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The large mounted Roman on the left was originally made France in hollowcast lead by JSF (Jouets Standard Francais), this is a plastic version made form the original mould.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

Elastolin Bundeswehr from the car boot sale.

 Among the finds at the car boot sale last weekend were these post war composition figures of the German Bundeswehr made by Elastolin, which warrant a post of their own.

The immediate post war production of Elastolin was something of a hybrid, utilising the same "sawdust and glue" composition mixture for the bodies but introducing a new pattern of head made in plastic and wearing an American style M1 helmet.  Elastolin used the same composition bodies with this plastic head and just different painting schemes to depict both Bundeswehr (as shown above) and American GI's for the export market.  Previously the pre war American infantry were made entirely in composition material and wore the British Army style Brodie helmet.  

Elastolin had been using the bodies of their German infantry with separate plug in heads and different painting schemes to depict various contemporary armies since the early 1930's but this was the first instance of them utilising plastic parts.  The flag was the same pattern of tinplate standard that they had been using pre war but was painted in the black, red and gold colours of the national flag of the Federal Republic of Germany.

Elastolin style trenches

 Following on from the previous post, here is a command post I made many years back in the style of the old Elastolin modular trench sections:

For many years (more like decades!) I had been bidding at various auctions on original Elastolin entrenchments but without any success.  It's not that they're rare, they come up all the time, it's just that they are desirable and always sell for silly money.  So I decided to make my own.

Based roughly on an original model from the 1930's the basic structure is formed from polystyrene packing, the whole thing then covered in papier mache and sprinkled with sawdust for texture.  The entrance posts and lintels were provided by the stick from a firework rocket and the steps just cardboard folded into a concertina shape.  The paint scheme follows the original, an overall wash of earth brown with a drybrush of grass green and the odd highlight of drybrushed yellow.

The only problem is storage, the figures are 7cm tall so it's a big old piece of kit and the only place I can find for it at the moment is balancing rather precariously on top on another glass display case!

Plastic Warrior Show 2023

 The PW Show has been running annually since 1985 (2 years COVID lockdown excepted), and on Saturday someone said to me "It pretty much runs itself now doesn't it".  Well, no it doesn't, there are always problems, there are so many things outside of our control, and the Gods love to have fun with mortals who make plans.  This year they had a lot of fun and we had a lot of challenges but the support and camaraderie of the enthusiasts who overcame the travel problems and turned up carried the day.  So if you were one of them, thank you, you're the ones who really make the show.

I always use the show as an opportunity to clear out stuff I no longer need, stuff that has sat in a cupboard unloved, unlooked at and unused for years.  I wanted it when I bought it, perhaps on a whim, or maybe for a project that never came to fruition (plenty of them!), some stuff was just picked up to save it from the skip or the ravages of tiny fingers, whatever.  

The important thing is that it gives someone else some pleasure in acquisition, takes up their storage space and ultimately becomes their problem.  It also frees up space in my cupboards and in my head for me to get more stuff.  This was my haul for the day (plus several bags of Hing Fat WW2 out of the pic), by coincidence I ended the day with as much cash in my pocket as I started it, so in my personal microeconomic view I got all this stuff for nothing.

This is the Garibaldi Red Shirt set made in Italy by Co-Ma, I've only been searching 40 years for them so I expect they'll be turning up all over the place now.  Very similar to Atlantic in style but a bit smaller at about 50mm tall, four of them should have muskets in black plastic, I'll give them Timpo ones.

I do like to see English cavalry in a pillbox cap, this composition figure was made in France by Bon Dufour, badly damaged but condition has never been an issue for me.

Some odds and ends for various collections, a couple of Natives from PZG of Poland, some composition figures gifted from Andreas Dittmann who came over with the collectors from Germany and some French infantry by Toumoulage that will find employment in the International Brigade for my Spanish Civil War project.

I usually try to get lots of photos of the tables to encourage more people to come to the show, this year I didn't really have time to wander around taking pics but here are a few bits that give a flavour of what it's all about.  

When I got home I took a few more pics of the stuff I bought and I'll try to get them posted up over the next few days.

August von Mackensen by Elastolin and Lineol

 I've always liked figures of Hussars and Lancers, light cavalry in general I suppose, and here are three examples of composition personality figures portraying Field Marshal von Makensen from the 1930's.

The first one on the right was made by Elastolin and is showing some deterioration where the wire armature it is built around is rusting and causing the composite material to crack.  Middle also by Elastolin but 2nd quality late production, you can see it is smaller and the paint quality not so good.  On the right is the version made by Lineol which I think is by far the best of the three.

Battle of Metauro revisited

 In the closing weeks of last year Anthony and I decided to take his 54mm Battle of Metauro game for another spin, originally this was a board game made in Spain by Rojas y Malaret, Anthony took the original board and had it blown up as a gaming mat for 54mm toy soldiers, here's how the game works: (click on the images to enlarge them)

With the German (Hausser) version of the game you could purchase additional extension packs to increase both the number of figures on the board and also the variety of troop types, such as archers, light infantry and Gallic allies.  Accordingly, Anthony has been building up his collection of DSG Roman and Carthaginian forces in line with the expansion packs available for the original game.

The game opens with troops being placed on the squares with coloured triangles (each individual figure represents a unit), each square can contain 3 infantry, 1 infantry and 1 cavalry, 2 cavalry or 1 elephant.  You can have less figures on a square but you can't exceed these numbers per square, this can have an important impact on movement and combat later in the game.

Movement distances are 1 square for infantry, 2 for elephants and 3 for cavalry.  Woods and ruins provide cover and can only be entered by infantry.  Squares with rocks are an obstacle, they can't be entered or passed over by any troop types. Infantry in cover get a bonus in combat.

A unit moving into a square adjacent to a enemy must attack, combat takes place between individual units and the attacking player decides the order of combat, both sides roll a D6 to decide the outcome.  Highest score wins, 1, 2 or 3 have no effect, 4 or 5 cause the loser to retreat 1 square (2 squares for elephants), 6 is a kill and the losing unit is removed from he board.  If both sides get the same score (including bonus modifiers, see below) there is no effect.  A unit can only take part in combat once in each move turn.

There is no bonus for the attacker but infantry in cover get a +1 added to their score.  Cavalry always get a +1 in combat while elephants get a +2.  Only the Carthaginians have elephants (obviously) but to even things up the Romans get 3 designated figures who can attack and force the elephants to retire. 
 

Rivers can only be crossed at the fords indicated by stones, the central rocky plateau (shown here in orange) counts as cover for infantry, the rocks on three sides around it are impassable.

After combat, a losing unit forced to retire must move into the square directly behind it (elephants retire 2 squares), subject to that square being accessible to the retreating unit type and having enough space to accommodate them i.e. a cavalry unit can't retire into woods or into a square containing 3 infantry, 2 cavalry or 1 elephant, but can retire if the square is empty, has 1 infantry or 1 cavalry on it already.  If the losing unit cannot retire onto the square behind, it is destroyed.  This can be particularly problematic with elephants, you need to keep plenty of retiring space clear behind them!

After each individual unit combat, if one unit is destroyed or forced to retire, the the victorious unit can choose to occupy the vanquished enemies place on his square.  

E.g. 3 Roman infantry move up to an enemy square containing 1 infantry and 1 cavalry. The Roman commander chooses one of his infantry to attack the Carthaginian infantryman, the dice scores are 4 against 3 so the enemy infantryman is forced to retire and the victorious Roman moves into his square, beside the Carthaginian cavalryman.  Next he chooses the second infantryman to attack the Carthaginian cavalryman, the dice scores are 4 against 5 but the cavalryman has a +1 making 6 so the attacking infantry unit is destroyed and removed, but the victorious Carthaginian decides to stay where he is and not occupy the Roman infantryman's square.  Finally the Roman commander uses his third infantryman to again attack the Carthaginian cavalryman, who can't fight back because he has already been in combat this turn, the Roman throws D4 forcing the cavalryman to retire and moves into his square.  

At the end of this move turn this leaves the 2 Roman infantry in the square adjacent to the Carthaginian infantry and cavalrymen who have been forced to retire.  It is now the Carthaginian move turn and they must attack the 2 Roman infantry units in the adjacent square, both side are effectively pinned.  If the victorious Roman units had not advanced into the vacated square during the last round of combat described above there would have been a gap between both sides and the Carthaginian units would have been free to redeploy.

The game is won by killing your opponent's General or occupying both of the camp squares on their baseline.  

Simple, quick play rules, easy to learn but with subtleties that can cause a few unpleasant surprises, the game system is very well suited for use with 54mm toy soldiers and increasing the number of units in play adds greatly to both the visual impact and tactical opportunities.

In our previous game we tended to try and occupy the areas of cover which dominate the centre of the board in order to acquire the +1 combat bonus for infantry and it became a bit of a slugfest there with the mounted units dancing around on the periphery.  In the game pictured above the Carthaginians allowed the Roman infantry to occupy the ruins in strength and left cavalry units hovering around to block any attempted breakout, effectively turning the ruins into a POW camp.

Batalla del Metauro

 From the same stable as the Battle of the Little Big Horn game that Anthony and I played back in June comes this Punic Wars game based on the Battle of Metaurus.  Originally designed and published in Spain by Rojas y Malaret, as part of a series of games called "Great Battles of the World" then subsequently produced under licence in Germany by O.M.Hausser.

This is the box art for the German version of the game, which Anthony acquired and then had the board copied onto a 6'x4' mat so that we could play it using 54mm toy soldiers.

It's a different layout to the Little Big Horn game but you can see that the graphics are the same style.  This is the Carthaginian end of the board, forces start with the river behind them and on the base line behind the river, either side of the tree, are two standards, the object of the game is to kill the enemy General or capture both standards.  Possession of the elephant should have been a game winner, sadly I proved to be no Hannibal!

At the Roman end of the board the troops start off in wooded country and have two cavalry units, pitching mobility against the greater combat strength of the Carthaginian elephant unit.  In the centre of the board there is an impenetrable mountain range with surrounding woods and an area of ruins.

Terrain features such as woods, ruins and the mountainous areas in orange are accessible only to infantry, but the lines of rocks are unpassable to all.  These features provide cover and give a combat bonus to the infantry occupying them.  The river can only be crossed at the three fords.

The figures we used were 54mm Romans and Carthaginians made by DSG of Argentina.  The dark line running across the board is just where the original board was folded, it has no bearing on the game.  

The ruins in the centre of the board became the focal point of the battle and changed hands several times.  The trees, rocks and ruins don't come with the game, we just added them to improve the visual aspect.

The Roman cavalry were put to good use running rings around the slower moving Carthaginians.  We played the game using the original rules and numbers of  figures, combat and movement are similar to the LBH game so very easy to pick up quickly.  With the original game you could also buy add on units to represent different troop types and there was also an additional rule for combat with elephants.  The game took about an hour to play and going forward we agreed that it would give a more challenging and better looking game to increase the number of figures used.

This is the contents of the Hausser box, the infantry and cavalry are 40mm Elastolin figures, they incorporated the original elephant made by Rojas y Malaret from the Spanish version.  This box has had an add on set included as the Metauro game only came with one elephant, there was another game based on the Battle of Zama, which had two elephants.  The Zama game also has a different board layout, it is played across an open area with stockade encampments at either end.

These are a couple of the figures from the original Rojas y Malaret game, the infantry (which I couldn't find when photographing this) are a bit over 54mm, the riders here are 54mm but you can see that the horse and elephant are not to scale.  The elephant is a solid one-piece plastic moulding.

An interlude while I do some 1:1 scale painting

This past week I've been up a ladder with a paint brush redecorating the hall and this has necessitated taking down the display of toy soldiers I have there.  The figures need to be individually removed and dusted so I took these photos to remind me where they go when I put the display back up, as I'd taken the pics I thought I might as well share them with you dear reader.

Discreetly camouflaged by several years of dust, the figures here are not any particular favourites just odds and ends that I've taken a shine to and picked up over time. Occasionally things get moved around but the order of display is largely governed by the size of each compartment.

I've always been very open about collecting toy soldiers and when I mention my interest to anyone they immediately assume that I mean lead guardsmen standing to attention in red tunics (and in fairness there are a few of those), so this little display is my way of showing the diversity of the subject.  Click on a picture to enlarge, there are no prizes for identifying what they are but it might give you a minute or two of fun, now where did I put that duster?

Plastic Warrior Show 2018

For those that don't already know, or who are searching the web for information on the UK Toy and Model Soldier Show, more commonly referred to as the Plastic Warrior Show 2018, it will be held on Saturday 12th May 2018. 

The venue is: The Harlequin Suite at the Winning Post Inn Chertsey Road, Twickenham, TW2 6LS.  Doors open to General Public from 10.30 (there is no earlybird entry).  Link to website: http://www.fayre-square.com/pub/winning-post-whitton-twickenham/c0487/ 

  This will be our 5th year at this venue and it has proved popular with dealers and collectors. There are a just a couple of tables left before it's sold out so this year looks like it will be a bumper event with many collectors taking space to shift some of their surplus.  Travel information and directions are at the bottom of this post.

If you've never been before here's a taster of last year's show:

A boxed Cherilea 7th Cavalry and Indians set, the buckboard and canoe are quite hard to find and I don't think I've ever seen that tepee before.

While primarily a show for collectors of old plastic toy soldiers there are plenty of accesories and recent manufactured figures for the 54mm wargamer.  This table had a model of Rorkes Drift and a whole Wild West town for sale.

All sorts of unusual bits and pieces here, the show attracts traders and collectors from all over Europe and beyond offering figures we otherwise don't get to see so often in England.

A large part of the fun is rummaging through all the cheapo junk boxes.

You never know what will turn up.

The show is primarily for for 54mm plastic figures but there is also usually plenty of 1/72 stuff and even a bit of Action Man stuff slips in, so if you fancy a little wallow in nostalgia you should go along and treat yourself to a few new toys.

Travel Directions to the Plastic Warrior Show 2018. London Toy Soldier Show.

From Outside London take M25, M3, A316, go over one roundabout and entrance to the winning Post is after 500 metres on your left.  From Inner London, after Richmond Circus follow A316 and continue straight on over 3 roundabouts.  You will pass the Winning Post on your right.  At the next roundabout take the 4th exit and entrance to the Winning Post will be on your left after 500 metres.

FREE PARKING.  There is extensive free parking at the site and in the residential roads behind the Winning Post, The Harlequin Suite is to the right of the main building.

By Public Transport.  From Central London and the South of England by overground train (South West Trains) from Waterloo or Clapham Junction to Whitton Station.  There are 8 trains an hour and the journey time is approx. 30 minutes, this is a loop line so 4 trains an hour run from two different platforms at Waterloo Station.   From the North of England by train to London arriving at Kings Cross St. Pancras or Euston. take the London Underground Victoria line just 6 stops to Vauxhall and change for South West Trains to Whitton Station as above.   Whitton Station is just 3 minutes walk from the Winning Post - turn left out of the station past Jubilee Avenue and Pauline Crescent, the next turning on your left is the entrance to the Winning Post.

At the time of writing (16.03.2018) there are no planned Engineering Works on this line.

Should you wish to take the London Underground to Richmond as in previous years, the easiest thing is to change platform and take a South West Train service to Whitton Station as above (4 trains an hour from Richmond, journey time 8 minutes).  Alternatively you could get a black cab or a H22 bus from the taxi rank and bus stop outside the station.

Oyster cards are accepted on all London Underground lines, buses and South West Trains to Whitton Station.

The Winning Post Inn opens from 08.00 to 11.00 serving breakfast or coffee for those who arrive early, the pub serves drinks from 11.00 and Lunches from 12.00.  There is a cashpoint on site but Whitton town center with a full range of shops and banks is just 3 minutes walk from the hall.  Within the Winning Post complex is a Premier Inn travel hotel for those who want to break their journey and stay overnight. 

Funny Little Wars at the Siege of Westmalle-Trapiste

With the weather in the old country turning pleasantly mild the Campaign season opened early and sees the Pragmatic army stealing a march to fall upon the unsuspecting Frederickians in the well appointed town of Westmalle-Trapiste. 

The Citadel and town with it's outlaying earthworks, this is the City Bastion, to the north is the St Nicholas Bastion and to the south the New Works.  The approach of the Pragmatic army has been reported by a mounted patrol, the pickets have been pulled in and the garrison beaten to quarters.

The attackers range across the countryside, setting up camp and commandeering livestock, they quickly establish several batteries and commence the work of driving saps towards the enemy earthworks.

A steady cannonading from the defenders slows the progress of the saps and the attrition takes it's daily toll of the attackers, reducing the odds for when the final assault must surely come.

While the outer works are thinly held during the bombardment a strong reserve has been held back to counter attack any breach in the lines.

The Citadel of Westmalle-Trapiste is a stronghold but the outer works are too long a perimeter for the limited number of defenders to hold in strength.

The strong City Bastion is the bulwark of the defence.

While the heavy guns of the siege train pound away at the defences engineers just beyond the ruins begin tunnelling to sink a mine beneath the City Bastion.

The siege lines are a hive of activity as troops are moved up for the Grand Assault.

Both sides sense that their work is coming to a conclusion now, attrition has taken it's toll on both sides and the final effort must be close at hand.  At dusk the defenders carry out a pre-emptive sortie to destroy the Pragmatic sap before the St. Nicholas Bastion 

The storming party clamber over the damaged earthworks and wreak havoc with their grenadoes.  Just when the trench has been secured, the earth is rocked and the air rent by the sound of tumultuous explosions as mines and counter-mines are blown simultaneously.

The defenders have sunk counter-mines and after several attempts they can hear the unmistakable scraping of enemy diggers tunnelling towards them.  Mines and counter-mines are exploded at the City Bastion but they have all run short and are ineffective, to the north a mine breaches the works at the St Nicholas Bastion ....... and the assault goes in.

When the dust had settled the attackers were held before the City Bastion but stormed through the breach in the weakly held St Nicholas works, whereupon the opposing commanders presented their compliments to one another and retired to discuss terms over a good dinner.

Sadly the engravings shown here are of poor quality due to my archivist being supplied with inferior opticals, finer illustrations and a full narrative is provided by their worships over on the Vauban and Shandy blog