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.

Fleamarket finds from the weekend.

 It always seems to be feast or famine at the local car boot sale but last weekend I managed a reasonable haul:

This lot set me back £20, which I thought was very fair, there's nothing rare or special but it's quite a nice mix and they will add to several of my existing projects.

A few more Conte Normans are always welcome, my existing ones have been painted up as they came so I can afford to use some of these ones for conversions.  They are made from a firm rubber which leaves the weapons prone to bending, after straightening by hot water treatment I give the bendy parts a coat of wood glue (which is an industrial strength PVA used by carpenters) to keep them from reverting to their previous shape.

The four Timpo Vikings all need repair so I will have no qualms about basing them for wargaming, the two AWI have been added to a display shelf and I have suitable mounts for all the others.  The Marx reissue of Paul Revere in white is very versatile for conversion to many periods.

REAMSA remoulds from the Willian Tell set, I think the figure of Landburgher Gessler is particularly well sculpted, he looks just like the character played by Willoughby Goddard in the 1950's "Adventures of William Tell" TV series.

The more collectable items: a Franciscan monk and Mousquetaire du Roi made by Starlux, the grenadier drummer made by Cavendish is rarely found in white plastic so is probably an early example. The Cherilea Numidian, Lone Star African Native and Crescent Sheriff of Nottingham on the bottom row are all destined to be converted.

Malcolm III and William Rufus 1093 - Battle Ravens

Since discovering that the boardgame Battle Ravens translates so well to the tabletop for a wargame with 54mm toy soldiers we thought we'd give it another outing.

  Our first trial of the game was a standard shieldwall encounter between Vikings and Saxons, but the game also offers sets of cards to portray the national characteristics of Scots, Welsh and Normans so we decided to try something different. 

  For a scenario I chose the border raid in 1093 by the Scots of Malcolm III, in support of Saxon refugees, against a frontier outpost held by the Normans of William Rufus. 

A Frisian trader has beached his ship alongside the Norman keep and is unloading his trade goods in exchange for Saxon slaves, when the alarm is sounded!  A Scottish warband has been spotted approaching the stronghold.

The Frisian crew join the Norman garrison and form shieldwall outside the stockade to protect the ship from the Scots and their Saxon allies.

Lessons learned from our previous encounter meant that the action flowed much faster and furiously this time around, more risks were taken and the subtle nuances in the rule system became more apparent. 

The game is played from two static shieldwalls and despite the lack of manoeuvre there is still a great deal of movement as warriors are pushed back and forth to reinforce holes in the line.  

The Playmobil viking ship with sail down serves as the Frisian merchant vessel, it only acts as set dressing but adds depth to the scenario.

The Scots command group, King Malcolm with his retainers and priest.  The standard bearers here and below are conversions by Eric Kemp acquired at the Plastic Warrior Show in May.

There is a temptation to press heavily on one sector of the enemy line and attempt a breakthrough but this can have repercussions later on, in the long run it's often better to give ground and degrade your opponent's forces.  

The game plays comfortably in a couple of hours but you could easily expand it by allowing reinforcements to be fed in at set points.  It would make a great demonstration game at a convention, easy to transport, limited number of figures involved, several participants could take different sections of the shieldwall and the larger figures add a bit of spectacle for the spectators.

It was a close run thing and looked as though honours were even but on closer inspection and a recount the Normans carried the day by one point.

Those with sharp eyes will recognise figures by Timpo, Johilco, DSG, TSSD, Emhar, Cherilea, Del Prado, Jean Hoefler, Elastolin, Jecsan, Reamsa, Oliver, Conte, Fontanini, Replicants, Marx, Armies in Plastic, Starlux, and Cafe Storme.

Jacobite Rebellion - One Hour Wargames

Subsequent to this year's Plastic Warrior Show, Anthony has acquired the greater part of a Jacobite 54mm wargames collection created by our old friend Eric Kemp.  Needless to say, we couldn't wait to get them out on the table.  We turned to our default ruleset for such games, One Hour Wargames by Neil Thomas and selected Scenario 6 - Flank Attack.

This post is really a shameless opportunity to show off some very pretty toy soldiers, for which I offer no apology!

The scenario opens with the Jacobite army on the road home to Scotland, their path blocked by two units of Government troops, while another 4 units are approaching on the east flank. 

The basic rules were tweaked to reflect national/tactical differences so that Highlanders have a longer move distance and can charge but not shoot they also gain a +2 in melee, regular infantry can move or fire but not both and can't charge. 

This makes for a fast moving and very bloody game so we actually managed to play the scenario twice and this was the first game

Two units of Highlanders in the van followed by artillery and a unit of French allies (their only regular unit) approach the Government regulars.

The blocking Government troops get off a volley before they are hit by the Highlanders charge, once in melee they are unable to disengage.

The Government troops out on the flank include a unit of loyalist Lowlanders who have the same movement and combat features as the Highlanders.

The regulars and artillery on the flank advance into range and begin to pepper the attacking Highlanders.

The French regulars turn to face the threat from the flank.....

......and defend against the charging Lowlanders 

The Highlanders have the advantage in melee but need to engage quickly before they take too much punishment from the musket volleys, flexibility in changing formation proved to be the key to the game.

In the second game the Government drew a unit of cavalry, together with the artillery they blocked the path of the Highland army.

Cavalry follow the standard OHW Horse and Musket rules, they can charge but if they do not eliminate the unit attacked they are bounced back half a move.

The collection includes Jacobite cavalry in the form of Bagot's Hussars but sadly they didn't get drawn when units were diced for, I think they would have made a substantial difference to the dynamics of the game.

With the Highlanders enhanced movement both sides moved rapidly into contact and very quickly became depleted in combat, these were without doubt the fastest OHW games we have played to date.

The Government troops carried the day in both games but they were each a very close run thing.

The figures themselves include a large number of conversions, particularly among the Highlanders, makers include: Replicants, Armies in Plastic, A Call to Arms, Accurate, Barzo, Marx, Cherilea and Timpo.

Battle Ravens - Dan Mersey

It's been a while since we last had a game but this weekend I finally managed to clear enough space for one.  Battle Ravens is a board game designed by Dan Mersey with graphics provided by Peter Dennis, both well known names in the gaming world, the former for rules systems and the latter for his excellent ranges of paper soldiers.  The game is about combat in a Viking/Saxon shieldwall and comes with opposing 35mm armies of Peter's card mounted paper soldiers.  Anthony thought it would be good to play using 54mm toy soldiers so I dusted off the Dark Ages collection and this is how it went:

The two armies square up to form shieldwalls, each has armoured Hirdmen (Hearthguards) in the front line, unarmoured Bondi in the second line and a group of Thrals (skirmishers) behind them.  The command units overseeing each shieldwall have no role in the game but I included them to represent the players, and because they look good.

Each shieldwall is split into 6 areas, delineated here by the use of movement trays, at the start of the game players dice to see who goes first and then take it in turns to allocate tokens (Ravens) to each area of their shieldwall, Ravens are used to pay for activity in each area, either attack, defend (saving throws) or to move between areas.  

Player A selects one area in their shieldwall and pays with its' Ravens to either attack or move, but not both. To attack, Ravens are payed to buy dice throws, a score of 6 is two hits and 4 or 5 gives one hit. combat takes place against troops in the immediately opposite area, two hits will kill a Hirdman and one hit kills a Bondi.  If there are casualties Player B can now pay some of the Ravens from the area being attacked to buy saving dice throws: 6 saves two hits and 4 or 5 saves one hit.

Player B then selects an area of his wall to activate and either attack or move.

To move, one Raven is paid for each figure to be moved to an adjacent area and no more than 9 figures can be placed in any one area.

When the Ravens in all the areas on both sides have been spent it is the end of the turn and a new turn begins with both players alternating, as before, to allocate Ravens to areas in their shieldwall.

The Playmobil pirate ship above is perfect for 54mm toy soldiers, it was a cheap car boot find and plays no role in the game but looks great so I had to include it for a bit of set dressing.

The three bowmen behind the shieldwall are Thralls and they allow failed attacking dice throws to be rerolled, for each reroll one Thrall is removed from the board, at the start of the next turn any Thralls that were removed are returned to the game.

Each player also gets 5 bonus cards which reflect the national characteristics of of the armies and allow additional actions, just one card can be played each turn.   The basic game offers expansion kits of these cards to allow for armies of  Scots, Welsh and Normans.

The simple game system is very easy to learn and quick to play, despite this we made some inevitable errors in our interpretation of the rules and soon learned that the apparent simplicity masks some subtle nuances which emerge as the game progresses.

As wargames with 54mm toy solders go, Battle Ravens can be played in a very small area, across a dining table would be ideal, and with very few figures required.  We used 18 Hirdmen, 18 Bondi and 3 Thralls per side so only 78 figures needed in total.  

The sail billows in the wind, sending the longship scudding across the waves towards the estuary where the surf crashes against the treacherous rocks.

I really enjoyed building these Dark Ages armies and was it was great to get them on the table, using 54mm toy soldiers makes a massive difference to the visual impact of the game.  There's a great variety in the painting and poses of the figures which include Timpo, DSG, TSSD, Emhar, Cherilea, Del Prado, Co-Ma, Jean Hoefler, Jecsan, Conte, Fontanini, Replicants, Marx, Armies in Plastic, Technolog, NeTechnologist and Cafe Storme.

We both felt it was a great system for portraying the desperation of the shieldwall, the frustration of battering away trying to force a breach while urgently rushing to shore up the holes in your own wall before it collapses, now I know what it feels like being Uhtred in one of Bernard Cornwall's Last Kingdom novels.

Irish Warband

 Irish sea raiders were pillaging the coast of Saxon Britain long before the Vikings arrived, they later opposed the Viking incursions into Ireland and continued fighting alongside anyone who would pay them until well after the Normans appeared on the scene.  So a useful addition to any Dark Ages collection, sadly nobody ever made 54mm toys soldiers depicting Kerns or Gallowglass, so I gave them my own twist:

In the centre is a modern metal figure of an Irish Chieftain made by Del Prado, he needed a warband to follow him and that kickstarted this little project.  Irish warriors are depicted wearing predominantly ochre cloth (wool dyed with urine) so I used this colour liberally to pull the figures together as a unit.

They also used a hotchpotch of  weaponry and armour, when they had them, so this allows considerable licence when selecting figures and converting them, the chap centre front is throwing a dart, a uniquely Irish weapon of the period.

Wealthier warriors and sub-chieftains were better armed and armoured than the hoi-polloi so I've included a few of these.  They won't win any prizes for historical accuracy but were fun to paint and being of Irish heritage myself I have a certain fondness for them.