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2006: A Historic Year for Toy Soldiers?

Hello people! I am a collector who specializes in pre-1783 AD scenarios that also likes to track the historiography (i.e. the history of production trends in our case) of 1/72 scale collecting through the years. With this in mind, I am interested in your opinion on my thoughts.

In 2006, among the original releases by Strelets were STRM001 (Normans), STRM002 (Norman Archers), STRM003 (Anglo-Saxons), and STRM004 (Vikings). All four sets were based on a concept not seen often in the scale before, which was to focus on providing poses that could all fit together and be presented in one large formation, rather than treading most poses as separate individuals. My question for you guys is: do you think this was a landmark event in 1/72 toy soldier collecting, or was it not that important? A related question to this would be, do you think Strelets' new Napoleonic sets or the Mini line in general have made the selections from predecessors (such as Accurate, HaT, Orion, Zvezda, etc.) so inefficient that they are essentially obsolete? I am interested in all opinions.

My thoughts are that for somebody that focuses on formation based periods, I think this was a huge and underrated moment in the 1/72 scale. The efficiency of Strelets sets delivering groups of men working toward one battlefield formation is unmatched by previous companies (although to be fair Atlantic's infantry portion of The Egyptians does remarkably well on this metric), and sometimes I have trouble thinking of ways to use the more... hmm... let us call them "artistic" poses offered by some of their predecessors. But again, I am interested to hear from others, as my thoughts are messy and never, ever perfect.

Have a nice day!

Sincerely,
TheBabylonian109

Re: 2006: A Historic Year for Toy Soldiers?

Interesting thoughts and theories!

According to the Plastic Soldier Review (PSR) the only year that has seen more new sets released than 2006 was 2009. The first decade of the 2000s was very much a 'golden age'.

There are a number of sets that pre-date 2006 which were designed with a view to allowing the modeller to create a homogeneous (ie: all figures doing much the same thing) unit. You only have to look at the pre-2006 back catalogue of HaT's ancient figures (eg; Macedonian phalangites, Roman legionairies) to see this.

The release of the '1066 shield wall' sets by Strelets marks the point at which I started to collect their figures seriously. These sets are still amongst my favourite Strelets figures, and they mix very well indeed with 1/72 metal figures from a UK specialist manufacturer, Tumbling Dice.

The new Strelets Napoleonics are very good, although I prefer the advancing/action poses eg: the new Bavarians, to the 'standing at ease etc' sets which have tended so far to be the majority of sets released. But Strelets are advancing very quickly in terms of sculpting and production quality. For me, the 'other Russian Company' (the one starting with Z') still come out top on Napoleonics, but they are no longer making large sets and Strelets will be up there with them before too long...

Re: 2006: A Historic Year for Toy Soldiers?

Indeed, the 2000s did see quite the surge. I was heartened to see that the amount of pre-1783 AD sets (my speciality) from 2000-2009 and 2010-2019 is comparable, so things seem to be staying relatively strong for the moment.

As for the HaT sets, I disagree to some extent. While their typical infantry set contains two to four quality poses, their coordination efficiency compared to the 1066 shield wall sets is lacking because too many men are carrying a shield unrealistically, facing an unnatural way because of the mould, or simply do not coordinate with each other well. This is especially true for their melee poses, less so for their archers and post-1700 AD offerings.

Indeed! I started my Strelets collection with STRM004 around the same time, although sadly I did not have the foresight to obtain the fellow Norman and Saxon sets. Back in the day I used to collect Airfix WWII like many of us did before I decided to boycott post-1815 AD scenarios for personal reasons.

Zvezda always look nice, but I have a hard time utilizing them for one reason or another half of the time. Their Napoleonics being exclusively targeted for two factions is a major downside for me compared to the competition, something Strelets has already passed.