And in the End…

Visits: 213

Slightly smaller than DUCAL but exactly as BRITAINS or DORSET SOLDIERS.

The games you play are equal to the games you make…

I could not resist it, saying farewell and knowing when to quit is very difficult.

I have painted a “new old toy soldier”… a 54mm (ReplicaMetalSoldiers Andrew) a mounted Inspector General of the NWMP in a dark blue patrol jacket – I enjoyed so much the painting of it that I am currently pestering Andrew for a variation on the theme…- and all just because a childhood memory. I was very young when I got a box of mounties (I already had a lot of them) but in that one proudly in front of the lot there he was… a mountie with a dark blue tunic -and yellow gauntlets!- of course it was the commander of the unit!… I always had a crush for that figure (and of course never found one alike)… so in the end I decided to make my own and quite satisfied I am going full circle. Of course the original one was lost forever, but I have still 3 “mounties” over 65 years old.

I am going to update this post with pics and slowly edit the rest, meaning that I think there is always room for improvement.

There he is on its proper place before saluting the flag of the parading mounties.

It was a pleasure comparting posts here… and sure I will post more pics!… and edit existing posts but that’s all. To elaborate would be just a copy/ paste of what I said in my book “My Toy Soldiers and Me” so just peruse sometimes to see editions to come (of the posts of the blog not my book!).

Playmobil “mounties”… customized… and of course the dark blue patrol tunic is there too! Not very good light on that pic. See OSPREY MAA.

Editing this blog would be much more interesting that writing new entries, just yesterday I got one half of my last REVEILLE Leven buildings (Daniel Hodgson is the chap you need for your scenery!), vaguely colonial they would be pressed into service at the battle of Maiwand, NWF and North of Africa indistinctly.

Renaming and ordering the Posts of the Blog by subjects and categories nowadays.

Original pic of my DUCAL mounties in the garden (Pal in ANDORRA) not Canada at all I am afraid.

Summing up, my interests on “toy soldiers” are wide and large. I do not restrict my activities to a single field or even scale, neither period. No original at all, as you can imagine there is nothing more conservative than the Household Division to collect in 54mm, and the rest of my 54’s are in three main themes: French Foreign Legion (with some Chasseurs d’Afrique); Tel el Kebir/Rorke’s Drift aka Brits colonials before khaki; and last but not least NWMP/RCMP. As you can see in Collecting I the minis collected in 54mm have been subject to buy/sell, Scot Grey’s cometh and goeth, same with US Cavalry in gala uniform, Denmark Royal Guard, and some mat finish Spanish miniatures I had because a compulsory swap was made. That is Collecting for me, something alive but with periods of lethargy. Not Original at all I am afraid but a rewarding pastime.

I dedicated a chapter of my book to Collecting (my own experience mind) but the books you need is the one by James Opie: Collecting Toy Soldiers, and THE COLLECTOR’S GUIDE TO NEW TOY SOLDIERS by Stuart Asquith. The former has written many excellent books about Britain’s but THIS ONE is the best of all his production IMHO.

Indispensable.
By now it should be named The Collector’s Guide to “OLD” New Toy Soldiers. How time flies by…

Guess it is time to start making lists again… first objective get the remaining ACW brigades organized (after a bit of checking up what minis I have used so far), deciding who is gonna paint what… and put a perspective into new projects, mainly completing “things” already exist… Will keep you posted.

Cheers.

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Post Scriptum

Visits: 258

Unexpected maybe by you… and needed or not, I am going to elaborate a bit with my Baccus experience for your profit. If someone has read all the posts in this present blog it would not be much surprised by it but I have always indulged in summing up. As it is, I would arrange in chronological order my interest in the Baccus ranges, but you must understand the “context”, if instead of being nearly seventy I was in my thirties I would have gone Napoleonic straight away!… So my Baccus interests are much prejudiced by what I did on 25/28mm and become bored with… so no Zulu War this time… (read Daniel Hodgson – REVEILLE on FaceBook…he is doing it to perfection!)

Curiously enough, after selling my 25/28mm collection and in the middle of my ten years (on and off) interest on Playmobils (customs) I started a new interest for the 6mm scale, and was surprised by the sheer quality Baccus had achieved while I was distracted by other things. So, wanting to do BIG battles (ACW) and also BIG units (Colonials) for a change I went for it!… Mind, it was not my first experience with 1/300, I once, many years ago, painted a hundred or so French Cuirassiers which I finally sold via eBay because I never thought about bigger bases!… then I went 25mm Minifigs (many periods) and the rest is in my past.

I did the Crimean Light Cavalry Brigade using Baccus proxies suggested by Peter (who was very helpful… of course later I always took that for granted!), and I painted and based the lot myself. I was much pleased with the result. But I put them on the cabinet and did not go on with further developments of that period. So, even if I had a British Army in 28mm with both the Heavy and Light Brigades of Cavalry and Infantry & Artillery… and some multipurpose units for the French Allies… (I did not ever build the Russian Army and neither Turks or Sardinians for that matter)… I did not want to repeat the experience in 6mm. At that late time of my 28mm scale involvement it was more collecting, converting and military modelling… instead of proper wargaming (not even solo). I simply could not resist the nice Foundry range. Of course the intention of building this unit in 6mm is to have a game with it… my own rules… quite role playing… and obsessed by the possibility of getting the orders clear and go for the right guns… always “what if” in mind you all know.

See The Crimean Light Cavalry Brigade… Baccus 6mm proxies… Nolan on the white horse shouting WHEEL RIGHT! as per Mark Adkin’s book and Tony Richardson’s spectacular movie!

Even if the later were a success I was concerned by the smallness of the Infantry figures, so I did not paint myself the second try… I simply ordered them painted from an eBay seller. I used 30x30mm Baccus bases to get the “counters” for an ancient boardgame about the Second Punic War battle of Metauro. The original plastic figures on the boardgame were 54mm, and the paint peeled a lot, lost forever by the use of successive generations… I once bought 28mm Greeks from Foundry (painted extraordinarily well in Madrid by the chaps at Atlantica Juegos) for both sides, trying to have a go at the Peloponessian War… but did not had the feel of the original Metauro game (even if the original did not had Gauls at all!) so when I sold my collection they parted too. Now I have Republican Rome and Carthaginian and Allies properly bathtubed, but this is as far as my interest goes for Ancients. That proved to me that Baccus Infantry was OK.

Asdrubal meeting the Roman Legions at the river Metauro (at his back). Do not remember who painted those… an ebay seller.

That prompted me to have a go at the Little Big Horn (yet again), but only concentrating the effort on Custer’s Battalion (Companies C,E,F,I,L and HQ), having the command mounted, skirmish line and last stand bases. I converted ACW Baccus proxies (just scratching out the sabers) and then sent to Mersey Wargames painting service. I enjoyed the result.

Riding to Glory (Mortal glory I guess). Painted by Mersey Wargames. Baccus has already started sculpting a proper range as Peter has said in the Forum….

So, I went also British Colonial in Kaki, because I did not do them to the full in 25mm (in my time) and was much more nowadays interested in Maiwand/Kandahar; and the North West Frontier that going ZULU again. Incidentally I do with them the Sudan (Osman Digna British Squares affairs but also Abu Klea and Abu Kru etc) and I know Peter does an specific range for the Camel Corps… but I only bought the” pack camel minis”… in that scale in the desert my minis look the part without no need to repeat them in dusty light grey jackets! Better invest the money and time of the painters on other projects! In fact it is quite unfair to pester Peter about new packs or ranges when he does lots of periods and minis we simply pass from buying… the producer/designer nightmare I guess. And I am an example of how to use Baccus existing ranges to do my “own pet projects” in a quite heterodox way… even if I can be almost fully orthodox with a period like the ACW.

Kaki was a longed for period I did not do to the full in 25mm. Limbers are used also in the ACW. Painted by Mersey Wargames.

After seeing the results of my Colonial buys I decided to get a proper period in an orthodox form so to play with an opponent -be that my brother or other member of the family- so I choosed the ACW because it was my first love – thanks to the film THE HORSE SOLDIERS-and the minis and range of Baccus is quite complete (to say the least) even if I spruced the thing with Baccus proxies from their Franco-Prussian War range and even some Rapier minis. I dutifully bought ACW POLEMOS and also Altar of Freedom from the LITTLE WARS TV chaps (but I did not like their bathtubing of Gettysburg for instance… specially the Artillery present on the Confederate side… and NO I do not put Brigades over the top of the tress or woods); not much of a problem because I always tamper with the rules and do my own bathtubing no matter what!. Even so it is my largest (by far) and most typical wargaming approach of the lot. Nowadays finished building the Armies etc. -maybe shall post pics of the whole affair-

Confederate Baccus 6mm. painting by Turbil Miniatures.

6 mm let me do “one off” adventures in a very non expensive way so I have a Prussian Cavalry Brigade from the Franco-Prussian War. Von Bredow’s own… “The Death Ride” etc. No way I am going to wargame the Franco-Prussian War, I have read enough about it and have nice Books about the Uniforms (a pleasure to see), but I found impossible to recreate the incompetence, jealousies and ambitions bordering treason of the French High Command. The Prussians mobilization and “modern” staff approach was a walk over even if they took a lot of risks and got more than one bloody nose in the process. Not for me thanks. BUT the famous charge kept the Cavalry in the Armies for fifty years more… IMHO it was already obsolete by Waterloo times as such… mounted infantry would replace them and with other tasks, gone were the days of the Cavalry as a Shock Weapon…

Von Bredow’s DEATH RIDE. Franco Prussian War 1870. Baccus straight minis. painted by Mersey Wargames.

In parallel, I did the French XIXth Corps d’Afrique starting with French Foreign Legion -I always do the French Foreign Legion it is a mania- and followed by Chasseurs d’Afrique, Zouaves, Turcos and Spahis (thanks to Igor who suggested the proxies I had not perceived in the Baccus Catalogue!). Reveille is even doing a Zinderneuf outpost using pieces from Leven and small bases by Pendraken -another of my recurrent filias- No matter the scale my pet subjects are always the same as I suspect happens with a lot of wargamers.

Zouaves and Turcos from the XIXth Corps d’Afrique. Late XIXth North Africa. Painted by Mersey Wargames.
Zinderneuf under construction… (REVEILLE-Daniel Hodgson). Leven pieces. 6mm.

After having an attack of second thoughts about Napoleonics, I was able to swap my interests at the last minute to Trees (badly needed) and wagons and pioneers all periods covered ACW and Colonials mainly.

Ranges from the Baccus Catalogue from whom I have bought items:

The Romans (Second Punic War); Napoleonic’s (Crimean proxies… so far I have avoided the real Napoleonic period… but it was a near run thing); American Civil War (like Coke the real thing!); Franco-Prussian War (proxies for ACW, French Foreign Legion, and even a Prussian Cavalry Brigade); Scenic items (XIXth century); Colonials; Bases and Basing Materials; Great War (proxies for my North West Frontier period); Equipment (quite multipurpose); Wargames Rules.

I have used a lot of troops from the Great War range from Baccus but not wargaming WWI… my wargaming interests stop at 1900. Both World Wars do not appeal to me at all and that’s that.
Colonial NWF painted by Mersey Wargames.

And also: Some ACW Rapier (not bad at all and they do mix well with Baccus… specially if you cut out the bayonets…) and of course lots of LEVEN and BACCUS buildings and accessories.

Cheers.