Something to aim for?

 The last post elicited some very helpful feedback about basing which I have taken on board.  While going through this thought process it occurred to me that I already had some figures mounted on poker chips with a mix of flock and scatter so broke them out for a look.

These are mostly Barzo resin toy soldiers, physically they look rather slight but their poses have a wide gait, so I mounted them on poker chips for added height, also the larger diameter accommodates the spread of their legs and provides good stability.

I do like the flock effect, I just don't like it to be overemphasised, these woodland Indians should probably have had purely grass covered bases to suit the terrain they operated in, but I prefer the more varied appearance of broken ground.

The figures themselves have been glossed to protect against handling but the bases are left matt, I think this combination works quite well.  The rifles on these Barzo figures are very prone to breaking so the stability of the larger bases helps protect them from toppling about on the table or in storage.

Note to self: must remember to paint those tree trunks!

The perennial problem of basing. It's boring I know!

I collect old toy soldiers, I wargame with 54mm toy soldiers, and I have got too much stuff.  Like everyone else I have too many collections, too many projects on the go and to be perfectly honest it's all become a bit of a mess.....actually it's a lot of a mess.

To impose some semblance of order on the wargame bit I plan to review what I've already got then for each period create initial core armies of 100 foot, 20 mounted and 2 guns.  These numbers were suggested by H G Wells as sufficient for a game, and this seems eminently sensible to me, when I reach the required numbers I will stop and move on to something else.  That's the plan, in so much as there is a plan.  Anyway it's the only plan I've got so with this in mind I broke out my Celts:

Here is the current foot contingent........and already we have a problem.  

I have sufficient toy soldiers to make up the requisite number of foot, the mounted are based, undercoated and awaiting paint, there are also enough bits waiting to be assembled into 2 war chariots. The figures hail from a number of manufacturers including Italieri, HaT, Cafe Storme and Expeditionary Force.

I started this project by painting up units of foot, then got bored and moved on to something else.  Then several superbly made units came up for sale and I couldn't resist the opportunity to jump start the project again.  The problem is integrating my existing figures on the smaller bright green bases above with the new acquisitions on larger flocked bases.

I always base my toy soldiers individually.  Here my old ones are on 2p coins while the new acquisitions are on flocked poker chips, so there is a noticeable size difference.  I don't get worked up about frontages and larger bases are fine for irregular troops but I do care about the overall appearance and want them all to look roughly similar as this pulls them together visually as a unit, also the new ones look like they are running across someone's carpet!

So what to do about this?  I don't think the new additions will give up their poker chips easily but I could probably scrape some of the plush flock back, at the same time fixing the older figures to washers which would give them a similar base size.  have I just answered my own question or can you think of a better solution?  All suggestions gratefully received.

Feast and Famine.

 We're already heading towards the end of the car boot season, and this year the pickings have been very thin, but last weekend there was a bumper crop:

The complete haul above cost less than £20 in total, particularly pleased to get the Tudor houses in the background which are ceramic ornaments and in scale for 28mm figures (but will work fine with 54mm).  The vast bulk of WW2 Airfix are conversion fodder destined to become medieval footmen.

I needed some French para's to go with my Viet Minh for the Indochina project but don't like to mess about with vintage Starlux if I can help it so these Hugennot copies will do the job just fine.

Some of the better odds and ends will be gifted or end up in the junk boxes at the Plastic Warrior Show next year.

At first I though the crude hollowcast copies of Britains Zulus were homecast and planned to repaint them but when I checked the markings under the base I saw they were made by Hanks, so I'll probably keep them as they are. 

Plastic Warrior 2023 - Conversions

 Apart from collecting old toy soldiers and gaming I also like to convert and paint figures, sadly I don't get enough time for this part of the hobby but it gives me a great appreciation for the work of other people.  Here are some I picked up at the show which will be gracing the games on my table at some point in the future.

These British cavalry and the German infantry below are the work of Eric Kemp, owner of Helmet Models and well known converter of plastic figures.  The riders are made from Armies in Plastic mounted of horses from various makers, they will form a reconnaissance unit, shame there were only three, if there had been more I'd have bought the lot.

Not sure what part these will play but it never hurts to have the odd vignette for table dressing and I just couldn't resist this pair, the dog and motorcycle are metal castings.

Eric's painting style is very distinctive, especially the faces, I've picked up some of his figures before and you can tell it's his work the moment you see them.  I bought a dozen of these, enough for a Sturmer unit, the kneeling officer is a metal casting.

Another modeller with a very distinctive style is Vince Mattocks, who made these knights from the Hundred Years War, again I'm a great fan of his work and pick them up whenever I can. 

The donor figures will be easily identified by most collectors and have had only minor changes but enough to give them a unique character of their own.  

Vince is very knowledgeable of this period, all the coats of arms and liveries are accurate, which saves me an awful lot of work.  Helpfully he also writes the name of the knight portrayed under the base and signs it.

I don't know who made these, the Roman sling thrower was made in Russia (but I can't remember who by) and isn't a conversion but I might use him as a pattern to make some more, the mounted Roman can take command of a Legion I've been working on and the French standard bearer will join the ranks of the 7 Years War collection.

Peter Bergner came over from Germany with a box full of these Cafe Storme figures, beautiful sculpts by military artist Eugene Leliepvre, they were oddments and damaged, so came cheap as chips and just what I wanted for a number of conversion I have in mind.

That's all for this year.

Plastic Warrior 2023 - New stuff

 Peter Cole of Replicants usually launches his new figures at the Plastic Warrior Show and here is this year's offering.  Two sets (4 figures in each) of medieval peasants, and they are revolting, as they did!

Rising up from their labours are a builder with giant mallet, fishwife with a cleaver, serf with a sickle and a minstrel to tell the tale of revolution in a ballad.

The second lot are better armed and mean business, I picked up a couple of sets of these, a chap with slingshot that could easily be used for any ancients army, one with a flail who will be joining my band of Japanese Illo-Ikki, a farmhand with pitchfork and his wife with, I'm not sure what but lets just say a rolling pin.

Steve Weston had a few of the new Chintoys sets, I thought these were made in Russia but I'm told they're produced in Ukraine (I haven't checked this out), which makes me feel a lot easier about buying them.  These are the Saracen Warriors, beautiful sculpts but on the large side, about 57mm and chunky with a very thick base which makes them look more like 60mm figures.  

Steve also had sets of the new Gangsters and Police but I passed on them, again they are nice figures but not my thing and way to big to go with my existing Marx Untouchables figures.

This is my first 3d printed figure, another medieval peasant though not revolting this time, a forester with felled tree and chopped woodpile.  I guess this is the future of the hobby and it certainly opens up whole new possibilities, this figure is made by Warhorse Miniatures and came courtesy of Paul Stadinger who came over from USA.