The World of Toy Soldiers

Messalina is probably one of the most famous historical figures of Ancient Rome. Her scandalous behaviors and her participation in a plot against her husband gave her quite a bad reputation. Today, she is seen as the incarnation of the Roman vices and this is what this new RnB042 - Messalina figure is all about.

The Continental Army, raised on June 14 1775 for the Revolutionary War, led to the formations of several regiments within the Thirteen Colonies. In most of the cases, those regiments were sharing the same sewing pattern for their uniforms, only changing the colors of the fabrics. In the world of toy soldiers, this means that creating a new regiment is quite easy as the same figure can be painted in many versions. John Jenkins seems to have understood this and keeps covering new regiments by adding new recruits to his Drums Along the Mohawk collection. The latest addition being the JJ-SNY3-01 - 3rd New York Rgt Infantry Officer.

During World War Two, the Second Battle of El Alamein in 1942 can be considered as the main turning point for the North African front. From that moment, the allied forces began to steadily push back the Axis troops. The last chapter of the liberation of North Africa is known as the Tunisian campaign and lasted from 17 November 1942 to 13 May 1943.

This Sunday, in many countries around the world, people will celebrate Mother’s Day. This celebration seems a bit hard to combine with toy soldier collecting, but King and Country actually produced a lot of figures depicting mothers and childs. This week, we will have a look at one of those pieces: the HK253 - Mother & Child.

This piece is from the collection Streets of Old Hong Kong. This collection depicts the daily life of Hong Kong citizens as it was during the very late nineteenth century. When it was launched, this collection was clashing with the usual war themed toy soldiers. This was particularly appreciated by the collector’s wife when they were accompanying their husband to their favorite toy soldier store. Eventually, this collection became one of the most successful amongst women collectors, initiating many of them to this hobby. So, for Mother’s Day, choosing a piece from the Streets of Old Hong Kong was almost mandatory.

The HK253 - Mother & Child shows a young mother carrying her child on her back. She is feeding her kid while walking and holding her umbrella. The beauty of this piece not only comes from the relation between the two characters, but also from the detailed painting job. It is richly decorated with fine hand painted details to recreate patterns on the fabrics and decorative embroidments. The back of the t

There is a new Gun Truck that was released by King and Country for the Vietnam collection. On each side, there is a painting of a Vietnamese pin up called Suzie Q. It’s now time to talk about war, art and music related to the VN108-1 - M35A1 Gun Truck - Suzie Q.

In Quebec City, in what is known as Vieux-Québec, there is a commemorative plaque on a building. It marks the emplacement where one American colonel received a metal souvenir from one of the local riflemen. Ironically enough, there is now a metal toy soldier version of this man available only a few hundred meters away from that spot. That piece is the JJ-SGEN-02 - Major General Benedict Arnold by John Jenkins Designs sold at the Toy Soldiers Club store.

Easter is not often compatible with toy soldiers as toy soldiers are often about (you guessed it) soldiers. Nonetheless, King and Country managed to produce a collection called Life of Jesus with many different versions of Jesus. Like Easter is pretty soon, it would be a perfect timing to look at the LoJ051 - Jesus & The Blindman.

During the Great War, one of the most crucial moments for Canada was between April 9th to April 12 1917 in what is known today as the Battle of Vimy Ridge. It was the first time that such a large-scale operation was assigned to a Canadian commander. It was also the first time that all the four divisions of the Canadian Expeditionary Force would fight on the same battlefield

Nefertiti surely can find her place amongst the greatest queens of Egypt such as Cleopatra VI and Hatshepsut. She was one of the most important figures during the reign of her husband, the Pharaoh Akhenaten. Many representations of her done when she was alive survived to this day. The most famous of them is the Nefertiti Bust and currently on display at Berlin. Now, to compete with this controversial archeological find, we have the 1/30 scale version by King and Country: The AE091 - Carrying The Queen.

When it comes to the look of Bagot’s Hussar, contemporary illustrations are pretty elusive. Yet, John Jenkins managed to produce a very plausible and beautiful rendition of this small and mysterious elite troop. It’s time to look at the JJ-JRCAV-01 - Bagot's Hussar and talk about this regiment.