'Toy Story' from JohnB - Duke of Berwicks Irish Regiment

My submission for the Toy Story theme is about a book I discovered in a library when I was about twelve or thirteen. In those days I had a childs library ticket and the book in question was an adult book. Fortunately the village librarian on a Saturday was usually my sunday school teacher and she took pity on me. Back in those days kids did not get to take out Adult books - simple as that.

So I came home with a pristine copy of "Charge of How to play Wargames". I had never heard of wargames and although I had airfix figures I usually played these with my model railway just making up stories involving the "hand of god"(my mit) swiping soldiers and vehicles randomly. Then I suddenly had this book that said you needed to measure movement and throw dice to play with your soldiers. Crucially the book was full of narrative and story telling which is what really hooked me. The battles of Blasthof Bridge and Sittangbad have had many admirers over the years.

What also caught my eye was the cover photos - full colour pictures of Soldiers in action. Yet they were unlike anything I had. I did quickly switch to using my airfix ACW soldiers until I eventually bought airfix napoleonics. Strangely I did not use the AWI figures by airfix simply because I did not like them, even though these had the tricornes shown the pictures that I admired.

Several years later I bought Minifigs Seven Years war 25mm figures which in theory were just right for the period the book covered. They were never finished partly because I did not really like the squat nature of minifigs. I moved onto other periods.

Over the years I have often thought about doing something in tricornes. And then in 2008 after I had returned to the hobby after very long break I found Battle Games Magazine - I stumbled on the second edition in a station newsagent shop and of course the magazine was full of references to Imagination Wars, Charles Grant and of course "Charge".

I was still interested in other periods so left the idea to one side before eventually I decided I would use 1/72 plastics as a cheap way to test my interest again. Several units later and the figures were soon on a shelf gathering dust yet again. I had opted for Zvezda Great Northern War figures. They are nice figures but somehow I lost momentum on the period yet again.

Now you might be thinking - The Great Northern Wars? - thats way off the 1759 date reference in the book. However the book has pictures of british napoleonic artillery which don't fit the time line either. In fact the book was at pains to encourage a "fantasy" approach to gaming to head off the button counters! They encouraged gamers to paint whatever units they fancied to build an army or even make up their own uniforms. Finally we get to AHPC16 and the TOY STORY theme chimed with my memory of the book that launched my "toy soldiers become wargames miniatures" moment. Finally I have created some miniatures that I feel do justice to that book - the one that really launched my hobby.

This picture is just to show my Painting Portrait method - a simple background done in acrylics - it was fun to do. When Strelets brought out their Wars of the Spanish Succession range I bought a lot of boxes and promptly stored them away. Crucially I liked the sculpting. This years Toy Story theme sparked a thought - how about I replay that book cover. Now the front cover Pultava Guards have been seen on many an Imagainations wargames table over the years and fine they are too. The back cover though was the picture I always remembered. Redcoated soldiers with tricornes and a very nice large but strange flag.

So this is my theme entry - the Duke of Berwicks Irish Regiment - one of the "wild geese" irish regiments in French service in the 18th Century. The printed flag is by "not by appointment" blog - who offers a stunning selection of flags FREE TO PRINT. David Morfitt runs this blog. As with all my "charge" units they get the billiard table baize green base treatment and it works for me. Happy memories.

So my points calculation is 18 x 1/72 infantry at 4 points each = 72 points and hopefully 50 points bonus for the toy story.