Just came across this on the Tradition Facebook page a Swedish book published in 1914 (?) about playing with toy soldiers, sadly in Swedish (which I don't read or speak) but has overtones of H.G.Wells as it seems to use various methods of 'shooting' the toy soldiers with projectiles .
You can see the whole book here Hur man för krig med tennsoldater sida 1 faksimil | Litteraturbanken
and I can make out enough of the words to get the jist of it I think .
I've never heard of this book and don't think it was ever reprinted or translated .
It has photos of some of the figures used in the game , flats or semi-flats ?
This advertisement is in the back of the book . This is a fascinating book and seems very rare to buy and probably very expensive so we are lucky to be able to view it on the above link .
Interesting find.
ReplyDeleteYes was totally unaware of it .
DeleteAn excellent looking book Tony! That catapult looks quite powerful and would probably destroy a lot of figures! Although with the ad at the end, that seems to be what they wanted, to sell more soldiers!
ReplyDeleteYes a high casualty rate would be good for business .
DeleteCracking find!! Very interesting piece of wargaming history, the figures do look like flats, wish I could read Swedish!!
ReplyDeleteI have never heard of it before - I too wish I could read Swedish !
DeleteGreat find!
ReplyDeleteNow to find a Swedish reading volunteer hero to translate it for us!
Ps. Might be a mix of flats and semiflats but I'm sure some of them are semiflats. In fact I suspect some are homecast, the style is very similar to some figures homecast from antique semiflat moulds that I seen.
DeleteYes pity it has never been translated , the unfortunate publication date (1914) won't have helped .
DeleteYes I think some of them might be semi-flats
ReplyDeleteFascinating post, Tony,
ReplyDeleteMichael
That book is very interesting - if only I read Swedish .
DeleteFantastic find Tony - I had a good look through it and found some early flat Boy Scout figures https://tabletopscoutingwidegames.wordpress.com/2022/08/11/var-redo-alltid-redo-swedish-flat-tin-soldier-scouts-1914/
ReplyDeletePity these figures and the book aren't still available .
Delete