The World of Model Soldiers, Part 1

Colin Luxford takes a tour of the world in miniature, starting with Europe and Asia.

- Colin Luxford

On the table in our conservatory, we have a tablecloth depicting the atlas of the world. I wondered how many countries could be represented by my models. Here is what I found together with some notes about the model and reasons for choosing them. I have as far as possible avoided using figures that I have featured previously in my articles and tried to represent a range of manufacturers. In some cases, I’m being self-indulgent, and in others using a bit of poetic license! It is also interesting to see the differences in size between models loosely described as 54mm. I have used the country names shown on my atlas although some of these have already changed. I am starting with the British Isles and moving more or less eastwards, continent by continent.

1 IRELAND: George Best 1966 Keymen Miniatures To coincide with the 1966 Football World Cup Finals (for some international readers, that’s soccer and it was held in England who also won it for the only time!) Keymen produced a set of players in their club and country’s kit. I have seven players (14 figures) of whom six are English but the seventh is George Best. It shows his superstar status at the time because Ireland didn’t even qualify for the finals.

WALES: Warrior 1270s - Andrea The 1270s was a time of tension. The English had a new ambitious king in the person of Edward I and there were changing loyalties among the Welsh leaders. Llewellyn was a particular thorn in the side of the English monarch and in 1277 the English invaded, defeated, and annexed the remainder of Wales that had until then been independent. I am assuming that the figure depicts a Welshman trying to resist the English but apologies to anyone who knows better.