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