Whatever you celebrate this days have a good time with your beloved one’s, be kind, courteous, speak softly, hug everybody with grace and do not mention war or politics… there… a recipe for success…
James Opie version… must be Britain’s I guess…
And remember that not everyone has the same taste… so it is alright to love all music or just parts of it (genres), same with art and literature… to do not mention movies and actors/actresses… whatever you like can get on the nerves of others… so simply agree to disagree… and all of the best for everybody!
I sold half of them to an ex-legionnaire, but the main thing was to experiment with a black&white pic for a change!
Hope nobody comes restless again… I just love the films about it… romantic and post-romantic stuff (see BEAU GESTE all versions and also BEAU IDEAL… BEAU SABREUR -with Gary Cooper_ has been “lost” for decades… UNDER TWO FLAGS… MARCH OR DIE… spectacular “irreal” battle scenes (the “arbis” would have shot them away from a safe distance) in full colour and a great Gene Hackman and a very subdued and nuanced performance by Terence Hill in one of his best roles)
Curiously enough I still have a couple of dozens of Playmobils to play with… habits die hard!
There seems to be a lot of Prussians lately… but that’s what it is… sometimes wargamers do have to follow a fashion no matter what (me included). Prussia had a span of 30 years before integrating Great Germany after 1870… and still… they are very popular (as anything before WWI and WWII)… LOL
Enjoy!
A lot of Prussians advancing…The French opposition!
Playmobil has a policy of not encouraging War Toys or Wargames (idiotic if you ask me when the most popular sales are the Pirate Ships… nothing worse than pirates in my book… and also produce Imperial Romans and even a Circus (Roman you know)… hundreds of fans indulge in making for themselves Napoleonic Armies (a forever popular addiction)… why Playmobil do not produce sets os soldiers or Military Bands eludes me completely… after all they do the pieces that you can collect bit by bit and then mount on… the most difficult part to get are Hats (some astute manufacturers in resin do) the rest is fairly easy to get. There are even flags adhesive manufactured! So there you have it we have those Armies after all… and Playmobil can manufacture James Bond Aston-Martin etc. Toy Soldiers are NOT their forte (a part from the ACW which they did!… and a lot of soldiers to do AWI/7YW… and cowboys and redskins)… a strange world we live in.
When Russians are made through customization…Paulowski Grenadiers
Sometimes perfection needs a bit of variety… meaning that the REPLICA set was great but strangely enough the 4 gunners where a bit repetitive… 4 gunners in the same instance or attitude made 8 for a battery… so… with the passing of time I become obsessed by their looks and finally decided to add ramroads and bullets to them… see second pic. It was just a matter of ordering some bits&pieces to IMPERIAL/DORSET miniatures… and glue them on.
Now they look much better in my collection I guess… same to be done to an Indian Raj Battery (Only the bullets). There, now you know what obsessive collecting is… at least mine!
Enjoy!
Royal Artillery Set by Replica (Original)Same set with “improved” gunners.See what I mean?
Today’s pic is a reminder of what we really do… nothing to do with REAL WAR who should be banished IMHO… those unable to distinguish between those concepts are to be pitied. I guess genetically programed to fight to survive it is very difficult to do not fall into the Von Clausewitz’s trap … it is not right to pursue diplomacy and politics by “other means” and that’s that.
It was a necessity… specially for the small cabinet… the “TOKIO Tube look” is gone… so are The French Foreign Legion and the late British Empire (Kakhi)… gone to my old office to play A GENTLEMAN’S WAR with them…
So there you have it, the part of the collcetion in action stances is gone back to wargaming in Andorra la Vella… and the “ceremonial part” stays in Pal.
About time if you understand me. Yesterday afternoon it was a lot of work putting the Toy Soldiers in boxes to be moved and reorganizing the display on the small cabinet… the whole of six shelves was “gone”… but the result is satisfactory… I was already told once in Facebook that my figures needed space to “breathe”… alea jacta est.
Enjoy!
The French Foreign Legion and supports… are gone to another cabinet in my office.So did the Kakhi British in Afghanistan… 6 shelves emptied in total…This is the new look…You could do with some close ups but you got the idea alright!There it is… door closed and all tip top.The “big” cabinet slightly thinned down in numbers…There you have it… closed down and “up to the nines”…
I do not know if it is the current fashion… but nowadays Facebook is full of examples of those kind of games. Toy Soldiers/54mm/Fun… not that 6mm has lost its appeal of course…
It has been a long time since I painted myself a 54mm miniature!… but here we are (well… me) doing it as if time had not passed by. The Heliograph party (2 figures) and the Regimental Colour of the Gordon’s coming quite nicely using Andrew’s Toy Soldiers as a very useful guide! On the pure painting side I am using too many tricks nowadays… old Humbrol enamels (not dried up), Vallejo I guess and Poska markers… and in the end Gloss finish to be sure!
On my last edited entry on the subject if all goes to plan you will see the final version nowadays still pending gloss varnish of course!
I do found more and more difficult to show my own pet subjects by fear of being boring and tiresome, you must understand that collectors and wargamers are in a state of constant doubt, what will I do next?, do I buy this or that (evidently enough budgets have limits), painted or unpainted (that means I will have to paint myself!)… is what I want available?… or affordable?… it is quite more complicated than you think… and my mind juggles and jumps from one option to another several times a day! Once a decision taken one goes to considerable pains to get the goal, sometimes considerably annoying everyone whom has items commercially available… more or less.
The actual three “new” additions on the foreground
Enjoy your hobby.
Close up of the group used to work the results.Work in progress…A week before…Same as above…Working place… if that qualifies as work… which I doubt!
I woke up today and for the life of me I could not remember what I intended to post today!… to my delightful surprise I stumbled in a post from Andrew at REPLICA… and here you have a choice of pics (there are more on Facebook in the group mytoysoldiersandme). Damn good news… I hope he is back in the saddle again for keeps… Enjoy!
A fine General! (with ADC)FusiliersTerritorialsExotic uniforms…
