The Last Kingdom

A short break immediately after the Waterloo 200 wargame afforded me the time to reflect on so many toy soldier projects started then left in limbo for one reason or another, so I started a list with the intention of getting some of them completed on my return home.  Top of the list was a Viking warband, which has been sitting based and undercoated in a drawer for yonks, influenced after reading Bernard Cornwell's Uhtred of Bebbanburg novels, these chaps are intended to double up as Celts/Barbarians to oppose the Roman Legion I started several years ago.

I painted all of these up yesterday and very pleasant it was to have a break from uniform Regiments of Napoleonics or Frederickians.  The chap with the shield on the left who looks like he's eating a squirrel will eventually be the standard bearer when I print up an appropriate flag for him.  Mrs C is of the opinion that the Cherilea figures on the right are in the same poses as the male models that featured on knitting patterns in the 1950's, I suppose that might explain why they're wearing chain mail "tank tops" and Madonaesque bullet bras!

Anyway, the reason for the title of this post is pure serendipity, as I applied the last touch of paint to these figures this morning I opened my newspaper to read that Bernard Cornwell's Uhtred novels are coming to the telly, in eight episodes, produced by the same firm that brought us Downton Abbey and airing in the UK on 22nd October (also on BBC USA but I don't know the dates)

Here's the preview :    The Last Kingdom

Brilliant stuff 

Plastic Warrior Show 2014

Well, as I said in an earlier post, the Plastic Warrior Show is over for another year and I am late in getting around to commenting on it so here are a few pics I snapped to give a flavour of the event:

A Roman marching fort (from Hadrian's Wall?), it looks like an upscale of the Airfix 1/72 model much beloved in my youth.  There is an article on the building of this fine piece in the latest issue of Plastic Warrior magazine.

One of the rather more organised tables.  PW is a fairly small show, relatively speaking, with rarely more than 60 sellers and over the years has resolutely resisted the temptation to expand in order to specialise in old plastic toy soldiers (from 1/72 to 12") exclusively.  It is a place where most tables are taken by collectors looking to turn out their spare or unwanted items so you never know what is going to turn up.

This table is more typical of the eclectic mix, piled haphazardly box on top of box, it is a burrowers cornucopia.

It's always worth a look under the table too!

A rather nice old zoo made by Binbak, the entrance gatehouse has a revolving turnstile which I thought was a nice touch.  Behind that some Marx 12" WW2 British infantry, only issued in the UK and not seen very often, complete sets of the 12" WW1 French infantry and Highlanders had already sold by the time I got my camera out.

I didn't catch the name of who made this rather fine circus train but I think it is French, anyone from the Soldat Plastique 1/32 forum able to help with this?

The star of the show as far as I was concerned was this boxed Cherilea Cleopatra set.  Previously I've only ever seen a smaller boxed set containing just the Egyptian figures with the sphinx (lower left and  right) but the palm trees are a nice addition as is the pet cheetah.

A close up on the cheetah, I think it's actually the lioness from the zoo set but with a bit of chain wrapped around it's neck and spots painted on, now that's what I call adding value!

That's all from the show till next year folks.

Niblett Vintage 20mm - so small and just exquisite

I went along to the London Toy Soldier Show on Saturday and among the sights were these rather lovely 20mm masterpieces by John Niblett, they really are hard to find and in fact these are the first I have ever seen in the flesh.........so to speak.

John Niblett is probably best known for his work on the Airfix HO/OO figures but apart from his own 20mm range shown here he also sculpted 54mm figures for Malleable Mouldings and a range of historical figures in armour under his Modelmakers brand which were sold through the Tower of London. 

Malleable Mouldings are best known for their early plastic figures made from designs by Holger Eriksson at the Treeforest Mouldings works in Wales around 1946 but when this didn't take off they moved to Deal in Kent where they started making metal figures for the collectors market, still using Eriksson designs but now also some by Niblett who was based just up the road in Sidcup.  Their catalogue boasted that they could make figures of any regiment to order and the Christmas 1952 edition of the Illustrated London News carried a full colour article showing 25 of their figures depicting the evolution of the Coldstream Guards from 1650 to 1950.  In 1957 they were still on sale at Hamleys, the famous London toy store, alongside collectors models by Carman, Argosy (whoever they were) and Greenwood.

Niblett was still advertising his design and casting services (now moved to Herne Bay) in Military Modelling magazine up to the end of 1978, there is a picture of the figure of Robert the Bruce that he produced through Modelmakers on my old website (now dormant) HERE

A selection of 20mm Romans, Normans and Medievals, at top right is a 30mm figure (also by Niblett) of the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen at Arms, the bodyguards to the British Monarch.

The picture belies the fact that the foot figures are little bigger than the size of my thumbnail and given that they were originally sold through Hummels of Burlington Arcade (where you can buy all kinds of stuff you never knew you needed at prices that will have you clutching at your chest and gasping for breath), alongside Courtneys and Pings, it does make me wonder if they were ever actually meant to be wargaming figures?   Well Niblett also sold them unpainted and after he died in 1980 they continued to be sold under the Tribute Figures brand, for more detail about Niblett visit the Vintage 20Mil website

The figures were on the table of dealer Adrian Little who trades as Mercator Trading priced at £10 foot and £25 mounted.  Adrian told me that he usually takes Nibletts to the shows in the US, where there is a healthy appetite for them, because they give a good return relative to the weight and room they take up.  A bit like smuggling diamonds then.

In hindsight I should have bought some, well one at least.  Maybe I will, next time. Perhaps.

Ancient Wargame - how does that work then?

Some years ago I came to the conclusion that painting 54mm Napoleonics and ACW for wargaming was a bit like cleaning out the Augean stables, the mountain of plastic never diminished and my hobby had become a chore instead of a pleasure.  To break the cycle I began searching for prepainted figures and bought up a clearance lot of the Timpo Romans made by Toyway (not to be confused with the original Timpo Swoppet Romans which would have required a remortgage on the house), these chaps are made of PVC so the weapons are a bit wangy and they plug in to a truly dreadful base which looks like a big orange dome.  Neither problem is insurmountable, dip the weapons in boiling water then straighten them and run under the cold tap - all sorted.  For the bases I reverted to my old favourite the tu'penny bit, the figures being PVC they stick to metal like barnacles on a boat hull, okay it's a bit of faffing about but it's not as tedious as having to paint 100 figures.

The Toyway/Timpo Romans, well detailed and nicely animated, I think the armour is quite accurate too.

I have never played an ancient wargame (not even with the Airfix figures I had as a lad) and my knowledge of the period extends little further than the Romans/Britons and Greeks/Persians but I have flicked through various Great Battles of ... and Great Commanders of .... type books so I know I am missing a trick and with that in mind I reached for the copy of Xenophon's "The Persian Expedition", which has been yellowing on my bookshelf these past two decades and headed for the local pub.

Britains Trojans, not the nice early Herald series figures but the later Hong Kong versions made of PVC (so I have no qualms about mounting them on new bases).  Will they pass muster as Carthaginians?  They'll have to because I haven't got anything else!

Xenophon's history of the Ten Thousand has provided me numerous scenarios which require few cavalry and no chariots or elephants, which is a good place to start as I only have infantry at the moment.  I have a reasonable number of Britains Trojans which will get the tu'penny treatment and be pressed into service as Carthaginians, supplemented by various African natives as ........ well Africans.

Rules?

I recently happened across some old copies of "The Bulletin" the magazine of the British Model Soldier Society but they were priced ridiculously high so I just bought one issue, July 1956 - the month I was born.  Flicking through I found a set of very basic Ancient/Medieval wargame rules written by a T L Bath, which appeared to be written for 54mm figures.  Enquiries on the Old School Wargames Yahoo Group showed that they were the first known rules written by Tony Bath who had founded the Society of Ancients and they were designed to be played with 30mm flat figures.

to be continued

London Toy Soldier Show March 2012 - Skirmish Wargames Group

The Skirmish Wargames Group continue with their run of 54mm wargames at the London Toy Soldier Show, this time with a scenario set on the Nile in Ancient Egypt (these games are always based on an historical battle and I forgot to take a note of which one this was, for which I am most remiss).  I've said it before (many times) and no doubt I'll keep repeating that these games are one of the highlights of the Show for me, the figures and landscapes they display are always imaginative and built to the highest quality.

The figures were supplied by Ted Herbert who found the Nile boat above in a junk shop in Cairo, you dn't get more authentic than that!

The figures include various makes such as Atlantic, Cherilea and Del Prado, by painting and mounting them in the same style they fit togehter well despite being slightly differing sizes.

The chariots are Del Prado, you have to buy six partworks to get all the bits to make just one chariot. 

The Group were celebrating the 100th edition of their newsletter "Reports from the skirmish line".  Well done you chaps!