New Civil War figures (Expeditionary Force)

Singapore-based "Expeditionary Force" has deployed its new line of Civil War figures. Above, I've mixed in the new guys with a few Butternut and Blue, Marx Civil War Centennial and CTS figures - along with a pair of Imex Parrots. The E.F. figures are crisply sculpted but quite small - more 1/35 than 1/32. Conte and TSSD would certainly dwarf them. Size wise, the new troops are a perfect match with Butternut and Blue (O, B&B! Why did you flee the marketplace so quickly?!) and the Centennial lads. The cannoneers have a nice range of poses, but all have the exact same face. (Stepford artillerists?). Similarly, other than the officer pose, the cavalry comes in just two flavors - sabre extended above head and sabre held at side. All in all, though, a nice addition to the hobby/lifestyle that we've chosen to deaden the pain and tedium of this suffering life.

At the left, a husky, mutton-chopped cannoneer from Toy Soldiers of San Diego; at the right, his stunted, whiskerless Expeditionary Force counterpart.

The three standing poses are from Expeditionary Force, whilst the kneeling officer and wounded gunner are of course Marx products. (The binocular guy has been with me for 37 years; he arrived in the Marx Civil War playset I got on my 10th birthday. What a great set! I still have many of the figures, as well as the tin litho plantation home. Sadly, the siege cannon was destroyed - read "melted" - in a tragically misguided smoke bomb experiment the same summer I got the set.)

Left front, firing: Butternut and Blue; rear, firing: one of Ideal's giants; right, carrying bucket: Expeditionary Force.

A Drowsy Summer Day in Montana: 1876

Part of an historically mammoth gathering of American Indian plains tribes, an extended family of  Dakota Sioux tends to the day's chores along the Greasy Grass River in Montana.

Ladies stoke the fire, fuss over a little one and bring in wild roots from the plains.

Although a handful of tribal elders are awake, most of the encampment's fighting men were up late the night before, dancing and carrying on as young men will do, and are still asleep in their tipis. But the mid-day tedium is abruptly shattered by an ominous flurry of movement south of camp. Blue Turtle, a Sioux teenager, is the first to identify the threat. "Blue coats!" she cries.

Crazy Horse Triumphant

Battle of the Bulge Diorama

An overview of the diorama of the "Battle of the Bulge" that my son and I created. We incorporated our full arsenal of landscape, figure and armor goodies from Build-a-Rama, 21st Century (RIP), Forces of Valor, Dragon, "Halloween and Christmas Village" stuff from Michael's, etc. Note the King Tigers moving forward on the snowy ridge above a shell-blasted Belgium village. Basil Junior and I invested many dozens hours of fun and thought into this basement salute to the bloodiest U.S. battle of WWII.

Tiger Attack! (with a nod to 'Saving Private Ryan')

My interpretation of the awesome "Saving Private Ryan" scene in which the Americans grimly wait as a German Tiger tank rumbles toward them through the ruins of a French village.

I really like this photograph - a beseiged G.I. perforates a German infantryman with his Model '11 (.45 semi-automatic). The American figure is made by Classic Toy Soldiers, while the German is from Toy Soldiers of San Diego.

A German Marder - open-topped and thinly armored - pays for its commander's folly in advancing down a narrow street. A Molotov cocktail tossed from a second-story window splashes flaming vino across the German anti-tank vehicle, incinerating the crew.

The wreckage of war.

Archival footage

Rare photograph of fort inhabitants 'at ease" around the campfire. A Barzso ranger patiently roasts a spitted grouse (which he stuffed with wild sage) while a Marx Company trapper talks business with Supersize Fort Apache's duly authorized sutler. A cowboy looks on, drowsily.

The 7th Cavalry Tangles with the Fighting Uruk-hai (and sundry other foul beasts)

A mass of clearly vicious, malodorous beasts descended on Supersize Fort Apache through the North Woods, moments after the panicked hobbits arrived. "We will taste man flesh!" they roared. Having no interest in the monsters' dinner plans, every civilian in the territory made for the front gates - with the adults shooing the little ones and livestock ahead of them.

As the last of the civilians staggered toward the fort, Lt. Col. George A. Custer volunteered to lead a small force of dismounted 7th Cavalry troopers against the invaders. Custer, though a malignant narcissist, is personally quite brave - or, at the very least, utterly contemptuous of danger. He and his handful of veterans wade into the orcs, uruk-hai and assorted ocean-themed "Pirates of the Caribbean" villains, pistols and carbines cracking. (Note the Ron Wall Union artillerist in the background, behind the barricade; I once had Wall's entire, hand-painted rifled Parrott set, but this ram-rodder was the only figure to survive my divorce.)

Courage, unhappily, proves futile against the brute numbers and physical strength of my son's mid-childhood toys, and Custer and his noble lads are ruthlessly hacked, skewered and bludgeoned into oblivion.