Toy Soldier Collector October/November 2016 Issue 72

Although I do manage to fight the occasional wargame with my collection of 54mm figures, I am not what one could really describe as being a collector. That said, I sometimes have a look through the magazines that are aimed at collectors to see if there is anything that might be of interest. I saw this issue of TOY SOLDIER COLLECTOR on sale in a local branch of WHSmith, skimmed through it, saw several items of interest, and bought a copy.

Besides a very interesting article about the toy soldiers manufactured by Britains during the interwar period, the article that did catch my eye was one by Mike Blake entitled PLAYING WITH TOY SOLDIERS. This is the first in a series of articles that are going to be published about 54mm wargaming, and this article covers the history of the hobby.

It begins with Robert Louis Stevenson and the wargames he fought and wrote about, and then moves on to H G Wells and LITTLE WARS. It briefly covers Donald Featherstone, the WARGAMER'S NEWSLETTER, and the first National Wargames Championship before looking in more detail at the work done by the late Steve Curtis, Ian Colwill, and the author of the article that led to the writing of the famous WESTERN GUNFIGHT RULES. The final part of this article describes the work done by the Skirmish Wargames Group, whose games can be seen at many shows across the UK. Photographs of some of the Group's games are used to illustrate the article.

The article ends with a promise that the next issue will 'look at the basic concepts of wargames rules, how it is possible to simulate warfare on the table top, and some specific challenges and delights of gaming in the large scale.'

I look forward to reading it.