Childhood memories of toy soldiers
Growing up in the 1960s my favourite toys were my toy soldiers. A high point was going to Tim the Toyman in Chadstone and looking in the display case at the hundreds of toy soldier clones. They were mostly Britains and Timpo swoppets and one piece Britains Herald. Also present were Cresent, Lone Star and sometimes other brands such as Cherilea and Reisler. There were cowboys and Indians, WW2, English Civil War, American Civil War, knights, Romans, Mexicans, Modern British guardsmen French Foreign Legion and Arabs Modern and civilians. Later, in the 70s there were Britains Detail on their metal bases. I would produce my carefully collected 10 or 20 cents and buy one or two Timpo figures, usually cowboys, Indians or American Civil War. Mounted were twice the price and I had to decide on a mounted figure or two foot figures. The Britains swoppets were 35 cents and nicer figures; sometimes I saved up for these.
Once home they would be enlisted in my armies that were stored in boxes under my bed. Frequently they would be brought out and two armies would be set up on the floor. Sometimes, when the garage was clear the armies would be set up there and on other occasions the sand pit would see battle.
Often my friend Peter Smith would come over for a game. When I went to his home he would produce his figures. Each of us had a fort made of wood but I liked Peter's better as it had ladders instead of ramps. I'm not sure if the ramps were to get cannons on the walls or for disabled soldiers in wheelchairs. In any case the ladder set up gave more room for setting up figures. Curiously Peter's collection included 60mm black plastic African tribesmen that his mother bought for him mixed up with his Indians. They included a one stand piece with native and white hunter prisoner, (Peter used to cut the base to make two figures), a seated native with horned headdress, native throwing spear, and white hunter figures. (These are now very rare figures and I recently found out from Plastic Warrior magazine that they are by the English company Speedwell). When Peter 'grew out of' his figures I bought the lot, fort and all.
Anyway, before that happened Peter and had many a battle. The rules were simple. Each move you could move one foot figure 6 inches or a cavalryman 12 inches. Then you could fire from where a figure was. Many figures tried to lurk behind chair legs for cover. Methods of firing were one of the following: popgun, elastic band, matchstick from cannon or marble. Marbles were the favourite weapon of mass destruction. We flicked a small marble from a man and a tombola from a cannon (when we weren't using matches). Peter invariably won as he was a marbles champion. It was important not to set up the figures too closely or they went down like ninepins. Notorious for this were the two dimensional flat plastic cowboys and Indians that supplemented the three dimensional ranks.
The armies and scenarios were the following: Pale faces versus Indians, Confederate versus Union, WW2 Germans versus Allies, notably Australians. In the first scenario Union and Confederate were often allied together with cowboys against Indians although sometimes 'bad' cowboys allied with the Indians, a little like the Comancheros seen in the John Wayne movie. The other scenario was Confederate versus Union with cowboys and Indians allied on either side WW2 Germans often got a role as Confederates, once their helmets were removed.
Germans versus Allies involved Lone Star and Timpo figures. The Lone Star Desert set I received from my father saw special service in the sand pit. Peter somehow wrangled being the Australians and I got the Germans in pale green, half of whom seemed to be posed to surrender. Whilst my side was placed on a hill Peter's always seemed to have elaborate bunkers, tunnels and walls. We threw either marbles or dried congealed sand bombs at the enemy. Again, victory seemed to elude me. Sad days were when my grandfather -Poppy- removed the sand to make concrete and we had to wait for it to be re-filled.
An unusual scenario I liked to set up was called 'Guard the Queen' (or something similar - I forget after forty odd years). My uncle Ken's and Auntie Elva's sons Graeme and Peter were older boys and when they grew out of their toy soldiers and cars I got them. Amongst them were a handful of Britains hollowcast guardsmen and a plastic Cresent guardsman as well as a Hong Kong clown and elephant on a stool that were copies of English figures.There were also one or two mounted horse guards and a line infantryman with movable arms and bugle. I always thought of the last as the commander, even though he was just a bugler. (Incidentally my Uncle and Aunt kept all the cereal toys for me and this included cowboys and Indians that were copies of Cresent figures. There were also orange and green WW2 copies of Marx toy soldiers and copies of Marx Robin Hood figures. I also had a red tin plate vintage car and a box of Lego. The last was made into armoured cars with revolving turret.
A procession of the vintage car (with imagined queen as I had no actual queen figure and I didn't know that Britain had a king in WW2), armoured cars and guards would have to get through a German ambush. Marbles would be thrown forcefully to brake off Lego blocks. Frequently these were solo games but that did not detract to much from my enjoyment. In fact I would spend ours alone playing these games.
I was easily entertained in those days with my soldiers or a sketch pad for my drawings or a book or box of comics to read or rocks to look under for insects and spiders to keep in jars. There were no computers, ipods or gameboys and I think I was better off without them.
Once home they would be enlisted in my armies that were stored in boxes under my bed. Frequently they would be brought out and two armies would be set up on the floor. Sometimes, when the garage was clear the armies would be set up there and on other occasions the sand pit would see battle.
Often my friend Peter Smith would come over for a game. When I went to his home he would produce his figures. Each of us had a fort made of wood but I liked Peter's better as it had ladders instead of ramps. I'm not sure if the ramps were to get cannons on the walls or for disabled soldiers in wheelchairs. In any case the ladder set up gave more room for setting up figures. Curiously Peter's collection included 60mm black plastic African tribesmen that his mother bought for him mixed up with his Indians. They included a one stand piece with native and white hunter prisoner, (Peter used to cut the base to make two figures), a seated native with horned headdress, native throwing spear, and white hunter figures. (These are now very rare figures and I recently found out from Plastic Warrior magazine that they are by the English company Speedwell). When Peter 'grew out of' his figures I bought the lot, fort and all.
Anyway, before that happened Peter and had many a battle. The rules were simple. Each move you could move one foot figure 6 inches or a cavalryman 12 inches. Then you could fire from where a figure was. Many figures tried to lurk behind chair legs for cover. Methods of firing were one of the following: popgun, elastic band, matchstick from cannon or marble. Marbles were the favourite weapon of mass destruction. We flicked a small marble from a man and a tombola from a cannon (when we weren't using matches). Peter invariably won as he was a marbles champion. It was important not to set up the figures too closely or they went down like ninepins. Notorious for this were the two dimensional flat plastic cowboys and Indians that supplemented the three dimensional ranks.
The armies and scenarios were the following: Pale faces versus Indians, Confederate versus Union, WW2 Germans versus Allies, notably Australians. In the first scenario Union and Confederate were often allied together with cowboys against Indians although sometimes 'bad' cowboys allied with the Indians, a little like the Comancheros seen in the John Wayne movie. The other scenario was Confederate versus Union with cowboys and Indians allied on either side WW2 Germans often got a role as Confederates, once their helmets were removed.
Germans versus Allies involved Lone Star and Timpo figures. The Lone Star Desert set I received from my father saw special service in the sand pit. Peter somehow wrangled being the Australians and I got the Germans in pale green, half of whom seemed to be posed to surrender. Whilst my side was placed on a hill Peter's always seemed to have elaborate bunkers, tunnels and walls. We threw either marbles or dried congealed sand bombs at the enemy. Again, victory seemed to elude me. Sad days were when my grandfather -Poppy- removed the sand to make concrete and we had to wait for it to be re-filled.
An unusual scenario I liked to set up was called 'Guard the Queen' (or something similar - I forget after forty odd years). My uncle Ken's and Auntie Elva's sons Graeme and Peter were older boys and when they grew out of their toy soldiers and cars I got them. Amongst them were a handful of Britains hollowcast guardsmen and a plastic Cresent guardsman as well as a Hong Kong clown and elephant on a stool that were copies of English figures.There were also one or two mounted horse guards and a line infantryman with movable arms and bugle. I always thought of the last as the commander, even though he was just a bugler. (Incidentally my Uncle and Aunt kept all the cereal toys for me and this included cowboys and Indians that were copies of Cresent figures. There were also orange and green WW2 copies of Marx toy soldiers and copies of Marx Robin Hood figures. I also had a red tin plate vintage car and a box of Lego. The last was made into armoured cars with revolving turret.
A procession of the vintage car (with imagined queen as I had no actual queen figure and I didn't know that Britain had a king in WW2), armoured cars and guards would have to get through a German ambush. Marbles would be thrown forcefully to brake off Lego blocks. Frequently these were solo games but that did not detract to much from my enjoyment. In fact I would spend ours alone playing these games.
I was easily entertained in those days with my soldiers or a sketch pad for my drawings or a book or box of comics to read or rocks to look under for insects and spiders to keep in jars. There were no computers, ipods or gameboys and I think I was better off without them.
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