TOY SOLDIER COLLECTING - THE 70s
The 1970s were my teen years. Teenage friends abandoned their old toy soldiers, had them disposed of by thoughtful parents or hid them away somewhere. My friend Peter sold me his whole collection, including fort.
I found out that there was an adult hobby of wargaming involving pages of rules, tape measures and dice. There were also 'model soldiers', different from mere toy soldiers because they were historically accurate. I discovered Airfix figures and kits. There were soft plastic 8th Army, Afrika Korps and other WW2 as wells Medievals and Napoleonics in 1/32. There were also hard plastic Napoleonic kits to be assembled. I collected most of them and painted them. I perused the Airfix catalogue and was impressed by the pictues of painted HO warriors. I found books in my school and local library about collecting and painting model soldiers. There was Airfix Magazine with articles on converting figures.
I also bought a copy of Terry Wise's American Civil War wargaming. This was wargaming with 20 mm HO figures and Peter and I collected the two sides for ACW, he collecting Confederates and me collecting Federals. The only problem was we never fully worked out the rules. I did learn a lot about ACW uniforms though, especially through an Almark book ACW uniforms and also two books by Michael Blake, one on infantry and one on cavalry.
One of my next discoveries were the books by Frank Perry, The First and Second Books of Wargaming. The author wargamed with 1/32 toy soldiers. This was a joyous revelation as I still had my old collection. By this time I was in my late teens or early 20s and I was soon to make another discovery which would transform the enjoyment of my hobby.
I found out that there was an adult hobby of wargaming involving pages of rules, tape measures and dice. There were also 'model soldiers', different from mere toy soldiers because they were historically accurate. I discovered Airfix figures and kits. There were soft plastic 8th Army, Afrika Korps and other WW2 as wells Medievals and Napoleonics in 1/32. There were also hard plastic Napoleonic kits to be assembled. I collected most of them and painted them. I perused the Airfix catalogue and was impressed by the pictues of painted HO warriors. I found books in my school and local library about collecting and painting model soldiers. There was Airfix Magazine with articles on converting figures.
I also bought a copy of Terry Wise's American Civil War wargaming. This was wargaming with 20 mm HO figures and Peter and I collected the two sides for ACW, he collecting Confederates and me collecting Federals. The only problem was we never fully worked out the rules. I did learn a lot about ACW uniforms though, especially through an Almark book ACW uniforms and also two books by Michael Blake, one on infantry and one on cavalry.
One of my next discoveries were the books by Frank Perry, The First and Second Books of Wargaming. The author wargamed with 1/32 toy soldiers. This was a joyous revelation as I still had my old collection. By this time I was in my late teens or early 20s and I was soon to make another discovery which would transform the enjoyment of my hobby.
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