2013 retrospective Pt 2 ... Kulmbach - the best event of my year on the road ...

Yes, I managed to slip away to Germany for a week and ... I went to a toy soldier show!  

(Kulmbach seen from the Plassenburg)

Down there, ringed in yellow is the beer hall that houses the Zinnfigurenborse ... up here, in the castle from which I took the picture is the largest toy soldier Museum in the world (so they say, 350,000 figures, so they say) ...

The Museum is there the whole time, the toy soldier show (tin figure mart) just 3 days in August every 2 years.   I had waited for the opportunity to combine the visit.

I love flats, but find the choice, styles, prices, availability etc. all quite bewildering and impenetrable ... which is why, though still daunting, this is what you want ...

(one corner of the vast zinnfiguren trade hall)

That's probably about a quarter of it.   The vast majority of all those trade stands are selling 30mm flats ... and once you get your head round it all, it's easy enough to buy as much as you want at prices that seemed pretty good to me with no shipping to pay (and nearly everything in free plentiful supply - though I managed to find some reeds for my Egyptian project that needed to be sent on*).

If only we had one of these in England (say, a couple of times a year!)

My original report is here, and my look at the Plassenburg Museum is here.

Here are a few more pictures that failed to make the original cut ...

(some exhibits from the competition)

(a renaissance display from the trade fair)

(back in the Museum)

(a different shot crossing the Berezina)

(a rare Great War diorama)

(details of the New World diorama)

(some vintage boxed sets)

(detail from the Luethen battlescape)

(Prussians)

... and finally the Museum's reconstructed workshop of legendary A Ochels (Kieler/Kilia)

*********

For a change to finish, here are some Guyler/misc elephants tidied and restored by me ...

Back on the road soon ...

*concerning which I can also report that although they took a few weeks (I think the traders all go on holiday once the show is put to bed) everything I ordered turned up - as it happens before I had jad a chance to use any of it

9th - 11th August, Kulmbach, Bavaria

This trip grew out of my acquisition of a large number of flats from the early years of ancient wargaming ... a collection of Deryck Guyler and Tony Bath ancients plus Phil Barker's Romans.

My early interest was sparked by seeing the Guyler collection on Blue Peter as a youngster and then the Trimsos game in Don Featherstone's book - so being asked to give a home to some of those figures has been a great opportunity ...

But all enthusiasts know that collections are never complete and refurbishment always means going shopping...

... and, for flats, the Kulmbach show is the pace to go.  

For those that don't know it, the Zinnfiguren Borse (Tin Figure Market) takes place every two years, and although it covers all sizes and styles of model soldier it famously specialises in the traditional German style flat figure.

It shares Kulmbach with two other appropriate specialities ... the brewery and the Plassenburg Zinnfiguren Museum.   On my first day in Kulmbach I explored and acclimatised to the show: on day two I made the trip up to the Plassenburg (which overlooks the show) and discovered the best museum in the world, ever ...

At the show, while some figures are displayed in dioramas like these excellent Rangers, most are racked up on picture boards like the beautiful 'Battle of Issus' figures from Cortum ...

This is one of the ranges I went out to see.   There are literally hundreds of these boards to browse, plus cardboard sheets piled up and stacks (honestly, stacks) of trays to shuffle.    It seemed impossible to see everything (which is what I usually try to do at a show) ...

Everything seemed available in ample supply, and although a lot of the figures come in sets, everything was available singly as required.

The price seemed to vary by, at most, 20% either side of 1E for foot, 2E for mounted (so about the same as round figures, give or take) ...

Way above the town (the toy soldier show is in the big white-roofed structure just below half way on the right of the picture) ... sits the Plassenburg, where I spent the afternoon of Day 2.

(Don't despair - there's a bus up the hill and it only takes 5 minutes)

My first impression of the Plassenburg Museum was that it was very busy.  I guess lots of people are in town for the soldier show, and build a visit into the trip.

There are 4 floors of toy soldiers here, all historical, the core 2 floors being the age of Frederick the Great and the age of  Napoleon.   But here are some inspiring ancients ..

(Priests carrying a ceremonial barge in ancient Egypt)

(Aztecs and Conquistadors)

A couple of relief dioramas (part of a series on Hannibal's crossing of the Alps)

Of course, Kulmbach is but a few kilometers from Bayreuth ... so, although the Museum is otherwise mercifully free of fantasy, there is room for characters from the Niebelungenleid ... here, Rudiger ...

I will report more on the Museum elsewhere, but suffice to say here that anyone who loves military figures should put it on their list of places to visit at least once.   You might as well make it an odd-numbered year and the second weekend in August (that way you can take in a unique toy soldier show too)

Meanwhile I was back down the road to finish my shopping ...

This was one of my better efforts: ignore the Egyptian boat (that beauty will decorate the river on my 'Lords of the Nile' DBA board) ... mostly, this little haul will finish the oddments in my Plataea collection.  The guys lying down are for casualty markers, of course.

Verdict:

The Plassenburg Museum is magical and a must for any serious enthusiast.

The Zinnfiguren Borse was essential for me as I had gaps to fill in a flats collection.   If you are not (yet?) a flats enthusiast, there is still plenty of good stuff, especially non-UK figures ... Mirliton, those Spanish guys, the rarer plastic and resin 20mm sets 

Of course, it is just shopping, and lacks the ambience of a UK show and all the lush attractions of set out wargames and participation games.   I think without the Plassenburg up the road it would be a  bit soulless (a vision of the future maybe for the cranks who want to turn UK shows over to the trade stands) - in this case the mix works and I will surely be back.

A closer look at the Plassenburg