Refusing To Take It On The Chin

I TOLD yesterday how the magazine Toy Soldier Collector alerted me to the newly issued Chintoys' Conquistadors and Mesoamericans.
Today I took the Tube north to Colindale and visited the London branch of Hannants to discover more.

Hannants … unprepossessing from the outside but full of military modelling kits and packs, especially 1:35 and 1:72

I was partly hoping to find scenery that could be used for 10mm-scale bridges in my much-delayed upcoming 275th anniversary refight of the Battle of Dettingen.
That proved fruitless, but Hannants did have the new Chintoys toy soldiers: Conquistadors, Mixtec & Zapotec and Aztec.
Each bag - they do not come in boxes - is priced at £19.99 and contains, as far as I could tell, 10 dismounted figures.
In other words, buying a pack of Spaniards with Allies and, say, three packs of Aztecs to give a minimal historical balance of when Cortés invaded Mexico in 1519, would cost the very best part of £100, and you still would not have any mounted Spaniards.
I passed on that, but I was still pleased I went as Hannants is simply nice to walk around - particularly recommended if you are into 1:72 plastic model soldiers or 1:35/32 aircraft.
My visit also gave me the chance to pop into the nearby RAF Museum. Entry is free, which is about right, and the museum cafe sells a decent double-espresso for £2 (the espresso could have done with less water, but otherwise was reasonably strong).

Christmas tree at the RAF Museum

Double Up

TWO magazines arrived yesterday - the December/January issue of Toy Soldier Collector and the November/December issue of Slingshot.

Great pair

TSC has its usual fine collection of eye candy, but the most interesting piece for me was news of the release of plastic 1:32 Mesoamerican warriors and Conquistadors, nicely timed for next year's 500th anniversary of the start of Cortés's invasion of Mexico.
Slingshot has excellent Guardroom commentaries on ancient Egypt, the hitting power of horses and Hussite war wagons, while also of great interest is Roy Boss's summing up of warfare under the Roman Emperor Justinian.

Ancient Warfare: Sep/Oct 2018

AN issue devoted to "armour in the ancient world," although most of the armour discussed is Roman related.

Striking cover … fascinating contents

I have rather delayed blogging about this issue of Ancient Warfare, and the contents are not as fresh in my mind as they might be, but I am fairly sure I enjoyed every article - not something I can often say about any magazine.