The Plastic Warrior Show Report With Photos Galore Of PlasticTreasure!

American War of Independence cavalry conversions, by the talented Dennis Donovan

The day started with my alarm clock going off at 4.30am, an hour no gentleman should be asked to witness! Three quarters of an hour later I was en route to pick up my  fellow toy soldier enthusiast and very good friend, John. This was a familiar start to the day, as John and I have been making the trip together to the Plastic Warrior show since the mid 1990's. Its a two and a half hour journey to the wilds of Richmond from our homes in the Black Country, but we spent it 'putting the world to rights' and discussing various toy soldier and wargaming matters. 

Setting Up

We arrived at The Winning Post  just after eight, to find the venue a hive of activity as the traders were starting to set up amidst a heady mixture of adrenaline and anticipation. John and I set up our table and then started the familiar ritual of one of us manning the stall, whilst the other went off in pursuit of plastic plunder. This is a pattern that we followed all day and even extended it to a 'three person routine' with our next table neighbour and good friend, Tim Gow. 

The hunt begins!

Tim organises the annual 'COW Wargames Conference' and is an enthusiastic proponent of wargaming with 54mm toy soldiers. It was great to catch up with Tim and this is a perfect example of why I love this show. Its an opportunity to meet, or keep in touch with people, who share our interests. This year was particularly successful for this reason and whilst the internet is a wonderful way to reach out to people, it can't replace the pleasure of meeting face to face and having a good chat about the things we all love. 

Someone once said a picture paints a thousand words, so with no more ado I will share some of the pictures I took during the day. 

Dennis and Gareth.......probably responsible for lightening my wallet more than anybody else over the years! 

Eunice (above) and John Begg (below), stalwarts of the plastic toy soldier scene and dear friends!

Hugh Walter and Adrian Little, selling madly. Hugh's blog 'Small scale world' is always worth a read if you are interested in the minutiae of plastic production in all scales

Toy soldier 'royalty' in the form of the ever personable James Opie sitting with my mate John. We had a great chat with James for 15 minutes or so, sharing photos of our soldiers!

Tim Barker, collector, professional actor and owner of 'Soldiers in Siloth' the excellent toy soldier museum in Siloth on the North West coast. See my review in an earlier post. A lovely man who I had a great chat to about toy soldiers, the museum and his role in one of my favourite films 'Coast to Coast' with Lenny Henry and Pete Postlethwaite. 

The ever cheerful Peter Cole of Replicants. My favourite toy soldier sculptor and manufacturer, with his newest creations. These were the first things I purchased that morning! (See my next post for a full review of these beautiful ECW cavalry)

So that's it! A great show and a super day out. It was only made possible by the time and effort put in by the Plastic Warrior team, all of whom are very camera shy, but I just want to say a heartfelt thankyou to Brian, Paul, Peter and everyone involved!

But Graham, what did you buy I hear someone ask? Well lots! But I am going to do a separate post to enable you to go and make a cup of tea, before I share my plastic plunder and lead loot!

Tara a bit!

 

 

The Plastic Warrior Show Saturday 7th Of June, Warhammer 40K, & French Foreign Legion

Three cheers for.......The Plastic Warrior Show!

This will be a shorter blog entry than normal, because I have been too busy with family and other commitments, including trying to sort out some toys to sell at the Plastic Warrior show this Saturday.

This is always more difficult than I expect, as whilst I know I have way too many toys in the toy room, they always make a case for not being sold!  I am sure I am not alone in this as we all like to buy more toys! Anyway after wrestling with my conscience and acknowledging my lack of storage space (knowing a substantial acquisition is coming soon....more of which another day), I have managed to find plenty of toys to fill my table at Plastic Warrior!

So if you are reading this and can make it along to the show, please come and say hello and add some new recruits to your own armies....there will be plenty to choose from I can assure you! I normally go back with more in the car than when I drove down!

Plastic Warrior Show....admission 10.30am

The Harlequin Suite

The Winning Post

Chertsey Road

Whitton

Twickenham

TW2 6LS

Hopefully see you there.

I counted them all out......Warhammer 40K game, Dark Angels versus Sisters of Battle

I suspect most of my regular visitors are traditional toy soldier enthusiasts but as a lifelong wargamer, I have spent a great deal of my life gaming with smaller wargame figures. I have dabbled in lots of different historical periods and genres. Science Fiction has always been a passion with me and Warhammer 40k, a game produced by Games Workshop, has been a favourite since its creation back in 1987. I still have a large collection of WH40K armies, mainly made up of early metal figures.

On Wednesday last week, I pulled out two forces for a friendly game of 5th edition WH40K, my personal favourite version of the game. It is now on its 10th edition, but I no longer buy anything new, preferring my old figures and earlier editions of the game.  The armies were my beloved plastic Dark Angel Space Marines and my slightly later 'Nuns with guns' the Sisters of Battle. The bulk of my Dark Angels came from the first set released on the day WH40k launched in 1987. 

The game was with one of my oldest friends, Ted, who worked for Games Workshop for a good many years. He and I have been friends since the early 1980's when we met through the Birmingham branch of Games Workshop where he worked at the time. He later went on to run the Games Workshop mail order department, before working in the studio at GW HQ in Nottingham. We still periodically get together for a game and a 'catch up' here at Apperley Towers.

The game was an excuse to get together, catch up on each others lives and just roll a few dice. I am not therefore writing a battle report as such but I thought a few pictures might be nice to show some of the action and the toy soldiers used. 

A lick of paint......French Foreign Legion

Although life has been busy I have managed a little work on the collection of French Foreign Legion figures that I am refurbishing. All classic Britains hollow casts and there will eventually be a full regiment of almost 30 figures. I have long wanted some of these and am very pleased to finally be getting some ready for the tabletop.

So that's it for this post.....hope to see some of you at the PW show on Saturday. A full blog report on the show will follow next week for those of you who couldn't make it.

Tara a bit!