Toy Fair Plunder & Welsh Rebellion !

Gas Masks galore!

Waifs and Strays......Stafford Toy Fair

The Stafford toy fair has yet to let me down in terms of toy soldier plunder and the one this Sunday past was no exception. I paid my £10 entry fee at 8am as is my usual practise and almost immediately found a few hollow cast figures that made me reach for my wallet. I bought four gas mask wearing British infantry at the trail, another one running with fixed bayonets, one crawling and one throwing a grenade. These seven cost me £12, slightly less than £2 each. I love buying these old figures for a pound each, but will happily pay two to three pounds each for better condition or harder to find figures. At the end of the day, they will virtually all be paint stripped and repainted, thereby reducing collectable value to zero. But I want them to repaint for my armies to play with, so value is not a consideration, but cost is. I do not want to pay high prices for figures I am going to devalue a week later! 

Within half an hour, I had found another table with lots of reasonably priced old metal and in particular, a lot of the aforementioned gas mask wearing British infantry. I negotiated a price of £35 for another ten charging, an Officer, a spade wielding figure and three line infantry kneeling to receive. A fraction over £2 each again, result!

Serendipity seemed to be in play once again, as these gas mask wearing figures are at the top of my 'wants list'. As I may have previously mentioned, I have been planning to create my own version of Dr Who's U.N.I.T. Mine needs to be turn of the 20th century appropriate however and I had been struggling to think of a suitable look that would make them stand apart from my other regiments. I eventually decided, that as the cutting edge special forces, specifically designed to deal with extra terrestrial or supernatural threats, that futuristic equipment would not be out of place. Hence the steel helmets and the 'spooky' gas masks! 

Unfortunately these figures had very rarely crossed my path and so far, including a gift from my good friend Michael, I had only recruited about seven figures. Well I now have sufficient (with a couple of planned conversions) to build all of my planned U.N.I.T. force. I still have to think of a new name for them though, as I associate U.N.I.T with the 1970s. 'The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen' is obviously not an appropriate title, but does have the sort of 'feel' that I want. Ideas are always welcome!

Steam roller with mechanic for scale

A few stalls later I spotted this little steam roller. I have been looking for a steam engine for two years now to help pull artillery. Unfortunately the beautiful die cast model steam engines that are available, are either way to big, or too small. I spotted this little model however and saw a conversion project. How much for what turned out to be a tin plate Minic model from I would guess, the 1940s? Three quid was the response from the dealer, which seemed very fair to me. Since getting it home I am tempted to just restore it as a civilian steam roller. I am undecided at present, but for some reason ,I am unusually pleased with this little acquisition!

Not more flora and fauna!

On a second sweep of the table where I bought the haul of gas mask soldiers, I spotted a box of trees, hedges and garden pieces. Do I need more of these lovely items? Not really but can you ever have too much of a good thing especially if the price is right? How much? £30 the lot was the reply.  That has worked out at 50p per item and they are in remarkedly good condition. I am sure I do now have enough flowers for my project and I certainly didn't need the flower beds. As for the trees, hedges, bull rushes etc, I can use as many as cross my path. I love turning these into little scatter scenes for the table and the cabinets. A great buy. 

As far as the pre war garden range is concerned, I now need to concentrate on buying a few select items rather than any more bulk purchases but if the price is right................

Milk crates made by Moko in the 1940s

Whilst buying the garden pieces, I noticed these two small milk bottle crates which the dealer kindly added to the purchase at no extra cost. A small item but one that scratched an itch. I have (sadly!) long been irritated by the Britains milkman holding a bottle of milk but only having large milk churns on his cart. Well no more! These are also quite rare little items and I was again more pleased than I should have been, to bring them back to Apperley Towers.  

So there we have it. A very satisfying morning out. 

A Welsh Rebellion! 

(or the founding of the Free Welsh Volunteers!)

Snowdonia snipers!

My imagi-nation forces have evolved into four contingents. The two faux British factions represent the Royalist forces and their opponents the Socialist rebels (armies red and khaki). The Socialists have an ally in the form of my faux French forces, whilst the Royalists are (hopefully) supported by my faux German forces (armies blue and grey). These four armies are largely formed, although I continue to refine the units and add items as opportunity and inspiration coincide. 

I have for some time wanted to expand these forces with the aforementioned 'UNIT' project and a 'Boer' type force. The Boers themselves would not fit into my imagi-nation world as it is confined to the British Isles with allies from Europe. It struck me however that a Boer type force could very well represent a force of volunteers fighting for a 'free Wales'! After all, the hills and valleys of Wales are ideal for a mobile guerilla type of warfare, utilising horses and ponies for mobility. 

This also gave me the opportunity to utilise a number of lovely figures from my favourite toy soldier manufacturer Replicants. No, not Boers, but various American Civil War figures (particularly some confederate sculpts), and a number of other 19th century poses from various sets Peter has released. Added to these I have a box of the Boer infantry from 'Armies In Plastic'.

,

Whilst I was planning to use a few hollow cast models for artillery and cavalry, I have now decided that  this relatively small force, will be almost exclusively plastic. The design and style of the plastic figures, doesn't fit well with the more rigid hollow casts.  After some minor conversions, I have now started to paint some of the figures for this project and thought I would show the first few efforts here. 

Replicants Napoleonic 95th Rifleman (Hagman?), slightly converted and recruited into the FWV

 I have plans to go for about 36 infantry, 12 mounted figures (to represent the mounted infantry), a small gun with crew and a command group. Somewhere around 55 to 60 figures in total. So far I have prepared the 36 infantry and the command group. I need to convert some artillerymen and purchase some mounted figures. This last unit is a bit of a challenge as I can't immediately think of a suitable figure range, apart from converting American civil war cavalry and mounted cowboys?

CIV regiment and staff

I did originally intend to use my 'slouch hat' (CIV) mounted figures that formed half of the mounted force in my army khaki. The more I looked at them however, the less I wanted to make them look more irregular. I like them as they are and a spin off  from this project is that I have expanded the 8 original troopers to 2 squadrons of 6 and added a 13th mounted officer to the staff group of the army. A kneeling figure with binoculars has also been added and I am very pleased with the outcome. I could still use the cavalry as 'stand ins' with my 'Free Welsh Volunteers' (FWV), until I have recruited some suitable replacements.

I will need some mules as well for the light artillery piece. In an ideal world, a Britains mountain artillery gun and pack mules would be the solution. I just need to source a set at a reasonable price! Good luck with that I hear you all say! Until then, I have a small gun and a couple of plastic pack mules which will do just fine.

Command

A few thoughts about blogs

I think  I had 14 followers. I now seem to have 13. If I was of a different disposition, this might be slightly worrying, but fortunately I don't really mind. I started this blog to share my toy soldier frolics with like minded individuals of whom I suspected there would be a very small amount. We are a niche, within a niche, but we are all passionate about our 54mm madness and toy soldiery. As long as my blog articles entertain and appeal to you, my like minded friends, I don't mind how many followers or views I get. So, whoever unfollowed me, I'm sorry to see you go, but I'm sure you had your reasons and you will always be welcome to return!

This thought does bring me to a topic which may be sensitive in some quarters.....blog adverts! Is it just me? I find adverts sometimes too intrusive. I don't know much about this topic, but I assume the adverts are a choice made by the author of the blog? Is everyone else is ok with adverts? I'm curious what you all think? 

My second blog is now set up but will not be launched for a few weeks. The working title is 'Ratspike and Renegades' which may mean something to those of you steeped in early Warhammer and Games Workshop terminology. It is a blog dedicated to my 25mm sci fi and fantasy activities and I am thoroughly enjoying writing articles for it! I don't think it will have a detrimental effect on this blog, as it will consist of shorter single articles, which won't take as long to write. I hope some of you will find my efforts there of interest as well, but I suspect I will mainly attract a new audience. Anyway, you will hear all about it here first, as someone once said!

Tara a bit!

The Peasants Are Revolting and the Vikings aren't much better!

I have been busily painting a few of my (seemingly) never ending 'medieval' stash. This was prompted by my experiments with the new 'speed paints' that I wrote about a few weeks back. As I said then, I was pretty confident that these new paints were very well suited to the more realistic style of sculpting of Peter Cole, than the smooth lines of my hollowcast veterans. As such I wanted to try out some more and here are the results. 

These are wonderful figures, that, as is often the case with Peters work, fill a niche no one else has ever attempted. Yes they would not have been a big seller to me at the age of seven, but at nearly seventy, they appealed immensely and I bought a few packs.  

I have ended up with a nice 'unit' of 12 villagers with various 'close combat weapons', which will no doubt add flavour and quick casualties to a medieval skirmish I am planning. You never know however, they may manage to ambush a weakened unit of archers or suchlike, only time will tell!

One of the figures is armed with a slingshot and after buying multiple bags I found I had three of this smashing chap and wondered how I could use him. It was then I remembered the three Saxon archers I had (from Peters 1066 collection) and thought I would make up a mixed skirmishing unit of six figures. My favourite rules system for this era is probably Lion Rampant and a unit of light skirmishers is composed of six figures. 

Whilst painting these lads and lasses, I also decided to experiment on three more Saxon/Norman figures. I have another two dozen Saxon shield wall poses to paint in due course, which will double as Norse raiders in my games.

Speaking of Norse raiders, I acquired four unpainted castings of Vikings by DSG from an old friend some time ago. I don't really use many Britains detail figures in my armies but I was particularly struck by the shield maiden and was happy to add these characters to my 'Norse' collection. I think they have painted up quite well and they don't seem to be figures you see every day. 

Sadly, I sold all of my Timpo Vikings during a period of my life, when I needed money more than toy soldiers! I hope to never be in that situation again and whilst I don't generally regret selling my Timpo collection, I do miss those Vikings! I might start picking one or two up again if I can find them at a reasonable price.

Whilst in a 'medieval' mood, I also painted the Crescent Robin Hood set up in my usual painting style. I had painted the Sheriff some time ago and Robin and the gang kept looking at me reproachfully whenever I opened their box! Lovely classic figures, all of which have the Kellogg's logo on the base, denoting their origins in packets of corn flakes. Not sure why I have these, (other than they are brilliant figures!) but they now make up the third painted Robin Hood character set in my collection. The others are from Peter Coles Replicants and the best of all time, Herald. My Herald set is still missing Little John who will be on my shopping list for the Plastic Warrior show in July. My Sheriff is mounted on the wrong horse but I am happy with that as the correct horse is fairly rare and consequently expensive. 

On a slight side note, Peters villagers sets also include a modified version of his Alan a Dale figure. The original has our minstrel leaning against a tree stump strumming his instrument. The new version has had his tree stump removed (which sounds jolly painful!) and is now more useable in different scenarios. I painted one of the two copies I ended up with and will dispose of the spare at Plastic Warrior.

Last but not least, I bought a second copy of Peters carter figure which originally accompanied his fantastic medieval tumbrel cart. Sadly the cart proved too difficult to keep in production and there are I believe, less than a dozen or so complete ones in the wild. I am very pleased to own one, but wish I had snapped up two or three! Nonetheless, the carter figure is still being produced and is ideal for leading stubborn mules or other carts and wagons. I might even pick up a third copy if Peter has any for sale at Plastic Warrior. A super figure, which tells a story in its movement and pose. Highly recommended!

A lick of paint ........... Famous Monsters!

Well perhaps famous is stretching it a little, but I remember buying a copy of a black and white 'famous monsters of filmland' magazine in 1965, featuring all of the usual suspects....Dracula, Frankenstein, the Werewolf etc. I have always had a fondness for said 'monsters' and found them again when I ventured into the world of fantasy wargaming in the very early 1980's. My love of Tolkien's work and science fiction and fantasy novels generally, led me to the first edition of Warhammer fantasy battles and a lifelong enjoyment of  non-historical wargaming.

Werewolf 

This is a topic which divides opinion in the general wargaming world but I have happily indulged in all genres and historical periods with no issues whatsoever. I do however feel that my wargaming is now almost two separate hobbies. My 54mm gaming is the primary focus of this blog and has been the dominant force in my gaming for the last 5 years. I don't see that changing as I am still getting excited at the thought of 'projects' which I haven't found time for yet. 

At the same time, I do still indulge in fantasy and sci-fi games in 25mm scale and find it a refreshing change, both from a gaming and a painting  point of view. I find swapping scales occasionally a good 'palate cleanser'  and I have been doing just that amongst the medieval painting shown above.

Goblin and Wolves

I have been sorting out my 'pre slotta' lead fantasy figures and couldn't resist painting a few before putting them away. I thought I would show what I have painted as most have been further experiments with the speed paints, combined with some more traditional techniques. 

Angelic Hero

I am conscious that a few of my regular readers are not particularly interested in this side of my gaming. This has led to me giving serious consideration to starting a second blog, devoted to my exploits with my 25mm fantasy and sci-fi . I have not made a firm decision yet but would be interested to hear your views. In the meantime here are a few more pictures of my efforts. 

Ent

Fire Daemon

Were Creature 

Trio

Frost Giant

Hydra

Well that's it for this update. I hope to share some progress with my 'Viet Taff' soon. Its very early days but my 'Free Welsh Volunteers' are beginning to take shape in my mind, even if they don't exist as painted models yet. 

Tara a bit!

 Plastic Warrior Show announced, Clerical matters and Royal Horse Artillery action!

A little later in the year than traditionally held, but the best toy soldier event in the known universe is back again at its usual venue. I have already cleared my diary and will be there to buy more figures that I didn't know I needed and to have a catch up with many friends, old and new. If you can make it, come along for a couple of hours and go home lighter of wallet and heart with a few bags of toy soldiers! Any readers of this blog who I don't know, please introduce yourself if you see me (I think I may wear a little name badge to assist in that regard). Remember, cash is king at these sort of shows, so bring a full wallet! Hopefully see you there!

That would be an ecumenical matter! A tale of Chaplains and a churchyard

Here we see two newly appointed members of my floor games world clergy. These are both recasts of the Britains 'thin vicar' or country chaplain and the Johilco version. Originals are not very common or cheap and I was happy to buy recasts to add these lovely figures to my growing civilian population.

As regular readers will know, I have two churches in my collection but I have long wanted to make a suitable 'toyish' churchyard to go alongside them. I had a rough idea of what I wanted but it was the acquisition of some suitably sized gravestones from Temu that has finally enabled me to scratch this ecclesiastical itch!

To be useful and appropriate for my tabletop adventures, the size of the terrain piece was always a key question. In the end, as is often the way, the pieces fell into place as I was sorting out my lead garden and farm related horde. I kept being drawn to the pre war Britains flint walls acquired in a big e-bay lot 18 months ago. Now these were in very poor condition when I acquired them. They are actually hollow cast with the base of each piece open. This means that they can be squashed very easily and some of these had been! In addition the thin metal had suffered over the intervening years and there were a number of small holes and 'tears'. These are in my experience, uncommon pieces and I have not seen any since at a price that I would countenance. As a result, I was determined to salvage these at some point, but was waiting for the right project. As I played around with them I began to think about them as walls for a churchyard.

I tried them out and decided they might be just the thing. There were just enough for the size of churchyard I wanted and they are a lovely height over which defending soldiers might fire! 

I won't bore you with the rest of the construction work but I repaired and repainted the damaged walls, found a suitable base, flocked it and started the placement of the individual pieces. I managed to incorporate and reuse a number of damaged hollowcast plants and flowers as well as creating some gates from a piece of 'iron railings'.

I am really quite pleased with the end result and have ticked off another construction project. What next you ask? Well a municipal park is calling my name.........as well as a landscaped garden suitable for my Tudor mansion model........time and inspiration will tell. Oh and some front gardens for my little row of 1920's houses!

Royal Horse Artillery

For as long as I can recall, the allure of a Britains Gun carriage with six horses and a gun, has been difficult to resist. The rational wargamer in me held my aspirations back, by reminding me that such an elegant model was impractical for table top wargames. I still believe that to be the case, but at a toy fair some 12 months ago, I finally caved in to my inner child. 

On a table, complete with four outriders, was this nice condition, undamaged, early post war example. It was unboxed and the mounted officer was missing. I enquired about the price and whilst still a hefty amount, (under £71 and over £69), I decided that I had to take it home with me to become a centre piece in my display cabinets. I knew it was impractical ,but sometimes what the heart desires, the heart must have and so it came home to Apperley Towers. A postscript to the acquisition was an e-bay purchase of the missing officer for £10 just over a week later, This felt like a preordained event, thus confirming to me that I had been right to buy the piece ,as it was meant to be!

Ever since it has had pride of place in my feau British army cabinet, but it did create a desire in me to find a similar 'version' that I could squeeze onto a tabletop. Finding a damaged example at a price and in a condition where it could be rebuilt was harder than I expected. I was even looking at the reissued version sold to collectors by Britains back in the late 1990's. Even these however approached or exceeded the price I had paid for my original. That is until I saw a set advertised as 'mint condition, but missing one horse'. The seller was still trying to sell it for I think £60! I politely pointed out to him that no serious collector would buy an incomplete set at such a price ,as obtaining a spare correct horse would be next to impossible. We eventually agreed on a price substantially lower (£35?) and I was soon in possession of my 2nd gun team, albeit with a horse missing. Well that wasn't very clever of you Graham I hear you shout, but you see 'I had a cunning plan all along' as Baldrick might say.

It was always my intention to only have four horses pulling the gun and limber to substantially decrease the footprint of the model for the tabletop. After all, I had grown up with Britains and Timpo limbers with four horse teams and still feel that this is the norm.

I decided to base the model to make it even more practical and really like the nice solid feel to it. The gun it came with is a nice (non firing) model, but I can attach a proper firing version if the need arises.

All I needed now was a crew for the gun to fire it once unlimbered. Again a chance e-bay mixed lot, provided me with three dismounted Hussars standing to attention. I put these to one side as potential gun crew recruits and turned my attention to an officer perhaps for the fourth gun crew member. A buy at the last Plastic Warrior show provided me with a number of kneeling officers with binoculars (one of my very favourite Britains poses) and I have replaced his head with a stray Hussar head. Voila! as the French might say, I had a gun crew who just needed a fairly quick paint job. 

So there we have it, a 'grail' purchase, inspiring a second project which has enhanced my artillery offering. I just need a few more now for my feau, Prussians, French and Socialist volunteers!

Tara a bit!