My Toy Soldiers & Me

My very first Toy Soldiers… they are more than 70 years old… the rest was the “follow up”

In fact 70 years old and a bit… The state is original… those are the rests of the original paint… on anything not rigid (or even quite rigid) paint peels off I am afraid. Those three are all what remain of my big box of infancy…

My maternal grandfather used to play with me back then… that been the case it started a life long love for the “Mounties” only slightly superior to my obsession with the French Foreign Legion as a result of been exposed to BEAU GESTE (The book if you please)… and of course the Guards Regiments (Horse and Foot)… my parents always looked North from Spain… anglophiles but also liked France. My father even studied in Liverpool before the Spanish Civil War made a mess of a lot of things…

Lucky me I was born in 1952… so wars were a thing of the past… or in far away exotic places (Korea, Vietnam, Falklands,Iran, Irak, Afghanistan)… not in Europe anymore (well the Balkans)… and mainly USA wars (sometimes with staunch allies at his side)… the XXth Century was the USA Century to be sure…but we lived a long peace.

Enjoy,

RCMP REAMSA rubber/cautxuc soldiers of aprox 45mm scale

That lead me later to this of course… Collecting 54mm gloss toy soldiers come many years after… and they are DUCAL (99% of the set, Tradition of London 2 figures, 1 REPLICA -a cast that is now once painted my personal avatar- and 1 an iconic BRITAINS)… you need all sorts you know…

Detail of the last addition by myself (converting and painting)

Finally got one of the iconic Old Britains figures (well, maybe not so old… but iconic not the least)

ROY DILLEY ARTWORK

On the border line between Military Modeling (Scale Models) and Toy Soldiers (of the best quality), IMHO over the line and much more models than “toys” sure enough.

He did those works (artworks) in the fifties… with very limited materials at hand, to say nothing about paints and brushes.

A pioneer and a master of so many that he has become “the reference”.

Today he would have been a hundred years old and his heir Tony (see other posts about his work) posted those pics in Facebook.

They do not need comment or words from me… I just framed and polished a bit the pics.

Enjoy! (And get a copy of his book).

METAURUS RIVER BATTLE (really “ancient” boardgame): Full Circle?

The very first game (or wargame) we played with dice was METAURUS (Great Battles of the World series).

It was a hit.

We never looked back after that boardgame with 54mm plastic minis… of course more than fifty years later the plastic minis are gone and forgotten… years ago I bought metal minis to use the map with them… actually after several tries with Baccus 6mm correct figures (meaning Gauls, Carthaginian, Elephants, and Republican Romans).

The private edition by my brother is not available commercially if I understood correctly!… will post actualizations once I got my complimentary copy! (After all it was me who introduced my little brother to wargames at a very early age… that he later will transform that passion into a business still puzzles me!).

Enjoy!

First sketches from a private reedition (100 copies) for the commemoration of the 25th anniversary of DEVIR (a boardgames multinational company which has as CEO my brother!… LOL) fantastic expectations…

My sixties old boardgame still in good shape!

For a time I used Greek miniatures from Wargames Foundry in 28mm (that way both players had elephants!… but it was too symmetrical I guess…

REPLICA special comission for James Opie. 54mm Toy Soldiers

If you do collect 54mm Toy Soldiers it would be a good idea to join The International Toy Soldier Club… really good company!

Look one of the last Posts there… A highlander late campaign uniform (kakhi) full Band (Band + Fifes&Drums)… done by Andrew Stevenson for a customer no other than James Opie of worldwide fame expertise on Britains Toy Soldiers.

A fantastic set (bespoke… so unique)…

Enjoy!

REPLICA does a magnificent set (a la BRITAINS) of the Royal Navy in 54mm

Published in the web of the ITSC (The International Toy Soldier Club) this is an awesome set done by Andrew Stevenson for a customer (a lucky customer I will add full of positive envy!).

It reproduces one mythical set of Old Britains with figures ad hoc (many of them Britains never did I must clarify!).

Never have seen something so awesome in years of collecting.

Enjoy!

Royal Marines Light Infantry… and Bluejackets pulling limber…

The massive box and the superior tray… Awesome!

Britains (NEW CENTENIAL SERIES) Scots Grey’s set (bought 2 sets in ebay.co.uk)

It all started last winter… (2024)… I discovered a lot of sets of NEW Britains I did not knew about on ebay.co.uk! (not easy to buy them because a lot of ebay sellers do not send to ANDORRA!… only the really good businessmen among them (some of them real gentleman!… mind!).

Afterwards of a lot of madly buying (feeding frenzy when applied to sharks)… I decided to buy Norman Joplin’s book about those sets… the normal thing would have been the inverse procedure. A quick read showed me that I had not done so bad after all… BUT… introduced me to sets I did not know existed at all… as this present Scots Grey’s set (2 sets I bought from the same ebay seller!).

Well, in less then 24 hours after their arrived in ANDORRA… I have already converted a sergeant into a trumpeter… could not avoid the temptation…

Enjoy!

One of the segeants has been converted (quickly) into a trumpeter…

Only had to change the arm and paint the plume red…

The main reason behind buying those sets… magnificent sentry boxes!

REPLICA new parcel!

Not complaining at all because the order from 2023 arrived on 2025!… quality compensates in spades.

The “cottage” industry of Toy Soldiers has that… limited production… long queueing… but SATISFACTION!

The Toy Soldiers Britains never did… not in its heyday (classic times)… not in his centenary sets either… bespoke orders… simply fantastic output.

You can also buy from him… see replica metal model soldiers in google or email “HQ@replicametalsoldiers.co.uk” HQ@Replicametalsoldiers.co.uk and just wait to be satisfied… it helps if you are not in your seventies like me!

Enjoy.

And something completely different… an armoured car (Rolls&Royce) if you please… a model a bit late for my period… but I guess the fact that is a secret prototype can adapt well to my needs!

The Best Books about Collecting Toy Soldiers

You will have in this quite complete list the books I own (or have owned or going to get very soon!)… and those complementary on the subject. Sadly no “flats” or zinnfigurine oriented because I am not a fan of them… they appear on some of the books… but not my passion at all. Sorry about that.

I wish I had had a list like that many years ago!… would have saved time and trouble. BTW my comments are only my opinions (but frankly a bit tired of amazon publishing comments criteria… I have stopped trying to fairly review there… lol) but after more than 70 years I can be quite frank about it.

Get them all if you can, they are very informative (even if some do overlap with others)… maybe one day I will do a list of wargame books classics too! (Not that I do not use some of my 54mm gloss toy soldiers to wargame the Old School Way… but no marbles or rods involved… do not want to spoil the paint on them you know… just dice and fun).

Hope you enjoy this list.

Thi one is the book you need as a great generalist book about collecting toy soldiers (even if Britains centred the ideas and concepts are superb) Imprescindible even on paperback (actually I have the paperback edition myself). A MUST HAVE!

Fairly useful as a general intro (mainly 54mm). It stops when NEW toy soldiers begun to be on the market (it deals mainly with Old Toy Soldiers)… HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.

Probably his second best book. I bought first as a kindle book and afterwards ordered a real book.

Simply lavish! A must have on the second Britains era. (Second Century)

Probably the best book on Britains Toy Soldiers by James Opie. Imprescindible (and I do not collect Old Britains). Simply fantastic!

It dissapoints at first read… but slowly grows upon you… an international reference. I nearly throw it away and now I am a fan!

Now outdated but a classic nevertheless… he saw it coming! One of my personal favoutites as a DUCAL collector.

The description of a Collection (quite fantastic if you want an opinion). Excellent pics even if a bit dark. VERY GOOD!

Interesting book… from a British point of view.

He tries very hard but fails a bit short… better stick to his BRITAINS books!… no idea at all about Playmobils or Legos outpout, but interesting nevertheless.

Impressive and completionist but too many items are not Toy Soldiers I am afraid. (I bought at Hamleys and later sold my copy)

Less known book… get it too! I do not own a copy myself yet… (on the way!)

On the limt (a very thin line) between Toy Soldier and MODEL (Military Modeling). A MUST HAVE!

Probably one of the oldest on the list… but clever and advanced for its time. Recommended.

Very short… but much to the point, recommended too. It come as a nice surprise.

It is what says on the cover, a guide on prices of Britains, if you collect them a must have! Sadly nothing of interest in it for me…

Lavish French Book about C.B.G. Mignot production. Had a copy for some time but sold it because I could not afford them (the toy soldiers I mean) as really vintage Old Britains… I am not into very expensive “Antiquarian things or items”

Do not have this one… will try to get a copy someday.

Another Norman Joplin book… do not own this one so I do not know how good it is.

Not bad at all. But probably less isteresting and much a special subject.

This one I owned but sold because did not find it a “Keeper”… maybe wrong mind! BIG FORMAT.

A must read… just because it is GREAT!… very well written with tons of humour… it produced an allucination on my brain so to write a book about my toy soldiers myself…

Put it on the list but I do not own a single one… and personally not interested (Same with Dime-Store Toy Soldiers)

For those interested it contains the pics of the toy soldiers I had when a child! (LOL), mainly cautxuc toy soldiers… later plastic… It involved hours of sheer pleasure.

The cover of the second edition of my book (in Spanish I fear)… later I went to create a Facebook group and this present webpage.

And last but not least the second edition in English (FREE to DOWNLOAD in here top right corner!). I was fool enough to write it influenced by the autoedit promo in Amazon… and the opus ACHTUNG SCHWEINEDHUND! (see above).

A view of one of my cabinets just to prove I am actually a collector!… this summer a vast reorganization would see deep changes on 7 shelves…

NEW William BRITAINS (from the nineties) small conversions

Followers of this website must know I am now collecting sets of the BRITAINS CENTENIAL COLLECTOR SERIES (1993)… to use in AGW Old school wargames.

With the Infantry there is no issue as they come in sets of 6… so two sets makes a complete Unit and that’s it. On the contrary Cavalry Sets have 4 Cavalrymen… you buy two boxes and then you have two redundant figures (redundant is a term I do not use at all) to be converted in something else.

Bought two sets of the 4th Hussars and then one trumpeter and one sergeant were promptly repainted to represent another regiment of Hussars of SIMKIN times… they will be added to the General Staff (A General always needs a trumpeter and a flag!)… or whatever… had fun messing with them… still not gloss varnished mind… probably work a bit more with the flag too (in the pic it is not correct… mend it by now!)… and why not paint the trumpeter’s horse white? (done too!)

Enjoy!