Going Back To A Childhood Hobby

Source: Flickr, labeled for reuse. Accessed 8/1/20 https://www.flickr.com/photos/boston_public_library/9726037094


I love toy soldiers. Growing up in the 1960's I played with them for hours both by myself and with friends. I played with knights in castles and for King Arthur to defeat Mordred. I played with pirates that would sail the seas. I had plastic army men from WWII and the Civil War and would act out the battles I learned or the movies/shows I watched. The stories were endless.

However,  by far my favorites were the painted "tin soldiers" in their vibrant, beautiful colors and uniforms. My aunt had a bunch of these. I remembered she had a set of Scottish Black Watch Highlanders that I would march around when I visited her. Painted soldiers are beautiful, masculine, and stylish.

Later, I found 15mm lead miniatures in the late 1970's. I painted a whole division of French Napoleonic line infantry and an employee at the local hobby shop asked me to paint an American Civil War "Glory" regiment of Civil War soldiers representing the Massachusetts's 54th. You may know this unit from the movie Glory with Denzel Washington. I was proud of my work and I wish I kept with the hobby. However, school, work and money took the interest out of my life. 

Now, that I have had more time due to Covid-19 It has given me time to go back and enjoy this old love of mine.

Why toy soldiers? Why the interest. The ideal of a soldier to me was one who is courageous, honor bound, and self-sacrificing. Soldiers are everyday men, for the most part, that serve their communities and country. I hope that my character is like this. They are a model of masculinity to me.  If I were to compare athletes to soldiers, the athlete competes for team or individual pride. The soldier fights in the conflicts of good and evil, in the conflicts of truth and justice.

Sadly, warfare deals with the study of mans failure in history to overcome sin at the societal level. We learn through this study of history and reenactment of these past failures so that we can protect our present and future in the lessons learned. I hope this hobby of mine will give glory and praise to Christ and enjoyment to those who participate in it.

Comments

Post a Comment

Please feel free to comment. However, I do moderate all comments to keep the blog a "family friendly" site so no profanity.

Popular posts from this blog

Comparing Black Powder to Field of Battle

Image
A few months ago I bought a new set of rules that really intrigued me. It is called Piquet: Field of Battle, 3rd Edition . (Here on I'll use FOB) You can find the rules at this link here: https://www.piquetwargames.com/ If you want to see a play example here is a YouTube video from Sgt. Stiner's channel. This video really helped to sell me on buying the rules. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VamPhGFcn-4 Warlord Games' Black Powder, 2nd Edition  rules (Here on I'll use BP) are also excellent. You can find their materials at: https://store.warlordgames.com/ BP   is the more well known and popular of the two rules. I judge this by the number of people on forums and gaming videos made. I don't think it necessary to post a video of BP rules in play here. A simple search on YouTube leads to dozens of BP battle report videos on a bunch of different channels to watch examples of play. What I want to do in this post is compare the two systems and talk about what I, personall
Read more

New Game System: Flames of War for World War II

Image
  Hello,  I have been busy with a lot of things and I have been gaming after reading. Last month, I bought a new game system for World War II gaming that is popular with many wargamers. It is called Flames of War and has been around since the early 2000's but it's the first time I have gotten into it. I found the rule book in a hobby shop and then ordered a starter army "Hit the Beach" set from Battlefront which makes the items for FOW. Hit the beach comes with two forces for D-Day, Americans and Germans.  The American force comes with a parachute platoon and up to 8, M4 Sherman tanks with 75mm or 76mm guns. The Germans have 2 anti-tank guns, 3 panzer IV tanks, and a panzergrenadier company. There is also a V-2 rocket model but has no effect on play. It's just a decoration that can be used as an objective for the Americans to take. I have built my models and have started to paint them. I'll post pictures when the are all finished. I like the great variety of i
Read more

Black Powder Rules Battle Report #1 The Battle of Many Mistakes

Image
 Hello, I have played two battles so far between my Dutch and Bavarian Armies. Both I played solitaire for now as I want to learn the rules, record questions that might come up, and share how it went. I'm enjoying it but I think I'll love it when I get to have a player to play with. This is actually my 2nd solitaire battle that this report is based on. I called it The Battle of Many Mistakes because as you will see. I made a lot of serious errors. However, war is like that. I'm sure Napoleon would not have interrupted me if he were my opponent. A note for you. You will see underlined 1's and 6's in the shooting sections. These represent unmodified rolls of 1's and 6's that are always a miss or always a hit. The Battle of Many Mistakes Victory Points and Objectives The bridge: 1 VP The house 1 VP each hill 1 VP each unit that breaks 1 VP for opponent Terrain The dirt road also consists of a bridge crossing ther river.  There are 3 hills. I may have to switch
Read more