A Day in History

  1. November 11th

    When the Great War started on July 28th 1914, this was the first time that a conflict was so vast. Over 30 nations from all over the globe entered in that war. Convinced this was a first painful step to stabilize the modern world and make it better, many fought thinking this would be the last war ever. It was assumed by many that the modern weapons were too efficient and deadly to fail to bring peace in a short amount of time.

    Read more »
  2. Can we do a top 5 for Halloween?

    When it comes to Christmas, toy soldier manufacturers are keen to produce pieces. King and Country has a whole collection dedicated to this subject and even John Jenkins Designs released the JJ-SBX-01 - British Christmas Set for his Battle on Snowshoes collection. But when it comes to Halloween, it seems that the theme is totally forgotten. It’s true that each collection related to war has its share of horrors, but what about true horrors? Against all odds and hidden within random collections, it seems that some pieces can qualify as horror pieces. So let’s have some fun and look at this relatively far fetched top 5 of most Halloweenish toy soldiers.

    Read more »
  3. The Plains of Abraham

    September 13th 1759, French and British met in Québec City for a battle that would reshape North America. The Battle did not last long and was certainly not one of the bloodiest with only 174 dead. Nonetheless, this decisive victory by the British troops took the main French port and precipitated the downfall of the Nouvelle-France.

    Read more »
  4. The Battle of Assaye

    Many know of Wellington’s military achievements during the Peninsular War or at Waterloo, but his greatest success on a battlefield probably was the Battle of Assaye during the Second Anglo-Maratha War. With the release of the new collection from John Jenkins Designs called “Wellington in India”, it would be nice to do some recap.

    Read more »
  5. Battle of Fort Carillon

    On July 8th 1758, two commanders met in America on a battlefield that was far different from what they were used to. Both were trained to European pitched battle, but they were now forced to engage in a woodland warfare style; a style that both commanders found to be a necessary evil. On that day, 3 600 entrenched French troops faced a massive outnumbering force of 16 000 british men at what is now called the Battle of Fort Carillon. Against all odds, the French won that battle. Let’s see how this happened and which toy soldier collections by John Jenkins Designs are linked to this event.

    Read more »
  6. Top 5 Battle of Normandy Pieces 2021

    During World War Two, June 44 was quite a busy month. On June 6th, the allies landed in Normandy and so began the Operation Overlord. This episode, also known as Battle of Normandy, ended on august 30th, a few days after the liberation of Paris. Naturally, such important events inspired many toy soldiers. So, to commemorate special month, here is my personal top 5 favorite items related to the Battle of Normandy that are currently available.

    Read more »
  7. May Napoléon Be With You

    May is an important month when it comes to Napoléon. Not only did he die on May 5th 1821, but he was also officially declared Emperor of the French on May 18th 1804. In addition, he also won the Battle of Lodi in 1796, he started his Egyptian campaign in 1798, he established the Legion of Honor in 1802, he was declared war by Britain in 1803, he dealt with a rebellion in Spain in 1808, he was defeated for the first time in 10 years at the Battle of Aspern-Essling in 1809, he won the Battle of Lützen and Bautzen in 1813… all those during months of May! Today, 200 years after his death, his legend still lives through the toy soldiers. Pieces related to this character’s life are so numerous that it can be almost overwhelming! So it would be only fitting to have a look at Napoléon Bonaparte this month and how our manufacturers are covering this topic.

    Read more »
  8. Monthly topic

    Collecting toy soldiers usually comes from a mix of various interconnected passions where toy soldiers are a bit of a capstone. So when collectors gather, they also talk about history, war movies, reenactment, experience in the army, military music, museums… Now that we do have a new website with a blog, we figured that we could have some fun exploring all those other passions that make toy soldiers collecting so fascinating!
    Read more »
Page