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As a matter of fact, it was obvious enough… once the table and painting area has been moved and put together. The cabinets in Andorra la Vella now stock all the Toy Soldiers with wargaming potential (quite Old School). Will add more pics tomorrow.
Now Pal holds the marching figures and ceremonial units.
See pics.
Enjoy
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Today’s anniversary… 25 June…
Since I saw Errol Flynn killed by Anthony Quinn in THEY DIED WITH THEIR BOOTS ON it become a lifelong interest… I was puzzled as a child because it seemed to me the US Cavalry HAD to WIN no matter what… of course real life is not like that… I guess I have already mentioned that on other Posts in this Blog but nevertheless…
It has been a rewarding passion mainly reading&collecting books about it and trying to understand what happened that 25th of June… of course all films (but Little big man) related to and hundreds (literally) of miniatures for wargames purposes (in 28mm, 15mm and 6mm to do not mention my 75mm Playmobils).
After 70 years exposed to it I have come to the conclusion that Custer was put on a NO WIN – NO WIN situation… mainly by fate and circumstances but also for bad scouting, not believing his own scouts, and betrayed by his own experience fighting Plains Indians… the whole Reno Benteen paranoia is simply that a paranoia… the Native Americans where there in enough numbers (ask Crook), interior lines of communication, perfect ground for his tactics, and the will to fight for survival. The Indians Won. That’s that.
A magnificent American drama for the Centennial of the Nation.
Not much to enjoy about that of course… but a fascinating subject. There are a lot of trash books about it (and films too)… I can recommend the opus of Frederick Wagner III THE STRATEGY OF DEFEAT and the novel (fictional-history but it reads as History) A ROAD WE DO NOT KNOW.
Be impartial!
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I’ve been collecting gloss Toy Soldiers in 54mm (and other scales) for what it seems forever, and believe it or not I can see the end of it. A collection you will learn is never complete or “finished” but the addition of items slows and becomes much more sporadic.
If you have minimally programmed objectives one day they will come true, and that’s that. Of course items seems to continue appearing on the radar from time to time… and then collectors act and add them to the collection without a second thought!
To be fair, in my particular case I am nowadays rounding up units (or Armies) Recently from Tradition of London I got about 6 painted pieces and 4 castings to be painted by me. Also waiting from STEADFAST nine Toy Soldiers to complete sets. My yearly order from DORSET is being done by Antony Spencer, and only one more order has to be shipped to me by Andrew Stevenson from REPLICA fame.
As you will see in the pics the world is not perfect at all and even some mishaps occur, the painting jobs of the added Toy Soldiers by Tradition of London did not match the old one’s (and that from the same company mind!), so I am repainting the bits that offend my aesthetical eye. Even more strange I got 4 casts missing a bit of the right foot (with the consequence -obvious- that the toy soldiers did not stand upright… because “unbalanced” was the result (steadiness is of course expected from the British Infantry!…pun intended) a tricky job… repair included gluing little bits of iron clip to the right foot, a bit of plasticine to “reconstruct” the boot, and then the painting job would be possible (will add pics of course when all finished). In the process I had to cut out the nice bayonets because one was already “falling off”.
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It sounds silly maybe, but I first bought a box of them in the old Tradition of London shop (no longer there I fear). And it expanded… and grow… and I even painted some casts myself… and asked for specials to Jack Duke (DUCAL) who obliged… and then he did the Colours… and the Band… and I did the Pioneers… and it took years to complete as it is now… and had lots of FUN doing it!
So here you have it (I did a Post showing a close up of the Band no long ago), A General’s Inspection of The Royal West Kent in 54mm (Three shelves in the small cabinet in Pal).
Enjoy!
Nowadays only two shelves because a bit of reoganization of the display! see below at the end (a new pic)
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This is a summing up, there are more Posts in this present web page about Playmobil Toys… probably never intended to become Toy Soldiers (in the true sense) at all mind, but the GEOBRA brand did enjoy producing Pirate Ships and Romans (probably very reality hard core violent subjects in the real world)… so it is more a matter of deluding themselves I guess.
The Sport of Kings it was called, and small profesional Armies took rendez-vous (more or less) shooted a bit to each other and claimed victory (sometimes both sides) see Barry Lyndon film.
Football and TV had not yet been invented so you had to do something completely different if you follow my thoughts.
Seriously, the potential as entertaining friendly wargaming is there, I recognized, collected, customized, and give as a gift to my grandchildren (I am more into lead Toy Soldiers myself). But still have kept some in my own collection!
Yesterday, we took a look at their collections, well preserved (to my surprise!) and reorganized the whole lot. It was my intention (completely wrong) to buy from them instead from ebay the imaginary “scraps” of the lot because I feared once interest outgrown it is always the bin nowadays… LOL… WHAT A SURPRISE!… Now I will probably buy some items (the less interesting that anyway they will inherit no matter what!) to give them pocket money… but will preserve their collections (the best parts)… and stop messing about with them. Sometimes with the best of intentions you are proved completely wrong!
If I have time (and interest) I will probably write a fastplay set of rules for them. (I only know about the “3,5 inch rules” that are not bad at all… but I love them more concise and not so complicated.
Have some pics (I will add more today I think!) as a summing up.
