Britains factory caught on film in 1965

There are lots of videos on Utube of toy soldiers but I hadn't seen this one shot in the Britains factory before so I thought I'd post it up here.  Enjoy.

Yes, I know it's a lazy blog post but I'm trying to ease myself back into the saddle here.

Interesting to see a master figure being sculpted in Plasticine and the hollowcast moulding process in action.  Also the transition from lead to plastic, this was very much at the tail end of hollowcast production and production was geared towards lead for adult collectors (can't have been too many of them) and plastic for the mass juvenile toy market.  Note the rare shots of the plastic injection moulding machines being fed plastic pellets.

And here's another clip from 1949:

Plastic Warrior Show 13th May 2017

The date for this year's Plastic Warrior Show has now been announced, it's Saturday 13th May 2107 at the same venue in West London, The Winning Post, that has been used for the past five years.  Here are the directions from an earlier post on the Plastic Warrior blog: Plastic Warrior Show directions

So make a note on your calendar and as you start to mark the days off, here are the last few pics I took at that other show in London

I'm going through a bit of a French & Indian Wars phase at the moment and having a very low attention span when it comes to uniform research I thought I'd use these superb Britains pieces to provide me with a colour guide when I eventually pick up the paintbrush.

I always find myself in deep water when it comes to non-uniform colour schemes like on these woodland Indians, but I have no shame when it comes to paying someone else the compliment of copying their ideas, so I expect that something very similar to these two fine chaps by Britains will soon be skulking on my wargame table.

......Oh and Vikings.  That's the other phase I'm going through at the moment, more fine figures from Britains.

I think this rather sombre diorama was on the King & Country stand but somehow it managed to absent itself from the previous post!

The colourful displays on the ATS (Alexanders Toy soldiers) stand are always a joy to behold, here our fine fellows fend off those pesky Bavarians.

More glorious colour from ATS, and here the French try their luck with the British Grenadiers.

Beautifully sculpted horses from ATS in this diorama of Parliamentary Horse charging during the English Civil War.

An finally, the other end of the ATS diorama shows the Royalist Horse in all their finery.

I am remiss in not mentioning earlier about the new forum/discussion board for those interested in wargaming with 54mm figures, it already has 75 members so take a look here: 

Little Wars Revisited

Tony Bath - War Game of the Middle Ages and Ancient Times - 1956

Following on from the Herring War game a few weeks back (see earlier post) AM and I made tentative arrangements to meet again across the table of  Mars, AM chose the period, Medieval, so I got to choose the rules.  I was a little surprised at the choice, but pleasantly so as I'd been spending a little too much hobby time working on the 17th and 19th centuries recently and a change is as good as a rest etc.

The lay of the land at the start of the game.  The flower of French chivalry confidently line the southern hills on the left while the bawdy English and their brutish allies the Burgundians are jostled into line along the northern slopes opposite, between them the marshes in the valley floor are swollen from the incessant rains

I mentioned in a previous post here that I had stumbled across the first set of wargame rules written by Tony Bath, founder of the Society of Ancients, in 1956 and since then I have been looking for an opportunity to try them out. 

The English lights - cavalry and infantry rush into the fray

There's something that appeals to me about the idea of using old rules for playing with old toy soldiers.  Now, my medievals don't hail from 1956, they're mostly from the 1960's, (well, some are) so not too far out. When I first read the rules I assumed they were written for 54mm soldiers because the movement distances were what I would expect for larger size figures and of course that was the type most widely available back then.  Also there was something about the game mechanisms that reminded me very much of Wells' Little Wars rules.

The well appointed French heavies - cavalry, infantry and swarms of crossbowmen begin a ponderous advance over difficult ground

Tony Bath actually used 30mm flat zinnfiguren which he imported from Germany for his games as the Ancient and Medieval periods were barely covered by the toy manufacturers of the day and this was long before the advent of the 20mm wargame miniature or even that pillar of the hobby soon to be known as Airfix.  By contrast the historical coverage of the flat manufacturers was, and remains, phenomenal.

Faced with the prospect of a charge from the heavy French horsemen, the English infantry make for the relative safety of the marshlands

Although the name of Tony Bath has become synonymous with the Ancient period it was to be several years after writing these rules that he founded the Society of Ancients and it is clear (apart from the title) that he intended them to stretch to cover at least the Hundred Years War as there is specific provision for "dismounted cavalry in full armour armed with shortened lance as used by the french at Poitiers".

The French crossbowmen have secured the ruined abbey

So, very much an old school game was had, with books under sheets for hills, pine cones for bushes, marshes hastily cut for the occasion from card and aquarium ornaments for ruins.  The Anglo-Burgundian force were mostly Timpo swappets with a hindrance of militia provided by Elastolin Saxons and stiffened by a phalanx of Deetail pikemen.  The French were mostly conversions, some painted in heraldic livery and finished in the toy style.

First blood to the French, the heavy cavalry on their right charges into the first line of Burgundian men at arms while a body of militia forms a hedge of pikes to protect themselves from the onslaught

We wanted to play the game as true as we could to the original rules without any tweaks and we could see that they depend on testing combat strength v mobility between the various differing classes of troops, so to give them a good first run out we made the opposing armies very different in composition.  The French were much heavier with greater firepower, about  30 heavy cavalry, 30 heavy infantry and 30 archers.  The Allies were much lighter but greater in number: 15 light cavalry, 60 light infantry, 10 militia, 10 heavy infantry and 10 archers. 

On the French left more heavy cavalry approach the marshes but are checked and look for firmer ground through them

I was given permission by the British Model Soldier Society to reproduce these rules for enthusiasts but before I got around to doing it I discovered they had been published as part of the History of Wargaming project, edited by John Curry, in Vol 4 - More Wargaming Pioneers so if you want to give this game a spin I would urge you to buy the book, it costs less than £12 and is part of a project that deserves all our support.  What I have done is produce a summary of the rules in a quick reference sheet which I will make available in the next post, but you really should still buy the book because there's a lot more in it.

The English men at arms jeer at the French knights from the relative safety of the wetlands egging them on to come forward

There's going to be a BIG PARTY in London tonight.......

No.......... it's not the opening of the Olympics......................

There'll be lots of Music..............

Lots of Women..............

Lots of Dancing..............

Lots of Eatin' and Drinkin'............

Everybody'll have a good time...........until the drink runs out, then.........

Lots of Fightin'.............

Have a Good Day!!!!!!!!!!

W. Britain new Zulu War unveiled at the London Toy Soldier Show June 2012

Unveiled by W. Britain at the London Toy soldier Show last weekend was this rather dramatic model of a British artillery limber team racing to cut their way through the Zulu hordes and rescue their 7lb gun.  The set has been titled "Desperate Escape"

A nice piece of eye candy which I'm sure will appeal to modern W. Britain collectors but why oh why did they mount it on what looks like a slab of rough cut MDF board?   And having crafted such folly why not extend it to the gun instead of cutting it off at the limber and leaving the gun looking like an after thought from another set?  Having said that I've looked at the set on the W Britain website and the base appears much thinner and extends to include the gun so perhaps this is just a prototype.

Due to be available in September it will be a limited edition of 600 sets and should you choose to order one you will get the grand sum of 1p change from five hundred quid.

Some further posts on the London Show to come when I get time, some nice French plastic and the latest offering from the Skirmish Wargames Group.

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

St. Cyr Cadets by Britains???????

You never know what will turn up at the Plastic Warrior Show, a curious item that caught my attention was this Britains "Eyes Right" series box of French St. Cyr Cadets.

The wording and style of print have been lifted from original Britains packaging but the box colour and the way it opens by lifting the cellophane fronted lid are all wrong.

Inside the box there is a printed insert which looks to be a French Chateau, the figures look to me to be copies of Starlux and they are held in place by wings cut into the insert.  The figures are a good 60mm high and made in hard plastic, painted to a good standard.

Underneath the box the wording is once again copied from original Britains packaging.

So what is it - a rare Britains set made in France or a fake made to catch the unsuspecting collector?

The answer is neither it was made in Poland, and the quality looks very good, I think any serious Britains or Starlux collector (which I am not) should include something like this in their collection for a bit of fun.

Seen at the London Toy Soldier Show March 2012

Yesterday I went to the London Toy Soldier Show, it didn't seem as busy as in previous years but then the first show of the year is often like that, many of the dealers were commenting that sales had been weak in recent months both at shows and mail order, and I guess this reflects the depressed state of the world economy (toy soldiers being a very international trade).  The show itself has had something of a chequered history, it started out as the Norman Joplin show then was taken over by Vectis Auctions who passed it on to King & Country and now it is being organised by Guideline Publications who publish Toy Soldier Collector magazine.

Above: three views of the Britains Nile Gunboat from the Sudan Campaign, a nice model but I have to admit I would prefer if it looked a bit more homemade and toy like than a professionaly made product but then of course it wouldn't have fitted with the rest of their range.

In recent years I seem to be buying less and less figures at shows but they are always good to go to because you never know what is going to turn up and it's always good to meet old friends and put faces to new people that you've come into contact with, among them this time around were Hugh Walter of the Small Scale World blog and Tim Gow of the Megablitz and More blog.

Above: two more views of Nile Steamers from the Sudan Campaign, this time from the British Toy Soldier Co. I think they work quite well.

The Battle of Astrakhan (part 1) – A RussoTurkish wargame with toy soldiers.

Back in 1993 veteran wargamers Stuart Asquith and Jack Alexander published a set of rules, called “Big Wars” for use with 54mm toy soldiers after the style of H G Wells “Little Wars”.   Big Wars retained the simplicity of Little Wars but introduced mechanisms that would be recognisable to the modern wargamer of smaller scale figures.  Over on the FunnyLittleWars Yahoo Group messrs IJ and AG began a discussion about Big Wars and I offered to umpire a game between them to try out the rules for a bit of fun.

The umpires overview of the table

The initial dispositions, the Turks have concentrated to the south west of the field behind the cover of low hills and the ruins of a temple from an earlier civilisation.

The plan was that I would set up a terrain on my games table and allocate armies to each player.  H G Wells used to play his games on the floor and would rig up a curtain to go across the room so that each player could not see his opponents opening dispositions.  To emulate this I emailed Ian and Alan with photos of what could be seen at table top level from different points along their respective baselines.  The table measures 8’ x 6’ which we split into 6” squares annotated 1 to 16 along the length and A to L across the width so that the players could instruct me where to place their opening dispositions. 

To the north east the Russian forces prepare to occupy what appears to be a deserted village.

Infantry are formed in units of 10 plus officer and standard bearer, Cavalry comprise 5 troopers plus officer and an Artillery battery is 1 gun plus 4 gunners.  Each 6” square can accommodate two units of infantry or one of cavalry or one battery of artillery.  Infantry and artillery must start in a square on line A while cavalry can start from line A or B.  Units can also start off table but the player has to specify on which square they will enter the table.

The Turkish line begins it's advance

The background to the game is that the main campaign in the mountain passes of the Balkans has bogged down into siege and trench warfare around the city of Plevna.  To break the stalemate the Turks have sent a force over the Caucasus mountains in a raid to sweep across the Caucasian Plain, moving fast on a broad front living off the land and destroying everything in their path, emulating Sherman’s march to the sea during the American Civil War.

The Guard infantry, mountain guns and Naval contingent are deployed to the right flank.

Supported by mountain artillery, without any expectation of resupply or reinforcement their orders are to avoid pitched battle, march north in a feint towards Rostov then turn east avoiding Tsaritsyn (Volgograd) to attack Astrakhan from the landward while a naval flotilla makes a co-ordinated attack from the Caspian Sea.  Attached to the command are a group of Prussian advisers, veteran officers recently released from service after their victory in France, and a Naval contingent who will provide liaison with the flotilla for the attack on Astrakhan.

In the centre the Turkish light horse move to the crest of the hill.

The raid has two objectives, the first to draw enemy troops and resources away from the main theatre in the Balkans, the second to encourage a rising of the Kazakh and Uzbek cities of the Khiva Khanate, who have suffered the humiliation of Russian conquest in recent decades.  The capture of Astrakhan would provide a forward port through which they could be supplied with arms, the Cities are opportunists who will only back the winning side but it is hoped they will heed the call to jihad by their coreligionists but if that does not succeed the expedition will revert to bribery, it carries 30,000 pieces of gold provided by the British and American Governments who will are pleased to assist in any mischief which may cause the Russians some difficulty.

The light horse emerging from the ruins are conversions by Ross Macfarlane

Tomorrow, the Russians respond.

The Battle of Astrakhan (Part 2) - a 54mm RussoTurkish sideshow between the Seas

Continuing the battle played by email with 54mm toy soldiers using the "Big Wars" rules devised by Stuart Asquith and Jack Alexander. 

News of the raid has caused consternation at Russian headquarters, reports are coming in that border posts in the mountains have been brushed aside and local garrisons overrun as the Turks advance in three swift columns, destroying everything in their path.  Orders have been sent out recalling all garrisons in the region to concentrate at Tsaritsyn to the north, no regular troops can be spared from the main front in the Balkans so the General Staff set to the job of improvising a command for the defence.

The Russian centre and left wing advance supported by field artillery.

A regiment of Cossacks and Riflemen from the Caucasus are being shipped across the Caspian Sea to Astrakhan where they will make a forced march to Tsaritsyn.  Hussars, Cuirassiers and Cossacks from the Imperial Guard are being ferried down the River Don, from Moscow. 

From his position in the centre the Russian commander surveys his right wing, covered by a screen of Cuirassiers his Lancers, Montenegrins and Caucasian Riflemen shelter behind the gentle slopes of Windmill Hill.

At Odessa a Brigade has been formed from dispossessed Montenegrin and Albanian refugees, they are being trained by Polish and Walachian Officers recruited from the French Foreign Regiment, recently disbanded.  Their lack of formal training is more than made up for by their fighting spirit, they are being shipped across the Black Sea to Rostov where they will be rushed east to join the general concentration.

The Russian right wing begins it's advance.

We join the action where the Russian forces have concentrated and moved to block the Turks advancing on Astrakhan, they are surrounded on all sides by the wastes of the Circassian Depression and there is no way round so the only option is to break through the Russian line.

On the left wing the Caucasian Cossacks and Albanians have occupied the village.

The two commanders have no idea what size or composition the forces opposing them will be or where they will appear on the battlefield, they can only discover this through probing with reconnaissance patrols.  In the north east sector a village built with stout mud walls nestles in the bend of a river making it potentially a very formidable defencive position and the Russian commander quickly moves to occupy it.

  

The Russians discover the village is empty and the plains opposite across the river are unoccupied.

The Turkish commander has deployed to the south west, avoiding the risk of excessive casualties from attacking a fortified position across a river, while the Russians discover that they have nearly a third of their force cut off from where the main action will take place.

Umpires note

I had originally intended the size and composition of the two forces to be very diferent but purely by chance rather than design they came out fairly even, they both had roughly 100 infantry, 20 cavalry, 2 guns and 6 Command.  The Russian field guns had an advantage in range over the Turkish mountain guns but in practice this was found to give no benefit. 

The players were not aware of each others victory conditions: for the Turks it was to break through the enemy line by taking at least 50% of their forces across his baseline, for the Russians it was to defeat the raid by preventing the breakthrough to Astrakhan and inflicting at least 50% casualties.  For both sides there was a bonus for whoever possessed the gold at the end.

Nearly all the figures used are conversions, the Turkish light horse, Guard infantry (in light blue zouave tunics), Montenegrins and Albanians as well as the buildings in the village were all made by Ross Macfarlane and featured in his Emir's Lair scenario (many thanks Ross).  The Russian Hussars and recast Britains Cossacks came from the collection of John Ruddle.  All the rest are my own humble efforts.

Tomorrow the combat begins in earnest.

The Battle of Astrakhan (part 3) - A diversion from the Balkans

Continuing the battle played by email with 54mm toy soldiers using the "Big Wars" rules devised by Stuart Asquith and Jack Alexander.

For those who prefer the game of Imagi-Nations this started out as a conflict between the Sublime Porte of the Levant and The Balkan League, sadly due to my general lack of imagination we soon reverted to the historical scenario of the somewhat RussoTurkish intrigues and incursions of the late 1800's.

The Turks have set up a command post on the hill in the shelter of the ruins.

The Turks being concentrated to the west have begun a general advance of their entire line, their infantry command the heights, artillery cover the central plain between the river and the hills while their cavalry sweep into the valley.

The Turkish cavalry thunder across the valley between the Ancient Temple and Windmill Hill unaware of what they may face ahead of them.....or the Cuirassiers rounding the hill to fall on their right flank.

The Russian right wing is painfully thin, two regiments of infantry and two of cavalry facing an assualt by nearly three times their number......but they don't know this! 

The Turkish light horse career on in their wild charge.

Overview of the  field at moves 3 and 4.

The umpires view, shared with you dear reader but denied to the two players who can only see what is visible from the position of their commander at table top level.  The result of this is that their ability to judge distances on the table, the effect of terrain on movement and the actual position of some of their troops starts to become impaired.

The impressive advance of the Turkish line, the mountain artillery deploy.

The Russian right ambles forward in the lee of the hill unaware of the full force of the assault about to break upon them.

The Turkish artillery tries a ranging shot and finds it falls far short.

The Russian battery on the left replies and finds it's mark comfortably.

The second Russian battery in the centre on the line finds the range of the Turkish light horse with ease.

Commander of the Turkish forces, a Swiss emigre, Wolfgang Feyler with his Prussian advisors and the "Diplomatic Mission" Colonel Sharpe of the British Political Agency and Master Sergeant Harper of the United States Cavalry, with the "Diplomatic Bag".

The Caucasian Cossacks leave the village and prepare to swim their horses across the river to rejoin the main body.

Having discovered that the village is unoccupied and there appear to be no enemy troops opposite their left wing the Russians rapidly recall their troops back to the centre while the gathering threat on their right builds ominously.  Is this a knee jerk reaction?  Is the action on the right a feint to draw off Russian troops from the left so that Turks concealed off table can swoop in and occupy the village?  Who knows? ...it's a risk.

The Russians pour back over the bridge to rejoin the main body in the centre, the one small bridge proves to be a major problem causing a bottleneck as the men jostle with on another to get across.

The old bridge creaks and threatens to colapse under the pounding of hobnailed boots as the Russian conscripts are driven on by the blows and curses of their officrs. 

Desperately trying to buy time the Russian artillery on the left continues the counter battery work to deflect attention from the troops hurrying to get back to the main body. 

The Russian central battery continues to play on the Turkish cavalry charge trying to blunt the effect they will have when they hit the lightly held right wing. 

Tomorrow - which way will the combat turn?