For a while I'd been feeling different. I couldstill admire detailed beautifully paintedhistorical miniatures and realisticallymodelled terrain, but I just didn't find themexciting or evocative any longer. I realised Iwas suffering from Pseudo-Nostalgia; I couldsee in my mind's eye something that mighthave existed, but never had. The only cure, Irealised, was a bit of Neo-Retro wargaming.In the real world Airfix 1/72nd figures weremy first wargaming obsession: from the firstpink plastic guardsmen onwards I waitedexcitedly for the next release. I convertedthem using razor blades, hot pins andPlasticene (though I never found any of themysterious banana oil that the AirfixMagazine wrote about). I loved them then,but I'm not remotely nostalgic about themnow. Instead I'm pseudo-nostalgic aboutsome toy soldiers that never existed.Since I obviously couldn't find them on Ebay(or anywhere else) I decided to make them. Iknew what I wanted. They had to be around30mm tall, slim, simple (with very limiteddetail), easy to paint and have integral basesbig enough to stop them falling over. Theyhad to have a touch of Tintin, a good helpingof pre-WW2 Elastolin, a bit of Britains and aspoonful or two of Swedish AfricanEngineers. But they weren't going to be acopy or a pastiche, they were going to be myNeo-Retro Little Soldiers.The first releases will be the Interwar armiesof three imaginary countries: Slovsko,Panovia and Bergland.If you check out my Instagram(marks_little_soldiers) you'll find a lot morepictures, a glimpse into the wargaming life ofMajor Harwood-Smith and an invigoratingshot of pseudo-nostalgia.Mark Copplestone.