Summer Samurai

I recently read on a blog somewhere that "England is a country which gets nine months of Winter followed by three months of bad weather".  It's not true.  But given the washed out Summers we've had over the last two years it might as well be.  So when the sun unexpectedly shone last weekend I was unprepared for it but headed for the garden with my trusty camera and here are the results:

The figures are Samurai made by Furuta of Japan and they are  perhaps one of the best kept secrets in the world of 54mm plastic toy soldiers.  I've had these for a few years now and they rarely come out of the box, which is unforgivable, but they need basing and I'm not confident that my modelling skills are quite up to the job yet.

Made in hard plastic and factory painted they come in parts which clip together very snugly.  They are actually pieces for some sort of role playing game and you buy them individually in little packets a bit like Pokemon and such stuff.  Each figure comes with a sheet which I think describes his character but as it's all in Japanese I can tell you nothing more.  The figure bases are black plastic trays, also somehow integral to the game, which are quite unsightly and therefore need to be replaced (work soon to be in progress)

The sculpting is sublime, the foot figures are suspended in those balletic poses that only Samurai can achieve before they launch themselves cat like with blades swiping sending limbs flying and blood spurting in every direction.  The horses are so animated you can almost hear their nostrils snorting with the exertion and smell the sweat on their flanks.

I've long had it in mind to use them in an 1870's Satsuma Rebellion style wargame pitched against the "Funny Little Wars" Japanese army I've been working on but I think I would find it too upsetting if they lost! 

The backdrop is a stream I built in my back garden (two years ago just before the weather turned bad) with the intention of using it for garden wargaming.  It runs between two ponds the length of a shady border, where previously only weeds would grow, and in the absence of any military activity has become the habitat of varied wildlife, edged with rockery it is my own personal Hindu Kush.  It was inspired by the garden of Mr John Ruddle which has become internationally famous for it's landscaping which represents all the continents of the world laid out for 54mm wargamig.  I have visited John's garden several times but sadly without my camera so cannot share more with you.

Der Kampf Gegen Russland

I have finally managed to track down the boardgame mentioned in the last post, at the Nuremberg toy museum and here it is:

Bottom right hand quarter of the board showing Russian Cossacks and infantry.  Picture courtesy of the Nuremberg Toy Museum

Here's what they have to say about it:

"Kampf gegen Rußland - Ein neues Kriegspiel" aus dem Verlag Joseph Scholz, Mainz mit Zeichnungen von Th. Cronberger. Der Spielplan gibt einen Blick auf das von einem Fluß durchzogene Schlachtfeld wieder - links des Flusses stehen die deutschen Truppen, rechts die russischen. Ziel des Spieles ist, die gegnerische Festung in Besitz zu nehmen. 2 "Festungen" aus Blech, Spielmarken aus bedruckter Pappe, Holzstäbchen zum Bewegen der Spielmarken.  Scholz' künstlerische Spiele "Spiel mit" & Monogramm J Sch M

"Fight against Russia - A new war game" from the publisher Joseph Scholz, Mainz with drawings by Th Cronberger. The gameboard is a view of a river by the early battlefield - left of the river are the German troops, the Russians are on the right. The aim of the game is to take possession of the enemy fortress. Accessories are 2 "fortresses" of sheet metal, tokens of printed cardboard soldiers and wooden sticks to move the tokens.

The picture shows the box art and the lower right hand quarter of the game board. sadly the least interesting section but it gives a flavour of the artwork.

War Games at the Museum of Childhood

I was unable to make it to the London Toy Soldier show last week, so in order to make up for that I decided to head off to the Museum of Childhood (part of the V&A) in Bethnal Green, London, and view their new exhibition:  War Games

What with it being the centenary of H G Wells' publication of "Little Wars" I had hoped to see a chronology of Kriegspiel with lots of toy soldiers, and in fairness you get some of this but not nearly enough (okay so I'm biased - what do you expect).  The exhibition tries to be child friendly with interactive bits for the kids while offering quirky and nostalgic exhibits to rope in the parents.  It asks those dusty old questions - "do war toys lead to aggressive behaviour" "are war toys gender specific" "what are society's changing attitudes to war toys" - and other such old bunk, just give us the toys!

So what's on show: boardgames, puzzles, guns (including the awesome Johnny Seven one man army -remember that one), dressing up uniforms, books (including Little Wars), Lego, Action Man, tanks, planes, ships and toy soldiers (paper, flats, hollow-cast and composition).  Many of the items are on loan from the Nuremberg Toy Museum so this may be a rare opportunity to see them. 

My top 5 exhibits are:

"Der kampf gegen Russland" a boardgame from 1916, the board shows Austrians fighting Russians across a river with three bridges.  The artwork is inspiring, on the Austrian side there is an armoured train, a battery of Skoda guns, Medics, Pioneers, Croats, Hussars and Uhlans, on the Russian side of the river hordes of infantry and cossacks appear to be taking quite a pounding.  There is a theme of "toys as propaganda" running through the exhibition and the premise of this game is that the cause of the Great War was all the fault of those pesky Ruskies.

"L' Heroique Peuple Serbe" a sheet of paper soldiers of the WW1 Serbian army in animated action poses from 1915.

A group of early 9cm composition toy soldiers which includes a vignette of a German and French soldier in the uniform of 1914 locked in hand to hand combat (one I hadn't seen before)

A stunning tinplate German torpedo boat made in 1912 by Gbr. Bing

Two beautifully and accurately made cardboard panzer tanks, dated 1930 - 41, scaled to go with 7cm composition figures, probably made by a father who couldn't afford the tinplate manufactures of the time.  They are delightfully home made but then I read that they were owned by a ten year old boy, killed in the Allied bombing of Nuremberg, and that sudden stab of reality left me reeling in horror.

The exhibition is in London until March 2014 and then goes on tour to Carlisle and Coventry, entry is free so go and see it if you can, but don't expect too much, it's not a large collection.  Sadly photography is prohibited and there is no booklet to accompany it so this post is without images.  I have searched the net for pics but without success so if you find any do let me know, I would especially like to get a copy of that boardgame.  However the BBC did make a short news report showing some of the items, and here it is:

The five toys that will never be sold again

I am recently returned from the Greek Isles.  "And how is that bastion of EU austerity managing" you might wonder?  Well the sun still shines and the sea is still blue but most of the tourists have decamped long ago to cheaper climes outside the Eurozone, like Turkey and the newly discovered Croatia.  Prices have remained relatively unchanged since I was last there three years ago, but with reduced tourist numbers at least half the bars, restaurants and shops are boarded up.  Those that remain, the long established family owned businesses are struggling but have upped their game in terms of quality and service so the owners remain stoically cheerful.

You notice other little things too: previously all the taxis were Mercedes, now they're Skodas (VW's in all but name, but manufactured in Czech, outside the Euro).  Plots of land left empty for a decade pending development have been turned over to agriculture, nobody is building any new development and it doesn't look like they will be for a while.  Instead older properties are being renovated and improved.  Many more people are keeping their own chickens. 

I have always frequented resorts favoured by German tourists because the food is noticeably better, now the Germans are nowhere to be found but the food is still better.  The ubiquitous Chinese made tourist tat has been swept from the shelves of the souvenir shops to be replaced by stylish locally made handicrafts, so although the clock has been turned back in some ways there is also something of a renaissance and in the longer term I feel it may be for the better.

New Book - Soldats Pastiques: Cyrnos et Jim

Available at the Plastic Warrior Show a couple of weeks ago was this new book on two major French manufacturers: Cyrnos and JIM (Jouets Incassables Modernes en Matiere Plastique).  Once you get past the major Marques of CGB Mignot, Quiralux and Starlux, French made figures in all their metiers are notoriously difficult to identify, they carry little in the way of markings, while packaging, advertising and catalogues hardly exist (compared to the plethora of material surviving for U.S. British and German makers) and so this book is much overdue and greatly welcomed.

Soldats Plastiques - Cyrnos et Jim, author Alain Thomas, www.impribeau.be  A4 soft cover format, 136 pages illustrated throughout in full colour.  Depot legal: D/2013/6284/1

Written by Alain Thomas who is well known for his previous three books on Starlux which were written in collaboration with Jerry Meimoun, I couldn't see any ISBN number so take it to be self published, as is increasingly the case these days.  My copy cost me £25, I think you can buy it a bit cheaper direct from the author but then you have to pay postage so it all works out even in the end.

The text is only in French but it is very easy to follow even if you have very basic language skills (like me), as always with such books they are all about the pictures and this one does the job admirably as you can see from the sample page above.  The first 70 pages concern JIM and the remainder are devoted to Cyrnos, each section follows the history of each company from aluminium into plastic figures, how to identify them and then a pictorial cataloguing of their various ranges.  Both companies products are common enough in France but don't appear to have ever been exported so have only become known outside their mother country in recent years through the more International collectors shows or the ever present ebay.  This book is well researched and beautifully presented, the figures of these two companies deserve to have a much higher profile on collector's radar and I understand that this may be the first in a series of such publications on the lesser known French manufacturers.  Highly recommended.

New Replicants figures at the Plastic Warrior Show May 2013

The annual Plastic Warrior Show was held on May 4th 2013 and it has become something of a tradition for Replicants to launch new product at this event each year, this time around they had ten new figures and here they are:

The new Replicants figures, painted, on their stall at the PW Show, the photo didn't come out that great so clearer pics are below.  Back left are four Culloden Scots, back right two ACW and front centre four new medieval knights with the existing figure of Simon de Montfort that they were made to accompany.

The four new Jacobite Scots, executed in true swashbuckling poses full of action and originality.  Sculpted by Peter Cole who constantly strives to defy and confound the limitations imposed on producing figures from a two part mould, the chap clubbing with rifle is probably my favourite and the one with two pistols is straight out of the old Rob Roy comic strip. 

Along with the previous four Replicants in this series, the six Cherilea highlanders and a clutch of various AWI militiamen that will stand in as lowland Scots I have about thirty figures ready to portray the Jacobites for the expanding C18th project, and that's before delving into the realm of conversions, so this interest is beginning to gather it's own momentum, much encouraged by this: 

The Battle of Culloden in 54mm as portrayed by Dirk Donvil's Belgian group PMCD Mobilisatie.  Enjoy.

Actually I would prefer to be directing my attention towards the Jacobite Rising in Ireland but I don't think the figures above would fit the bill and I can't find  anything much in the way of uniform sources.  Anyone out there able to give me a steer in the right direction?

The four C13th knights to go with the previously issued figure of Simon de Montford at the Battle of Lewes in the 2nd Barons War.  Great animation, the bases are sculptured in the style of the old Britains "Wars of the Roses" knights, which has become something of a signature for Replicants figures.

No extra photos of the new ACW standing and kneeling figures, I didn't get them because frankly I am awash with such poses, but there must be a big demand for them or they wouldn't have bothered to bring them out.  The two figures are suitable for either side and look very similar to earlier Replicants/Marksman issues.  All Replicants figurees are distributed by Steve Weston's Plasticsoldiers

Other new figures at the Plastic Warrior Show were a range of Marlburians sculpted by Mr Len Cooksey of Ivanhoe figures, moulded in resin.  Sadly I can't show you them because by the time I'd battled my way through to his stall they were all sold out!  No doubt they will reappear at the London Show in June (but sadly I may not be able to attend this)

Amongst many other things I picked up a couple of sets of Barzo Conquistadors for a C16th/Wars of Religion project that has been simmering away for a while now, the musketeers and crossbowmen will be useful but the rest of the poses are a bit odd and will need some work before they see the light of day again. 

And finally..............a gratuitous shot of tables groaning under the weight of plastic. 

The Plastic Warrior Show moved to a new venue this year just a couple of miles up the road from Richmond, West London, where it has been held for the past twenty years (yes it really has been that long) and there was a fair bit of anxiety about how the new site would be received.  Happily it seems to have gone down very well with the dealers and attendance through the door was way up on previous years, so our fears about people finding the place were groundless.  In addition to the horde of Continental European dealers and collectors who made it (far to many to mention individually), we welcomed Ron Barzo and Jim McGough, Paul and Laurie Stadinger all from the U.S.A. and Brenton Hoffman all the way from Australia. 

In fact there was only one person who complained that the new venue was too difficult to get to and he had come all the way from.................. you guessed it.  London!  

See y'all next year folks.