Gavin Holiday’s Toy Soldiers (but the last pic! Timothy Hyndman’s Own).

Visits: 41

Couldn’t resist posting some redcoated Toy Soldiers as seen in Facebook on the William Britain’s Group.

Always thought they were the best Toy Soldiers around when I was a kid…

So…

Enjoy!

Britain’s at the ready…
Detail
Guards to the fore!
Whole set
Another view
Retreating into the castle
Rearguard action!
Protecting the Door!
Cavalry to the rescue!

Antietam/Sharpsburg 1862 (6mm) My Own for once! (I)

Visits: 42

At last! I could do it…

Finally I must say the choice (difficult) I did to sell my 25mm Collection and go 6mm has payed off! (I know not everyone’s taste 6mil) what you lose in uniform detail you gain in playable surface for the scale… same table… but lots of room to manoeuvre if you know what I mean…

A couple of thousands of minis but it does not look crowded at all. Mainly Baccus and Rapier minis (mainly painted by Robert Jackson (90%) and Turbil Miniatures), Leven and Baccus buildings (REVEILLE by Daniel Hodgson), Trees are Baccus as Bridges and “fields”.

I will use this FIRST Wargame to develop my Own House Rules (SOLO or MULTIPLAYER) mainly adapting and reforming mecanisms of POLEMOS (BACCUS) ALTAR OF FREEDOM (Little Wars TV) Fire&Fury… and what not!

Making the river is quite cheap. And the woods are not “compact” I can move the stands of tress to make them passable. The Cornfield has no corn because I do not like troop stands floating over scenery… MY taste!.

Interested in the concepts movement, attrition, spent forces, General’s limitations, and mainly Historical Reenactment, Fictionnal Wargames with more freedom will come later.

Absolutely satisfied (if such thing exists) with the layout and minis… at last Armies look like Armies and terrain is wholesome…

I will probably do a movement a day not decided with 1/2 hour or whole hour’s span of time of a wargame period… will remain experimental for a while until satisfied. Trial and error etc.

Enjoy! (I do)

Starting the set up.

No Armies yet… just a peaceful countryside…
Union Forces in place (not yet deployed)
Sharpsburg
Burnside and Porter (and general reserve)
Union Center to Right flank (anticlockwise) Sumner, Franklin, Mansfield and Hooker.
Mc Clellan’s HQ and Cavalry in reserve.
Hooker’s
Two Divisions Corps…
Three Divisions Corps.
Full UNION view (Times of arrival or engagement NOT simultaneous)
My Old Wargames table (permanent once retired)
Confederates Deployment
Ready to Start I guess… (On the right lower part Hill’s forces coming from Harper’s Ferry)… not yet “on the table”.
Detail
Confederates Center and Right (Bloody Lane with the rail fence)
Jackson’s left flank with Stuarts’s Cavalry.
Another view!

Tricornes a plenty (again)

Visits: 50

Yes it is the Armies of the WHC AGAIN!… but the last Post about Tricornes for a while… tomorrow another thing…

If wigs are not your thing you must be tired!

Fanciful dress, but not exclusive of this period… I am a fan of The Crimean War (1854-1856) and the uniforms were really gaudy too!

Well all this is not here not there… simply fantastic pis from Mark Freeth I guess… sometimes The Vault has plenty of themand it is difficult to remember from where I collected them… your daily dose of minis is sometimes heavy work up here in the mountains of ANDORRA!

Enjoy!

Beautiful minis
And more…
And more…
In red…
Sky blue…
Look as some Scots…
A close up!
Even closer!

Franco Prussian War 54mm OLD SCHOOL WARGAMING!

Visits: 117

Nothing is so spectacular as the Franco-Prussian War for wargaming the Old Style… still gaudy uniforms… you are in command (instead of those incompetent French Marshalls)… and not the gore of the XXth Century.

The other alternative is Dorking of course… but that was really improbable… BUT… fantastic alternative for gaudy redcoats!… the book is not really compulsory reading (I have it and did… but not indispensable to wargame the period… The Riddle of the Sands come true etc.)

Enjoy!

54mm Cavalry
General view
French Attack!
Prussians!
Hussars!
Another general view!
French and Spahis!
More French!

Dilley’s (Senior) works…

Visits: 54

Always have admired the work of the Dilley’s (father & son)… even bought the book (the original one in e-bay or amazon second hand shops… not sure exactly) done years ago and it is a treasured one in my collection.

I do not paint in mat, more Toy Soldier Classical gloss varnish for me… but as with Military Modeling I do appreciate CRAFTSMANSHIP!…

So…

Enjoy!

French Officers.
Another pic.
And another.

Franco-Prussian War 1870 Diorama

Visits: 91

I do not remember what I intended to post today… but I found those pics in Facebook and they come handy!… oh dear!… what level of artistry… it really it is like being there…

Dioramas are not my own personal experience but I admire them.

I did not retain the name of the artist or club… will rectify this omission once I dig it from the pile of info. Done… posted by Wolfgang Meyer… the maker of the minis is not him though… 42nd Black Watch Miniatures by Massimo Costa. (1/72)

Alphonse de Neuville like if you ask me…

Enjoy!

Meet the Tirailleurs!
Close action!
High Command.
Dioramas do not come best!
More French Line…

All periods have their charm!

Visits: 51

Let’s broke a lance in favour of the less known or represented periods!

Today is an example of French troops… always pestering Europe and elsewhere Napoleon or not… a great tradition of campaigning the french have… not always successful but constant again and again and again…

I am at pains nowadays to get the correct 6mm minis for a Crimean British Army… they simply do not exist so you have to do with proxies and an alternative paintjob… why I do this when I am spoilt for choice?

Because I am a wargamer and collector. That’s why… stubbornness to the fore!…LOL

Enjoy those in big scale!

A not so usually seen period…
DetailA

Wargames

Visits: 87

In a reflective mood today… must be early Spring…

What is the real purpose of wargames?… war? (not at all)… a friendly atmosphere is a cherished thing… games? (we do not really want to lose at all I guess…)… in a game there is always that possibility (we all agree)… so… it is really puzzling in a way…

I thought when I first wrote a book about my toy soldiers that History was the main propeller… not really so sure nowadays… I still do collect Toy Soldiers mind… even my wargames minis are more a “collection” than the real thing…

Why I did spent so many hours painting Napoleonic 25mm MINIFIGS in my middle years?… probably (read surely) it was more escapism from daily work than anything else… why Waterloo? (Tons of easy available info about it!)… nice uniforms?… maybe… with years and years I realized how much of it was British Propaganda!… I would have been mad (if a Prussian) the way the tale was told… no offense intended for the steadfast British Infantry mind!

As for the French… what do you want me to say?… a Military Machine that only “conquered” (as all conquerors) the land their soldiers walked through… their were a real nuisance for nearly a quarter of a Century across Europe (and even Egypt!)… Revolutionary ideas shocked the conservative monarchies… they will later adopt them matter of fact (the ideas not the revolution)… but using Force (brute) to spread “light and sweetness” (thank you P.G.Wodehouse) does not work at all… look at the silly intents to convert to democracy: theocratic or autocratic states or regions of the modern world… such nonsense!… It is very difficult to export ideas and make people (very different cultural people) to abide to your “superior knowledge” (LOL)…

It is a strange world we live in… thankfully we have the music!

I do not know if it is really apropiate to say Enjoy!

Maybe better REFLECT! (a bit at least)…

A really nice pic! and nice wargame…
Another example of “secure flanks”… I hate the border of the tabletop!
Puzzling image of a wargamer reading his mobile…

Zulu War Toy Soldiers Collection seen in FaceBook, by Alan Green.

Visits: 54

Sometimes perusing FaceBook in search of original material to Post one finds gems of a sort… every Toy Soldier here is a small piece of imagination… the author confess he was influenced by the well known films ZULU and ZULU DAWN… of course I here you say! (aren’t we all?)… but actually he developped the subject out of the weel trodden way of Military Modeling or Wargaming.

There is a lot of work and customization on those Toy Soldiers… and I love the search of the “piece unique”.

So here you are… take your Martini-Henry and travel to the end of the world!

Enjoy!

Main Characters.
Natal Mounted Police
Sikhali’s Horse
Mounted
17th Lancers
More
Casualty
Heliograph Party
Highlanders
Firing Line
Highlanders marching
More casualties…