converted from a Cafe Storme coffee premium.

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On the French side the infantry are mostly Britains Deetail apart from the Polish Volitguers which were made from Helmet Kit parts with an officer from Replicants and the foot Dragoons which are conversions using heads from ATS (Alexanders toy Soldiers), the cavalry are provided by Britains Deetail Cuirassiers, DSG Hussars and Polish Lancers made by PZG (the Polish Association of the Deaf), Marshal Suchet is a Del Prado figure and General Chlopicki is another conversion.

Shamus O D Wade Oojah-Cum-Pivvy range list

 I mentioned in an earlier post that I was attempting to compile a list of all 36 figures in the Oojah-Cum-Pivvy range produced between 1982 and 1984 by Shamus O D Wade, and here it is:

Oojah-Cum-Pivvy, the full set of 36 figures, photo courtesy of liveauctioneers.

These are the O (Ooja-Cum-Pivvy) reference numbers I've identified in the order they are shown in the image above.

O.11 - O.6 - O.10 - O.9 - O.5 - O.12 - O.8 - O.4 - O.15

O.16 - O.34 - O.18 - O.1 – O.21 - O.2 – O.26 - O.30 – O.29 - O.3 - O.14 - O.7

O.22 - O.32 - O.35 - O.36 - O.33 - O.31 – O.19 – O.27 - O.25 - O.20 - O.13 - O.28 - O.24 - O.17 - O.23

O.1         Mexican Infantry Alamo

O.2          Irish Kern (1545)

O.3          Irish Galloglass (1522)

O.4          Soldier of the King of Muli (1931)

O.5          Greek Light Infantry (1813)

O.6          Etruscan Warrior

O.7          Kataphractos c. 1050 (Byzantine) -has a long removable spear

O.8          Basilikoi Anthropoi  c.880 (Byzantine)

O.9          Patzinak  11th century  (Byzantine)

O.10        Varangian Guardsman  c.1030  (Byzantine)

O.11        Hand Gonne Man (Those who kept Faith at Bosworth Field, Aug 22, 1485)

O.12        Man at Arms  (Those who kept Faith at Bosworth Field, Aug 22, 1485)

O.13        King Richard III (Those who kept Faith at Bosworth Field, Aug 22, 1485)

O.14        Wounded Archer (Those who kept Faith at Bosworth Field, Aug 22, 1485)

O.15        Mounted Archer, Fighting on Foot (Those who kept Faith at Bosworth Field, Aug 22, 1485)

O.16        Chief Petty Officer (WRINS) 1945

O.17        Petty Officer (WRINS) 1945

O.18        Leading Auxiliary (WRINS) Naval HQ 1945

O.19        Auxiliary Stripping Gun, Karachi Gunnery School 1945

O.20         Auxiliary (WRINS) Naval HQ New Delhi 1945

O.21        Private Tristan Da Chuna 1944

O.22        Regimental Policeman, Pakistan Armoured Corps, 1983

O.23        Regimental Policeman, Punjab Regiment, Pakistan,1983

O.24        Cadet Southall Squadron Air Training Corps 1964

O.25        Chiswick Armed Association (1798-1802)

O.26        Flight Sergeant Zahir-id-din Barber, Indian Air Force (IAF), Burma, 1944

O.27        Flying Officer P J Chandran, Indian Air Force (IAF), Burma, 1944

O.28        Flight Lieutenant Chopra, Indian Air Force (IAF), Burma, 1944

O.29        Aircraftsman Matthews, Indian Air Force (IAF), Burma, 1944

O.30        Aircraftsman Valiram Shauni, Indian Air Force (IAF), Burma, 1944

O.31        Junior Commander D. Kapila, Women's Auxiliary Corps (India), 1944

O.32        Sergeant A. D'Silva, Women's Auxiliary Corps (India) 1944

O.33        Officer Cadet (Indian), Women's Auxiliary Corps (India), 1945

O.34        Officer Cadet (European), Women's Auxiliary Corps (India), 1945

O.35        Officer Cadet (Anglo-Burmese), Women's Auxiliary Corps (India), 1945

O.36        Corporal, Ceremonial Parade, Women's Auxiliary Corps (India), 1945

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Shamus was well known for his extensive, and perhaps rather esoteric, interest in military history so I expected his selection of subjects for the Oojah-Cum-Pivvy range to be diverse but I was surprised to find that 20th century Indian Armed Forces would comprise half the entire series.

In his Collectors Guide to New Toy Soldiers, Stuart Asquith tells us that the figures were sculpted by Graham Morris and manufactured for Shamus by Peter Cowan of Albion Miniatures, each figure was released singly in a limited edition of 100.  

Having said that it does appear to me that the range does comprise a number of small sets: 

O.7 to O.10 Byzantines, O.11 to O.15 Those who kept Faith at Bosworth Field, O.16 to O.20 Women's Royal Indian Navy, O.26 to O.30 Indian Air Force and O.31 to O.36 Women's Auxiliary Corps (India)

The five "Indian Air Force" figures (numbers O.26 to O.30) were based on a famous Second World War photograph of a Vultee A-31 Vengeance Crew from No.8 Squadron. The photograph (reproduced below from "The Eagle Strikes" shows Flt Lt Haveli Shah Chopra (one of the RAF 24) and his Gunner Fg Offr P J Chandran leaning against an A-31 Vengeance dive bomber, flanked by the three airmen/ground crew Zahir-ud-din Barber, Mathews and Veliram Shauni. 

On a personal note I wanted to compile this listing because I knew Shamus over many years, and although he could be a rather enigmatic character I liked him for his unbounded enthusiastic love of all types of toy soldiers.  I thought there might be a familial link to explain the preponderance of Indian military in the range but could find none, Shamus was born and raised in England to Irish parents while his wife was from Trinidad, they lived in West London where he had a career in advertising and his wife was a barrister.