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The large mounted Roman on the left was originally made France in hollowcast lead by JSF (Jouets Standard Francais), this is a plastic version made form the original mould.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

Britains American War of Independance Swoppets.

 This past year I embarked upon a review of how I store and display the unruly mass of toy soldiers accumulated in a largely haphazard way over the past six plus decades.  

Everything is being separated out between collectables and figures for wargaming, the former to stand safely on a shelf gathering dust and looking pretty, the latter boxed securely in their units and ranks ready to be deployed on the tabletop at a moments notice.

I started picking up Britains and Timpo American War of Independence Swoppets with the intention of using them for wargaming, back then they were the only figures available for the period, but they were hard to find and by the time I'd acquire enough they were getting too brittle and delicate for the amount of handling involved.  I aught to let them all go but I don't feel quite ready for that yet.

The building in the background is the tinplate "Revolutionary War Tavern" made in America by Louis Marx, the mounted figure of George Washington to the front left of it is an old composition piece made by Elastolin.

In amongst the Britains and Timpo Swoppet AWI are a smattering of figures from other manufacturers such as: Shell Liberty Men of '76, Louis Marx Warriors of the World, A Call to Arms, Res Plastics for Kinder Eggs, Awesome Toys, Casualties of War, Airfix, and a couple of white metal models.

The building shown here is the Louis Marx tinplate "Civil War Mansion" from their "Battle of the Blue and Gray" playset.

Native American allies are provided by Mohicans from Britains Herald range and Charbens.

 These figures have all spent far too long languishing in boxes so it was nice to get them out and put on display where I can appreciate them a bit more.

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.

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.

Upcycling a display cabinet

 Some years ago I picked up an IKEA display cabinet in a charity shop, and have been very pleased with it.  I got it for a reasonable price, and some time later learned that it is their DETOLF model, which is a "Best Seller" and is still available brand new for a very reasonable £65.  Here's what it looks like:

I use it to house my 7 Years War collection of wargames armies, which are quite attractive figures but the collection has now outgrown the four shelves in the unit.  It can house about 300 foot figures but as you can see the big drawback with this unit is that there's a lot of empty space and for years I've been looking for a suitable method to install additional shelves.  A few weeks ago a friend on facebook gave me the heads up on a firm in Northern Ireland who produce custom made supports and Perspex shelves for this very unit.  So I got some! 

The original shelf for two Regiments of Infantry (BMC AWI), two guns and two companies of Grenadiers (HaT and various conversions).  The new shelf supports are a bit fiddley to attach but after acouple of goes you start to get the hang of it and I managed to add a further eight shelves in the space available.

The new layout with additional shelf, for 2nd Cuirassiers, two more Regiments of Infantry and some light troops.  The figure of Old Fritz on the left is an early tin flat.

The original display of the Cuirassiers was a bit cramped.  The bronze disk in the foreground is dated 1757 and is a Campaign Medal issued for the battles of  Lissa (Leuthen) and Rossbach, I found it in a junk box of old coins 50 years ago when I was a teenager working a Saturday job in London's Portobello Road Market, it seemed appropriate to display it here.

The Austrian shelf (these also double as French but I need to do more flags) Three Regiments of Infantry (HaT Prussian infantry), two companies of Grenadiers (Italieri) a unit of Pandours (various conversions) and two guns (BMC)

On the left are the Russian contingent (BMC AWI) and on the right the Army of Brunswick (Marx infantry and HaT cavalry)

New layout with additional shelves.

And finally a closer look at the Russian Infantry and Artillery.