Acorn Antiques (well, Vintage)

Old John has been keeping me in the loop in his efforts to track down information on a range called Acorn Napoleonics. These were made by Platoon 20, designed by the late Dave Allsop when he lived in Northern Ireland, and produced by Cameron Robinson. The aim was to provide decently proportioned 25mm figures at a basic price. They were intended to be bought in bulk and were rank and file figures only - you were expected to buy officers etc elsewhere. The range included French, British, Austrian, and possibly Prussian and Russian Line Infantry, with grenadiers where applicable. There is a suggestion there may have been some medieval figures as well. They were sold at Northern Militaire, at some point in the late 70s or early 80s. As they were intended to be cheap figures it is probable not many survive.

Does anyone have any further information on these figures? I would be interested in any photographs, listings or old adverts which may have appeared in Military Modelling at the time.

Franco Prussian War in Weardale

As you can imagine, my first contact with Black Powder on a visit up Weardale required slightly more recent figures than I am used to and caused a few misgivings. I must thank Colin for his hospitality and a great day, with a fantastic result - a draw which we could both claim as a moral victory. Using a CS Grant table top teaser, my French had to hold up the advancing Prussians for long enough to prepare the bridge for detonation, then get as many of their troops back over the bridge as possible before blowing it up. I held Colin's Prussians and Bavarians off successfully but got very few troops back over the bridge.

At this point I intended to add a photobucket sideshow but I just can't get the link to work - so lots of photos instead. tells (most) of the story - unfortunately I don't seem to have taken any photos of the Imperial Guard marching bravely over the bridge then smartly back again.

I will have to reflect a bit on the Black Powder experience - I was interested to see whether I would be happy using it for refighting some of the Georland battles. I think they work well enough, though there are a few things I might find difficult in the long run. All was arranged through a forum where Colin and I realised we had worked together a good few years ago.


As mentioned in his comment below, Colin has now posted a much more detailed account of the scenario and action, with his pictures, on his blog here.

There's none like these....

I don't think there will be any more of these anywhere in the world...

These are Lamming SYW figures - I think they started out as Prussian Cuirassiers - definitely cuirassiers, anyway. I got them a while ago, before I bought the Lamming display figures at auction. They had been converted for use as standard bearers, with swords and carbines removed. So I replaced these and painted them for use as British Cavalry or Dragoons for my '45 project.

So I have sort of restored them to near how they would have looked, but the swords and muskets will be different as will the uniform. In spite of my usual basic paint job I like them quite a lot and they make a flexible unit (or units). They are based individually on 20x40mm MDF bases from ERM and then movement trays from Warbases.