FASCINATED: Andrew Brazendale, of Carterton, examines early Roman cavalry at the toy soldiers war games meet.
Advance. Halt. Charge!
History repeated itself in miniature form when toy soldiers war games players met for battle at Chanel College in Masterton on Saturday.
The event was hosted by the Masterton Marauders war-gaming club.
Organiser Vince Cholewa dubbed it a "one day international", with over 20 armies represented in battle.
Armies were divided into Medieval and Rennaisance categories and included well-known historic armies such as the Spartans, the Romans, the Persians and the Egyptians.
Mr Cholewa described toy soldiers battles as "essentially a tactical game".
In layman's terms he described each army as having particular strengths and weaknesses and each soldier or cavalry having different capabilities in battle.
"Like a more complex game of Risk."
Mr Cholewa said he got into toy soldiers war games about 35 years ago.
He started buying toy soldiers as a child but eventually moved on to reading books by toy soldier pioneers Peter Young and Donald Featherston about how to actually recreate battles with games.
Sixteen gamers from Palmerston North, Dannevirke, Wairarapa, the Hutt Valley and Wellington brought their armies for the day.
Saturday's game was a friendly but Mr Cholewa is looking to host a full competition over two Saturdays in the future, with dates to be decided.
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