Ross Perry's Toy Soldier Story

For some time, I have been in correspondence with Ross Perry, Frank Perry's son. Frank wrote The First Book of Wargaming and The Second Book of Wargaming as well as two novels based on his wargaming campaigns. Some of my older posts are on this topic.

  The following is Ross's recollections of wargaming with his dad and dad's friend as well as his general observations about the hobby of toy soldier collecting and gaming. Some photos of Ross's toy soldiers are included.

WHY COLLECTING AND PLAYING WITH TOY SOLDEIRS IS SO MUCH FUN. A SURVIVOR'S VIEW.

I started by watching my dad and his lifelong friend, Ken, playing every fortnight. When deemed old enough (aged 8 years old) I then used to wargame with them for many years until sadly Dad passed away in 1983 (yes, a very long time ago, and yes, I am that old). Ken and I continued for a while, but it wasn't the same.

   Unlike many toy soldier collectors, those who wargamed with them tended to use very small-scale figures (presumably for economics of scale). The three of us, however, used larger 1/32 or 54mm figures, and in our case, followed rules created by none other than the famous HG Wells.

  In the very early days (when I first started loving it), come teatime, the table had to be packed away so family could have their afternoon high tea (popular for posh folks in Old Blighty) or evening meal. later on, dad constructed a 40-foot-long garage at the end of the garden. it was kitted out so that entire collections were housed there, and games were played on a 25-foot-long table. This was affectionately known as 'The Wargames Centre'.

  Once I became a very enthusiastic conscript, I was given my own make-believe country, became the leader of it, and slowly I decided my own population's political and socially economic tendencies and beliefs. Trust me, nobody was to be the 'baddie' in situations like this, and slowly, over time, it emerged that I thought most like western democratic leaders, whilst my dad adopted more autocratic, socialistic tendencies. before you gasp in horror, my dad was no Putin. His country followed more socialistic home policies, and this reflected in his approaches to various games. For Ken, I'm not sure. perhaps, on reflection, he was something between the USA and Western Europe.

  To create real baddies, we invented them and took turns to play them.

  We created a series of games (maybe 6 in a season). he creator of the season worked out the scenario, background, down to troop sizes, and we played them out.

   Some games followed traditional and historical battles, but what the three of us tended to prefer were fantasy games. One of the best examples of this was the 'Caspross Experiment', which dad later turned into a novel. Some of you may have read this.

  The three of us played approximately 25 years. ken and my dad had played for at least the same period before I came along.

  After the passing of Dad, and then later Ken, I had no-one to play with but in truth, had temporarily lost my motivation.

  many of us know what it is like to be a young adult couple with very small children. In my wife's (Jude's) and my case we had four kids inside an eleven-year period. Money was very tight in the early years. regretfully, during that time, I sold both mine and dad's figures that had been willed to me. Combined it was a very large collection, with many figures being rare Britains figures. inside that collection was a plethora of not just toy soldiers. Included were about 400 buildings, scenery, guns, tanks, catapults, animals etc. etc. You can probably imagine.

  So, what changed?

  Well, during COVID, in 2020, I was one of those who escaped becoming ill. However, becoming bored, I had a strong urge to replace that collection. Jude thought I was mad, however, being now mostly free of most financial restraint, I feverishly started replacing an image of the original collection. Those of you who are collectors will know what I mean when i say it was like being repatriated with old friends.

  I must admit I did go over the top. In my defence, and only in my head, I was righting a wrong, of having to sell my collection in my twenties.

  Then eighteen months ago, my acquaintance, Paul Morehead, who is the editor of Plastic Warrior, put me in touch with a guy in Australia called James.

  Originally, I was the co-creator of PW. Paul and others were solely collectors, whereas I collected and also wargamed with the figures.

  Today, Paul is still the editor, and to his credit, the magazine is still going. from experience, I can tell you operating a paper-based magazine is extremely expensive, especially in the digital age. My only slight criticism of it is that it only seems to cater for collectors, and that is a shame because it used to provide material for wargamers as well. despite that it is a good read for someone wanting to start a collection. it will give you a lot of ideas and contacts.

  having made initial contact with James, what unexpectantly happened (at least to me0 was very fast communication of tales of the past and present. James and I started swapping a lot of e-mails. For my part I felt the fun surge up through my body as his tales of his wargames brought back very fond memories.

  This has been enough to motivate me to buy a long wargame table for my 'man pit' which happens to be at my holiday home in Spain. My sixteen year old grandson has found the bug and the love to wargame which means for the first time in forty years I now have a hobby soulmate. And so, onto another generation.

CONCLUSION

Here my aim is to brainstorm points of why you should collect toy soldiers.

1/ THE JOY OF COLLECTING, PAINTING FIGURES AND CONVERSIONS

COLLECTING

This, as HG Wells put it, is a game for boys from age 9 to 90. Any boy can start a collection with a small sum of money. There are still huge ranges of both lead and plastic figures available out there, even though many of the well known manufacturers stopped production decades ago. i built my second collection courtesy of Ebay. Apart from Ebay, there are countless toy soldier swap-meets around the globe you can go to, and it is all part of the fun. There are also loads of websites you can find. The Internet was not around when I built and sold my first collection.

PAINTING

  I receive a huge amount of joy buying figures and painting them, especially in my case, when I buy boxed plastic sets. The range is as wide as the genre. You can buy items from almost every historical event that ever occurred as well as a large range of fantasy figures if you want to go 'off grid' and make stuff up. my personal maker is the Italian maker, Atlantic. Currently I am painting Greek and Roman chariots. The only slight drawback to Atlantic figures is that, in some cases, like boxed Greeks, the soldiers, and especially, horses, are out of scale.

  Talking about scale, I have always played 1/32 scale, as I found HO scale far too small. But that's just my preference. others prefer the smaller scale for various reasons. Gamers using that scale have the advantage of amassing a large block of fighters, especially important if you do not have the luxury of a lot of space, or only a small table. A lot of you may have to share your wargame table with the tea table, like we had to do when we started. Those gaming in my preferred scale usually need a big table, or in the case of James, take large battles into the garden.

  Somewhere down the line, I am planning one of the first games with my grandson based on the ancient period. I am looking forward to a battle involving elephants, so that I can replicate an elephant charge. most of the elephants I will use would have been made by the most common British manufacturer, Britains. A good place to start cheaply to collect toy soldiers from the Airfix 1/32 range. Most boxes come with 32 pieces. Most are from WW2, but that area of history is not exclusive. Among different ranges are fantasy figures. Some boxed figures have to be glued together first and then painted. Similarly there are many lead and single plastic figures that you can buy to paint.

  The most important thing to remember before you start is that you are not painting the Sistine Chapel. You don't have to be even that good at painting and drawing. I, for one, am certainly not. At school, I could not draw or paint for toffee. If you put me up against my 5-year-old granddaughter I know for a fact she can draw better than I. (I'm not kidding).  You are only painting plastic. After doing it a while you will get better and better. I like to use paints that can easily be cleaned in warm water, acrylic works well. Choosing good paintbrushes is a very good idea, because you will notice the difference, and the extra cost compared to cheap paintbrushes is negligible. I find it a good idea to pre-wash items before painting them. by doing this beforehand also gives you the opportunity to cut away excess molding plastic that may be there from the manufacturers process. Take care with skin colors on bare skin. When you start getting better you will pick up the knack of shading colors. When they are finished, I like to put a last coating of mat, gloss or satin varnish. I usually prefer mat.

  If you are going to eventually use these figures in a wargame, especially the rules i use by HG Wells, you especially don't want the army to be painted perfectly, because you are going to actually fire at them with scaled firing cannons. When I gamed, I used to use masonry pins as my preferred shells. not a pretty sight!

  Finally, you may want to display your finished work in glass cabinets. i like to show off my better accomplishments, or my unusual items this way.

  CONVERTING

I am at my happiest when I am cutting off limbs of certain items, and then glueing on something completely different before painting and finishing. It is very creative if done well, and the finished item will, of course, be completely unique. Often, I convert when an item needs repair, so if you like the conversion is forced on me. Either that or throw the item away! I never do the latter. As a result my workshop is full of broken soldiers and hundreds of spare arms, legs, heads and anything else you can think of waiting for its creator to come along and work, in my case, my magic.

WARGAMING

There are a lot of different rules out there. it's really not important what rules you follow, or even if you and your friend make up your own rules. This is not the right article to go into this in detail about the range of different rules out there. You know, I use one set. James and his friend follow a set of rules by Warhammer in his fantasy games. Settle on what you like as there is only one rule that covers all genres of wargaming, and that is to HAVE FUN.

  Here is a big tip for you that an older Ross perry learnt from a younger Ross Perry. Do not wargame with especially valuable lead figures (especially if you are firing guns at them). Toy soldiers these days van be very valuable. rare lead figures should not be removed from original boxes and fired at. Not all the value is in early molded lead figures. Certain plastic items, such as, for example, Captain Scarlet by Timpo would cost between 40- and 50-pounds sterling for a single figure, these days.

  Most of the joy in gaming is in preparation of a series of scenes, that is first created in the mind o the controller. In James' games, the controller may be determined if he has a better wizard than his opponent. in our games we took turns as controller. Not every table or game will end in a battle. Often, there was no fighting at all but rather sometimes long periods of diplomacy or negotiations.

To contact Paul Morehead at Plastic Warrior:

pw.editor@antlworld.com