Collecting Toy Soldiers – My Toy Soldiers & Me

REPLICA… My new sets of 54mm Toy Soldiers.

The two sets of Victorian (SIMKIN TIMES) Cavalry

Forefront 6th Dragoon Guards (Carbineers) and 16th lancers in the rear rank. Pic “in process” by Andrew Stevenson.

Finally here! (meaning ANDORRA)

They are part of a larger order… but Cavalry always have an extra appeal to me.

In 2023 (by the last months) I placed an order with Andrew Stevenson (REPLICA METAL MODEL SOLDIERS)… this is part of it.

Intended to be a part of a little British Army to play AGW (Yes you’ve guessed right I will of course mess with the original rules!)

Never thought the vast amounts of patience needed nowadays to collect “la creme de la creme” (si j’ose dire)… days, weeks, months, more than a year sometimes… but well worth the wait.

The problem (main) is not the wait itself… it is my age LOL)… time is now an issue…

You can not “hurry up” Andrew… he is IMHO an “artist”… multiple interests…. multiple ranges…. multiple novelties…. multiple objectives… he also collects!…. whatever… Probably the best if you are affected by BRITAIN’s nostalgia… I have never indulged in collecting “antiques” if you think pre-WWII (or WWI for that matter) Toy Soldiers…. do not have the time… neither the money (or budget)… neither the interest (pure or purist). On the contrary I do collect NOW the Centennial sets by Britain! (You need all sorts you know…).

The use of REPLICA models in wargames is a bit of an heressy as I considere them “collector’s items” on their own right!. But boy do they bring “class” to your tabletop…

Enjoy the pics!

Cheers

Tradition of London (Ceremonial Troops) 54mm Toy Soldiers

I have been collecting sets from Tradition of London from decades… I was actually a bit distracted by others periods and scales… but they are always on my mind.

I recently put an order to give a bit of colour at one of my cabinets and Erik supplied (quite fast!) the following set: 1 Officer (British), an NCO (Indian) and two lancers for 4 Regiments with different uniforms… so far so good.

Once the parcel arrived one of the lance shafts was broken above repair and so I contacted them. A replacement is on its way… EXCELLENT service and Communications…

As I loath to gave anything away I did a bit of repairing on the “broken” lancer and he has been raised in rank (twice…LOL) and decorated… and sent the pics to Erik if that can help other customers…

Here are the pics of the little tale…

Enjoy

See broken lance above left.

Detail.

Inspected and small “retouching”

Raised to Corporal (and out of bits of the lance to have a pacing stick)

Raised to RSM and decorated… I did not want to threw it away you know… I try to never do that… sometimes looks good enough!

FASHODA (gone the wrong way or what if?) (I)

Maybe in 2025 you will see “FASHODA GONE WRONG” an Old Toy Soldiers & Old Wargame entertainment (SOLO). 54MM AGW affair using British and French Colonials (NO entente cordiale… LOL)… in fact I am pretty sure that this one would be my next wargame (Old School).

You see I do not like to “kill” natives or indigenous people in my wargames… I do not collect them as “cannon fodder” (Not even in 6mm mind!)… One thing is collecting miniatures (read Toy Soldiers) and the other is not being aware of the more grim aspects of colonialism (as if Persian, Greeks and Romans… to name a few were not “colonialist” or “conquerors”)… BUT here is not the place for discussing seriously the inhuman race.

Get a sight of the troops that would be involved on the pics below. All the affair would be precipitated by the French Commander in place… General Armand d´Hubry et Nemesis desire to win the Legion d’Honneur…

French Troops (by Dorset Soldiers and REPLICA)

British and Allies (meaning Indian Raj Troops) by REPLICA and Dorset Soldiers.

Of course, after that incident and its consequences either Calais or Dover would be involved in a messy action… follow that here website for more!

Britains Little Army (soon to be reinforced) is awaiting the second battle as a consequence…

Cheers!

DORSET SOLDIERS… my yearly order has arrived!

I will replace (finally not) those pics with new one’s “out of the boxes” when coming back from holidays… summer is hot even in Andorra!… done partially!

So for the moment just enjoy like this… fresh from the parcel!

I even did not take pics of a drummer and some dogs!

In a hurry it was… mind!

2025 order has been placed already (French Chasseurs of the Line aka light Infantry; two units of French line Infantry, a mounted ADC… and a special “Mildred Natwick” as cast in SHE WORE A YELLOW RIBBON)

Have added new pics…

And an interesting experiment… with chatgpt.com (that was before changing a bit the order)… LOL

I will replace those pictures with new ones “out of the boxes” when I return from my holidays. Summer is hot even in Andorra! I’ve done it partially, so for the moment, just enjoy it like this—fresh from the parcel! I didn’t even take pictures of a drummer and some dogs; I was in a hurry, you know! I’ve already placed my 2025 order for the French Chasseurs of the Line (light infantry), another unit of French line infantry, and a special “musique de la Legion.” I’ve added new pictures as well. (Same text using chatgpt.com). LOL

The “missing drummer” completes the unit! Thanks Antony!

Deployed too!… I searched for this fellows since I saw eons ago Lives of a Bengal Lancer and Gary Cooper blowing his whistle deploying the machine guns… fantastic job by Dorset Soldiers!

French 75mm guns, British 13 pounders and machine gun with carriage.

Some Cavalry Officer’s Minis in 54MM bought already painted.

It is a pleasure to collect in 54MM… because it remains the Toy Soldier scale par excellence.

Sometimes I do order them by Post, sometimes I buy in Ebay (less frequently).

In any case the results have been quite satisfactory so far.

REPLICA and DORSET/IMPERIAL SOLDIERS are just two of the best manufacturers around.

Enjoy!

Bought on Ebay (expensive way of collecting).

General Wolseley painted by Andrew Stevenson (REPLICA) one of my first ever buys from REPLICA.

French ADC post 1870 painted by Antony Spencer (DORSET SOLDIERS or IMPERIAL MINIATURES)

Some Cavalry Officer’s Minis in 54MM painted by me.

I have always been fascinated by horses (lead toy horses I am afraid), films with horses in them I am a fan… but my experiences with real horses are almost nil, once I rided a horse in a tourist promenade (about 1 hour) and only can recall the vast amount of flies they carried with them.

Lead toy horses are “cleaner”… and they behave… lol

As Oscar Wilde said they are dangerous at both ends and uncomfortable in the middle… probably an exaggeration to make a laugh…

Enjoy!

RCMP Inspector (my avatar) REPLICA painted by me…

Captain Brittles (She Wore a Yellow Ribbon)… REPLICA painted by me…

HRH King Charles III (REPLICA painted by me)

Winston Churchill as a subaltern in the 4th Hussars… (REPLICA painted by me)

French Officer (DORSET SOLDIERS) painted by me… I already had the horse bought painted and asked for a suitable cast from Antony Spencer.

Churchill at Omdurman… converted and painted by me…using DORSET SOLDIERS castings. (In fact I already had the painted horse)

HRH King Charles III

Finally decided to change the command figure of my Trooping the Colour display.

It took me almost two years to decide.

HRH the late Queen Elizabeth II has been moved to another shelve. She is still on display, but certainly not on a central role.

Time moves on.

The new figure (a REPLICA cast) painted by me.

The books about Gettysburg you need to reenact the battle on the tabletop.

So much detail… perfect if you would like to play a particular fase of the big battle at regimental level.

Very helpful to paint your minis even in 6MM

ZULU DAWN in 6mm (Zulu War II)

Well, I took some pics this afternoon.

It has the influence of Ian Knight brilliant output, Mike Snook’s (Lt. Col.) HOW CAN MAN DIE BETTER and the ZULU DAWN film.

The minis are mainly Baccus 6MM range (Colonial) with some conversions and minis from the spare box (heavily converted as Rapier Confederates prove)… and the standardbearers mounted do not exist too in the range…

An enjoyable afternoon.

Hope you like!

Mr. Vereker Sikali ptrol reveals or discover the main Zulu Impi.

Some skirmishing shots to warn the camp!

Col. Durnford rides with the Cavalry (read mounted infantry) to the right flank of the British Camp.

Colonel Pulleine deploys his Co`s too far from the Ammunition Wagons (IMHO)

Col. Durnford retires by Units under pressure from the Zulu Impi left horn.

This retrograde movement by the book will eventually uncover the right flank of the Imperial Infantry Line.

When the low ammunition makes the firing line slack in firepower the chest of the Impi goes forward and some rallying Company Squares are tried… to no avail.

Captain Younghusband last charge! (Extreme left flank of the British Line)

Melville and Coghill ride to save the Colour!

Last moments at the camp… some dismounted Natal Mounted Police & Carbineers, with Durnford, and the remains of the Imperial Infantry. Fade to Black.

Somehow we all have projects on standby…

Early nineties collectors club Britains metal figures in 54mm… and REPLICA casts converted (a bit) and painted by myself…

I honestly do not know if to complete the US Cavalry set from She Wore a Yellow Ribbon or not…

On the contrary once Antony Spencer from Dorset sends my order end of June I will get the missing drummer… and much needed French Foes (in real life it was the years of “Entente Cordiale”) because they are naturally the best of enemies…

So, Dorking (it won’t even be called Dorking at all you know) would involve a fictional second half of the XIXth Century engagement between French and British forces… still not decided if it would be a Calais invasion by the Brits… or a Dover one by the French… musing on it!

Enjoy!