London Toy Soldier Show 9th Dec 2013

So, this year I fulfilled a long held ambition to attend a London Toy Soldier Show. Met Ken from Scarborough's Maison Millitaire, not seen him in years since the shop closed. Also met up with Tim H. and EB from the Loose Forum. Good catch up and bought some things for the Little Wars game we have coming up at our annual games weekend at Ayton in May next year.



People had come from all over Europe, possibly did the same as me and combined it with a long weekend. I went with friends Kay and Rog and we took in the V&A, Natural History and British Museum as well as a visit to a book shop with the biggest Osprey section I have ever seen!

On the whole the show was a bit of an anti-climax for me, these days I can't afford metal 54mm figures and much of it was over priced. It lacked a lot of what wargames shows have, notably any games! It is purely a collectors fair and didn't have the community spirit you might find at such a show as Smoggycon. Never the less it was worth seeing. The turnover of new releases in the toy soldier scale is so slow, it'll probably be a few years before I feel like going to another one. I think I am more a wargamer and collector of the smaller scales these days.

Here is a pictoral review of a few things that caught my eye.

WWII 20mm Battlegroups

I've been tidying up my wargames room and took pics of my current 20mm vehicles with a view to sorting them out for some future Rapid Fire games. So far ths is what I have unearthed from the rubble.

Pictures of Gettysburg Db/ACW game.

This was a three day wargame of Gettsyburg laid on by Alex in his hotel. The figures are all plastic 1/72 scale and most of the terrain, including the town of Gettysburg itself was scratch built. The rules are an adapted version of Alex's DbN rule set available here: http://www.dbnwargaming.co.uk

Alex gives a briefing.

Opening moves. 

Tiger Zouaves lead the way. These were Norman's units that swept the Union off Culps Hill and held it throughout the battle. 

Custer himself. My cavalry units that were tasked with sweeping down the far side of Culps Hill and tying up as many Rebs as possible and if practicable to retake Culps Hill.

Rebs line the fences in front of the Peach Orchard and the Round Tops. 

Meade's HQ. 

Final stages at the Round Tops, Rebs taking a lot of losses here but in the end not enough. 

In a nutshell, the battle of Gettysburg in this instance took 2 long days of hard fighting. The Confederates slammed into the town of Gettysburg with force early on the first day, capturing it completely by day two and pressing on across Culps Hill. Huge reinforcements from the Confederates swung down the roads behind the Peach Orchard to prepare to take the Round Tops but a strong defence, particularly by the New Yorkers and the Berdan's held them off causing huge losses. Despite this after two days the exhausted Union had to concede and withdraw. The attempts to take back Culps Hill were impossible. The last move of the battle by a young Custer saved the Union pride and the army of the Potomac drew back to fight another day. 

Board games!

I've recently been playing Command & Colours Napoleonics and the odd game of Ancients and Memoir 44, love them so far! Plan on playing these while I plough through the lead/plastic pile.

My 28mm WWII stuff continues to grow too and I now have the Chain of Command Rules. This Firefly was origionally a bodge job but I managed to salvage it. 

Also been painting lots of donated Plastic Soldier Company ex review kits kindly given to us by Henry Hide of Miniature Wargames with Battlegames magazine. I enjoy painting 1/72 tanks but the figures seem more a chore than 28's. Here are some I made earlier, the tranfers of the Allied Stars were from the Pendraken guys (thanks Leon). 

Little Wars Army Blue

So, the first units of army blue begin their drills. 

The bulk of the Europan Army will be a colonial force composed of many exotic troop types. 

Scarborough wargames show haul.

So, I went with £30 as I didnt want to spend much today but most traders take cards so that didnt work!

Haul of winter clad Soviets (including 75mm gun) from Col. Bill, two Warlord tanks for my Bolt Action British army and some 1/32 plastics from a small trader who makes hs own metal 1/32 display toy soldiers. Mostly bands but with some interesting other subjects, nearly bought his maxim gun on limber kit. His company is called Victorian Toy Soldiers but I don't think they are online. Doesnt have an email address but I got his post address and phone number.

The armies in plastic Confederates are great and a nice stiff plastic. Hope to now get more of these figures. The lancers are a nice too, very simple and classic looking. The Scots Greys only had 5 horses in the box but that's enough for the units I'm doing in this scale.

Had a game of VBCW with Bob and the Brompton crew, good potter about and a few nice chats. Also bought an old Osprey for the Japanese army of WWII. Gave my last quid to Col. Bill for some 40mm bases to finish the Airfix Gurkhas I got last week.

Now back to the painting!

Airfix 1/32 Japanese

Finished my first Japanese soldier this evening. The ink is still a bit wet but I wanted to take a pic before bed. If we get some nice weather once I have painted a good number per side I'm hoping to have a garden wargame - saves bothering to make scenery. I also need a lot more grass tufts, which could get expensive. Will hopefully pick some up at the next wargames show in two weeks.

Airfix 1/32 Australian

Made a start on some Australians for the Japanese!

As a wee small boy my Aussies were my favourite of all the Airfix I had and the elite of my Allied troops. I only had about 8 or 9 of them but they were some of my most treasured soldiers, the walking with rifle slung pose had a character all his own.

New Airfix!

Picked up the 'new' Airfix Japanese and Gurkhas from the model shop on my way into work today. Really nice moulds, some of he best reproductions of the old figures yet. Can't wait to have these painted!

Steve Weston's Mexicans

Finished my first batch of 54mm Mexicans. On the painting table next are the mounted Mexicans, peasants, cowboys, 7th Cavalry and Apachees. Could take a while!

Bank Holiday sorting out

Had a day of tidying up, boxing my next projects safely so I can pull them out and work on them when I want to. It helps to be able to see where a set of figures are. I have a hell of a lot to get through now so hopefully won't be adding much other than tanks to the lead pile for a while. I seem to have a lot of books to read too. I also took possesion of a 2nd handle kindle this week and have downloaded, for free - The Red Badge of Courage and Floor Wars, the sequel to Little Wars by H.G. wells. Very content with my wargames lot at the minute.

Here's the Puma I finished today. Bought at Triples the other week.

Triples 2013

Good day out at Sheffield this afternoon. Lots of great quality demos and participation games. This year is the centenary of H.G Wells's Little Wars and that was the theme of this years show. The Funny Little Wars chaps from the yahoo group of the same name were there with their very authentic old school game, firing cotton buds from the guns to play the game.

Not many purchases for me this time, lots of mdf bases, a 28mm Puma and some of the new Perry Western Desert British. The later seeming very small for the scale but no matter, they only have to square up to the Afrika Corps once they are released.

Photos of Funny Little Wars below: