Plastic Warrior plunder !

The photo above is of a mule handler and his mule, a new figure set from Peter Cole at Replicants. This was one of three new sets Peter had for sale at Plastic Warrior . It is a fairly generic figure that could find use pretty well in any 18th and 19th century American conflict and I was happy to add one to my stash.

The second set is a venture into a new period for Replicants, with a set of  (French) resistance fighters. The set of 8 figures are not all new, the radio operator having been released last year. I believe it was an homage to Roy Selwyn Smiths father who was a radio operator in the merchant navy. Regardless it makes a splendid radio operator for a group of resistance fighters.  The two prone figures are a clever re use of two climbing figures which Peter made several years ago. The addition of rifles on their backs transforms them into two stealthy fighters.

The remaining five figures are totally new sculpts and a fine set they are. There is a man throwing a Molotov cocktail, a woman firing a rifle and a kneeling man firing a sten gun. The other two are my favourite figures, a man pressing a plunger on a detonator and best of all ,a woman holding a baby and pulling out a pistol from the babies wrap. All of these figures are in poses that we have seen in Hollywood films where the brave resistance fighters are ambushing a German patrol. 

Unfortunately the 2nd world war is not a period I wargame, so I bought two sets ! I see these  figures as the basis of either resistance fighters in my Royalist/Socialist civil war, or as a bunch of anarchists. Yes the weapons need a little tinkering with, particularly the sten gun, but they will pass otherwise for early 20th century fighters. 

Alternatively, they could be used as resistance fighters against a Dalek invasion! I just need a guy in a wheelchair to throw satchel bombs that don't work! 

The third release is my favourite! Peter has reworked his splendid mediaeval cart to update it to the 17th Century and the English Civil War. New wheels and a new carter figure and voila!

This is an extremely useful scenario piece and I bought two sets without hesitating. After the problems Peter had with making more copies of the mediaeval cart, I wasn't going to take any chances with this one. Highly recommended.

The mule handler was £4.50, the resistance set £16 and the cart £20. Very fair prices for great figures. Oh and Peter ,if you read this, please consider some Thirty Years War figures which would compliment your ECW range so well!

As a complete contrast, I picked up these splendid fellows for £3 each! Not sure of the maker but they are beautiful sculpts. They are to be 'Oliphants' in my 25mm Middle Earth collection. Large but not as stupidly large as the Mumakil in the film trilogy!

 Here we see three members of 'Jacks Jazz Band' recasts but nicely painted with two of the chairs that come with this set. I just need to find the rest but in the meantime, they will work as a trio to entertain my citizens! As a jazz fan myself, these appealed (£5 for the five pieces). 

The odd looking fellow at the back has a western string tie and a beer bottle in his hand. He will either join my western set up or become another citizen of the Empire and spend his days in the beer garden of the Flying Swan. The first of my 50p purchases!

These fine gentlemen also joined my collection for 50 pence each! A Lancer Officer and a special forces operative. Both will find a place in the barracks! These figures had all come out of  a box provided by Adrian Little. I had phoned him the week before Plastic Warrior and asked if he had any hollowcast and other lead bits he wanted to get rid of.  He did and bought a box of huge variety. 50p a bit he announced as I avidly scrambled through the potential treasures within! I eventually handed over more than £20 for a selection as varied as one could imagine. Some pieces were in great condition (as above) whilst others were damaged or devoid of paint....just how I like them. I have already passed on several pieces to friends but the following photos show the pieces still on my table.

Who wouldn't want a regimental mascot for 50P!

Hello sailor! Or in one case goodbye sailor as its destined for a boat in Michael Butterfields fleet.

Five mounted recruits. The Civil war officer just needs a tail on his horse and a repaint. A side project of mine is a hollowcast ACW collection. The other four figures will be stripped and await conversion/painting/recruitment into whichever new cavalry regiment needs them. Britains cavalry are so very versatile with often just a head swap needed!

Two fine and nice condition RAF chaps! The RAF features heavily in this post as you will see later.

More gas mask recruits for my early 20th century version of U.N.I.T from Dr Who. These chaps just about give me enough of the metal ones.

The smaller scale Hussar is a little bit of a mystery. I don't think its Britains but who knows! The scale is tricky, 45mm maybe? Its shown next to a gift from my good mate Brian Carrick of a French Cuirassier ( I now only need one more for my full regiment)

Here we see the best find and possibly the rarest Britains figure I own. This is a Britains pilot form their extremely rare aeroplane series. The Planes are very rare and expensive so there can't be many of the pilot figures about either. I shall still repaint him but love this piece.

Also in the box in three separate pieces, was this wonderful tin plate (actually aluminium I think) monoplane. I duly paid 50p for each part and have now reassembled the plane. Finding the pilot in the box was the icing on this cake as the previous owner had used the pilot in this little plane. (blue tac on pilots bum and the seat of the plane being the clue!) 

Before anyone says its a Britains plane I can assure you it most definitely isn't! A close examination identifies it as a model made maybe in the last 10 years. The stuck on paper roundels etc look very modern. It is a very simple design made of folded metal for the fuselage with wings just glued on! The engine and propellor are cast metal and there are nice little wheels for undercarriage. 

So two pounds for this extremely attractive, classic design toy plane, which will definitely be flying over a battlefield near me in the very near future. As I type I am in the process of making a flying stand to match and will post about it soon. I would like to thank Adrian for bringing this box of treasures along for me to choose from. He made an old man very happy!

These two figures came from another friend, Eric, at a pound each. Both useful.

Here we see three of my favourite acquisitions of the day. The Bishop of Hereford to go with my Robin Hood collection. This is a Benbros figure from the 1950's and had eluded me for some time. £5 and he will be put on a base but left in his original paint as its pretty well undamaged.

The lady is the very attractive Mrs Selwyn Smith as sculpted by her husband for the Timpo railway passenger set. I now have two copies of this figure in different paint schemes. Both are solid cast when they should be hollow, but do appear to have original paint finishes, suggesting they are not recasts. A little mystery costing £7.

The garden gate set is also one that has eluded me and I was very pleased to pick it up for £10 for the three pieces. This will feature in an all pre war lead front garden for one of the houses in my property portfolio! A delightful period piece full of English pre war charm!

I bought the Bishop and the gate from Colin Penn, but my spending at his stall didn't stop there!

I saw these beautiful Britains conversions and at a fiver each had to bring them home. Now technically these are Russian Cavalry. But in my 'Little Wars' world they and the banner look close enough to Prussian to join the command group of my growing faux  Prussian army. I shall repair a few chips and base them up.

I also picked up this French cavalry standard bearer for the same price. He will again join the faux French command group.

These figures were a gift from Brian Carrick. Fine recruits for my civilian population!

Last but not least, I was given a boxful of late first world war British Infantry by a generous Paul Wright, for which I have a cunning plan!

Well that's it folks! A splendid haul from another successful Plastic Warrior show. I hope to feature some of these acquisitions in a battle game report in the near future!

Tara a bit!