Saturday, August 9, 2014

Tin Soldier Parade

      I have bought quite a few lots on Ebay recently, including a nice set of Schiller 30mm semi-flat soldiers. They arrived yesterday and I found myself going through my collection of semi-flats.

   The new unit of soldiers are Jagers and the paint is in good shape. For such a smart looking unit, they deserved to be welcomed in grand fashion. And so a parade of tin soldiers was held today.
A view of the parade.

This unit of cavalry was bought earlier this year.

A unit of Lancers.

The Guard infantry leads the parade.


Here is the newest unit of Jagers.
Every parade needs music.

The bulk of the Tin Army; the 80 strong Wollner Austrians.


The grey line of Austrians take up most of the line of parade.

The cannon fodder brings up the rear.

More cannon fodder.

Bringing up the rear. In this unit are the first semi-flats I bought. How the mighty have fallen!


The Generals reviewing the cavalry.



The Guards on dress parade.

The Jagers stand by for inspection.

The Austrians on parade.



Another great buy were two lots of Peter Laing Colonial Indian cavalry.



The Jagers return to barracks after the parade.

12 comments:

  1. I do like the semi flats a lot. I've been a fan of Spenkuch/Heyde figures for some time now.I have a few of the Irregular Miniatures Deutche Homage 42mms.I look forward to seeing your games with these splendid figures.
    Alan

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Most of the semi flats are made in Germany and just seem to have an air of marching with pride, if that makes sense. There's an elegance to them that most rounds don't capture. I was wondering if the Irregular Deutche Homage are compatible with my Zinnbrigade figures.

      Delete
    2. They are a tad more rounded (have you looked at the pics on the Irregular Miniatures website) but I am a great believer in mixing figures for variety and fun...

      Delete
    3. I have looked at the website. I was thinking of trying to get the heads and just swapping out heads with my Zinnbrigade figures. I have experimented with that in the past when I got some heads in a lot of old toy soldiers. The figures came out looking a little strange but if they are for my personal use it would matter little.

      Delete
  2. Wonderful figures!

    Are you going to repaint or touch up any of the more tattered ones or leave them as is?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. That is a conundrum. I have been thinking of that every time they come out. Does that ruin any resale value to them? Of course, then I can't imagine ever selling them so what would it matter? The Lancers in the photos are nice figures that are in rough shape. Perhaps one of the really bad figures could be sacrificed as an experiment.

      Delete
  3. Thank you for the kind comment. It took over an hour to set up and take the photos, but it was worth it. Didn't even realize how many I had.

    ReplyDelete
  4. John, what a wonderful collection, thanks for sharing.
    As regards re-painting the figures, I debated with myself on that recently with some old Britains Herald range Life Guard figures that I have had since the late 60s, but I went for it amd they came out beautifully, so give it a try!
    I will send you some pictures when I get a chance
    Ian

    ReplyDelete
  5. I am thinking of picking some of the more damaged figures to practice on. As can be seen, many of them are missing most of the paint and a couple of books I have say that the semi flats aren't considered collectable. It seems I have little to lose if I do paint them. I look forward, as always, to the pictures of your projects; they are always inspirational and they motivate me to get on with my own projects.

    ReplyDelete
  6. I will take some pictures as soon as I get home tomorrow night.
    I can only say it is surprising what a little simple effort can do to improve "tatty" figures. For instance, I have just built some replacement spears for some Herald Trojan figures using steel wire and plastic strip carved into a spearhead

    ReplyDelete
  7. One problem I have is with the figures with the German picklehelme, do they get painted as Germans, or if painted as British, do they stay British. I think some planning would be needed to decide their fate. Perhaps using one of the rule set in John Curry's 1st volume of the history of wargaming would decide on the size of units.
    I bought some old Britains Heralds Guards for a possible game and was going to paint half as Danish grenadiers with blue coats.

    ReplyDelete