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New Releases Part 2

January 2013
Reviews of new metal figures to arrive in the hobby by Martin Ainscough

Little Legion
Sudan & Zulu War

As ever Mike Norris at Little Legion had a large array of new releases to tempt prospective collectors, not to mention a number of special commissions to be picked up by fans of the Little Legion mark when the London Show made its debut at its new venue back in December. Unfortunately the vast amount of releases from Little Legion on show are too numerous to fit into the pages of this issue of TSC, but no doubt most if not all will be covered in due course as we go through 2013.

The sets covered below are therefore just a snap shot of what Mike had on offer on the day, but I am sure that there will be something of interest to collectors of the periods in question and traditional gloss painted toy soldiers.

First up are a couple of new additions to Mike’s stalwart range covering the Zulu War which without fail features members of the 24th Foot desperately defending their position in the face of overwhelming odds from the advancing mass of the Zulu nation. A set of three members of the 24th foot stand ready to meet the imminent assault from the enemy head on. These figures are as one now expects from figures produced by Little Legion, well sculpted and painted to a high standard in the instantly recognisable style that has become one of Mike Norris’ trademarks. While two comrades cock their rifles ready for the command to fire an individual that has obviously been wounded in a previous clash, hence the blood stained bandage on his head braces himself for what the next few minutes might inflict on the three of him. This set is priced at £34.75 plus the usual post and packing charges applied.

The Final Act is yet another one of Mike’s excellently posed two figure vignettes and depicts a floored member of the 24th Foot desperately trying to despatch a Zulu warrior before he himself gets despatched! Again the collector is left to decide for themselves whether the Zulu is responsible for depositing his enemy on the floor or whether either of these adversaries will survive this episode or not. At a cost of £23.50 this particular two piece set would be a good addition to any diorama display of the period or would be equally at home if displayed on its own.

The next sets are all from a relatively new range for Little Legion and feature the forces from the Sudan War period. A couple of years ago now I stated that I thought the common theme for new releases across the hobby would be camels and while that was partly true Mike has been one producer who has continued to release camel related figures on a regular basis since then. It should therefore not be a surprise to learn that two more camels have joined the Sudan war catalogue in the form of a medical supply camel and camel corps handler which is complimented by an ammunitions camel complete with a guard’s camel corps handler. These ships of the desert are beautifully sculpted and give even more scope to the diorama options available for this particular period. Both of the loads are detachable, which again gives extra options when it comes to displaying these figures. Both camels are priced at £35, again plus post and packing.

Continuing the Sudan theme a number of sets have been released that feature The Madras Pioneers. The first set features six figures on the run and consists of an Officer and five ‘Ordinary’ ranks and is priced at £69.50. Further sets featuring the regiment in many other positions including standing or kneeling ready to fire, loading, prone firing and advancing are also available. Pictured here are a set of three standing ready to fire at a cost of £34.75 together with a set of three standing ready and three kneeling figures at the ready priced at £69.50. Again, with so many variations being available multiple displays of these figures can be achieved relatively easily.

Contact Mike to discuss any other possible combinations of these figures or just to discuss that one off special commission that you desire to add to your collection as you will find that he is very receptive to your ideas and will, if at all possible, try to accommodate your wishes.

Review by Martin Ainscough

Contact:
Little Legion
7 Albert Road
Penarth
Vale of Glamorgan
CF64 1BX
Tel: 02920 704331
http://www.littlelegion.co.uk

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Casting around

January 2013
Paul Stocker looks at the latest castings to arrive on the market

Dorset Soldiers - Various new releases

Giles Brown’s latest releases cover a typically wide range of subjects but for once they are light on military ones.
Giles has reproduced a figure of a seated carter originally produced by Hilco, which could double as almost any agricultural worker from times past. He is shown here relaxing watching some ducks, which are also new releases. He costs £3.30 as a casting (£9.50 painted gloss) and the ducks cost £1.90 each as castings (£4.00 painted gloss).

The only military, although more accurately naval, subject among the new releases is a reproduction of an Admiral once produced by Britains, a simple but rather elegant figure to add to Giles large naval range. The casting costs £3.30 (£9.50 painted gloss).

Giles reproduction of the Timpo rearing horse may stir a few memories for collectors of a certain age because Timpo used this sturdy steed a lot for their mounted Wild West characters. Very useful for replacing missing or broken originals. It would also be nice to see some of Timpo’s great Cowboys and Indians to ride on it. It comes as a two-part kit and costs £7.20 as a casting (£16.50 painted gloss).

Perhaps the most interesting and entertaining releases are a seated witch with some accessories essential to her calling. It seems a bit of a pity that Halloween is long gone. The witch casting costs £3.30, her cauldron costs £4.10, the crouching frog (or unfortunate prince), the hissing cat, her stool and herb chest cost £1.90 each and her broom costs 40p. The complete set painted gloss can be had for £39.

Giles has released some less wealthy Indian characters to add to the existing British and aristocratic Indian seated figures watching the Delhi Durbar. The castings cost £3.70 (£9.50 painted gloss) and there are more to follow because, after all, the audience for the Delhi Durbar was pretty big.

The painted snake charmer shown here is one of the seated figures with a flute and a snake made of Milliput emerging from a flower tub. The casting costs £5.60 (but you have to add your own snake) and the painted version is £15.

Giles has started to produce some of the Britains flower garden so, if you are short of a few blooms, now is the time to prepare for the Spring. Some of the flowers cast from were not perfect and what he is offering reflects this. Small flowers cost 40p each, medium size and pots cost £1.90 each and the large size cost £3.30 each. The long beds cost £4.10 and square beds cost £3.30. Painted beds and mixed displays can be had by negotiation with Giles. More items will appear depending on both demand and availability.

Giles’ new releases measure 54mm approx. Postage in the UK is an additional 10%, 18% for overseas orders with a minimum of £3.00. Giles sets a minimum value of £10.00 for all orders.

Contact:
Dorset Soldiers
48 Fortuneswell
Portland
DT51LZ
Tel: 01305 823003
www.dorsetsoldiers.com

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Fantastic Plastics

January 2013
Mike Blake reviews the latest plastic figures for collectors

Paragon Scenics
US Cavalry (Civilian) and Apache Scouts

This is a set to warm the cockles of every Old West fan’s heart! What wonderful characters these guys are. They are packaged eight figures per blister card and come in two flavours. There are all eight scouts in buckskin coloured plastic, or you can go for the four Cavalry civilian scouts in light blue and the four Apache scouts in buckskin.

I just love the look of these guys, the civilian scouts, three in heavily fringed buckskin jackets, the four poses being full of action: kneeling on both knees (love this pose) firing Winchester carbine, standing firing revolver (very dynamic pose with left arm raised), standing firing Winchester carbine, and kneeling firing revolver. These figures are just crying out to appear in a Custer’s Last Stand diorama! The Apache scouts are as good, again the four poses conveying lots of pent up action: wearing a slouch hat kneeling firing revolver , standing pointing holding Springfield carbine levelled in right hand, standing fighting with knife, and standing firing a Winchester carbine.

All are wearing the right equipment and have revolvers on one hip and a hunting knife on the other. This is a wonderful addition to the Paragon Old West range, some of the best figures for the period ever made in plastic.

Contact:
Paragon Scenics & Miniatures
1520 North Street
Santa Rosa
CA 95404
USA
Tel: +1 707 536 9801
www.paragon-scenics.com

In the UK:
Steve Weston Toy Soldiers
14 Limburg Road
Canvey Island
Essex
SS8 0QJ
Tel: 01268 680117
www.plasticsoldiers.co.uk

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New Releases - King & Country

December 2012
Reviews of new metal figures to arrive in the hobby by Andy Whittaker

Every month Hong Kong based manufacturer King & Country surprise and delight collectors the world over with interesting and detailed new releases, and this time of year is my personal favourite as its when the company releases its limited edition Christmas set. Now sadly by the time you read this at the end of November the set may already be sold out, as they’re usually extremely popular, but no matter what the set is still always worthy of a review as if nothing else it makes collectors aware to get in early next year!

With this years’ set K&C return to that famous ‘Christmas truce’ of 1914 where British and German troops left their trenches and met each other in ‘no man’s land’ and fraternized for the one and only time during that terrible conflict. K&C’s own description of set XM012-01 ‘Christmas 1914’ is as follows: A British ‘Tommy’ has brought out a Xmas Pudding and a jar of Rum to share with some of the ‘Opposing Team’. One of his German opponents has in turn brought a wicker hamper full of wine, beer, Schnapps and good old German sausage as one of his comrades takes a photo of the memorable occasion.

As I’ve come to expect over the years (and there’s been a few of them) with K&C, this set is really charming and one that shows a lighter side of life on the frontline during this special time of year. The set is priced fairly at £136.95/$139 for the three figures and the detailing on each piece is superb although by far the best is the German soldier carrying the hamper, and is it just me or does he have a rather familiar looking beard to a certain other character seen at this time of year?

For those of you not interested in the special Christmas set then don’t worry because as usual K&C are releasing plenty of other sets to keep you interested. Sticking with K&C’s WWI range the company is releasing six new Australian Lighthorse figures which will expand the ranks of this already popular mini-range which first appeared a couple of years ago. The six figures are a mixture of mounted and dismounted poses, or rather one mounted and five dismounted although set AL040 ‘Goodbye old girl’ (my personal favourite) also features a horse, albeit one that is sadly about to leave his trooper.

Every figure is to K&C’s usual standards of detailed sculpting with subtle and often understated paintwork, the mounted pieces are £97.95/$99 whilst the individual foot figures will cost you £41.95/$42 if you wish to add them to your collection.

Moving from WWI to WWII, and what I personally believe might well be one of Andy Neilson’s (the founder of K&C) favourite battles, the Battle of the Bulge. Over the years K&C has built its reputation on striking WWII sets and a reasonable amount of these have been focused on this historic winter-time battle. The new M4A3E8 ‘Easy Eight’ Sherman model is actually the first ‘real’ Easy Eight K&C has ever produced (in 1999 the company did a hybrid which married an Easy Eight turret and 76mm gin with the body of an Israeli Isherman).

K&C describe their model as ‘big, bold, brassy and one helluva tank’ and I couldn’t have put it better myself, add to that the snow camouflage and this really is a model worth adding to any Bulge display. Expect to pay £201.95/$205 if you’d like to own one.

Review by Andy Whittaker

Contact:
King & Country
Room 2301
No. Lockhart Road
Wanchai
Hong Kong
Tel: + 852 2861 3450
www.kingandcountry.com

King & Country UK
Unit 17 Enterprise City
Meadowfield Avenue
Green Lane Industrial Estate
Spennymoor
Co Durham
DL16 6JF
Tel: 01388 818882
www.kingandcountry.co.uk

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Casting around

December 2012
Paul Stocker looks at the latest castings to arrive on the market

Dorset Soldiers - Various new releases

Should you happen to have a Britains model of the State Coach in need of some care and attention, Giles Brown may be able to help. This seems quite fitting in this jubilee year when collectors may have State Coaches on their mind. Giles has made reproductions of the Britains horses to enable collectors to replace missing or damaged ones. They can also be used for the State Landau (the open carriage used by the Queen) once made by Corgi. The horses are cast in Giles’ two part ‘fore and aft’ style, one with an outrider and one without.

The horses cost £9 each as castings (£25 each painted gloss). Giles can also provide replacement wheels for the State Coach and castings of these cost £1.90 each.

Another attractive new horse is a reproduction of the one originally supplied with Britains’ farmer’s gig and it’s a useful one as it could obviously used for a number of other horse-drawn vehicles. The horse casting costs £7.20 (£16.50 painted gloss).

Giles’ additions to his range of Soldiers of the World include a Danish infantryman from WWII wearing an interesting helmet and a member of the more modern Ugandan Honour Guard. If the Honour Guard doesn’t have any appeal, the same figure could be painted as a British Royal Marine in the distinctive Lovat No.2 uniform and I recall that Giles produces an arm carrying an SA80, which would bring it right up to date. Both figures cost £4.10 each as castings (£9.50 painted gloss).

Giles’ new releases measure 54mm approx. Postage in the UK is an additional 10%, 18% for overseas orders with a minimum of £3. Giles sets a minimum value of £10 for all orders.

Contact:
Dorset Soldiers
48 Fortuneswell
Portland
DT51LZ
Tel: 01305 823003
www.dorsetsoldiers.com

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Fantastic Plastics - Ivanhoe Figures

December 2012
Mike Blake reviews the latest plastic figures for collectors

Ivanhoe Figures

I am always pleased when Len Cooksey comes up to me with a grin on his face, because it means he has some more goodies from his range of resin castings. I was particular delighted with the latest offering. Sticking to his aim of going where others do not, i.e. like Replicants, filling gaps in the bigger makers ranges and there are lots, aren’t there? there are good reasons, of course, why makers start a period, then before finishing both sides, move on to another. They need to sell figures to stay in business (and yes, like Nick Versteeg of TSSD said recently, ‘Collecting and playing with toy soldiers is a hobby; making and selling toy soldiers is a business!’ ) Moving around the periods helps to stimulate interest and sells figures. If the earlier period doesn’t do as well as hoped, the maker can’t really afford to go back to it, not and stay in business. Anyway, this is all grist to Les’s mill and here he is again with a ‘gap filler’!

This latest set is of a Victorian RN Naval Gun Crew. This is a super little set, and will be heartily welcomed for collectors who have the gun but no crew for it. The poses are all perfect for the roles the men manning such a piece played, and look just the job deployed around the gun. There are 5 resin figures in 5 poses especially designed to man the venerable Britain’s 4.7 inch naval gun. the price £18.00 includes UK post and packing.

Though ‘branded’ to go with the Britain’s gun, they will, of course, man any naval gun ashore or on board ship, and very smart they will look doing it, too!

Len also sells lots of other makes of figures on his website, metal and plastic, so it is well worth a look.
Picture: Ivanhoe Figures’ Victorian RN Naval Gun Crew

Contact:
Ivanhoe Figures
6 Manor House Road
Rotherham
South Yorkshire
S61 1NT
Tel: 0709 558649
www.spanglefish.com/ivanhoefigures

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Supreme - Ancients

November 2012
Mike Blake reviews the latest plastic figures for collectors

Sets from this Chinese plastic figure maker have appeared from time to time, and rather split the plastic hobby community. Some have rather liked the chunky (1:30, 60mm) figures, whilst others have failed to see the potential beneath the frankly garish paintjobs and been dismissive of them. Having repainted some of the Napoleonic Russians I am firmly in the former camp, there are some great figures here. The fact that they are sold at ‘pocket money prices’ may also have put some collectors and wargamers off them, but to me that is just an added bonus. The plastic is fairly soft but the hot water treatment easily straightens out any wobbly bits.

The good news is that all the sets, old and new, are now being imported by Tiger Hobbies, and Gary Ford of Tiger has kindly sent me some review samples. The company has until now been the UK Exclusive importers of Hobby Master, Sky Max and Century Wings products.

There are a number of sets available in various packaging. One is ‘Alexander, The Legend of a Warrior King’. There are eight figures in eight poses, of which two are mounted (horses included), one is an archer and the rest spearmen. The sculpting is vigorous and I imagine, like other sets by the same maker, they would respond rather well to a repaint. When I manage to get some done I will try to find room for a photo in a future issue.

The Roman set is particularly interesting as some of the figures look rather like the King & Country Romans, now discontinued. I suspect that with a repaint it would be hard to tell the difference! In the bag I have there are four mounted and 12 foot figures, 16 figures in 16 poses. They come coloured slightly differently, eight in silver sprayed gold and eight red sprayed silver. All the foot figures have the large curved rectangular shield with embossed design. The poses run the whole gamut: Centurion drawing his gladius; signifier with standard; cornicen; another figure with the animal’s skin over the head (like the signifier and cornicen) standing with a drawn sword whose role I am not sure of; archer; advancing with pilum; kneeling with pilum; throwing pilum and four poses with drawn swords. The mounted figures are officers with crested helmets. There is a little infill in places but this can easily be removed with a sharp craft knife, and I believe some splendid figures would be revealed once repainted.

The signifier and cornicen are particularly nice pieces. The standard bearer of the Roman legions carried a signum (standard) for a cohort or century, the ‘banner’ that the men from each unit would rally around. The signum depicted comprised a number of philarae (disks or medallions) along with other elements, mounted on a pole topped with a manus (open human hand) representing the oath of loyalty taken by the soldiers in a wreath. The role in battle was dangerous as the soldier had to stand in the first rank. The animal skins were worn so that the heads of the animals were carried over the bearers' helmets, the teeth actually seen on the forehead.

I will pick up on some of the other sets next time, as they are well worth a look if you are into the Ancient period.

Contact:

Tiger Hobbies Ltd
Unit 18b Goldthorpe Industrial Estate
Commercial Road
Goldthorpe
South Yorkshire
S63 9BL

Tel: 01709 890940
www.tiger-hobbies.co.uk

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Soldiers Of The World - Mexicans

November2012
Reviews of new metal figures to arrive in the hobby by Andy Whittaker

Soldiers of the World is a brand name many will recognise, but may not know why. It’s actually a partnership between New Zealand based toy soldier make Regal, or rather Regal’s owner Allan Farley and US based retailer Stockade Miniatures (and unless I’m mistaken prior to Stockade used to be produced and sold through retailer The Toy Soldier Gallery, sadly no longer in operation).

There are literally thousands of figures in the SOTW range and Allan is constantly adding to them to meet demand from collectors in both New Zealand, the USA and all over the world. The latest additions are to ‘The Alamo and Texan War of Independence’ range and are three new Mexican sets.

AMX1 ‘Fusileros Attacking’ features a General and two privates attacking with bayonets, AMX2 ‘Fusileros Attacking’ contains three privates attacking with bayonets and rifle butts whilst AMX3 ‘Fusileros Marching’ has a General and two privates marching into action.

SOTW figures are well sculpted and painted, although they are very traditional including rosy cheeks and little pin dot eyes. Personally I really like these figures, although I’m a big matt figure fan I still love seeing people making the more traditional style figures as it reminds us all where this hobby began, and I hope companies like SOTW continue to produce high quality traditional gloss figures.

At $85 (New Zealand) or about £43 per set they figures work out to be around £14.50 each so very good value for money considering the quality.

If you’re a fan of traditional figures and have yet to check out SOTW then I suggest you get in contact with them to learn about the literally thousands of different figures they have available.

Review by Andy Whittaker

Contact:

Regal Enterprises
P.O. Box 11
Greytown 5742
Wairarapa
New Zealand

Tel: +64 6 304 8446
www.regaltoysoldiers.com

In the USA:

Stockade Miniatures
4 North 6th Street
Stroudsburg
PA 18360
USA

Tel: +1 570 424 8507
www.stockade-miniatures.com

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Sarum Soldiers ‘Officers’ Mess c.1900

Casting review November 2012

At the London show in June, Patrick Willis gave me one of the sets from his range depicting life in a regimental officers’ mess at the turn of the 19th/20th centuries. ‘The Colonel’s Birthday Serenade’ is set of multi-part castings producing six figures, four standing and two seated, and a piano. The regiment’s colonel and his wife are being entertained by four officers singing and accompanied on the piano.

The castings are very cleanly cast and look elegant in their mess dress. Assembly simply involves fixing arms to figures and figures to chairs and the piano is quick and easy to assemble using super glue. The set looks splendid painted gloss but would also look very good painted in matt colours. And if you want to add some extra furnishings to your officers’ mess vignette, Patrick can provide packs of Persian and Turkish patterned carpets for an extra touch of colour.

The Officers’ Mess castings measure 56mm approx and there are currently ten sets in the series. Patrick expects to add further sets in due course, including a complete regimental orchestra. The set of castings shown here is numbered OMO9 and costs £29.95 (£59.95 painted gloss). Castings for a larger set titled ‘Ladies Guest Night” (OMO4) cost £49.95 (£99 painted gloss). Other casting sets cost £24.94 (£52 painted gloss). P&P: 10% UK; 15% EU; 20% USA and Overseas.

Contact:

Sarum Soldiers
2a Upper Tooting Park
London
SW17 7SW

Tel: 0208 767 1525
www.sarumsoldiers.com

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Country Honor

August 2012 Review by Rob Hendrie
Napoleonics

Founded in Hong Kong in 2011, Country Honor joins the Napoleonic fray with four British Redcoats and four Highlanders. Considering this new company is entering the most competitive of all toy soldier battlefields, they have made a confident start.

First seen in the UK at the June London Show, the figures are a fairly close match with Napoleonics by Britains both in size and look and in some areas fare better. The facial expressions are particularly well sculpted and over the flesh tone is a wash of white which is First Legion in style but not as subtle. The uniform shading and detailing reminded me of early K&C figures with quite dark lines used to indicate creases. Perhaps we’ve become used to more scenic bases than these have but that is not enough to put me off.

And the poses are good too. The figures are active and mean business with the Highland officer (004) being both commanding and imposing and is, for me, the stand-out figure of the eight.

So there’s animation, good action and the figures are nicely boxed. But the best news is that they are only £23 each and that, for the quality offered, makes them excellent value and a fine way to build a Napoleonic display. ‘With your support,’ states the company’s website, ‘Country Honor will become more brilliant in the future!’ We look forward to their next batch of releases and thank Maison Militaire for supplying the samples.

Contact:
Country Honor
2/F & Flat Roof
167 Lockhart Road
Hong Kong
Tel: 852 2187 3989
sales@countryhonor.com
www.countryhonor.com

In the UK:
Maison Militaire
25 Main Street
Seamer
North Yorkshire
YO12 4PS
Tel: 01723 864453
maison@militaire.freeserve.co.uk
www.maisonmilitaire.co.uk