54mm passion…

Visits: 99

This is actually my first post with the new format of making a new Post each day (well, if you do not count yesterday’s joke)… I still think the true collecting scale is 54mm… and it will always be for me “the true size” of Toy Soldiers.

Zulu War minis (did I really needed to explain that?) film version of course! (as seen in FB)

A Blog (in the proper sense)

Visits: 1360

15 Feb 2022

Todays pics are from the late Roy Dillon Collection, the absolute master of the thin red line (in more than two ways) between Toy Soldiers and Military Modeling. Wish I could buy soldiers of that level of craftsmanship… my own collection (Even if I am proud of it) pales in comparison. Judge from yourselves…

Astounding Royal Fusiliers…
The real thing.

14 Feb 2022

Conversions by John Firth… very good job!

Lancers.

This Blog is about a inoffensive hobby, but nowadays I can not take out of my mind the folly of the real world… I am glad I stopped my wanderings at 1900… I hate the wars of the XXth and hope I will not need to hate those in the XXIst too… I always enjoyed playing with toy soldiers, loved the gaudy uniforms of the XIXth Century but I am a realist War in the XIXth had no glamour at all because real war is a nasty thing… Thursday (if I ever live that long) is my birthday… 70 years old… somehow it would be fitting to stop this webpage then… probably… never got any feedback even if I published my email address several times (adb@andorra.ad)… but the Facebook group has nearly 250 members so… I guess we all know each other in this small interest trend.

Cheers.

13 Feb 2022

Some more pics from the Dilley’s… just love their work!

A Dragoon, a Lancer and an Hussar.

24 Jan 2022

Another of Tony Dilley’s efforts (Father and son are quite brilliant!)

Have to post later on the 23rd because the 24th would be a busy morning I guess, so for once I am in advance of the clock (quite meaningless in view of the different times zones of the visitors).

Detail from the above mentiones… fantastic detail.

23 Jan 2022

Andrew REPLICAMETALSOLDIERS….

Just a pic today (again).

10 Jan 2022

I will give you two pics as an example of what can be achieved in 6mm (they are not my minis neither my work) both found in FaceBook. Will include the much seen pic of my Crimean Light Brigade to show you “the difference” lol.

Waterloo British Infantry. 6mm.
Blow up!… the minis are smaller… Wurtemberg cavalry Napoleonic convulse times… 6mm again.
That’s my work! Baccus proxies in 6mm and basing included. I am too old for that now.

9 Jan 2022

Look what you can do with mainly Plastic Soldiers and lots of taste! (meaning HARD WORK!)… of course it is the Anglo-Zulu disaster (or victory depending from which side you look upon it). Rather splendid work. Also found on FaceBook.

The pic of today is awfully inspiring… simply awesome. My own efforts were not up to par with this at all. I then was painting the minis myself as you can see on the pics below… nearly all MINIFIGS 25mm.

Some Highlanders on the top right.

2 Jan 2022

Roy Dilley’s Opus (just bought a copy via amazon).

A classic that Idid not know of… well that’s been righted. Probably much more Military Modeling oriented than “Toy Soldier”… but divisory lines get blurred sometimes you know…

1 Jan 2022

Another of the Dilley’s creations.

29 Dec 2021

So… I collect Toy Soldiers… and what if I do?… today I will show you a pic that contains the earliest memories of my hobby… Spanish Toy Soldiers from the early Fifties (and among other things some soldiers done by my sons).

Left to right and clockwise: Policeman on a Bike (JECSAN); RCMP (REAMSA- aka resin); a german with binoculars painted by my eldest son (TAMIYA); two Highlanders by RPWorld Models 54mm lead toy soldiers from the UK; 1/300 Heroic&Ross Household Cavalry for Waterloo (painted by me); Peter Pig Plains Wars 15mm (done by MILI-ART); in the middle a Union Mounted Artillery Officer by OLD GLORY 28mm painted by my younger son. The first two are 70 years old like me… LOL

28 Dec 2021

I did promise… so here it is: the most predictable part of my 54mm collection. It all started with my parents gift of a very big double tray box of Britains when I was very young (Coldstream Guards). Ask James Opie for the number of the set I have forgotten and do not care at all.

The Cabinet below the stairs in Pal.
The top three shelves: Bands of the Life Guards and Blues&Royals in State Dress; The Royal Horse Artillery; The Blues&Royals.
Life Guards; Grenadier Guards.
Coldstream Guards; Scot Guards.
Irish Guards ; Welsh Guards.
Special vignettes for the Trooping the Colour Parade; and the bottom one Royal Canadian Mounted Police. 11 shelves in total.

As you all know those are (like the Grenadiers of Napoleon’s Imperial Guard) the most produced Toy Soldiers around the world.

Mainly DUCAL (or Fort Ducal) with some splashes of Tradition of London and other brands (Marlborough and others)

27 Dec 2021

Today I will give you my small cabinet (the colonial one)… colonialism was not “right” seen with perspective… but as usual adventure and conquest has a mighty appeal on the moment… how crazy is History… well, never mind… it gave us brilliant moments and nasty defeats (also as usual). The cabinet was designed with 25mm in mind… it has contained 15mm too… and was finally recycled into the classic scale of the wonderful 54mm Toy Soldier (You will also notice some Military Modelling stuff on the top of it). Here we go:

The cabinet (as seen before many times)
Three top shelves… The French Foreign Legion… + auxiliary troops (aka Cavalry and Artillery)… LEGIO PATRIA NOSTRA … the ultimate mercenary soldier’s soldier professional unit. Fan of P.C.Wren since a very early age.
Next three shelves, my Kakhi collection, British meaning business… mainly Second Afghan War.
Next two… Artillery and Egypt 1882 (in fact also Anglo-Zulu War too).
The last three for a total of eleven shelves… British red tunics… “MY” Royal West Kents and British Cavalry… they can go anywhere as per Victoria’s Little Wars.

So, in a nutshell a very eclectic collection built along so many years it is not worth detailing too much. FFL is mainly DORSET SOLDIERS with some REPLICA. Kakhi is all REPLICA, the rest Tradition of London, DUCAL and RPWORLD models… and yes there are some specials and conversions too.

Hopefully tomorrow the even more classical part of my collection on the “big” cabinet (under the stairs).

29 Nov 2021

Who did not?

I “stole” this drawing from faceBook… Daniel Hodgson posted it (REVEILLE) and I could not resist the memories it brought back..

Once I got some 54mm by All the Queen’s Men, but with the “Prussian style dress helmet”, very nice models (a bit on the small 54mm range) and there included was a “fille du Regiment with kepis” and a small dog, see below the pic included today. Finally sold them to make place for more wanted items.

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The much seen Colonial cabinet!

26 Oct 2021

Yesterday was Balaklava day!… forgot to show you the different approaches I did in that long journey in wargaming. Did it in 28mm, 6mm and 75mm. The game in any scale did not include the Russians (firing off the table) the interesting part was the decision making process to see when, where to, how the Light Brigade would advance or charge or whatever… nearly rol-playing wargame.

28mm Foundry (or The Foundry or Wargames Foundry). Sold them long time ago.
Baccus 6mm proxies (there is not an especific range for the Crimean War… but plenty of lancers with czapska, hussars with busby and light dragoons with shako !). Nice game without need of guns, guns and more guns… Still in my collection. The only full unit painted by me on those days.
75mm PLAYMOBIL heavily customized… NO commercial figures I am afraid. Sold the figures but not the horses! The horses are now in the 7th Cavalry USA. LOL

25 Oct 2021

Not much time today. Just a pic of my Maiwand/Kandahar REPLICA collection.

The best pic I guess…

As Murphy really rules today have got confirmation the long lost book has arrived! (at the same time amazon has confirmed the invoice of a second copy!… I do not care better two than none!). It seems that with COVID19 long delays are the norm nowadays.

24 Oct 2021

Sunday, I have ordered again the ACW MILITARY MACHINE book, this time through another channel, the worst that can happen is that both books (copies) arrive!… but I do not think so. Somehow amazon deliveries are getting late more than ever!.

Some British Guards (Welsh) fr0m DUCAL, 54mm.

Fall is behaving itself, another sunny day! I do really have to start writing those “Chance Cards” for the ACW solo wargame (somehow I would like them to be multipurpose and not exclusively centered on the ACW… highly general “chances” applied to most periods… as for example YOUR LEFT FLANK IS SLOW TO REACT THEY DO NOT MOVE THIS TURN or similar… guess I will do a preliminary list, polish it, and then write them down on the blank cards i bought eons ago from amazon.com (BYCICLE STANDARD). Will keep you posted with that list!

23 Oct 2021

Naval Brigade by Andrew REPLICA METAL MODEL SOLDIERS… great stuff in 54mm classic toy soldier style. You can go wrong with Andrew Stevens. Slow but sure!

Decided to start with a pic from FaceBook today to lift the spirits. My own Sailors are from Tradition of London but found those irresistible.

Those Naval Landing parties are really great stuff. He recently did a double tray box for a customer (a lucky chap!) and that means months of work in those. A gun, the Band, Royal Marines wow! That is the perfect gift! Enjoy…

Hello!

Visits: 1808

It took me years to get those memories back on track… I fondly remembered that “special” mountie I had when a child… never seen one alike since then, it does not matter a lot to me that it was simply an undress dark blue patrol jacket… IT WAS MY BLUE MOUNTIE!… so I finally painted him myself! ANDREW STEVENS REPLICAMETALMODELSOLDIERS 54mm. Painted by myself.

“An adult who plays is a child who has survived.”

I decided to create a Blog – obviously and not originally named https://www.mytoysoldiersandme.com – because “My Toy Soldiers and Me” was the title of my book autoedited in amazon. It is a mean to communicate with the rest of the wargaming/collecting world -and a posteriori with my grandchildren- and specially with my small band of readers!

I have created today 28th October 2020 a Facebook Group evidently enough called www.mytoysoldiersandme.com for you to ask questions etc. This present blog does not permit it to avoid spam. Sorry about that. But it is the only way to communicate or solve doubts…

You must forgive me because this is NOT an orthodox Blog, in fact it does not function at all as one, it is more a collection of Posts (but one of the posts IS a Blog since the 14th OCT 21). I do actualize those Posts when I have an idea or change my opinion about something, but not in the usual chronological way someone would expect. What is more I put them in order at my whim thinking how I would like to read them myself.

I even wrote a book about it once, by now, a bit out of date because I have indulged in new recent adventures, specially concerning 6mm ACW armies… so here is the way to explain what happened next -after 2016- quite a lot of things in fact!

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That is the cover and back cover of the second English edition. Hard to find a copy because I pulled it out of amazon due to the pestering of the IRS from the USA… you see I never got money from this adventure in autoediting and autopublishing… just the revision of my English by a pro costed me more that the benefits (lol) of the few copies sold… try to explain that to the IRS!

This book was what it started all. Well, to be exact -as it says in the caption- in fact this is the English second edition.

Table of Contents (Extracts from the Chapters):

.- Introduction

quote: …/… There are collectors who never play, wargamers who have not painted a figure in their lives, experts in military history who do not even think for a second about buying toy soldiers, and finally professional painters of figures who do it for others and do not wargame or collect themselves. …/…

Between those extreme limits we live and thrive and in the span of life sometimes indulge more in one aspect and then another.

.- I .- History as the First Step.

quote: …/… For those of us who go on to recreate conflicts on tabletops, however, whether those conflicts are ancient (history) or imaginary, or we simply enjoy collecting toy soldiers (whatever the scale), the ability to suspend reality and obviate the more disagreable aspects of our favourite periods is essential. …/…

.- II .- Basic Influences.

quote: …/… Who in their childhood did not read adventure books? Or at least got his hands in an epic comic, or saw a swashbuckling movie or a war film? And then, after the experience, went to the toy box, whatever the size of it, and recreated the story with little or no care about matching exactly uniforms, weapons or other details in general? …/…

.- III .- Wargames and the Question What If?

quote …/… Among those who have indulged in wargaming, the percentage of time actually spent gaming on a tabletop is very low compared with the total time dedicated to the hobby as a whole. We spend a lot of time thinking about it, reading books, organizing and building armies, searching manufacturers, comparing scale benefits, painting figures, basing them, pondering which terrain we are going to use, and so on. …/…

.- IV .- Wargames with figures. A brief Historical Introduction.

quote …/… This book is maybe an exercise in self-satisfaction. But if some of you profit from my experiences and avoid making the most obvious mistakes I commited in my lifelong journey, so much the better for you. And always keep in mind that even after more than sixty years in this hobby, I still do heavily blunder sometimes. …/…

.- V .- Miniature Scales and the Suppression of Reality.

quote: …/… After so many years of buying, converting, painting, mixing and selling parts of my collection, with all the alternatives in between (like sending figures to a professional painting service), my personal experience is inclined to those counsels given in function of your particular situation. Remember that only what YOU think counts in the end. …/…

.- VI .- Scaling Down. Proportions, and the concept of Multipurpose Unit.

quote: …/… Believe me, specially at the beginning, and if you build your army slowly, the big temptation is to paint a favourite elite unit – maybe the Chasseurs a Cheval de la Garde Imperiale 1805-1815- of course!. We have all done it. Would it influence you if I said that the more time you spend in the hobby, the better your painting efforts will get, and that the order in which you paint the units is important? Why? Simply that you run the risk that the last unit you paint – e.g., an obscure militia unit you needed to paint because it was present in the field (and you want to be proportional) – will look better when painted than the first elite or fetish unit you painted a long time ago. …/…

.- VII.- Playing with other people or solo: Wargames and the Tabletop

quote: …/… Sometimes, I guess, the discharge of adrenaline that occurs during civilized tabletop games diminishes or helps control the aggressiveness of real life, or at least I like to think so. But I also think that the best wargames are those played in your head in anticipation of the actual game. I don’t know why, but things always seem to depart from the initial plan after the first move. …/…

.- VIII.- The Battle: Historical ORBAT, Army Points and variations.

quote: …/… One of the recurrent fears of the dedicated wargamer is being anachronistic, fielding on the tabletop units that were nonexistent at the time or simply not present at the battle. Everybody knows that there were no Polish lancers of the Imperial Guard at Austerlitz, and what is more, they did not have lances at their disposal for a long time. Nor did they have lances at their famous uphill charge at Somosierra in Spain in 1808. See what I mean? …/…

.- IX.- Figures, Terrain and Accessoires.

quote: …/… Before you fall in love with a particular size of wargame figure, keep in mind that if you are going to indulge in different periods, as we all do, then you will also need to choose carefully all the buildings, rivers, roads, barricades, trees, bridges, pontoons, mule trains, wagons, horses (to dismount cavalry), and many other things if you are to use them in multiple periods. If you do have armies in different scales or sizes, you will need to double up the scenery. So in a way, sticking to a wargame scale is also a money-saving process. …/…

.- X.- Hexagons, Grids or a Metric Ruler?

quote: …/… As with everything else in the hobby, it is a matter of gusto, personal experience, or even a function of the period played or the rules used. Try them all, and in the end you will stick to the one you like the most. But keep an open mind. Sometimes you find the best games where you least expect them. …/…

.- XI.- Rule sets and gamesmanship. Where’s the fun?

quote: …/… I must clarify that in many years of wargaming, I have collected many sets of rules, mainly but not exclusively dealing with my periods of interest, always searching tips that work here and there – Napoleonic, American Civil War – nearly anything concerning the nineteenth century and also Ancients intermittently. …/…

.- XII.- Collecting.

quote: …/… You will also learn that a collection is seldom a “quite thing”. You will have the tendency to exchange, sell, and buy items to consolidate the part you love the most, even if that entails discarding items no longer part of your main interest. With time, you will concentrate on some parts, expanding them or specializing in a theme, or you will change your objective, and that will affect the composition and structure of your collection. …/…

.- XIII.- Painting the figures, or the Painting Service Alternative.

quote: …/… As with everything else, there are various options when it comes to painting figures. There are the wargamers who paint the figures themselves, and some of them are very good at it. Others prefer to use professional painting services. A third possibility is those who simply buy the already-painted and based packs of figures available in the market, be those first or secondhand. …/…

.- XIV.- The Conversions.

quote: …/… I am not going to be a bore and harp on this particular subject, but here is the place to mention the astute mnaufacturers who have developped ranges that permit easier conversions, casting upper torsos, legs, and heads so that you can design your own figures. These include Dorset Soldiers (and REPLICA model soldiers) in 54mm and Redoubt in 25/28 mm. …/…

.- XV.- Museums and Public and Private Collections.

quote: …/… Those changes of location and “on” and “off” dates of visit are frustrating, so it’s always better to confirm beforehand. After all, a trip is expensive enough itself without indulging in deviations from the planned route to see nothing …/…

.- XVI.- Megalomania has its necessary limits.

quote: …/… Finally, let’s mention what I consider the most common sickness of the wargamer – the “if I only had another battalion” syndrome-. It is at the root of the very large armies built by wargamers, who are always thinking about a second or third chance in the game. …/…

.- XVII.- Summing up: To avoid mistakes.

quote: …/… It sound logical enough, but you will be amazed to discover how we all make sorry mistakes, especially at the beginning. Temptations are great, and you won’t be the first to do things in great disorder or without perspective. …/…

.- XVIII.- Playmobil.

quote: …/… Then suddenly I started to look at Playmobil figures in detail. With time and subsequent evolution, those crude toys from 1974 were slowly becoming less and less childish in design. I have to confess that …/… having in mind that I am a curious person by nature, I detected wargaming potential for adults. …/…

.- XIX.- Conclusion.

quote: …/… Enjoy whatever you do, and be your own guide Learn from others with more experience, copy whatever you like, adapt to your taste, convert to your needs, transform and work your own ideas to the last, but overall have fun with it, because any hobby is about having fun from beginning to end …/….

.- Update to the Second English Edition (Outro).

quote: …/… As it is, and especially from a certain age onwards, the “it is done” syndrome is present. At least this is what I thought around the month of August in 2008; at last I have finished my collections and pet projects, and I have written a guide about it. It’s a kind of self-help book for beginners, or “toy soldiers for dummies”, as those books are generally titled nowadays. I thought it was a fitting end, but as usual, time has proved it was not the end at all …/…

The reason of this Blog actually!

.- Acknowledgements and Final Note.

quote: …/… I think that the last words of the text need to clarify that entertainment with imaginary wargames on a tabletop is one thing, but real wars are a quite different thing. I have always admired the common foot soldier of any country, tribe, or nationality, – those who in history textbooks have been callously called “cannon fodder”- and I do include in this concept absolutely all of them. And I absolutely agree with the Duke of Wellington’s words after Waterloo: “Next to a battle lost, the saddest thing is a battle won”. This is why I love toy soldiers: they never die.

(Each Chapter has 4 or 5 colour pics at least).


Of course it does not mention LITTLE WARS TV for example (podcasts!), neither my current passion for the ACW in Baccus 6mm with Baccus and Leven scenery (renewed interest for a period). And some other collateral interests like the NWF, North of Africa Colonial French, LBH, Second Punic War -“counters” for a board game- Death Ride in the FPW etc. But this Blog hopefully makes up for it. In fact it complements the second edition in English nicely enough as an update.

As it is, I first wrote the book in Spanish because I was born in Spain and that was my first language.

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Cover and Back cover of the Spanish second edition.

In fact I thought this “blog” would be useful because I can edit, add, reorder or delete!- and post the link to the blog in FB or twitter. I am having a lot of fun… started in December 2019 the blog has had more than 103.000 visitors and 317.000 visits… (counting robots&would be hackers! in them visits, and from 165 different countries… ) not bad as a whole for such a minority interest!

By the way, if someone is interested contact me at adb@andorra.ad and will send you a PDF of the English Second Edition for free… have done so for a friend in Australia… so why not made a habit of it!

Cheers.

Military Modelling

Visits: 755

Crimean Highlanders 120mm aprox scale.

In my time I did indulge in Military Modeling, but not that much really, as I wrote in my book I have tried all the approaches to the hobby. Those chaps in Matt finish look very nice indeed but once you have finished them they are eminently “decorative” meaning by that there is no way to play “games” with them. Some I painted myself, some I bought already painted and based in a shop.

This is the biggest soldier I own and it is a china/porcelain item, quite big in fact, say 250mm. Quite a Chasseur a Cheval of the Imperial Guard from Napoleon. A very fragile thing,

I will show next a mounted officer from the Spanish Army in the same scale as the Highlanders.

1910 is a bit a late period for me but as long it is pre WWI it is OK.

And finally a Greek Warrior, Prince Valiant and Richard Sharpe all in 54mm.

I think they are from the Andrea Miniatures Range but not sure at all. 54mm. ( a greek hoplite, Prince Valiant and Richard Sharpe).

I stopped collecting them because they are quite fragile and when cleaning the bookshelves they are exposed to heavy damage, not if I clean myself mind, but sometimes the “hired help” are not careful enough. Did do some repairs on them several times.

Last but not least… Capitán Alatriste ( Vigo Mortensen), John Wayne (Fort Apache) and Gary Cooper (Beau Geste)…54mm.

I also have a Custer Last Stand model but I deleted the post Little Big Horn.

After 2016… (I)

Visits: 797

Full Union Army Baccus (and a bit of Rapier) 6mm is what I have mainly done using three Painting Services and only adding details myself (as some bits and flags ). 2020 pic.

By 2016 I had sold my 25/28mm collection -a hard but sound decision- , as a result of a deep crisis with that scale, I still like them mind, in fact I liked them so much that I already considered them Military Modeling stuff of the first order. The standards of painting had improved in a way that you can extend this to 15mm and lower, but let’s leave it at that. They are too expensive and beautiful to be handed and grappled (to do not say dropped) by uncaring hands. For me, by now they are minis to be displayed in cabinets. They seem to do some lot of skirmishing nowadays. The point is clear.

Since then I have built a small collection of 6mm, it is small because of the scale but also because I concentrated on some periods and I did not ” let myself go” as I did in my youth/middle age adopting now a more prudent way of amassing minis. They are mainly Baccus because of the sheer quality of the minis and because they suit my taste, but another reason is that the range -catalogue- is quite extensive (which permits proxies) and growing which is a bonus (and a temptation). But not exclusively, I have some Rapier ACW too. Curiously for such small things they do not seem to mix very well, but this is just a matter of taste, do your own thing, it’s ok. It is always a matter of taste and in my case of “numbers”, I own now more ACW minis that I ever got in 25mm -and have BOTH Armies when in our youth my brother build the Confederates and yours truly the Union- My 25mm ACW troops went to the collection of my brother and where reunited with the opposition once and for all. Even in 6mm there are differences of measure so check compatibility before buying. Adler seems to steal the show with Napoleonics (some say the are big-headed minis… but for what I have seen in FB they look superb), got problems ordering from them BTW, I placed a small order of ACW minis and after quite a long wait (for me) it got returned to them… was not refunded and that was the end of the story, I must say -philosophically- that”shit happens”, but emails from them are not in the same level of friendliness as Baccus one’s.

ACW is my more orthodox approach to wargaming.

Me going to 6mm was a slow process: I already had the Crimean Light Cavalry Brigade of Tennyson fame (Baccus Napoleonic proxies). But after a stop or pause of several years I steadily built other periods. First of all I ordered from a painting service -more about that in an specific post- Roman Republic and Carthaginian Units to use in a board-game grid of a very old game (Metauro) whose 54mm plastic original figures had disappeared from the Earth after several generations of my family playing with them. I was pleased by the look of them Baccus -Up to that moment I had doubts about the quality/presence of Infantry minis in 6mm scale!-

All right then, I went Colonial British Khaki, I specify so because I am not doing some of the periods I used to enjoy in 25mm and on the contrary going for some who were neglected for lack of time or cash or space. It is important to say for your info that I do not build the Opposition anymore, gone are the days of painting hundreds of Zulus, Dervishes, Fuzzy-Wuzy, Pathans, Afridis, Ghazis, Plains Indians and what not; I never preach or try to impose my ideas and do not believe in proselytism so as a mainly solo wargamer it is my decision and that’s that. Talking about “cash” I did self-imposed a condition to my wanderings, or several as it is: 54mm toy soldier collecting will not exceed the volume of the cabinets that exist (and not going to build more “cabinets”) meaning if I want to buy something… other parts must go to make place. And the funds raised by selling my 25/28mm stuff and a large part of my Playmobil Collection will pay for the 6mm venture (not that in the end I do not indulge in investing more in a monthly pocket money basis), but I seem to keep financial matters under control… more or less.

Von Bredow’s Death Ride in Baccus 6mm (the Dragoons are out of the pic because some sources say they were detached from the final Charge). They appear in another pic in this Blog.

So, Colonial Brits with Bengal Lancers and Indian Regiments, Custer’s 7th (only Custer battalion), The French in North Africa aka XIX Corps late XIXth Century were added to the Crimean Cavalry, also a one off Von Bredow’s Cavalry Brigade from the Franco-Prussian War (the famous Death Ride) and last but not least the ACW with both sides present, meaning Billy Yank and Johnnie Reb. The ACW was my first love and a period played extensively with my usual wargames companion, my little brother (ten years younger than me and steadily going to sixty!). I think it was the Prussian General Von Moltke who said he was not interested -in the ACW not the age of my brother- because it was an affair of “two mobs chasing themselves in the woods”, I respectfully disagree. I will detail why I love it in subsequent posts.

After 2016… (II)

Visits: 698

I started again buying Baccus figures with Colonial British in mind, but with a change of colour, I went khaki because a read of the book MAIWAND made it compulsory -we wargamers are like this-. By then I had already decided to use a painting service -or several- not because I do not know how to do it myself, just because when you are near seventy years old… time is a factor and that was not the only project in mind. In fact due to real life work pressure I did use painting services in 25/28mm in the late old days of that scale unable to snatch the time to do the painting myself, so it was not a new experience at all.

30x30mm stands makes possible to field small Regiments, or big one’s, it dependes on how many stands you use on that particular game. See also ACW limbers pressed into colonial service (multipurpose equipment is used whenever possible). I use a stand 30x30mm to represent a company but in “my” Victoria’s Little Wars the system is adaptable.

I was lucky, the painting service provided by Mersey Wargames, Turbil Miniatures and REVEILLE (found them on eBay) has been excellent: the ratio price/quality, the basing they use, and quite a quick turnaround. Sometimes the packing is a bit loose but that with 6mm is not a problem -never ever had nothing broken in transit- I have already mentioned that I put the flags myself and do retouch the final aspect with POSKA markers. Yes! the 66th carried their Colours at Maiwand… (I did a quick conversion to get the Ensigns with the Colours using dressmakers pins).

Old pic already published on the Baccus Forum, since then I have cut out the bayonets of the minis

I use – of course – the same minis to fight Maiwand, the North West Frontier and The Sudan. It is a bonus of 6mm. One of the main attraction of Baccus is the quite complete Catalogue, but of course it is never complete for maniacs of a certain period, then you use proxies. I had the lucky strike to get (from the WWI range) the minis with turban head I needed to my project -a coincidence in time mind, I had already started blindly when Peter added those figures to the Catalogue!- he did graciously acknowledged the point! in a private email saying something about how sometimes -not frequently- small pieces seem to get into place to make someone happy! A great chap Peter Berry.

Great War Indian troops pressed into service on an earlier era -aka NWF-, see the Bengal lancers at the back. They do have Vicker’s too! I can see Lt. McGregor (Gary Cooper yet again) whistling for them in “Lives of a Bengal Lancer”. I always wanted a Regiment of Bengal Lancers (In 25mm I only managed 6 mounted Minifigs…)

So lets do a quick survey of the Baccus Catalogue for Colonials: The packs I used have the following references: CBR02 British Infantry-Firing (only problem the bugler comes with the marching infantry pack); CBR24 Highland Infantry-Firing (again the pipers are on the Marching pack); CBR04 Lancers (great pack no problems there); CBR05 Royal Artillery 7 pdr. , I used limbers from the ACW range -finally having 6 horses per limber- never managed that on 25/28mm! mind that I do not duplicate the stands I simply use my ACW limbers!; CBR25 Royal Artillery 2.5 RML Mountain Gun simply excellent, I also dissembled some mountain guns and glued them on mules from the mule pack and a perfect stand!; CBR26 Royal Navy – Gardner Gun did the same with them but with pack camels; and CBR08 Mounted Officers excellent again… have bought several because I use them as converted standard-bearers too. Somehow that ends the “normal” packs then as proxies: WWI range Indian Troops GWE10 Indian Infantry Advancing – GWE11 Indian Infantry Firing – GWE12 Indian Vickers Guns and Crew – GWE13 Indian Cavalry (excellent Bengal lancers) and GWE15 Indian 2.5″ RBL and Crew. Of course it is very important in that scale to have the transport baggage so I bought packs: EQU03 Pack mules (used too on the Little Big Horn project, the trick is NEVER use figures on the stand!); EQU01 Waggons; EQU12 Pack Camels (ABU KLEA in mind); and the Naval Brigade using Confederate from ACW08. I even managed to build a Hussars with Swords Cavalry Regiment using CBR03 and a bit of cutter work modifying carbines into swords and a bit of work on the scabbards too. Really satisfied with the result.

See the converted Camels and Mules to transport Gardners or Mountain Batteries.
A Regiment of “converted” cavalry with swords. Note the vedettes carry carbines.
A Regiment of Lancers.

This period is completed and does not need new additions, as other minor “one off” themes quite self-contained.

The one imposible to control up to today is the ever increasing ACW project!, but that is my particular pet subject.

After 2016… (III)

Visits: 634

After taking a peek at the Outro of my book I guess it is time to say that 6mm won. The decade or so that I toyed with Playmobils is gone forever, mind, it was FUN and no dealing (well a bit) with paints and rigid figures (lead toy soldiers have a definite “position” and you can not change it) was a novelty for me -of course I could not resist painting some extra details on them- but what was really amusing was to dissemble them and do other figures exchanging parts- that way you could get the soldiers Playmobil never produced (even if they produced the parts!).

The more convoluted and complicated conversions/customizacions I ever did with Playmobils. Now in the Armies of my grandchildren!

So, the movements Up & Down in scale after a deep crisis with my beloved for years 25/28mm ended with an exclusive dedication to 6mm. I sold or gave as gifts to my grandchildren the vast majority of Playmobils and kept some for good old times sake. Currently in my office Cabinets there are only the Trooping of the Colour set, and the complete 7th Cavalry at the Little Big Horn (1/5 aprox scale)

Baccus 6mm has won the contest without doubt and it is a scale I am really satisfied with for wargaming purposes. Gone are the days of detail obsession, fear of derision at doing something wrong on the painting scheme (never painted “eyes” on my 25mm), the ever present search of the perfect set of rules, and other aspects that were nagging me as the lack of room to maneuver, the always secure flanks, the difficulty to present the tail of an Army, Lines of Communication and so on. There were intelligent tricks to represent all this on the tabletop in the larger scales… but got fed up with them in the end: dice to see if that flanking troops arrive!; dice to see in which place of the table!; take a chance card! etc. It was becoming Monopoly.

Maybe I should have explained earlier that for me not all the fun comes from winning a wargame, not anymore, it is equally interesting the disposition of forces in a marching Column, its movements, the scouting ahead and the flanks and rear, and the correct orders and ways to attack or pin down and flank an enemy position that a battle head to head so many times done in 25/28mm. I can move troops in 6mm! Suddenly couriers and vedettes have a meaning, where the troops “are placed” also, and moving them around is a serious business I enjoy. This of course is mainly done in small Colonial periods aka Punitive expeditions in the NW Frontier, Desert warfare in North Africa with the XIXth Corps (French you know), Tamai affairs (Osman Digna), Custer’s Battalion movements (an interesting mystery), Doomed Charges of Cavalry (or not), they all have the BONUS of space in my old tabletop. Of course that not exclude big battles as in the ACW period but are today less of an obsession and not the only target.

So, to sum up and end this post 2016 actualization:

1) I have a nice -for me- 54mm traditional New Toy Soldier Collection on display and add items to its themes very very slowly and carefully!… It is real interesting when I find a firm as Replicametalsoldiers&models (Andrew Stevenson) who can do “special things” on demand. No change of main themes in the offing, but toying of with my own version of A GENTLEMAN’S WAR with 54mm… will keep you posted about that (a 2020 project).

2) Playmobils are in my past. But I still skirmish or parade them when my grandchildren are in the mood… not often enough.

Naval battles no more…

3) 6mm is my actual passion, I keep saying to myself: This is the last order… this is the last parcel to the painters… I have to write down some really good rules for 6mm just in case my brother turns up unexpectedly and we have a game like in the good old days… only reason why I built those ACW Rebels!.

4) The old Boardgames of my childhood have new figures (METAURO has Baccus 6mm), and Little Big Horn has kept the only 25/28mm figures I own today a mix of Dixon’s for the 7th and Old Tradition of London for the Native Americans… Nowadays waiting for the release of the Hostiles by Baccus to get even another possible way to game the LBH outside the limits of the old boardgame. Incidentally I must mention that I have over one hundred books about the LBH alone… quite obsessive about it! And even a couple of Hex based Boardgames like my brother enjoys!

And I hope that makes clear what I am up to at the beginning of 2020!, finally decided to build a 54mm force to “play with” NOT a cabinet display unit… jus a FUN purpose game. Blame Mr. Howard Whitehouse book “A GENTLEMAN’S WAR”.

For old Napoleonic good times sake let me recommend to you those imprescindible books by HEIMDAL… The French Line Infantry is due in May 2020. Still wondering if I will indulge on the period again… OMG!.

Foot Imperial Guard.
Horse Imperial Guard.

American Civil War (I)

Visits: 674

Baccus 6mm Rebels deployed. Painted by Turbil Miniatures.

ACW was my first love, it still is, and thats that. The main reason of wargaming again the ACW (must be my sixth try), this time in 6mm, is because it is well balanced and a “compact period” 1861-1865.It all started with John Ford and the movie “THE HORSE SOLDIERS” which I saw so many times when a child that it left an everlasting impression, and I did not dig all the nuances until I was older, for me it is a masterpiece of condensation, nearly everything on the ACW is there. If you add to that my old 54mm soldiers, AIRFIX 20mm period, MINIFIGS, FOUNDRY. DIXON, TO THE REDOUBT, PLAYMOBILS and finally BACCUS… Well… Recurrent is the word you are looking for…

Of course it was not only the movies… I enjoyed reading SHELBY FOOTE three Volumes, a real tour de force! So packed with information that I had to read slowly to digest it -meaning I read a lot of other books at the same time- even about the ACW too!

Of course refighting historical battles as they do in LITTLE WARS TV is Ok, but I always enjoyed “doing my own”… it is very hard to simulate in the Tabletop the disinformation of the real Generals (The overestimation of The Southern Armies numbers by the Union Generals -aka little Mac- is a well know fact!). Still even so Bull Run (1st Manassas) is a favorite up to a point… But to be honest I mainly I build a scenario with a bit of fog of war, try to enlist some generals from my brother downwards and that’s it. Fictional battles are for me so much more fun after-all, in real war you can not pitch Stonewall Jackson against U.S.Grant for example… in real life they never fought each other.

But, apart from other lines of entertainment with Baccus figures, at the moment it is the ACW who wins all bets. I have the Armies, the scenery and the will, but must write some easy to understand home rules for my grandchildren, always have loved simple rules but with a twist some place.

Confederates deployed for action.

So, to sum up my progression: I started wargaming when a kid in a rudimentary form on the floor with 54mm “rubber” soldiers (1). I then -in my early twenties-discovered the plastic AIRFIX whole range in 20mm -in fact 4 different boxes; Union Infantry (blue), Confederate Infantry (grey); Artillery (medium brown) to be used for both sides; and finally US Cavalry (Blue) that you had to paint for the Rebs- and went for them boxes like the quest of the Grail! (2).

In due time I discovered MINIFIGS 25mm, then based at Southampton, so I graduated to “metal” and their Catalogue (which I still have) was my companion for years! (3). I still recall the sorrow when a Zouaves unit got “lead rot” and become unusable… of course I dutifully bought them again and painted them even better… those were my painting years. Afflicted by a bout of Napoleonic megalomania I swapped my 25mm Union Army for my brother’s Napoleonics (same trade mark) to do not have to transport them up and down because we lived 200 Km away from each other. It was a satisfactory solution, and I went to complete all Napoleonics nations as a result.

Then FOUNDRY started an ACW range and I could not resist buying ACW UNION Cavalry under “THE HORSE SOLDIERS” influence, by then I was mixing riders and horses (Dixon) and making conversions -nearly military modeling- one thing lead to another and I got some Artillery… and then why not? some Infantry -you need some at Brandy Station I reasoned- of course I bought the Confederates too… That was my fourth effort! (4). Finally, crisis struck again and my faith in 25/28mm was shattered… regretfully I sold them all. Some of them -those Union painted by me- became property of my brother who had the Rebs and no crisis of confidence with that scale. We even exchanged some Napoleonic’s for them… I kept the 25mm Napoleonic’s longer than the rest… but they were sold too in the end!

With the funds obtained I started building Playmobil Armies for my (then) first two grandsons… once organized I thought it was a way to confront brother against brother in a too realistic way and scratched out the project… Sold them all again. (5) And went “tricorne era” fictional Playmobil Armies much more clean in spirit, and much more toy soldier like, a la Charles Grant Jr.

And where was I?… Reading Practical Wargamer… and there I found Baccus ACW Cavalry on the cover of one number!… nothing less than East Cavalry Field (again)… months of musing about it… I bought POLEMOS ACW rules from Baccus… and fell in l love with the color pics (eye candy) -Rules as it is I prefer my own as always- And then to make a long story short I went Baccus ACW 6mm for both sides (6).

Do not pity me!… I had tons of FUN in the whole process that lasted years and years… and I am certified as SANE.

So there you have it, I have build six times the period and have read a long list of books about it, by the way Paddy Griffith is very good at it!. There are two very good books to own by him: BATTLE IN THE CIVIL WAR Generalship and Tactics in America 1861-1865 with stunning artwork. And then BATTLE TACTICS OF THE CIVIL WAR. As per uniforms information the best to my knowledge apart from the Osprey’s, old Blanford, and Troiani’s and Kuntsler’s and Rocco’s paintings the best single volume is: La GUERRE de SECESSION Les armées de l’Union et de la Confederation- by HEIMDAL in France.

Very good textbook.
Excellent Illustrations. A must have book.

Now, as I have in my modest collection enough troops to have fun -megalomania is a pest to avoid- and all the references of the Baccus Catalogue! I am satisfied. I must confess the range is splendid and one of the best in Peter’s production.

I use the ACW limbers and caissons also in colonial affairs mind, and also the horses for dismounted Cavalry. I even have some Rapier Union Infantry to add a bit of variety to the collection and also Rapier Cavalry on both sides. I even mixed minis from other periods getting French with kepi from the Franco-Prussian Baccus range too… anything to add variety. Im my opinion one of the best Baccus packs is ACW7 because it has hat and kepi figures and some with rolled blankets across the chest -always a favorite of mine- so, if I started anew building Baccus ACW Armies I would surely get all the packs but ACW7 would have the lion’s share of the purchase (the only drawback is ACW7 has only one standard-bearer!).

If you are new to the period I can recommend:

ACW Filmography: GONE WITH THE WIND, THE HORSE SOLDIERS, GODS AND GENERALS, GETTYSBURG, THE RED BADGE OF COURAGE, THEY DIED WITH THEIR BOOTS ON, GLORY, MAJOR DUNDEE, SHENANDOAH, THE FIELD OF LOST SHOES, CLASS OF 61, RIDE WITH THE DEVIL and THE GOOD, THE BAD and THE UGLY… to name about a dozen… real fans should also see THE BIRTH OF A NATION and THE GENERAL (Buster Keaton) both silent movies.

ACW Bibliography: THE CIVIL WAR (Shelby Foote), THE CIVIL WAR (Bruce CATTON’S trilogy), CLASHES OF CAVALRY (Thom Hatch), BATTLE TACTICS OF THE CIVIL WAR (Paddy Griffith), BATTLE IN THE CIVIL WAR: GENERALSHIP AND TACTICS IN AMERICA 1861-65 (Paddy Griffith), DON TROIANI’S CIVIL WAR, BATTLEFIELD ATLAS OF THE AMERICAN CIVIL WAR (Symonds), All Ospreys on the subject MAA and Campaign, “THE” Blandford book about Uniforms: UNIFORMS OF THE AMERICAN CIVIL WAR 1861-65 -the first one I ever bought myself!- LA GUERRE DE SECESSION (HEIMDAL Jouineau-Mongin), THE QUEST FOR ANNIHILATION (Cristopher Perello), GETTYSBURG (Stephen W, Sears), GETTYSBURG: THE STORY OF THE BATTLE WITH MAPS (David Reisch and David M. Detweiler), THE CIVIL WAR: THE STORY OF THE WAR WITH MAPS (same), and of course hundreds more…

And as an afterthought on ACW Historical Fiction: THE KILLER ANGELS, SHILOH, THE HORSE SOLDIERS, CONFEDERATES, GONE WITH THE WIND, THE RED BADGE OF COURAGE, THE MARCH, STONEWALL’S GOLD, UNTO THIS HOUR, THE NORTHERN WOLF SERIES (5 books I guess) RUTLAND’S BLUES AND GREYS, CIVIL WAR STORIES (A.Bierce)… Frank Yerby, John Jakes, even the great Bernard Cornwell did 4 novels (probably not his best novels though) about it!

ACW (II)

Visits: 651

Initial Union Army minus special stands. 36 brigades of Infantry + 11 Artillery Batteries + 7 Brigades of Cavalry + Command stands… wagons… Foreign observers etc etc etc. A two years work Mainly painted by Mersey Wargames Painting Service and bits by yours truly. I have a lot of Union Cavalry stands “extra” by using my Little Big Horn US Cavalry stands (Because they are slightly Converted ACW)
Union special stands… in some cases alternatives to the above.
Initial Confederate Army. Three Corps, 27 Brigades of Infantry. 7 Artillery Batteries. 7 cavalry Brigades + Command stands etc etc etc. mainly painted by Turbil Miniatures Painting Service, a third by Mersey Wargames painting Service and as always little details and flags added by me.

Confederate Army special stands.
ACW landscape… read future battlefield. Baccus and Leven items of scenery done by REVEILLE.

Well, this is the end of the ACW project. On the pics above you can see the results of pestering painters (and paying them of course!) the last two years. This is my more orthodox project so far, even have the POLEMOS rules (in fact it all started with a pic in the cover of Battlegames (nº15) featuring East Cavalry Field at Gettysburg!) then I bought the Polemos rules got hooked by the colour pics and the rest you know how it goes. Of course readers know that I did not stop there and added a lot more of Brigades of Infantry, Cavalry; Caissons, Wagons, Divisional Commanders and what not!… LOL (see elsewhere in this web page).

Thr POSCA markers I use to alter details here and there… those Regiments have had a change of flags and kepi colour changes a posteriori of the pic!
The Union stands from above with different kepis on the flanks so to represent a Brigade of various Regiments as mentioned in Posts in Baccus Forum.

Well, here they are after the POSCA treatment, Greg provided them with dark blue kepis and grey kepis, so far so good. But after reflecting a bit and perusing the HEIMDAL book I decided to change the colors of the headgear because there were units like that -obscure militia maybe but they existed- So that gave me a sort of “twin” units or “mirror” stands, now I have Blue clad Confederates with red kepis and sky blue kepis, and Grey clad Union stands with red kepis and sky blue kepis… as you can see in the pic. I thought that this permitted more flexibility and the stands are going to be used not only in First Bull Run (First Manassas) but also later on in the big battles of 1862 and even 1863… after all the flags are all important in 6mm scale.

There you can see how easy it is to “customize” a bit, and it is really fast I assure you.

One of the books to have about uniforms… in fact it aglutinates the two previous volumes by the same authors.