BLOG – Page 22 – My Toy Soldiers & Me

Repainted for the better

What a good paintjob can do for the castings (all of them) is wonderful.

Her Majesty’s Guards (or Household Division Troops) are a popular choice among collectors or simply aficionados whatever the level. It has much to do with that the daily exposure in such well know military procedures as the Changing of the Guard at Buckingham Palace, The handing of the keys at the Tower of London, and similar at Windsor castle. The more “touristic attraction” the more popularity in children minds… So, let it be.

Hardly original subject… but a CLASSIC IMHO. As seen in Facebook.

Even with a bit of patience you can do it with Playmobils. (Those are my own).

By the end of your “collecting life” you would have gone megalomaniac (well, a bit). Those are mine.

There are no limits to imagination

Imagination and craftsmanship on the tabletop. Nothing to do with the real thing of course… if you fire that gun it would go backwards?… NO of course it is a self reloading mechanism that remains in place and help reload… no limits I said… that is the stuff of legendary wargames!

Somehow creative… by DER ALTE FRITZ… seen in Facebook!

The long grey line

A very traditional Sunday morning I fear… but some pics deserve a post in their own right. Not much to comment I guess.

Going to start a new thread in the Proxies Department chez Baccus (6mm) in search of British Guards with Bearskin proxies (a la ALMA and INKERMAN) but to decide if I use 6mm instead of 54mm in A GENTLEMAN’S WAR wargame rules… there are units one fancies but not the whole Armies… and there is no better place to use them than in Fantasyland (but not FANTASY if you follow me).

Enjoy the pic.

Surely deserve a place here… as seen in Facebook HIRIART LEAD FIGURES.

54MM Old Britains restored… Pics Before/After (edited 2025)

So, the old question arise… what would you do?… keep them as Historical Vintage Items?… or… Repaint and Restore?…

I must admit that when confronted with it in the past I opted, after thinking about it, for the second option. Even more I sold them once restored because problems of mixing up sizes and scales in 54mm with others manufacturers…

Was I right?… I do not really know… Those below are not mine… as seen in Facebook by Arno Durieux..

Finished!

That glorious moment when the job is done!… a close look at the matt will show you the hard work and love put into those Toy Soldiers… Ready to March and Fight on the Tabletop!… and remember the main thing TOY SOLDIERS never die…

Those are not mine at all but I can understand the pride of the painter!

Lancers for traditional AGW wargaming

First two pics by John Firth and the last by John Clarke. All easy to see in Facebook if you go to A GENTLEMAN’S WAR group… I dutifully bought the rules by Howard Whitehouse… they are fun to read… but not what I do with 54mm Toy Soldiers… You need all sorts you know…

Those are very fine Toy Soldiers and excellently painted, I do not use mine with those rules, and I have to say they are more “historically collected” and only for display because I have them in 6mm too… and there is where I wargame…

The officer is out of THE PRISONER OF ZENDA… aka Douglas Fairbanks Jr.

Military Bands. I am going to put here pics of Military Bands from a Facebook group. (Edited 2025)

Military Bands have always been there as a theme for collecting Toy Soldiers, probably the charm is the variations of instruments and the very colorfful uniforms.

In fact some collectors specialize in them.

Part of my collection includes them.

BUT in my time I had to sold some “to make room”… a decision that I regreted later (at least for some items). But one do really make mistakes sometimes.

Enjoy!