The 2013 Birmingham Toy Soldier Show

On Sunday I visited the Birmingham Toy Soldier Show. The drive down was more tedious than usual due to poor weather and a lot of shockingly bad (even for a Sunday) driving.  But sadly I suspect that the idiots who were hogging the middle lane of the M1 still don't realise that they delayed that ambulance...  Anyway, enough of that.

At the show - which my satnav and I found easily enough - I met up with Len Cooksey of Ivanhoe who was as usual, soon extracting money from me.  He had emailed me previously to say that he had some new Barszo fortress guns so I was already in a weakened state!

They are nice though - I felt that I showed commendable restraint by only buying two.  And Two six-figure crew packs....  The guns - selected from at least four different types - are a Colombiad (nearest) and an Armstrong.

 A top view of the Armstrong.  Both were assembled straight out of the bags in about ten minutes.

Next to Len's stand was one run my my old friends John Curry (he of the History of Wargaming Project) and his brother Mike.  I also ran into that shadowy fellow blogger known only as The Dancing Cake Tin.

 

One of the bigger (in every sense) bargains of the day was this BMC playset.  It includes two buildings and a load of figures and guns.  The figures aren't the greatest but I have a lot of them already and rather like their basic level of detail as it is readily matched by my basic painting!  Anyway, for £25 who's complaining?

As usual, a careful peruse of the various trade stands yielded a few gems.  These Britains Royal Marine bandsmen have been the victims of a manufacturing fault in that their faces are only half painted.  At a little under £1 a figure I won't mind dabbing on some paint!  I'm sure you'll forgive the hastily posed photo.

And now to my favourite figures of the day.  These are Starlux plastics and represent the navy of their native France.  I think they are just delightful.