I have posted two new posts on my sister blog Pound Store Plastic Warriors, all about the fun of making this semaphore signal tower for coast, mountain or desert from available scrap, a suitable toy soldier type fortified building for 30 mm to 54mm figure games.
Some of my Peter Laing 15mm British colonial troops and heliograph.
Some of the design ideas came from researching the fascinating history of flag and flash, semaphore and heliograph, which forms the subject of my second post here:
Today’s gaming inspiration: a vintage toy wooden wagon from our family collection.
It’s a bit bashed and bit delicate but crying out to be carefully used in a games scenario.
Will it be robbed by bandits?
What or who does it contain?
Does it need an armed escort?
Is it full of ammunition and supplies for a besieged garrison?
Will it explode if attacked with flaming arrows? (Too many western movies …)
Will it be used ‘fireship style’ to detonate next to a castle or town gateway or bridge?
Has it become detached from the baggage train?
Is it carrying prisoners or notorious villains to be rescued?
Has it cast or thrown a wheel and does it need to be rescued with a spare wheel and a wheelwright from the local town or castle?
More scenarios
There are two interesting scenarios – a medieval one, the Free Company and multi period Scenario 8 ‘Wheel Meet Again’ (excellent pun!) – involving wagons in Stuart Asquith’s excellent Military Modelling Guide to Solo Wargaming published by Argus 1988/89, available online secondhand. A fresher, more recent revised edition by Partizan / Caliver:
This toy wooden waggon has a timeless look from medieval (Robin Hood) through Napoleonic to late Victorian and Wild West. It has charming moving wood ‘button’ sort of wheels and its driver is about 20 to 25 mm scale.
The ToyTown Defence Volunteers! Those old fashioned wood and shavings boxes full of willing wooden warriors (Photo / figures: Man of TIN)
It complements well the old fashioned wooden toy soldiers packed in round boxes and straw, of which I only have one box currently all in red. A lopsided or one sided game!
Maybe I could buy or even make some more on a borrowed lathe!
Wild and weird world of wooden warriors and civilians from various makers and those wooden village sets. Wood turners with a lathe could bash out many of these.
Other superb waggons can be found in the ever useful Airfix Waggon Train OO/HO set from the 1960s, reissued a few years ago.
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