New Emhar WWI

TSSD is reporting that new Emhar figures are on the way. This time they will be offering WWI Americans. Makes sense as they have released their Germans and British 1/32 sets, both of which started out life as 1/72 figures. I know several people have mentioned, and I agree, that the plastic they use, very hard, fragile, and shiny, is not the best. The figures are only 1/35 rather than 1/32, which doesn't sound like all that big of a difference, but yea, it's a difference. But... there ain't much WWI out there, and if you're looking to setup a nice scene, the more figures the better. Plus, they usually sell for a pretty reasonable price. Michtoy has all the sets for 8.99.

Doritos X-Box 360 Chips

Well, they aren't really called X-Box 360 Chips, but that's what Stephanie called them, and it just kind of stuck. Anyway, you may or may not have seen them in the stores. Doritos in a black bag, a mystery flavor that you're supposed to taste and then think of a name for. Good concept, and of course we're all suckers to taste something mysterious that is named after letter-number combinations, so we bought some. Shortly after that, we tasted them. The best description can be found on yesterday's Penny Arcade site (second paragraph down, language warning for younger readers, or for those that don't find the occasional use of profanity Hi Larious.).

This post had nothing to do with Toy Soldiers, unless you count the fact that I bought a set of the FoV Pirates during the same shopping trip. Yea, they rock, but then ya'll probably already knew that since they've been out for awhile. I was a bit behind on getting them.

Waiting...

Mostly, as far at toy soldiers go, I'm just sort of killing time till the Chicago show. I sent an email to Mr. Conte a few days ago about what he might have there. From his reply I could tell that he is VERY excited about the Spartan and Persian sets, as probably most of us are, and that he is trying his best to have them available by Chicago. He did say that the Viking set would probably be available first. Cool, I can dig it, though if they do arrive at around the same time (both this year), I would have to go with the Spartans, simply because that is where my personal interests would be.

I'm just not a Viking fan.

Maybe it's because I'm not up on Viking history. That's usually what it takes with me. Give me a good book on Viking history, or some really Rockin' movie, and I'd probably start feeling that pull, the undeniable need to start setting up scenes in small scale plastic, and that somehow by doing that, I might glean an even better understanding of it all. Meh. I don't know. Where was I? Oh yea, killing time till Chicago. Or, simply killing time till this Sunday, as that is when Mr. Weston has said he would put up some information about some new sets coming from himself and Replicants. Specifically, test shots of the Mexican peasants (not to be confused with Mexican Pheasants). Rock on. I think it's high time someone did a complete set for civilians. I hope they turn out to be successful, as I would like to see civilians from other time periods done as well. Civil War era civilians, WWII European & Russian villagers, Western townfolk, ect. It's probably hard to sell non-military poses, but I sure wish more companies would give it a try.

New Italeri

I've been seeing some pictures of the newest Italeri figures popping up in a couple different places. They have a set of Mamelukes and Napoleonic British Infantry (The Green Jackets). Now, I've only seen pictures, but these look like some good poses. We'll have to wait and see what sort of scale we will end up with, but the poses look nice enough.

I love the sword bayonets used by the British Rifles. Their weapons look small, but I think they are supposed to, being a shortened style of rifle. The figures, as you probably know, are originaly from the 1/72 set, which had twice as many poses. For the most part, us 1/32 guys got most of the best poses. I would have liked to have seen the Officer figure included at the expense of the guy standing in an open stance or the marching figure, but oh well, can't win em' all.

The Mameluke set looks pretty awesome, and includes, if I'm seeing right, four different cavalry poses. Rock on. The figures have some awesome outfits on, and armed to the teeth. My only small complaint would be that I would have liked to have seen the other poses from the 1/72 set added in somehow. The trumpet blower and the standard bearer would look great in a setup, but in the end, I guess having more actual troopers is a better thing. I'd better stop before I start muttering nasty things under my breath about those lucky 1/72 guys.

Weston Gunfighters, Father's Day

I read on TSSD this morning that they have gotten a large supply of the Weston Gunfighters. And they are in a new color: Marx Cream. Good choice, as they will now go with the old Marx Cowboys, if they match up in size. I'm still holding out on ordering them hoping that I can lay my hands on one of the Apache figures at the show in Chicago.

I hope ya'll all had a nice father's day, if in fact it applied to you in anyway. Me and my dad went out car shopping... er, he was shopping, I was just drooling. Mustangs, Jeeps, Harleys... I'll take one of each, thank you. Nah, we was just havin' some fun. My gift to him were three new Britain Civil War figures sculpted by Ken Osen that I bought at a reenactment earlier this year. My dad really liked them and will most likely set them up in his office with the painted Conte Civil War figures he has. He says that he'll walk into his office sometimes, and all his figures will be moved around in a new configuration. His coworkers seem to enjoy toy soldiers too.

Tim-Mee Fort West

We went out to some yard sales today. For the most part, nothing but junk. You know, cans of nails, beat up shoes, pink doors, toilets, ect. But I did manage to pick up a box playset from Tim-Mee called Fort West. It had the entire fort, a bunch of copied Airfix cowboys and Indians, and some fairly nice Tim-Mee horses with riders, both cowboys and Indians. Most of the accessories were missing, but it still had the hitching post and the watering trough, the cardboard teepee, and the cheapy green trees. I really like the fort. It fits together really well, unlike some other cheapo fort apache rip-offs I've gotten over the years. Much better than the new Marx version that came with MPC cavalry figures that was available a few years ago. That was junk, junk, junk. For $1.25, not a bad deal overall. I love yard sales.

Mrs. Mow Mow loves them too. She spent about 30 minutes in the box, and then decided to pose inside the fort when she saw the camera come out.

Barzso Alamo Accessories

Somebody help me out here. On the TSSD page, it says they picked up a few items from Ron Barzso at the Texas Show. The first item mentioned is a bagged set of Alamo Accessories #2. I don't think I've ever heard of such a bag of accessories. Is this something new he made especially for this show, a collection of old items cobbled together, or something that has been around forever that I just don't remember seeing before? And if it's set #2, where and what is set #1?

The Sopranos Ending

Some of you may watch The Sopranos. The last episode aired this past Sunday, if you watched it, you know that it was an ending that is hard to shake, and even harder to fully understand. Radley Balko (political blogger) has one of the better explanations I've read. Bummer to see the series end, but I think it was a great ending.

New Hat Figures

I only have a few Hat sets, mostly because it pains me to buy a full set of figures and only get four different poses. Another reason is that they haven't done much in 1/32 for my particular eras of interest. But the poses always look good, and someday I will pick up the sets that I don't have. Their next couple sets look to be Gallic Warriors and Spanish Infantry. My grasp of history for these troops is non-existant, which means a trip to wikipedia later in the day to figure out what's up. I appreciate that Hat is getting back into the 1/32 market and showing off some of their master sculpts before the product is ready. Rock on.

A Variety of Soldierish Things

First off, run on over to the Conteco site and tell them what color you want the unpainted Spartans and Immortals in. For the Spartans, I would love to see the scarlet color. Seems to fit best in my opinion. For the Immortals, I have no opinion. In fact, I would like to see them in a variety of colors like some previous Conte troops. Still no word as to the contents of the Spartan playset. Hopefully that cat will get let out of the bag in the near future.

I'm not a metal guy so much, but I do appreciate them. Plus, I've always had a soft spot for the fantasy miniatures from the Reaper company. They mostly do mini (20mm?) figures for games such as Dungeons and Dragons. I used to play a bit and I always loved their line of miniatures. They have, in the recent past, done a few 54mm figures in white metal. It's a variety of sculpts, but a couple of them are pretty cool. My favorite, and one that I would consider buying, is the Monique DuNoir vampire. Rockin'. Anyway, for you Metal guys, thought that might be of interest.

Back to Conte for a second, you can see on the same page as the Spartan color options that they have restocked some of their older playsets including an FFL set and a Zulu set. Man, I'd love to pick them up, but I have to wait to see what is new at OTSN this year. If nothing new sparks my interest, I'll look into going back and picking up an out of production playset from either Conte or Barzso. But the chances of not seeing something new I want is slim to none if I had to guess.

If Only it was my Birthday...

I used to think I wanted a new Jeep, but I've got my eye on another beauty.

News from the Conte Site

Whats Up!!

Skim on over to the Conte site to read the latest offerings from Mr. Conte. I love his continuing FAQ section. It's insightful, interesting, and full of great teases! ROMANS!!! I give that a big "RAWK ON"! Meh, I'm getting ahead of myself. Stow the Romans for now, I need some Spartans! I believe it is mentioned somewhere in there that the Spartans and Immortals are still scheduled for an 07' release. Bring it.

He spends the final paragraphs talking about Toy Soldier forums. From reading what he wrote, it sounds as if there are a LOT more Toy Soldier forums out there than what I know about. I'm registered over at the Hobby Bunker forum (my favorite!!), and I skim through the Treefrog Treasures one. There is one that's called Sarge's Militaria Forum Board, though I haven't visited in awhile, and not sure how active it is (there is a link to it on the LINKS page). The Plastic Warrior Magazine has a forum, though the last time I checked, not much was posted. And then there is the forum that you can link to from the MichToy website for ONTC, but it focuses on metal figures. Oh, and then there is the HAT forum, but the few times I've rambled through it, it seems to be held firmly by the 1/72 guys. So I'm curious as to what these other forums are that talk about 1/32 figures. He did name the Marx Yahoo Group, and it's always got good information, but since I only read the new messages on the actual group page instead of through my email, I can never see the pictures that get attached. I don't know if this is normal or if I have a setting messed up somewhere.

Changing topics, I found a random toy soldier mention the other day. One of the premier Alt-Country bands on the scene today, Two Cow Garage, mentions toy soldiers in their song "Come Back To Shelby". The song can be found on their new album "III" and on their myspace page. Dude, they rock.