After spending many years in a box in the back of a cupboard, my collection of Britains American Civil War toy soldiers have seen the light of day and are mustering for battle.
Let the Little Wars recommence!
Okay, I've played with toy soldiers since I was about six or seven years old. My first sets of toy soldiers were made by Timpo - medieval knights, and various World War 2 sets, as well as some cheap vikings or something like that.
A bit later, I collected Airfix 1/72nd scale soldiers from every major theatre of World War 2 as well as Romans and Britons, and various other sets as well. Next, I collected 1/32nd scale troops.
Once I hit my early teens, I started to create wargame rules, and even started to learn German so that I could give my Germans their orders in German! LOL!
My next obsession was collecting 1/300 scale mini tanks, troops, and aircraft - British and German - with the never-realized goal of playing Operation Sealion (the projected German invasion of Britain). I wrote a complete guide to Operation Sealion for wargamers as an A-Level college project.
In my university years, I became more interested in the playful side of wargaming, inspired by one of the first chaps to devise a rule set for toy soldier battles, H. G. Wells, his "Little Wars," now available on Gutenberg:
https://www.gutenberg.org/files/3691/3691-h/3691-h.htm
That is what caused me to start collecting Britains' American Civil War toy soldiers. I even created a complete - but never completed - campaign with several hero figures who led their troops into battle and sometimes became casualties of war. Oh, and I wrote up battle reports afterwards!
All that was pretty much shelved for several decades... until my daughter was about eight and keen on Lego, at which point I started collecting - ahem, buying for my daughter - Lego knights and castles and built up a large Lego medieval collection...
So now I am part of a gaming group here in Hiroshima, it seems like a good time to muster my Britains troops, grab a set of skirmish rules (nothing to difficult - I'm going to try out a set of "diceless" rules - One-Hour Skirmish Wargames - that use playing cards to resolve combat and morale.
Actually, I'd quite like to resolve combat by shooting a bb gun.
Either way, sound the alarum and let the Little Wars recommence!
Cheers!
David Hurley
#inspiredfocus
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