Special Father's Day edition at the House of War

 
Howdy all!

Well, it is Father's Day here in the United States, so I thought I'd do a special "Father's Day" post at the House of War... with two main bits involved.


First off... really, it was my father who got me started in the world of toy soldiers.  When I was about seven or eight or so he worked as the head of photography and advertising (or some similar position) for a perfume company.  Once in a long while, on his way home, he'd stop at a hobby shop, and *miracle of miracles!* buy me a box of soldiers!

The first one, if I recall correctly, was a box of Afrika Corps... I believe it was the box cover shown at the top, if memory serves, but I might be wrong... this would have been around 1982 or so... and holy cow I loved them.  I loved the officer, I loved the two-man machine gun crew, I loved the buy with the STG 44... I just loved them all.  And soon enough, not only had I picked out and named my "heroes," but I also gave them all a very rough paintjob, using some black, brown, and flesh colored Testors.  And when I say rough, I mean ROUGH.

Many boxes of toy soldiers followed (the Vietnam Americans and the French Foreign Legion were among my favorites, as well as probably twenty boxes of Zulu) as well as an amazing fort, festooned with cowboys and indians left under the tree, which is pictured on the right.  It is a bit beat up, the hinges are loose, and the flag pole is gone along with a few decorative pieces.  Still, it is a GREAT toy (best Christmas ever, with the bought-at-that-authentic-Japanese-toy-store-in-New-York-City Voltron and the GI Joe Hovercraft being second and third) and I am holding onto it with the idea of passing it on someday (after some repairs, of course.)

Now... having started with my father getting me my first toy soldiers, I am happy to say that my wife and I are expecting our first kid... namely a son, in October.  Exciting stuff, not the least because I will have a son to give toy soldiers to!  So... I am sure I'll be planning toy soldier gifts!  A painted plastic AWI set would be one... I am sure I'll do a teddy bear army too.  Anyway... if anyone has any good ideas, let me know!:)