Wee Men Plastic Toy Soldiers

May your collections increase tenfold And continue to bring you happiness May your toy hunts be successful And reward you with long sought treasures And may newfound friends that share the same passion nurture our community and industry of toy soldier collectors  "Isang manigong bagong taon sa inyong lahat!" A prosperous and happy new year to one and all!

Italeri set 6138 depicting the Goths during the era of the Late Roman Empire.

1:72 Heavy Warg Riders from Dark Alliance. Design seems influenced by Peter Jackson's film adaptations of J.R.R. Tolkien's legendarium.

Two of the dimestore-style parachute guys. Made in China and found in a Manila bazaar. Posted via Blogaway

I decided to go with khaki uniforms for this squadron of Bengal Lancers but with colored regimental turbans. Since I haven't had the chance to go thru the research I've been collecting, I left the turbans a solid blue in the meantime. I'm also planning to change the bugler's horse to grey. More soon. Posted via Blogaway

Painting the Strelets Bengal Lancers but can't decide if I should go all khaki or the more colorful dress uniform. And if dress, which regiment? I like the look of Skinner's horse as well as Hodson's horse. And the headgear research is driving me batty too. Any suggestions? The photo shows the horses finished with the riders just base painted. Did any regiment use khaki uniforms with colored regimental turbans? That might be a good compromise. Strelets sculpting leaves a lot to be desired and makes it difficult to paint faces, hands, etc. Most are just lumps of material roughly pushed into place. Sigh, but I keep on buying these sets from them. Misplaced fondness for their plastic charm? Maybe. I hope these painted ones turn out nice though. Posted via Blogaway

Medieval Russian Druzhina from Strelets sets Army of Alexander Nevsky (082) and Russian Medieval Horsemen (017). These Russian produced figures have been criticized for being of inferior quality in terms of casting, sculpting and moldmaking. Though the molds are indeed horrible -- imagine trying to cut-off a spear in 20mm scale attached to a sprue the size of your thumb -- I, however, find them quite charming and reminiscent of cast lead figures :) I'm weird that way.

Fear no danger! Shun no labor! Lift up rifle, pike, and saber! To arms! To arms! To arms, in Dixie! Shoulder pressing close to shoulder, Let the odds make each heart bolder! To arms! To arms! To arms, in Dixie! Dixie on Youtube