King & Country at the London Toy Soldier Show 2016

As mentioned in the previous post, Andy Neilson had a stand at the show representing King & Country Hong Kong and here is what he brought over with him.

Wars of the Roses, beautiful figures made by John Jenkins Design, I wish I'd taken more pics.

A simple diorama that shows these figures off to great effect, I find these displays invaluable for uniform references and conversion inspiration.

At the other end of the board, the Royalists get a helping hand from Cardinal Richelieu  and his Mousquetaires?

This section of a Japanese aircraft carrier is massive, I can't imagine many homes in the UK being large enough to accommodate it! 

The inexorable march of the victorious Japanese (or are they limping away in retreat?) either way I thought the terrain effect were very impressive.

Another massive diorama, these are 60mm figures, Andy Neilson is standing behind it to give you an idea of the overall size.

A close up of the Russian advance......

.....and the desperate German rearguard.

With Christmas Day galloping up upon us may I extend to all, my Compliments of the Season, and wish you all the Peaceful and Restful few days that you have surely earned.

London Toy Soldier Show - December 2016

Some more gratuitous pictures of toy soldiers taken at the recent show in London, the December show is usually the best one of the year as it attracts dealers who don't bother with the earlier ones.  I just noticed that the March 2017 show has been advertised as "Incorporating Wargaming" so lets hope that means we'll be seeing more of the Skirmish Group.  The show will continue in it's current venue, the Design Centre, Islington for the March and June events next year but in December 2017 it is moving to Haverstock School in Chalk Farm, London NW3.

Not sure who made these or who's stall they were on but I felt such nice models needed a wider audience

This  piece was labelled "Big Bertha" and was on the same stall as the diorama above, shame it doesn't fire matchsticks though!

This was the table of a dealer from France who only comes over for the December London Show, he brings such unusual pieces it;s always worth a good long look at his wares.  I was very taken with the Chinese flagmen, I don't know if they go with the rickshaws - clearing a way through the crowds for them but it looks like they are the same maker.

More of the table above, love those early tanks and the pairs of animals: tiger bringing down an antelope and cobra with mongoose, a bit gruesome perhaps but full of originality, made by "RF" France.

This rather nice Nile Gunboat was on the stall of Modellers Loft who mostly deal in Action Man and similar genre (as you can see from the boxes in the background) but I thought it worth taking the pic to inspire anyone who might be thinking of making one for themselves.

Other news: Dorset Model Soldiers had a stand under the auspices of Peter Jones who is taking over the mantle from Giles Brown, Giles is still involved but mostly in an advisory capacity and carrying out repairs to old figures.  The contact details and everything else remains unchanged, I had a long chat with Peter about an order I had sent in just the day before and found him very helpful so this augurs well for the future.

New to the show and new to me were Covent Garden Games who tell me they have had a toy soldier stall established in Covent Garden Market for 30 years!  I'm a fairly regular visitor to the Covent Garden area and I never knew of them so there's a reasonable chance that you won't have either and hence I'm giving them a plug here, nice young people, if you find yourself in Central London take a look in.

Also at the show was Andy Neilson representing King and Country Hong Kong, they had brought over some quite impressive dioramas which I'll try to get posted up before Christmas.

That's all for now folks.

Skirmish Wargames Group at the London Toy Soldier Show

I managed to miss the June show and would have missed yesterday's event had it not been for a last minute text from an old pal (so thanks for the heads up Keith).  Suddenly it's December and I don't know where the rest of the year has gone....too much work, not enough toy soldiers, that's where it went!

I digress, back to the show and I was delighted to see that the Skirmish Wargames Group had made a reappearance after several years of absence, they returned with a game based on the Spartacus Slave Revolt in Rome, and here it is:

Overview of the table, groups of rebels mill about rioting while a body of Gladiators square up to the black shield wall of the 9th Legion (Thomas Gunn figures).

View of the revolt from across the river.

Roman troops close in on the rioters.

The escapees from the Circus stand their ground.

Stand off with the Legionnaires....

........as the net tightens.....

.....the slaves have nothing to lose and throw themselves at the shield wall.

Once again the Skirmish Wargames Group showed us great figures and great scenery, I think the rules they were using were "Hail Ceasar" written by Rick Priestley and available to download from Warlord Games.  I'm keeping my fingers crossed that the Group's return to the London Show will become a regular feature once more as I always find their demonstrations inspiring.

More gratuitous pics of toy soldiers from the show to follow as time allows.  A great show followed by convivial company and a few pints in a proper old London boozer, when I returned home the latest issue of Plastic Warrior magazine was waiting on the mat for me (see link on the left).  

My Christmas has started.

London Toy Soldier Show - December 5th 2015

Yesterday I trollied off to the London Toy Soldier Show, I don't care for the commute into Town at the best of times but have to admit that I felt a little uneasy navigating the London Underground in the wake of recent events in Paris and elsewhere.  However, we can't let such fears dictate our lives and I was in desperate need for a fix of plastic and metal, so here are a few items that aroused my curiosity.

The idea of transporting medieval artillery is something which has rather slipped below my radar so I was quite amused by this piece, although not amused enough to pay £80 for it.  Somewhere or other I'm sure I have a spare set of Marx bullocks, from the remould western waggon, harnessed up like this which could be pressed into such service.

This one I really liked but I'm not sure how feasible it would be for that horse to push the gun forward like that, what do you think?  I didn't get a note of who made these two but they have given me some food for thought on future scratchbuilding. 

This King & Country stuff has to be admired but is way out of my budget (at £120), still, more food for thought and I know I have plenty of Britains camels and spare Saracens knocking around.

A Samurai group by First Legion, nice to see the armour details and colours, another project I've been squirrelling away the figures for and must get around to basing and painting (maybe over the holiday period)

So what did I get?  well quite a lot really but mostly figures from the junk boxes for conversions rather than collectable items and a small hoard of catalogues from an old timer who was having a clear out, more of this anon when time permits.

German East Afrika in 40mm

I spotted this rather nice collection of German Colonials at the London Toy Soldier Show in March but somehow the pics slipped below my radar and have just come up for air.  They are mostly Schneider semi-flat homecast figures but they've been converted to Schutztruppe etc. which I think is rather neat.  

In the foreground and left native figures provide the Maji Maji rebels, behind them the German Colonials in tropical uniform and squeezing in at the back right are the Schutztruppe Askaris

A closer look at the Askaris with some rather nice standard bearers line infantry and jaegers.

"Hey they gotta' band"  well sort of.

The natives work tirelessly in the cowrie shell fields.

There was also a clutch of scratch built buildings to go with the figures, this is the Colonial Government House and to the right of it is on of the native huts.

Lets face it the original figures are so crude and common that they're barely worth the metal they're cast from but with a bit of work and imagination there's a lot you can do with them, why did I never think of doing this before?

Williamite War at the March 2014 London Toy Soldier Show

 A couple of weeks ago I went along to the March 2014 London Toy Soldier Show, I would have to say that since the move to the new venue this show has been in something of a gentle decline.  To spruce things up a bit the organisers have decided that the December 2014 show will be a two day event, the existing Toy Soldier Show to be held on the Saturday and on Sunday the venue hosts a modelling competition and exhibition.

One manufacturer which has been around for a long time is Alexander's Toy Soldiers, who have generally concentrated on making white metal figures of the Napoleonic Wars.  I've tended to bypass their stand in recent years because I've had a bit of a downer on that period but as things were a bit quiet I took a closer look and I was very glad that I did.

They have a small but rather delightful range of figures depicting the Williamite Wars which just happens to be my personal historical plat du jour.  I have been lead down this dimly lit road in the quest for Jacobitism, the well trod path lead off towards Scotland but a narrow lesser known track took me towards Ireland, where I have greater familial associations, and brought me into the sunlight and the gleaming vista that is..... The League of Augsburg blog.

This post is pure indulgence on my part but I'm confident dear reader, that you will agree these figures are very easy on the eye.  Did I buy any? er.......well no.  But that's because I'm already in the process of converting some figures into Dutch chaps like the ones seen above, so expect to see a bit more of this period here at some point in the future.

However I didn't emerge entirely unscathed financially from the ATS stand as they were selling a range of spare parts and I managed to pick up some heads in mirleton caps which I have been searching for to make some Seven Years War Hussars........Hurrah!

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!

Seen at the London Toy Soldier Show March 2013

Time seems to be running away from me just lately, a few weeks ago I went to the London Toy Soldier show, trading appeared very slow to me but among the highlights I saw this rather nice little collection of Belgian composition figures on the table of Mercator Trading.

In the centre a mounted King Leopold III of Belgium and his three children by Queen Astrid, Lto R: Prince Baudouin, Prince Albert and Princess Josephine-Charlotte.  They are flanked by Napoleonics: on the left by three French infantry and on the right what I take to be Belgian infantry of the United Provinces (I'm basing this on what I can see of the standard).  Made in Belgium by N.B. (Nazaire Beusaert), I estimate that they were made about 1939 when Josephine-Charlotte would have been aged 12, Baudouin 9 and Albert 5, there is no figure of Queen Astrid as she was killed in a car accident in 1935.  The mounted Leopold is quite common but I'd never seen the children before and they make a charming little group, it saddens me to reflect that within a year of these figures being made Belgium had been overrun and the family's life turned upside down by war.

On the same table was this collection of mid 1930's carved wood "erzgebirge" style SA men (I use the word  guardedly as it's in danger of becoming a generic term for any Germanic folksy type wood carved figure when it more comfortably refers to touristy Christmas tree decorations, which these are surely not).  I've not seen so large a collection as this before, it includes field tent, SA barracks and a staff HQ, the bandsmen in black caps are SS, going by the various sizes and styles of carving these have been pulled together from several makers.  Individually the figures have a simple naivety about them but en masse they evoke the era and regime that produced them, and I find that rather chilling.

Plastic Warrior Show 2013

The 28th UK Toy and Model Soldier Show, better known as the Plastic Warrior Show will be held on Saturday 4th May 2013 at a new venue, the Winning Post, which is about a 5 minute drive from the old hall which will be closed until September 2014 for redevelopment.  Full details of the show and travel directions are on the new Plastic Warrior blog here: Plastic Warrior

This show is generally considered to be the premier event for collectors and wargamers of 54mm plastic toy soldiers with dealers attending from all over Europe and the Americas,  vintage and modern plastic figures in smaller scales HO/OO are also included.  In the past this event has also been used by manufacturers such as Replicants, Barzo and Armies in Plastic etc. to showcase new products.

C18th dioramas by John Jenkins Design

With my current kick for the 18th Century growing stronger I was pleased to see these rather fine dioramas on the JJD stand at the December 2012 London Toy Soldier Show.

A lively set to, which I assume to be Culloden but could be any of the clashes from the Jacobite Rising/Rebellion.  The very thought of painting tartans fills me with dread but I can't help feeling that I'm being drawn in by the wonderful animation of those Highlanders.

These Prussian Grenadiers could have just jumped straight off the canvas of the famous painting DieSchlacht Von Leuthen by Carl Rochling, inspiring stuff, I just wish I could get my humble Frederickians to look that good!

King and Country - The Crusades and Imperial Chinese

Just a quick look at some more of the rather sumptuous dioramas by King and Country seen at the London Show last month

You need plenty of standard bearers for your medieval armies, if like me, you can't afford their figures you can always take inspiration and make something similar by downloading flags from free sites such as Flags and Banners or Alex's Flags

These Chinese troops are from the Imperial Collection series based on the Imperial Court from 1865 to 1904, I never tire of looking at them.

Battleships belching Smoke and Flame by Heyde?

This rather nice little set of Battleships has left me with something of a quandary. 

I think they are meant to be Pre-dreadnoughts (though I am no expert in ship design) and show two ships of the Imperial German Navy battling it out with a sole Frenchy off the coast of Denmark, as denoted by the lighthouse sporting the Danish flag.  But what does this group represent?  I don't think it could be a Franco Prussian War encounter because the ships look much later and anyway the Imperial Navy wasn't founded until 1871, also I can't find any mention of an action between German and French Naval forces in the North Sea in WW1. 

Who made them?  Well Haffner and Spenkuch seem to have been the the main providers of semi flat battleships but I've looked through several books on early German leads and the examples I've found by these companies don't look anything like the above.   The nearest thing I could find in terms of sculpting and paint style is by Heyde, which is curious because this firm mostly made it's vehicles, vessels and accessories 3D in tinplate.

A great set, I particularly like the ram on the French ship but the secondary armament firing from a cupola half way up the mask seems a bit incongruous to me, is this correct? 

Abu Klea and others by John Jenkins Design at the London Toy Soldier Show

John Jenkins Design have been around for a while but I don't recall seeing them at the London Show before, maybe they were there but tucked away in a dark corner.  Anyway last month they had a stand in a big bright area where I had expected to find my old friends from White Tower Miniatures and I have to say I was quite taken with some of their dioramas.

I assume this to be the Battle of Abu Klea because it depicts Mahdists rushing the Gardner gun manned by the Naval Brigade at the corner of the British square...........

.........but taking a closer look at the gun I think it looks more like a Gatling.  Still, a very nice piece of work which deserves better than a bit of nit picking from an old fogey like me.

Still in the Sudan we find this rather fine little vignette of Gen. Gordon's last moments at Khartoum.

And finally, the Highlanders storm the French lines somewhere in North America.

I don't collect modern white metal models like these but there are plenty of people who do so these few pics are for the benefit of those unable to travel to the shows, but also for those like me who need inspiration for conversion ideas and wargame scenarios.

Wagon Train in 20mm from 1960

Tying up the last few odds and ends that I came across at the London Toy Soldier show last month, among which were this rather dinky plastic Wagon Train set tied in to the Universal TV show which ran from 1957 to 1965.

Helpfully the backing card carries the copyright date of 1960, which can be seen in the bottom right hand corner.  It amused me that the manufacturer used such a large package to emphasise the media tie in for three such tiny little wagons.

This close up of one of the wagons also catches the manufacturer Morestone's (Morris and Stone) brand mark BUDGIE.  Morestone's were the firm that employed Roy Selwyn-Smith and Charlie Biggs to make the moulds for the old Timpo hollowcast figures, Selwyn-Smith was the sculptor and Biggs engraved the detail into the brass moulds.  Later they both went off to work for ZANG on the Herald range and when that company was bought out by Britains they both ended up as Directors of the company.  I vaguely recall that Morestone's made quite a range of diecast vehicles back in the day.