Way back in the last century, when I first began to contribute to MWAN, I talked about how we were in the middle of "The Second Golden Age of Toy Soldiers." During the anti-war years of Viet Nam, commercial mass market "army men" figures almost completely disappeared. Hobbyists were reduced to haunting flea markets for old toys, mostly parts from old Marx playsets. One later to be famous hobby dealer was reduced to purchasing figures decorating birthday cakes--as reported in an interview in The New Yorker magazine! Then a collecting fraternity was born.
From it, and other related circles, cam the new ventures, usually not in the mass market, but by mail order and regularly established local "military toy shows." New companies were making new 54mm product, which was historically accurate (therefore useftil in war games), plastic (therefore inexpensive), and increasingly available through mail order catalogue, and later over the internet (therefore accesible). Although many of those early companies did not survive, today's scene has continued the trend of new manufacture, extending it ftirther into new periods, and including the terrain, vehicles, and other equipment useful both to collectors and gainers.
Unfotunately, 54mm lovers and admireres of the smaller scales still rarely interact. 54mm sales booths are still almost nonexistent at wargaming conventions, and smaller scale metal figures almost never appear at the toy shows. So for those of you hwo have considered playing with the Big Scale toys--excuse me, I mean simulating history with 54mm miniature figures--or 54mm enthusiasts who haven't been receiving information from the newest companies yet, here is an update on what has become available in the last few years. Is your period of interest here for the first time? Most likely, it is...
ANCIENTS:
This is the newest line of 54mm. endeavor! only a couple of year ago, there was absolutely nothing except old collectibles! Now several companies (Hat, Classic Toy Soldiers, etc.) have been working on the Roman theme, both Republican and later, with Carthaginians (including Numidians) and Celts in infantry and cavalry, plus war elephants coming.
MEDIEVAL:
This period, along with Cowboys and Indians, never quite disappeared. However, much medieval stuff was too fanciful to be taken seriously by gainers. The newer figures are much more realistic. Besides the Playmobil castle system, quite possibly the greatest toy ever created, many companies make figures in this period, both infantry and especially cavalry. Non-European contemporaries include Moors and Mongols (Reamsa), for battles in Spain, the Middle East, and Eastern Europe.
17TH CENTURY:
Nothing yet for Thirty Years War. But English Civil War was stgarted by A Call To Arms, which now makes ECW (Command Set), Pikemen, Royalist Musketeers, Parliamentary Musketeers, ECW Cannon, and Royalist Artillery. Older useful figures include Jecsan French Musketeers (including mounted poses), Reamsa Conquistadores (including mounted for Cuirasseirs), Monarch Conquistadores, and the od poses by Cherleia, Fontanini, Replicants, and even Disney PVCs (John Smith). Napoleonic Cuirasseirs can easily be trimmed to form lobsterbacks on both sides (Hat, A Call To Arms, Classic Toy Soldiers, etc.).
18TH CENTURY:
1. 18th Century Naval: Many companies make pirates/naval crew. Large ships are new from Barzo and Conte, older "pirate ships" are available in mass market from Playmobil (3 varients), Simba (similar but cheaper), Little Tykes, and Fischer Price (2 sizes). Excellent uniformed British naval crew figures are available by Peter Cole of Replicants.
2. FIW/ARW: Much is available now. The newest are sets from Conte (The Patriot) not yet out in plastic, but to include just about everything you need, including cavalry. Other newer sets include A Call To Arms, ATS, etc. Eastern Indians are avalable from Barzo and Classic Toy Soldiers. Frontier figures useful from French and Indian right up to sets of "Alamo Defenders" are out. Barzo has been the biggest innovator here, with playsets and supplementary stuff on Rogers Rangers, Last of the Mohicans, Mike Fink and Davy Crockett, Treasure Island, and Battle of New Orleans. His latest add ons are two lovely French 32 Pounder guns with crew. His many "firsts" include the first French and bonneted Highlanders specifically for North America. Jamie Delson of The Toy Soldier Company has commissioned many sets already existing in varient colors in this period of the tricom, and occasionally even extra poses pantographed up from 1/72 sets, which opens the possibility of gaming The Seven Years War with troops from Timpo, Accurate, etc.
19th CENTURY:
1. European Napoleonics and North American 1812, MAW, and minor wars: Shako troops and cavalry available were always available but have expanded greatly. The latest is new cavalry (cuirassiers as above and Dragoons by Hat). Italieri is just about to release its first 54mm sets, no doubt to be of the same quality as their 1/72 lines. Specialty troops include Austrian Avant Guard skirmishers from Hat.
2. American Civil War: The old standby, along with WWII, has grown so fantastically that it is almost impossible to keept track of cavalry, artillery, and infantry in kepi and wide brimmed hat. Cowboys work too. The only thing missing on the scene is naval figures. The USS Monitor and Merrimac are available from The Toy Soldier Company. The Barzo Mike Fink river flatboats make excellent casement ironclads. Recent speicialty regiments include the Iron Brigade by Call To Arms and Armies In Plastic, Zouaves by Marxmen and two sets by Hat, and Replicants. US Sharpshooters (Timpo in Green by Toy Soldier company). 14th Brooklyn by Butternut and Blue.
3. European Expansion--late 19th Centga Colonial/Imperial: This period was a"fiercely ignored" up until recently. It was felt that USA collectors and garners were too provincial to care. Also, there were no "Eastern" 54mm figures available--the rest of the world, populated by Africans, Asians, and Middle Eastern Muslims among others, did not exist! Except for a few Zulus and African "natives," and a few generalized "Arabs," and martial arts ninjas. This is now quickly being remedied. This is another field that has gone from zero to much in the last two years.
A). New Eastern troops: Conte Zulus and Tuaregs, AIP Boxers in about 12 colors, Reamsa, Timpo, and Charbens Arabs, Fontanini turbaned Janissaries.
B). Late 19th Century Europeans: BMC/AIP Rough Riders, US Regulars and Buffalo Soldiers, and Spaniards by BMC. British 24th Foot by A Call To Arms, Marlborough (discontinued), Conte, one by Replicants, and converted European Jungle hunters by many. Victorian Highlanders and British khaki infantry by AIP (with Boers coming).
19TH CENTURY NAVAL:
An excellent range of 25mm scale but quite usable "Steam Squadron" tin ships are available from a mail order company called Upper Deck. They are expensive, but you only need a few. These include a steam side wheeler (VICTORIA), Spanish American era battleship (TERRIBLE), steam yacht (NEW YORK), and 2 steam launches (POLARIS and AFRICAN QUEEN). You can get those suchi boats from Japanese restaurant supply companies for Middle Eastern/Asian dhows or other craft--the wooden ones are expensive, but the plastic ones work, and even have removable decks (check them out the next time you eat Japanese).
WORLD WAR ONE:
This most horrible of all wars to be actually in is very popular with wargamers. After gaming out the entire war with Airfix 1/72 as a high schooler, I promised myself I'd never go back! Oops! Then came Armies In Plastic, a small shop located right by West Point. Hmmm ... a fellow New Yorker! And what figures. Many sets in varient colors withinjust a couple of years. Late war Germans in steel helmets in accurate feldgrau, French in horizon bleu and in tan for Belgians or Colonial French, (or the Harlem Hellcats). British, Canadians, Highlanders, US infantry and marines (green winter uniforms), with earlier Germans in pickelhaubes to come! And there's that amazing Form Tech trench system with its various pieces. Let's not forget the Reamsa WWI Turks. I broke my soft plastics only limits to include a battery of metal French 75s, and a tank drome made of European model kits: German A7Vs, British male and female, and light Whippets, French lights, and soon German armored cars. Why not?
WORLD WAR II
This most popular period of all never quite extinguished. European companies augmented the fine Marx playsets figures with the even more accurate international troops to replace the old dime store figures (Airfix, Esci, Atlantic, Made In The USSR, etc.). Some of the particularly good lines just out include Classic Toy Soldiers' Germans and Japanese, Russian made infantry including interesting poses such as a sailor and an old man, reissues of Oliver Japanese, BUM (Barcelona Universal Miniatures) Spanish Foreign Legion (marching only) and Civil Guard (same). Unusual older plastic collectibles including various Britains and Timpo swopets, Oliver, Charbens, and Cherleia Chinese, Commandsi Japanese, anything by Lone Star or Crescent, especially Australians and Sikhs, the Atlantic Political sets (Hitler, Mussolini, Lenin/Stalin, and Mao--the Great Dicators), Starlux Russians (including female sniper), and earily accurate Germans (all Starlux in hard plastic) and Italian Besaglieri in combat poses, Dulcop Italian Alpini and Airfix Italians, chunky but rareTinimee Russians, etc.
This column was written only a month ago, now as I retype it finally, there is much news. Conte's huge line of THE LONGEST DAY playsets. 21st Century's amazing new 1/32 WWII vehicles (go check your local Toys R Us). For $15.99 you get a vehicle made from hard plastic and PVC which looks like a professionally painted and decalled model, but is in fact much sturdier, with opening hatches and shading. They include 6 each of German and American figures, plus the 3 crew figures that come with the vehicles. Conte has just "adopted this line which will be now featured in the playsets!
The "first generation" includes German Tiger tank and 4-wheel 222 armored car. US M-5 light tank with hedge cutter, Hellcat Tank Destroyer, and Walker Bulldog tank (Korean vintage). Coming soon German Hanomag halftrack. They herald the return of historically accurate stuf to the MASS MARKET! Hooray--didn't think it would happen again in my lifetime, or at all. Wow. So be patriotic to the hobby and go out and buy some. If you don't want to keep them, just send them to me. Of almost equal importance to the hobby is the new BMC arrangement to use King and Country figure lines and vehicles (previously in metal). The first example out is the Iwo Jima playset with fine US Marines and Japanese, plus a Sherman tank, Amphtrac (3 MGs), and a great terrain piece. Form Tech also continues to chum out new terrain such as wrecked buildings, street barricades, etc.
Vehicles
The biggest news in the Big Scale is definitely the vehicles. I've just finished redoing all my WWII vehicles in true large scale. No more 25mm forme! Here isthe latest onnewand noteworthy:
US Vehicles:
Sherman tanks by Classic Toy Soldiers, BMC, the battery powered ones out in discount stores in Army and Marine versions, and even an Airfix one never previously released! We're drowning in 'em folks, after waiting for the first Sherman tanks ever ... I've only been waiting 30 years. Repros of early Marx "training center" playsets of Grayhounds, SPs, and halftracks. Ideal Pershings (mislabelled as "Pattons"). Repro MPC tractors and weasels.
German Vehicles:
Airfix Hanomags and now a Panzer IV short barrel. Classic Toy Soldiers Panzer IVs in short and long barrels, Tigers, and now Panthers. Solido Opel Blitz trucks (in a bigger scale than the rest of their otherwise excellent metal line). Marx Panthers, motorcyclists, and "halftracks." Marx and CTS 88mm. mounts. BMC AA guns suitable for mounting on their bunkers or on halftracks. Atlantic quad AA mounts and jeeps.
Russian Vehicles:
USSR metal T-34/85, SU-100, towed AT, and'Ford" type flatbed trucks with varient wheel configuration and even treads (for that iced over Lake Ladoga). Bread trucks, fuel trucks, and covered army trucks. Usuable postwar annored cars. Classic toys T-34/76 and T-354/85 in both green or white. US and British stuff on lend lease?
British Vehicles:
Just now adding to the old Airfix Cromwell, Bedford lorry, and Abbot SP with the Daimler armored car (also Airfix) and the soon to be coming CTS Churchill. Hey, let's see some Firefly's, someone! Shermans and Stuarts as above. Jqpanese Vehicles: CTS Chi-Ha mediums (well, its a start).
POST KOREA MODERNS:
While I don't collect in these eras, I note that there is plenty of Viet Nam era plus now Deset Storm, and even more modem and Sci Fi. Notable are the new and inexpensive 25mm Warthogs and Apaches from Squad Soldiers (ok--they're in my new Sci-Fi box). Humvees, Abrams and more in any Toys R Us, and new inexpensive plastic figure/vehicle sets from China in transparent covered boxes.
SUPERSCALE!!!:
Six inch action figures and vehicles by 21st Century, who was already successfid with their product in mass market with them. This gives me confidence in their new WWII 1/32 lines mentioned above. GI Joe size figures and vehicles by Ultimate Soldier, 21st Century, GI Joe, etc. in many collectible yet playable figures from WWII and modem. Celebrity figures; everyone from George Patton to Bob Hope. Every type of figure from pilot to naval AA gunner with his mount. And these vehicles are so big, they come in an individual carton. Check out the tanks in this size, and you'll see I'm really very conservitive with my "little" 54mm scale! And believe it or not, the first East Coast convention games have now been played with this size this year. It was set in WWII Italy, with Germans and Americans fighting over wine. Truly amazing! I think they used skirmish rules, though.
NOTHING YET (BACK TO 54MM):
Renaissance, Thirty Years War, Crimean War, ACW Naval, Late 19th Century European Naval, Franco-Prussian Germans (on the AIP drawing board however, as conversions from their forthcoming WWI Pickehaubes; French Foreign Legion and ACW out can be used), Russo-Japanese (useable for Boxer Rebellion/WWI as well), East Front WWI, Russian Civil War/ Chinese Warlord era (hey, let's see some cavalry and armored trains out there) and Korean War (doable with WWII Allies, Russians, Chinese, and Japanese).
TERRAIN:
The "foam revolution" pioneered by Form Tech has produced many pieces for all periods including forts, reastworks, wrecked buildings, an entire modular trench system, major rock formations, bridges, ships, and more. Other recent items include a plastic Vauban star fort, Tudor style European era farm buildings (SIMBA), and the huge and amazing Playmovil stuff, especially their medieval castle system constantly being expanded, pirate ships, Victorian houses, and Western buildings. Craft stores like those outside Lancaster, PA (home of East Coast cons) sell wooden 54mm bird houses made to look like 18th-19th century buildings that are perfect--a two story bam, and Irish pub, etc. Foam structures can be found in the Barzo and Conte playsets, in the CTS catalogue (a European wrecked street and a desert bunker line), and other places. And don't forget the Lincoln logs and train sets!
In short, if you want to start or augment a 54mm collection for you or your kids, THERE IS A LOT OF STUFF OUT THERE. Most of it wasn't out before. Much of it is product lovingly made by boomer hobbyists, as the smaller scale stuff always has been. If you want to work in 54mm, and have the storage space, its very rewarding to do so--especially to those of us with aging eyesight (9mm?--you've got to be kidding. I can't tell a 9mm Napoleonic from a 9mm Viet Cong). Hey, don't get me wrong; I'll play with anything. But my own stuff is BIG TOYS. I love'em!
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© Copyright 2001 Hal Thinglum
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