Month: April 2022

Anniversary

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FaceBook source…

Quite by chance yesterday I finished reading the Bruce Catton’s book on the ACW on the anniversary of Lee’s surrender -and the subsequent end of the ACW war to all purposes- I could quote from this concise (and to the point) resume the courage and bravery of the soldiers on both sides but as it is a well known fact there is not need. It is probably the best single book about the ACW I have ever read (do not search in it “Ride on you Wolverines” details…) it clearly puts on writing that it was a NO WIN NO WIN situation for the South from beginning to end… but it showed spirit and incredible feats (both faces: brilliancy and incompetence)… I have read Shelby Foote Trilogy and even him acknowledge the fact that the Union would have prevailed in the end no matter what. It is a recommended read that would leave you wanting for more… Enjoy

My paperback edition.

Incidentally yesterday was also the Shiloh anniversary.

Playmobil 75mm

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When I got my 25/28mm crisis (a deep one) that produced the effect of selling my whole collection on that scale (but for 3 or 4 sentimental minis) I was distraught… I was still reading History and Historical Fiction but wargaming in 25/28mm had lost its appeal… I thought my wargame days were over… I toyed with Playmobils as a distraction mainly having my grandchildren in mind (not that I had much success with that) but the original idea was there. For nearly a decade I collected, converted, added stickers, bought special headgear and weapons and what not… to get the Playmobils the trade mark NEVER PRODUCED!… LOL… in fact I was recreating, in the end, my old 25mm collection in 75mm… but it was FUN!… and there were “things” not possible to do with metal minis as mounting a horse or dismounting at will, getting weapons in hand or not, magnificent sailing ships, skirmishing games were possible and periods like the Lace Wars (Tricorne era… a la Charles Grant) which I never indulged on in 25/28mm were a joy to toy with (that part of my Playmobil collection is in the respective hands of my grandchildren). Of course at the same time I rediscovered 6mm (1/300 in the old days) and went wargaming again. Not that I stopped ever collecting 54mm Toy Soldiers mind…

Today’s pic (extracted from Facebook) is an example of what I mean… probably german readers will love their toys… if really interested see posts about Playmobil and Playmopics in this web page.

Customized Ancient Warriors (Facebbok source)… see what I meant?

God’s Own Scale

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No blasphemy intended, 6mm is the scale to go IMHO to fight on the tabletop large scale Battles or Campaigns, the quality of the castings has improved a lot over the decades and even some truly amazing painters of minis achieve stunning feats of art with them!… but of course this is not the main point… gone are the secure flanks (aka border of the table), the lines of communication suddenly are there… you can even represent the tail of an Army… really a lot of things to ponder on. On the downside you lose detail (lovers of the last button would not be interested) and even your quite really good average painted minis lose detail on the distance (at naked eye view). As you know I am hooked on this scale and my passion is the ACW. See elsewhere on this web page under ACW.

Probably one of the best books so far readed by me is the single volume by Bruce Catton The American Civil War. A truly tour de force.

Napoleonic 6mm Opolchenie (Russians) by Glenn Pearce

In fact it was the Baccus concept of basing 24 minis (or 28 with skirmishers) in a single base measuring 60x30mm and calling the unit a brigade who appealed to me. A genius move. (I evolved from there but that is another story).

25mm nice pic

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It is a Perry (or FOUNDRY) 25/28mm mini as seen in Facebook…

How a clever scenery can enhance your exposition… I used to have one of those figures but painted with scarlet tunic in my 25/28mm days… lovely stuff from FOUNDRY or PERRY or whatever they are called nowadays. Inspirational.

54mm passion…

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This is actually my first post with the new format of making a new Post each day (well, if you do not count yesterday’s joke)… I still think the true collecting scale is 54mm… and it will always be for me “the true size” of Toy Soldiers.

Zulu War minis (did I really needed to explain that?) film version of course! (as seen in FB)

A different way to blog

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My son, at last, convinced me that it would be easy for me and less of a chore for everyone to check the blog entries. So, we checked it out, he was right (as usual) and I was wrong. So from now on “A Blog (in the proper sense)” will continue in regular new posts as opposed to always editing the same one. Hope you like it!

First of April seemed a very good day to change the format.

French Light Infantry (very lightly clad, but with the plumes in the right place, note the officer with different colour of plume). Not very deadly but quite costly to obtain, very useful to tie up large numbers of Cossacks. 1/1 Scale (Facebook source I guess…)

I guess some of you, in spite of being a Toy Soldier fanatic, have retained a sense of humour.