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!

 Warhammer World, les Pompiers, and Dads Army!

The life sized Rhino and Space Marine statue under the double headed eagle of the Imperium outside the main entrance to Warhammer World

I counted them all out.....Sisters Do Battle....(or not as I was to find out!)

Last Friday morning saw me packing boxes into the boot of my car at an ungodly hour, before setting off for an appointment at Warhammer World in Nottingham. Once or twice a year I get together with an old friend Simon, who I met 20 years or so ago whilst engaging in the Warhammer 40k tournament scene with my youngest son. Those were happy times and I made many friends around the country but as is often the case, its difficult to stay in touch with everyone and life moves on. Simon and I have however stayed in touch and we meet up to play Warhammer 40k (5th edition) at Warhammer World. As Simon lives in Norwich and I live in the West Midlands, meeting at WHW is a mutually convenient travel compromise and a perfect venue for us. 

Games Workshop have many detractors and whichever side of the debate your sympathies lie, it would be hard to criticise them for the amenities that they provide there. First an foremost is the gaming hall itself. This is a huge space, with over a hundred purpose built 6' by 4' gaming tables, each one provided with a play mat and more than sufficient terrain pieces for the game of your choice. Obviously they do insist that  only their own games systems are played there but the table tops cater for fantasy, Middle earth and the grim dark future of 40k. In addition there are larger much more intricate terrain tables for use in larger multiplayer games and some specialist games like Space Hulk. 

The gaming hall itself is inside a reproduction of a medieval castle all of which adds to the atmosphere. In addition there is ample on site parking, a great restaurant/themed (Bugmans!) bar and the largest GW shop in the UK. Yes, you can spend all of your hard earned monies in the shop, the restaurant and the on site Games Workshop museum, but you don't have to spend a single penny there if you don't want to. Parking is free, there are no entrance charges and the tables and terrain are free to use as well. 

I didn't intend this article to be an advert for Games Workshop but credit where its due, this is a great venue and I have been fortunate enough to have been playing games there for over 20 years. We are also very poor in the UK at singing our own praises and talking about our successes. Games Workshop is a hugely successful British company, that still manufactures virtually all of its products here in the UK. Whether you are a fan of their games or not, (I admit to not playing any current versions of their games), their commercial success, which is worldwide, is something to be applauded and to be proud of.

So, (unpaid) advertising aside, what happened with the games I hear you ask? Well I now remember why I hardly ever saw a Sisters Of Battle army during the 10 years I was in the tournament scene playing around the UK. Their army book 'Witch Hunters' is perhaps the finest example of John Blanches vision for the 'grim dark' 40k universe. The army lists are full of weird and wonderful creatures and characters from bound daemons to fanatical penitent engines! Unfortunately whoever put the features and stats together for them did a pretty poor job and the main army elements, comprised of the female 'marines' that are the sisters of battle, just do not cut the mustard on the table top. 

I was facing off against Simons beautifully modelled and painted Tyranid army and hoped that I might be able to at least hold them to a draw. Two heavy losses later I was corrected! Simon and I are normally fairly evenly matched opponents but sadly the term 'bringing a knife to a gunfight' applied and I was shown off fairly quickly.

It is not my intention to recap either game but suffice it to say the paper thin tanks I bought to the table were very easily dispatched and it became equally obvious that my force just didn't have any long range powerful weaponry, to enable it to deal with the nastier elements of the Tyranid horde.  I will draw a veil over the sad events which unfolded with a few more photos and two final points to take away from the experience.

Firstly, I had a great day and thoroughly enjoyed bemoaning my lot with a friend I don't see enough of. I am already looking forward to our next encounter.

Secondly, there are other rules systems out there to give my 'nuns with guns' a more even chance. I am specifically thinking of you 'Xenos Rampant'! So temporary retirement until I can try them out with the Rampant system.

Postscript

The events of a few days before should have warned me not to be too optimistic about this choice of army. As I was reaching the box out of a cupboard the lid came undone and the army crashed into the corner of the box, chipping paintwork on 9 out of 10 models. As I stepped back in horror, I knocked over a second tray with another army in it, shattering and chipping a large percentage of them as well. It took me 7 hours of work to repair all of the damage and to wonder why I bother varnishing the metal figures, as it certainly didn't protect the paintwork from chipping!

As the vicar said to the actress.....Les Pompiers 

A few months back, I made an impulse buy of a fire engine with crew that was about to end on E-bay with no bids having been made. I wasn't sure of the manufacturer or even exactly what nation it represented but a bid of I think £20 plus a bit of postage secured the lot. I am sure the seller hoped for much more as I feel it was very cheap for what it is.

The origins of the models are a bit of a mystery. I know enough about toy soldiers to suspect that these splendid firemen were by CBG Minot of France. They are solid metal castings and beautifully painted, but the expected makers mark is not present on any of the bases. (I have since added wooden bases to increase stability) The fire engine itself is a curious beast as its made out of wood and metal. Again no makers marks. 

 After some research, I am fairly confident the figures and engine appear to be by CGB Mignot, but are recasts/copies. To be honest, I really don't care as I love the set for what it is and in a way, almost prefer gaming pieces not to be 'collectors items ' as I feel free to do what I like with them (such as adding bases). Should I be reliably informed that they are originals well that's all good too! I suspect they may see service as provincial fire service figures in more that one period/nationality, but can't shake myself of the names ....Pugh, Pugh, Barney McGrew, Cuthbert Dibble and Grubb! Oh and where's Captain Flack when there's work to be done?

Whilst taking the above photos, I noticed another mystery grouping of figures in the cabinet which I am very fond of.  I picked this family grouping up for the grand sum of £4 at a toy fair. All I have done to them is to place them on a base as a family unit. There is obviously an ecclesiastical element and I suspect they are meant to be Dutch or Swedish perhaps. Either way I think they have a splendid otherworldly look to them, possibly even ghostly? Any ideas anyone? 

A lick of paint.....Don't tell him Pike!

A little while ago, I stumbled across this splendid member of the home guard No idea who the manufacturer is but this figure has set me thinking about a civil defence unit as a painting project. I have already salvaged a Britains Police figure and made him into a rifle bearing Sergeant, giving orders to the rest of the unit or other Police figures. I need to start looking through my box of civilians and farm workers to look for more suitable 'recruits'. I can already see a Molotov cocktail in the raised hand of a cattle herdsman! I just need a plump bank manager figure to get them organised.........

Tara a bit!

Play or Display, Pre  War Gardening and Normans and Saxons in Middle Earth? 

Play or display... a tale of Ikea cabinets, and civilians galore!

The English Civil War collection has now been given a safe haven in one of the 25 year old Ikea 'Billy' bookcases with the glass doors. They look splendid and are ready for action whenever the opportunity arises!

Unfortunately to put them in there, I had to usurp the civilian collection including buildings. This was not a situation I was particularly happy with and I came up with 'a cunning plan'!

I have a very large collection of hardback books reprinting American comics which I collected back in the first decade of this century. These books gave me immense pleasure at the time, but I rarely read them these days and they take up a huge proportion of the bookcases in the toy room here at Apperley Towers. I made the difficult decision to sell some of them and free up some space. After reviewing the collection I eventually came up with a list of 260 books that I would try to sell. This still leaves me with over 400 other volumes but they are my favourites and the ones I am more likely to read in the future.

Complete EC comics library, the best 1950's Sci-Fi and Horror!

These books were not cheap and still have a very decent resale value on platforms like E-bay, but at 67 years old I value my time more than money. I duly contacted a dealer in such items here in the UK and we agreed a price. Pete (who is a great guy to deal with) came and collected the books a week or so ago and I was left a little sad, but also excited at the prospect of utilising the spare bookshelves for toy soldier displays.

Various DC books plus my complete Spirit collection, my favourite comic of all time

After moving the remaining books around a little I was left with a double Billy bookcase which just needed some glass doors and glass shelves. A trip to Ikea the next day, provided me with two doors and 7 glass shelves. Now the Billy range is still a mainstay of Ikeas product range and I would recommend them to anyone who needs to store books (or toy soldiers!). They are pretty sturdy, flexible and reasonably priced. Unfortunately they no longer produce the wood finish that I had bought 25 years ago but I found a compromise which won't look too out of place. So an hours work would see me ready to rehome my civilian collection!

Famous last words! Whilst the range is generally the same, they have moved the points where the door hanging mechanisms fit and they have also changed the way in which the glass shelves are fitted. These changes meant that I spent about 6 hours redrilling and filling before the new cabinet was ready. Oh well, it was worth it in the end!

The new cabinet partly filled with my civilian collection, just the farm to position

I have now almost filled the cabinet with the civilian buildings and figures. A variety of vehicles, both mechanical and horse drawn, and even my Hornby train collection have been included as well. The pleasure the filling of the cabinet has made everything worthwhile. As at the time of writing, I still have the farm collection to be displayed on the lower 2 or 3 shelves. 

A stroll in the park

All Aboard!

Postal service

Monday morning 

The Admiral in his garden watching the world go by

The Sally Army! God Bless Them!

Her Ladyship in her new fangled motorised carriage

This did bring to mind the question headlined above.....play or display? I appreciate that I am very fortunate to have the luxury of my toy room and that the majority of gamers and collectors are not perhaps so fortunate. I do wonder for those of you who have some space to display your wargames figures, what is more important to you, playing with them or displaying them?

I know that I love to get my toys onto the wargames table, preferably with a good friend as an opponent across the table. Unfortunately such games are not very frequent and if I don't set up a solo game, the soldiers spend most of their time 'back at barracks'. 

The main run of cabinets, with most of my toy soldier collection

So during those periods of peace, I am reduced to painting, planning and writing this blog. What I do nearly every day however, is spend a little time looking at my collection in their display cabinets waiting for the call to action. I occasionally re-arrange them and of course add new recruits. I get so much pleasure from 'reviewing the troops' each day that it raise the question of whether I am happy to just create displays to look at rather than wargame with them. Well the answer is I enjoy both! I am and have always been, a gamer at heart and love to shove toys around and roll dice! I have to accept however that I get almost as much pleasure from arranging the displays. The beauty of it is I can do both and my beloved soldiers are kept relatively dust free, safe from damage, ready to be pulled out for a game. Two hobbies for the price of one, or just two aspects of the same hobby? You decide. 

Tales from the potting shed.....pre-war gardening!

As regular readers will be aware, I have invested some resources in gathering together a collection of the Britain's lead garden range from  the 1930's. Up to now I have not done anything with it and this article is about my first tentative steps towards refurbishing and utilising the collection.

The bulk of the garden range was of course the flowers and the flower beds for them to be placed into. The flower beds are cast in something like mazac, similar to artillery pieces, not the soft lead used by Britains for most of their toys at this time. As a result the flower beds are common and have survived in pretty good condition. 

The flowers however are a different matter. They are made of soft lead and painted in simple colour schemes. They were cast 'flat' and it was intended that the junior gardener would twist them into a more three dimensional shape. This of course weakened a lot of them and the collector of these items will soon acquire a collection of broken flowers and plants. The commonest breakage is the loss of the nodule at the base of each plant which fits into the holes in the flower beds. As you can see I have plenty of such damaged plants and I want to make use of them if possible. 

I decided to repaint some of the broken flowers and glue them into two similarly repainted small flower beds. I then used plastic edging bricks from the plastic range of the 1960's to make them into free standing little decorative flower beds. I am very pleased with the end results and much more optimistic about saving the many damaged pieces I have. 

I hope that no one will criticise the mix of plants, as I just wanted to make an eye-catching 'toy flower bed' to enhance a building on the wargames table. The flower beds themselves are now in the hands of the Royal Mail, on their way to a new owner. A housewarming gift you might say!

Waifs and strays....Middle Earth recruits

A few weeks ago, I was given a box of 25mm Normans and Saxons by a very good friend. "These might be useful for your Lord Of The Rings wargaming" were his words as he handed me the box. He knows that I like my 'Middle Earth' wargaming and although the majority of my armies are composed exclusively of figures made by Games Workshop, he is also aware that I have started to add figures from other sources, providing the figures are broadly in scale with each other. 

As part of my 'easing back into painting' projects, I have refurbished the figures and repainted the bases to match my collection. They were generally in pretty good condition, but a weapon or three had gone missing and there was some paint chipping to repaint. Anyway here's the end result of my  fairly minimal labours. They were never painted to a very high standard, just a basic table top finish, but I am more than happy to add them to my armies.

But Graham... I hear you shout! These are obviously Normans and Saxons, not Elves or Orcs!

Well Tolkien's middle Earth had many contingents and peoples that he didn't describe in any detail at all. What is also clear is that the Peter Jackson films did not stay true to Tolkien's own descriptions of the arms and armour of the many races in the books. The arms and armour of the dark ages and early middle ages were without a doubt, a major influence in Tolkien's own vision of the warriors he wrote so magnificently about. I am therefore quite happy to use these figures as allies of Gondor (the Normans) or hill tribesmen recruited by Saruman (the Saxons) or even Rohan warriors (both). Either way a welcome gift! 

A Final Observation 

Well That's it for this episode of 'Tales From The Toy Room'. I hope you have enjoyed reading my musings. I started this blog as a direct result of reading other, great, inspirational blogs and as a creative exercise. I have never had a desire to attract huge numbers of followers or viewers. As long as I manage to entertain in some small way, those readers who also appreciate my own niche toy soldier/wargames interests, then I am a happy man.  

I was however intrigued by the viewing statistics for my last blog post which was between 3 and 6 times the amount of viewers than on previous posts. 

Apparently this is a phenomenon being experienced by lots of other wargames blogs. Whilst no one seems to truly know the answer, it is being put down to either AI bots trawling for information, or a change in the way some search engines are operating. Interestingly all of my extra 'visitors' are apparently from the USA. Make of that what you will.

My followers remain the same number ,so even if the increased visitor traffic were real people, they can't have been that excited with what they read! Ah well....

Tara a bit!