New Replicants figures for the Battle of Lewes

Well the Plastic Warrior Show has come and gone for another year, after all the build up and anxiety it's suddenly all over as though it had never happened.  As usual Replicants showcased their new product at the show, this year there are just two new figures to add to their range depicting the Battle of Lewes in 1264.  Only two? I hear you ask.  Yes, the sculptor Peter Cole has been working on a cartoon booklet and set of postcards depicting actions from the battle (using Replicants figures and conversions from various makers) for the Lewes Castle Museum.  So here are the latest:

The two new figures from Replicants, on the left is Prince Edward and on the right is Silas a mounted Man at Arms who features as a character in Peter Cole's booklet. 

The same two figures seen from the other side, the rearing horse is a particularly nice sculpt.

So what else did I buy.........well not a lot really.  There was plenty to see, lots of rare stuff and lots of bargains had by other people but I had decided to run a stall myself to shift some of the surplus that invariably builds up over the years and that kept me so busy I didn't have the time or mental faculty to go around buying.  Ah well there'll always be another show or ebay or whatever to spend the money I took.  More pics of the show etc. to follow in another post.

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!

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.

Plastic Warrior Magazine hits 30 and I have a late life crisis.

At the weekend the latest issue of Plastic Warrior Magazine hit my doormat, I opened the cover and browsed the contents which are headed by a statement "The original plastic figure magazine first published in 1985" and then it hit me this means PW has now been in continuous uninterrupted publication for 30 years.  That has to be some kind of a milestone, there aught to be a party at the very least.  I remember the excitement of receiving the very first issue and the magazine has been a constant element for more than half of my lifetime.  But where have all those years gone?  I don't feel any different now from then but I see myself in a recent photo and I could be looking at a picture of my Dad and it all happened in the blink of an eye!

It's okay just a momentary wobble, here's the latest issue:

Inside you'll find: News, Views and Other Stuff, an in-depth research of Britains Eyes Right U.S. Sets, a look at the collection of one of the readers, an interview with new manufacturer Austin Miniatures, Readers Letters, Book Review - Spot On models, Elastolin 40mm siege engines and artillery etc. New Products - from Pvblis, A Call to Arms, Armies in Plastic, Pegasus and Expeditionary Force.  Converters Corner: the Brooklyn Red Legs from the ACW.  A review of plastic models of Napoleon.  Minor Makers - VP Boxed Set. Wot The !&*$? identification of readers unknown figures.  Media Models - featuring the work of Joe Black. and last but not least Readers Small Ads.

Posts have been sparse this past nine months as I have been back at work, a simple, undemanding 9 to 5 job which I assured myself would not affect my work/life balance.
Alas this is not working out as planned........... ho-hum.

Malleable Mouldings figures designed by Holger Eriksson

Holger Eriksson's Swedish Dragoon trumpeters herald in the New Year!

The five horsemen with the standing poses shown front and profile.  There is another rider in the set, an officer, which is the same figure as the Dragoon shown here but with the right arm cut away and replaced with one carrying a sword.

Among the earliest 54mm plastic figures made in the UK (or anywhere else for that matter) are these Swedish Dragoons made by Malleable Mouldings circa 1946.  The majority of this firms figures were based on designs made by Eriksson and others for Authenticast in Eire but so far as I can ascertain these Dragoons were only ever part of Eriksson's own "Tennfigurer" range of connoisseur models.  The crisp sculpting of the original metal models has not  transferred well to these plastic versions which are crude with excessive flash around the split lines. This suggests they may have been made by compressing material into the mould in the manner of earlier composition figures rather than injecting thermoplastic into them as practised in the 1950's.

A closer look at the rearing horses showing the three different positions of the forelegs (there is a fourth combination: right leg tucked in, left leg out).  The horse on the right clearly shows the split line where the two halves have been glued together and the less common oval base.

The horses are hollow, being formed in two halves and then glued together, the rearing ones are all the same basic pose with the moulds being modified to alter the position of the forelegs, allowing them to offer four different versions.  The bases on these horses are all original, the square/oblong ones are just cut from plastic sheet while the oval one (which is much less stable) has been formed from the same plastic as the horse and glued on.  The horses all have a small pinhole in the saddle which I always assumed was to take a peg from the rider for stability but these are the very first examples I've found which still have the pegs on the riders intact.

Are they rare?  Well that's a very subjective term, too often misused to infer value, certainly they are hard to find but on the other hand they turn up often enough.  These chaps are in this post simply because I found them all together in a junk box at a local collectors fair recently.  For more information on Malleable Mouldings and the other plastic figure ranges made from designs by Holger Eriksson (SAE and Spencer-Smith) see the Plastic Warrior Malleable Mouldings Special Issue

If anyone should read this, I hope you had a peaceful Happy Christmas and I offer you my very best wishes for the New Year, whoever you are.