London Toy Soldier Show March 2022

I went along to the London Toy Soldier Show back in March, but I'm only getting around to putting up the pictures now, It's been that sort of a year! I have to say the event was rather sparse compared to pre-pandemic times but I suppose that's only to be expected as people begin to re-emerge and things slowly get back to the old normal.  Nonetheless I managed pick up a fairly eclectic haul, but first stop was at the game being run by members of the Little Wars Revisited Forum.

Several spectators took part in this demonstration game which saw Fort Pippin take centre stage.

The stylised terrain is really quite charming.....

......as is this rather neat little armoured train!

I bought these from Harry Kemp who just returned with a junk box of plastics from the Nanterre Show in Paris. Top left is a copy of an Elastolin Turk made by Cane of Italy, next two are by JEM of France and the bottom row are by Bonux of France. The four small size figures of WW2 Russian and Japanese infantry were premiums in packets of bubble gum available across the EU in the 1970's under various names such as Dargaud y Tito and Dunkin.

Odds and Ends!  A rather fine Swedish hussar from the Tennfigurer range made by Holger Eriksson, I'll get around to painting him one day (hopefully) the mounted figure in the centre is made of a composition material in post-war Communist Hungary and finally a Britains hollowcast Togoland Warrior in need of some TLC.

I've no idea what these are or who made them, solid white metal and quite chunky, I have them in mind for a Wars of Religion project which has been simmering on the back burner for several decades, the riders will be going on nice sturdy Deetail mounts.

Wargame at the London Toy Soldier Show

The internet blurb for the December show in London said it would feature a wargame arranged by James Opie and Replica Metal Soldiers & Models so I thought I'd take a look (well I was going there anyway for a Christmas get together with the lads)

The table was laid out for the Battle of Tell el Kebir, a good choice for a display game as it needs very little terrain (important if you're the one transporting the stuff) and the two sides are easily identifiable, Egyptians are in white, Brits are not.  I don't know the purpose of the bits of paper dotted all over the place but this sort of clutter on the table is a pet hate of mine.

Nice to see that I'm not the only person who resorts to mounting toy soldiers on 2p pieces!  Cavalry are mounted on lengths of transparent Perspex which are all but invisible, I was very impressed with the table mat which appeared to be just hand painted cloth but executed so much better than my own efforts.

I was told that the rules being used had been written by James Opie, based on Wells' Little Wars but with some modern twists (no matchstick firing cannon!).  It's nice to see a display wargame returning to the London Show but I do still miss the old Skirmish Wargames Group games.

James Opie was on hand at the nearby stand for C&T Auctions and was joined by Luigi Toiati who was promoting his new book "The History of Toy Soldiers".  Regulars at the London Show in the late 1980's and early 90's will remember the affable Luigi as the man behind Garibaldi Toy Soldiers, I've had his book for a while now but haven't had time to read through it (pictures look nice though) so a review will have to wait a bit longer.

In the meantime James and Luigi were promoting another new book "La dinastia degli Antonini a Roma" which is a privately printed history of three generations of  the Antonini family who have been making toy soldiers in Rome, their FIGIR composition figures are well known but not their lead creations so I've written to Santa for a copy, but as my emails to Rome haven't been acknowledged I'm not confident it will get here by Christmas!

Woking Wargames Day 2019

Spending a whole day just enjoying yourself can be quite exhausting, but that's what the various members of the Little Wars Revisited group (and a few others) did last weekend at the LWR Forum 2019 Games Day in Woking.  The event boasted five games played using 54mm toy soldiers and here's a taster of how it went:

Eric Kemp put on a skirmish game using his own rules set in the Schleswig-Holstein War and featuring his rather superb conversions

If you want to refight an obscure period like this in 54mm you have to go with metal figures (expensive and heavy to transport) or plastic conversions (requiring skill and time to make) so skirmish games rather than big battles are the order of the day.  And this shows what a spectacle you can provide with just a 4'x4' table and about 20 figures a side.

Anthony Morton brought out his "Little Legions" Zulu war collection for the Battle of Isandlwana using "The Portable Wargame" rules by Bob Cordery.

The modular terrain blocks are made by Mike Lewis of Black Hat Miniatures (who organises the Woking Wargames Day) and provides an infinite variety of options for landscaping a battlefield, its also idea for grid based games like The Portable Wargame.

Mike Lewis, mentioned above, staged a 19th Century game using his own Little Wars Revisited range of metal figures using a draft version of  "A Gentleman's War" rules which are due to be published right about now by Howard Whitehouse.

Keen eyed readers will recognise this layout as the battle of Hook's Farm from H G Wells' "Little Wars" an ideal scenario as A Gentleman's War is played in much the same manner as Wells' rules.

As you can see here, smaller scale buildings work perfectly well with 54mm figures, well I think so anyway.

My own humble efforts using Britains Deetail and various other converted figures, 

the rule system was "Battle Cry" by Richard Borg and the scenario selected was The Battle of Falling Waters

The beauty of a system like Battle Cry for an event like this is that it's very quick and easy to pick up an understanding of the rules.  On this occasion my opponent was already well versed in the Ancients version of the game so had a feel for the order of the game and lead his Confederates to a resounding victory over my numerically superior Federals. 

Tim Rose offered us "A Very British Civil War" using his own rules the game is set during the 1937 Tithe Wars in East Anglia, never heard of them? me neither but Tim gave us a very interesting potted history on the background of them.

I played this game in the afternoon session and thoroughly enjoyed it, it's a true toy soldier game with each individual figure counted as using whatever armament he's been made with, be it a grenade, rifle or anti-tank weapon. It's all very 1930's and introduces lots of factions like Fascist Blackshorts, Foresters, Yeomanry, Territorials, Anglican League and Communist Militia.

Tim did an admirable job as umpire, controlling the chaos we were  making on the table and occasionally adding to it by feeding in unexpected reinforcements.  A fast free flowing game and great fun.

It is nice to get your toys out of the shoebox once in a while and play with them.

Anyone for Herring?

With the recent upturn in the weather we had been eagerly awaiting our first outdoor Funny Little Wars game of the season, the plan was to run an amphibious landing, set during the "Herring War" between Norway and Denmark, with a fortress assault in the style of Port Arthur.  Alas, the best laid plans of mice and men etc..... the weather turned, rain stopped play and the game was taken inside:

The layout of the table after the first few moves had been made, The Norse have occupied some of the houses and dug in along the tree line at the far end while the Danes tentatively approach the town.

The plan now was to try out some rules for fighting in built up areas, the scenario was to occupy an inland town with the objective of taking the strategically important coaling station.  AM and JW lead the Norse while PW and I played the Danes.

As the game unfolded, snipers became increasingly active.

Danish Jaegers advance supported by the Royal Guard and heavy artillery.

The artillery might have dominated the game if not for the erratic marksmanship displayed by both sides!

A shell bursts over one of the houses which has already been pounded to rubble.

Lessons learnt: troops sheltering in houses attract heavy bombardment and the concentration of so many men leads to high casualty rates, by contrast the resulting piles of rubble provide a bulwark that can subsequently be easily defended.  A fast furious game played with about 100 infantry and three guns a side it turned into a real slugfest with lots of hand to hand melee among the ruins, great fun and all done in about three hours.

I'll leave the reader to identify the figures used, the Danish expeditionary force was cobbled together from various units in the spirit of Put Everything on the Table.

H G Wells "Little Wars" Centenary Games April 2013 - part 2

The sun came out for round two of the H G Wells Little Wars Centenary Games and so we all decamped to the garden for some proper wargaming!  The scenarios for the second and third rounds came from Colonel Monseneurgue's 1913 work "Cavalry Practical schemes".  In true Wellsian fashion each side was designated as Army Red or Blue regardless of the national army they represented and each side was given sealed orders and objectives.  In game 2 Army Red had troops posted in woods at either end of a central road which it had to hold until reinforcements could come up, Army Blue was an advance guard required to clear the woods, secure the flanks and open the road  for it's Army Corps to pass through.  Here are some pics:

The Forbodian Horde commanded by TG, missing from the lineup in the previous post, took to the field for round two in place of the Turks as I was drafted in to co-umpire this session.

Bastions of Empire, the Mounties and Skinners Horse stand firm ready to do their bit.

The immaculately presented Horse Artillery of Army black

A rather neat Russian Mountain Battery takes up position

In typically Wellsian pose ST draws a bead on the enemy cavalry.

The second round came to a close as dusk closed in and after a hearty toast to all concerned the Gentlemen were lead on an Historical Tour of the Old College before retiring to change for dinner.

Sunday Morning saw hostilities resumed after breakfast, the final scenario introduced hidden movement and finds Army blue holding a major road with two entrenched guns, facing two regiments of Red infantry with two guns.  The remaining Blue forces are hidden behind the tree line while Red is moving unseen around the flanks, the game is afoot:

At the start of move two, Red's guns have moved into the positions vacated by Blue's artillery and their infantry find Blue retreating in echelon.

Blue's secret orders are to withdraw from this exposed position and beat a fighting retreat back to hold a second line along the next treeline, but above all they must save the guns!  Red's orders are to prevent the guns getting away.  A number of dummy markers were used by both sides to cause confusion as the troops moved into open sight.

On the left flank Blue's cavalry charge Red's lancers who are threatening the withdrawal of the guns.  Blue wins the melee and the guns continue on their way.

Just to add a little spice the Umpire now issued additional secret orders to both sides, Red was to bombard the South West area of the field (which just happened to be empty) while Blue was to counterattack to the North East of the field.

 

The almost suicidal Blue counter attack to the North East goes in and succeeds in pushing the Red flank back, blunting their advance and enabling the Blue guns to consolidate their new defence line......  just as play stopped for lunch.

And so a most enjoyable weekend of wargaming came to a close.  It was interesting to play the games on table and in garden consecutively (albeit with distances reduced for the table), although they are the same rules the dynamic of the game becomes very different.  Machine guns and snipers featured heavily in most of the games and added greatly to the challenge, the artillery was all matchstick firing and the standards of accuracy generally left much to be desired! 

Overall Winner of the Competition was Dr. Anthony Morton, the title of Most Gentlemanly Player was conferred upon Mr Jack Wright and as previously mentioned Best Painted Army went to Mr Stephen Thomas.

Since my return, time has been much taken up with finalising arrangements for the Plastic Warrior Show but more of that anon.

H G Wells "Little Wars" Centenary Games April 2013 - Part 1

Last weekend, the 27th/28th April, a diverse band of toy soldier enthusiasts were drawn together in the Surrey countryside, it wasn't a wargame convention or a collectors show but more a celebration to mark the 100th anniversary of the publication of H G Wells' book Little Wars.

The event had been at least two years in preparation and was the brainchild of Mr Paul Wright, author of "Funny Little Wars" (an updating of Wells' rules to take account of small arms fire, morale etc.) ably supported by members of the Funny Little Wars Yahoo Group for chaps who enjoy playing with larger size toy soldiers.

The event was split into three rounds, each with four games being played simultaneously.  First up was a staging of Wells classic Battle of Hooks Farm, which had to be played indoors due to rain, and here is what the armies looked like:  (click to enlarge)

The Russian contingent (Army Green) commanded by Dr Mike Snape, the infantry are by Armies in Plastic (AiP), the cavalry converted from Britains show jumping riders and Italieri Mamelukes.

Army Red/White/Blue, the American Rough Riders led out by Mr Jack Wright. more AiP infantry with cavalry by Britains Deetail and Paragon Scenics

Dr Anthony Morton offered us his Army Red/Khaki, The British Army in overseas order, most effectively formed up on movement trays from Warbases (note to self: must get some of these) 

By the unanimous vote of all present this Teutonic Army Black won the "Best Painted Army" prize for Mr Stephen Thomas.  More AiP infantry, traditional Britains 4.7s and elephants!   Well who wouldn't vote for them.

The composite Imperial Force comprising RN blue jackets, Canadian Horse and these rather splendid cyclists under command of the Duke of Tradgardland aka Mr Alan Gruber

Here we see Army Red face up against errrrrrr.... Army Red?  At the far end of the table a satisfyingly nostalgic collection of old Britains and other hollowcast figures from Messrs Julian Spilsbury and Andy Hussey advance toward a solid red line of the Little Wars Revisited range of figures produced, and commanded here. by Mr Mike Lewis.

........And finally my own humble contribution to the proceedings, the steadfast Turks of Army Turquoise.  the central column and artillerymen are my conversions from BMC American Civil War figures while the flanking Regiments and cavalry were fashioned from HaT figures by the skillful hand of Canadian veteran gamer Mr Ross Macfarlane



One army is missing from the lineup above; the Forbodians of Mr Tim Gow who was charged with assisting to umpire the first round.

H G Wells would have approved

My second and final report from the March 2013 London Toy Soldier Show are a couple of items built and being sold by an enthusiast for playing "Little Wars" (sadly I didn't make of note of who he was!)

The Nile gunboat "Bordien", I like the way the Britains AA gun has been mounted for'ard and the crows nest/conning tower thing on top of the aft mast, not so sure about the side paddle though.  Still a very nice model and one which has given me plenty of thoughts and inspiration for making my own waterline version.

On the same stall a heavy howitzer, simply made from the barrel and trail of the Britains 4.5" Howitzer with wheels from the 4.7" Naval gun which gives it the appearance of being something much heavier, it reminds me of those big WW1 Austrian Skoda guns.  It just goes to show what you can do with a few bits of broken old guns bought in a job lot on ebay.

And finally..........mention of H G Wells leads me neatly onto the Little Wars Centenary Games to be played out over the weekend of 27th/28th April at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst.  Sadly this event is not open to spectators or the public as Sandhurst is a high security military base but several of the participants are regular bloggers so hopefully we will see plenty of reports with photos after the event.  I shall be leading out my redoubtable Ottoman army and the games will be played outdoors so I am keeping my fingers crossed for good weather!

Funny Little Wars armies but who made them?

Okay they aren't made specifically for playing Little Wars........but they should be!  I was told they were made by Hiriart who are a current manufacturer of white metal figures in the old toy soldier style, based in Uruguay,  I don't know very much about this firm but they have been manufacturing since 1972 which must make them one of the oldest makers of modern collectors figures and  I'm not aware of Uruguay having much of a toy soldier tradition but I could be very wrong there.  These are are not Hiriart but are sculpted very much in the style of old Britains hollow casts, are exceedingly well painted and tick all the boxes for me so I must make more enquires at the next London Show at the end of June.

Japanese artillery crew

Japanese infantry, I think the officer with the standard is rather nice.

Turkish infantry standing at the ready, very much in the Wm Britains style.

In the foreground an Austrian artillery limber, behind them a Turkish one.

I have now more or less completed my Turkish wargames army, made entirely from conversions (as seen in the post on the Battle of Astrakhan), and I'm about half way through doing the Japanese, I'm very tempted to add some of these to the establishment but in the meantime they provide plenty of inspiration.  Austrians are on the "to do" list!

Little Wars armies - progress in 2011

Way back in January I made a New Years Resolution not to start any new Little Wars converting projects until I had completed the ones that were already in progress and , unusually for me, I stuck to it - well almost.

For a couple of years now I have been building up Russian and Turkish armies of the "roughly" 1880's period based on pictures of Heyde solid lead 45mm toy soldiers in the book Bleisoldaten by Hans H. Roer (sadly long out of print).  I came to this period because it's a bit different and exotic, nobody was making the figures at the time so it gave me scope to do some simple conversions which would provide a very personal collection and I like the idea of late 19th century armies slugging it out on fairly even terms (I had long since done the ACW to death).  I started the project with what I consider to be the tedious part of building wargame armies which is knocking out bog standard units of infantry for both sides, that done (along with a bit of cavalry) by this year I am down to wrorking on staff, a bit more artillery and whaterver takes my fancy, this is the fun bit for me and it will probably be ongoing to a certain extent for some time to come.

Turkish staff, made from cheap plastic BMC figures with metal heads from Dorset Toy Soldiers

Turkish command groups, made as above with Britains Herald figures for the officers and buglers, BMC for the standards.

Russian staff and some additional infantry to bring existing units up to strength, these are still WIP.

Russian riflemen from the Caucassus

French naval landing party, still to do - standard bearer and bugler, perhaps an MG also.

French ADC with some generic support troops, a cook and a blacksmith.  I plan to make more support troops in shirt sleeve order with blue trousers striped red, the idea being that they can then be used with any national army rather than have lots of duplication.

A project that's been too long on the back burner for me are Japanese troops circa 1905, I plan to move these up the to do list in 2012.

Chinese have never featured as a project for me but I think that will change in 2012.  New Years Resolution for 2012: forget about existing projects, just do stuff for fun but do lots more of it.