SCOTT LESCH’S OWN CONVERSIONS! 54MM Toy Soldiers.

Visits: 60

Step by step guide.

Something I have tried myself quite recently… modifying ready made casts… it is fun and gratifying. I will not go as far as saying mine are “pieces uniques” but quite original sometimes!

For once this is really FUN!

Enjoy!

Beginnig with a basic cast
Detailed comments by author!
Close Up
Left arm modification
Final result with different heads, paintjob and self printed flags!

Shelves display in a Cabinet. 54MM Toy Soldiers.

Visits: 59

Long long long ago I bought 54MM Toy Soldiers in a regular basis.

I did collect what was my fancy when a child, I have to admit that I was so busy (in my real life) that usually they come out of the box and straight into the cabinet (not much time to play when in age of working).

Nowadays retired I can display at leisure, but somehow TIME slips by and projects are very slow in coming to fruition.

I am waiting for some painted Toy Soldiers since last November (2022), also casts in 54mm too that now I paint myself (I enjoy doing that).

And some odds and ends in 6MM… including a River Nile British Gunboat thanks to the courtesy of Daniel Hodgson.

It is hard to wait for them!

Enjoy!

RCMP Mounted and dismounted.
The late Queen Elizabeth II and some “specials” from DUCAL

Collecting 54MM Toy Soldiers.

Visits: 42

When you collect in 54MM… the basic scale for that… you can do it on Military Subjects or even Civilian…

But the final choice is product of a Fun attitude!

Those are from my private Collection for once… (also tomorrow’s Post).

Enjoy!

DUCAL Royal West Kent Band
Holmes&Watson telling Lestrade they are going to take a Hansom Cab. RPWorldModels
Policeman and Medical personnel…RP.WorldModels

My Union Army of the Potomac (6MM)

Visits: 38

It took me years of painstakingly collecting and even painting some things myself, but more than 90% the work of Robert Jackson (Greg) rgjackson100@gmail.com and Daniel Hodgson did the Ammo Wagons (Reveille chopperboydan@hotmail.com (Daniel did also all the Real State, terrain and Woods)… see ANTIETAM/SHARPSBURG Posts.

Not much to add, there are even engineers in shirtsleeves…

Enjoy!

PS: By the end of the ACW the Union Cavalry alone had more men that the whole Confederate Army… so… better refight 1862-1863

The whole Army.
50 Brigades of Infantry
Detail (mainly Baccus but some Rapier included for variety)
Join the Cavalry!
Division Generals (POLEMOS and Altar of Freedom do not use them… but I do)
Some other Cavalry!

My Confederate Army of Northern Virginia (6MM).

Visits: 44

You have recently seen them in action in the ANTIETAM/SHARPSBURG reenactment-wargame (SOLO).

I guess they are a bit difficult to photograph… one do his best believe me!

There you have the Infantry Brigades on the lower centre of the pic (by two different painters of minis), Artillery on the right of the pic, plus Cavalry mounted and dismounted, Division generals and Corps Commanders, and Robert E. Lee. There are also Cavalry fording a river (blue base) and even a stand with foreign observers.

Even if I used painting services, I added painting details here and there, and put the flags myself. At 71 I could not wait to paint them myself… lol

The standard recommended Infantry Brigade in some sets of rules are the two rows of 12 minis with 4 skirmishers in front… I did that or organize them that way until I realized there were a lot of possibilities around and the minis in the stands could add more feeling to the army. So then I did designs of my own mainly understanding that you do not need skirmishers behind earthworks and other circumstances… I hope you can zoom in on the pics. I do include one myself to make the point.

Cavalry is represented “charging” in line, but also in more conservative stances dismounted and in column of squadrons.

Some special stands to cross bridges and pontoons and of course supply wagons.

Hope you like them.

Enjoy!

Aerial view.
Infantry Brigades (Ortodox) by Turbil Miniatures.
Much more variated use of minis in the stands by Robert Jackson (Greg)
JEB Stuart’s Cavalry
Detail and example of different ways to enhance your units (Robert Jackson’s)

FREE BOOK : MY TOY SOLDIERS AND ME (second edition revised & updated).

Visits: 95

You can download for free on the top right column clicking on the cover… it would take a minimum of time (about 3 minutes) because of the original colour pics (BTW the captions of them are silly printed at the end of the book… I do not know why but in 2016 it seemed a good idea!).

To cut a long story short one day I read you could edit and publish a book quite easily! (autoedit a book using createspace)… just on the point of ending my professional life as an architect I decided to write a book about my experiences with Toy Soldiers (my daughter counseled that better than writing about urban planning&landscape because I would hurt less people).

So I did, for a while I sold copies through amazon.com and amazon.co.uk (and even a Spanish version in amazon.es)… guess that I sold around two or three hundred copies including the kindle version. So far so good.

Then the IRS started pestering me about my supposed benefits… the correction of the English version costed far more that the pitance I got from the book returns… and I simply retired the copies from createspace. No vanity after all… it was fun for a while.

Then one day I asked my eldest son (a computer engineer with a doctorate and several masters I do not know how to explain myself…) if it would be possible to hang in this present webpage a downloadable free copy… and he said yes no problem!

So, there you have it!… the first drafts date back to 2006 or 2008… it was first written in Spanish (my maternal language)… and I assure you nobody was interested in Spain at all!… LOL… So I translated it myself to English (where the hobby still exists… I thought!) with awful results (the black cover first edition) and then once the critics in amazon said it was good intentioned but ilegible… I decided to put a remedy and then I paid for the services of a profesional corrector (something the IRS does not take account for). and there you have it.

BTW I pay my taxes in Andorra dutifully!

What happened after 2016 is in the Facebook Group under the title (obviously) MY TOY SOLDIERS AND ME…and this webpage/blog.

Enjoy!

ADLER (mostly) 6MM Napoleonics. Collected by Jean de Dieu Labedoyere as seen in Facebook.

Visits: 41

I do not know about AI but surely you are looking at the future of wargaming through the following pics. And YES! they are a blow UP!… really small things 6MM… but size no longer an excuse… simply count as a BONUS.

6MM has been called God’s Own Scale (blasphemy not intended at all… people seem to be easily offended nowadays!)… and it is for the overall bird eye’s perspective and the sudden new dimensions of your table!

Enjoy! I did.

French Heavy Cavalry
1815 Carabiniers
Horse Artillery of the Line
Mass effect!
Superb painting!
Cuirassiers
Dragoons

ANTIETAM/SHARPSBURG 1862 in 6MM (XI and last!)

Visits: 35

Some of you have been patient enough to follow this reenactment/wargame until the end. I will add some pics (final… you must be tired!) and then will give you my “conclusions”.

A.P.Hill’s Division arrives after a forced march from Harpers Ferry… to save the collapse of the Confederates right flank. Yes he is wearing his red shirt there in the background.
Confederates are retreating everywhere… finally Burnside is advancing with a meaning…
General view of the situation when A.P.Hill arrives…
Confederates retreating into Sharpsburg facing off!

I was surprised that with minor variations the action or battle went so smoothly well (and not The Bolshoi Ballet syndrome at all). It was my first try of home rules ACW which I will not bother to explain in detail (and if I ever do… they will be downloadable for free as my book). The fact of introducing limits at what Brigade and Divisions could do before getting tired/spent/out of ammo and for how long was a success, the idea of throwing a dice per brigade stand to see if they engaged the enemy when close to it (there when the thing matters) was also a box of surprises but went quite well too. Minor things were the survival of Mansfield, the performance of the Irish Brigade (Union), the fast crossing of Burnside’s bridge… but overall quite “historical”.

I have had doubts before it, but now they are clear to me… I have more fun with the real characters of the ACW than with imaginary generals. For a solo wargame it went well and to my taste (HOW NOT?).

That one can have pleasure reenacting America’s bloodiest day is only a matter of perspective… no one died… my toy soldiers will live to fight another day… Brandy Station, Gettysburg and Trevilian Station are projects on the near future. Cavalry did nothing but to find a ford in the present one… and Stuart was an spectator. And after all I have all those Cavalry Brigade stands…

The ACW is for me the last of the “old wars” and even “romantic” to a point… morals were different back then… some protagonists were deeply religious… and some had been too much exposed to Walter Scott’s novels. I try to keep it that way a serious affair but with a bit of taste thrown in.

Enjoy!

Graham Hilditch’s 16th Lancers (42mm).

Visits: 49

It is not the first time I Post his work, always in 42MM… but it always looks superb.

He usually uses that scenery as a background… that works very well with Infantry… and those lancers (the 16th) have had to manage to lower lances to negotiate I guess. No kidding.

Wonderful display.

Enjoy.

A very low arch if you ask me…
Better pic
Very fine painting job
It was time he produced Cavalry!