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The large mounted Roman on the left was originally made France in hollowcast lead by JSF (Jouets Standard Francais), this is a plastic version made form the original mould.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?)

The Cast take a bow

This post is in response to a request for more details of the figures used in the C18th Funny Little Wars 54mm wargaming project.  These days there are some very good sets of 7 Years War figures made by Armies in Plastic and HaT but before that most of the C18th figures you could get were based on the American War of Independence but with an alternate paint job and stretching the bounds of history a little they can fit the bill for earlier periods. 

At the back troopers of Kurassier Regt. no2 are made from the bodies of Britains "Herald" Life/Horse Guards, the heads replaced with metal castings, saddles and horses from Helmet kits  I had intended to paint them as a "white jacket" Regt. so that they could double bubble as Austrians but at the end of the day I just couldn't resist the "yellow jackets". 

The Line infantry, Musketeers of Regts. 3 and 4 on the left and Fusiliers of Regts. 35 and 42 on the right are all from the BMC Yorktown playset.  Their sculpting is generally poor but they have a nice toyish appearance, you get a good variety of animated poses and when painted up en masse they look okay.

The Grenadiers in the middle are made by American firm CTS, the drummers are all by Accurate (who I think have been taken over by someone else now) with mitre hats from the spares you get in the HaT 7YW sets.

At the back the Dragoons are made from Britains "Swappet" AWI bodies with heads, legs and horses from Helmet Kits.

In front from the left are more BMC painted as Russians (another stalled project) but pressed into the Frederickian ranks as Jaegers for this game.  The greyhound comes with the Elastolin figure of Frederick the Great, so had to be included. 

The command group include a character figure from a German TV series? don't know what it was or who made him but he looks the part.  Marshal Murat from del Prado looking suitably exotic travels back in time to become Lord of the Bosniaks.  Lazare Hoche and Louis XVI were premiums from the French coffee firm Mokarex, behind them Marshal Montcalm is made from SEGOM kit parts on a Historex horse and the begging dog is a vintage item by French firm Clairet. 

The Pandurs are loosely based on Trencks' Regt. and will rejoin the Austrian army when I get around to doing it but for now they have joined the ranks as a Bosniak contingent.  They are a mix of figures by Marx and A Call to Arms with either a head change or just a reshaping of their bearskins, by rebasing and giving them a uniform paint style figures from different makers can go together seamlessly.  They are accompanied by their chaplain in the form of Piere l'hermite issued as a premium by the Belgian coffee firm of Storme.  Finally the Grenadiers in light blue began their military career with the French Lazun Legion but have now joined Frederick as allies from a nondescript minor state.

The opposition "Pragmatic" army (not shown in this post) are from the French and Indian wars range by Barzo bolstered by some rather nice metal figures from Tradition.  The Regiment Royale Ecossais are mostly by Marx and the Dragoons and light infantry from A Call to Arms.

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!!!!!!!!!!

Clairet Eskimos at the London Toy Soldier Show

I'm always on the lookout for something unusual when I go to the shows and here is something I was really pleased to find, it's the Clairet Arctic set.  I say Arctic set because it's got Inuit people and Polar Bears but commits the universal sin of including Penguins which are only found in the Antarctic.  Marx, Britains and Timpo all made Polar/Exploration sets but I don't think anything quite compares to Clairet, in fact of all the French manufacturers I rate them the best, being on a par with Elastolin for quality but with the advantage of being 54mm.

I was really taken with the ice flows and the sleighs pulled by reindeer, they're a nice touch to a very original set.

A close up of the figures, note the chap who has caught a fish in his two pronged trident, the one standing beside him with an oar looks as if he's frosted with ice but in fact this is a chemical reaction in the acetate plastic which will degenerate further over time causing crystals to form all over the figure.  There are some other poses which are not included here - two men carrying a polar bear slung from a staff between them and a man with a hunting eagle tethered to a pole. 

Final shot shows the sleigh pulled by huskies which I couldn't get into the main picture, also a better view of the huntsman with rifle who has a dead walrus at his feet