Playing Toy Soldiers Never Gets Old

By Joy Bergmann

No one has to guess what to get Jamie Delson for Christmas. He’s wanted the same thing for 71 years: More toy soldiers.

Since 1984, the former journalist and screenwriter has owned and operated The Toy Soldier Company, an online emporium for fellow military-play enthusiasts and history buffs. The enterprise began in the Upper West Side apartment he shares with wife Jenny, selling items from his personal toy soldier collection via catalog. 

Today, the duo works out of a Jersey City warehouse, offering new and vintage toy soldiers as well as scene-setting accessories (ambush rock, anyone?) from manufacturers past and present. Delson, 75, says the business has about 30,000 global customers in its database, including 3,000 devotees who order every year. “We’re still a niche of a niche of a niche business.” 

Intrigued, West Side Rag went on a mission to learn more from this Manhattan native who turned his lifelong passion into a profession. [Jenny prefers to remain behind the scenes.] Here’s our lightly edited interview.

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WSR:  On my way over here, I asked my 60-ish neighbor if he’d played with toy soldiers. His face lit up like a little boy’s: “I loved my Solido Sherman tank from Clayton’s Toys!” What is that ardor about? What’s the appeal? 

JD: It’s a romantic return to one’s childhood dreams. As a kid, I loved stories, reading, television, and imagination. Toy soldiers allow you to create imaginary worlds that you participate in. It’s a tactile adventure. Every game is like writing a movie.

WSR:  Is, present tense. You still play? 

JD: I had a whole set-up here last weekend and played “Harold’s Rangers” with some friends. It’s a game I wrote when I was 12 and have been updating ever since. It’s based on Harold Godwinson, England’s king in 1066. 

WSR:  So the Venn diagram of history lovers and toy soldier collectors overlaps?

JD: It’s a natural connection. If you’re fascinated by a period in history – the Napoleonic Wars, ancient worlds – Rome, Greece, Persia, Egypt, the Civil War, the Renaissance – there are toy soldiers for that period.

WSR:  The specificity amazes me. If I want to play Patton versus Rommel in a North Africa WWII setting, you’ve got a whole playset dedicated to it. 

JD: Our playsets really put us on the map. 

WSR:  You custom curate them? 

JD: Yep. I think about everything that would be great for that playset and pull pieces from the 180 brands we carry, making different playsets for different budgets. Soldiers from one company, a river from another, trees from yet another. All so when a child opens that box, there’s an entire adventure waiting for him. 

WSR:  Do girls play as well? 

JD: Sure. Maybe one or two percent of toy soldier fans are female, but it’s an overwhelmingly male hobby.

WSR:  How did you accumulate such a vast array of items?

JD:  I’ve been collecting since I was four. When I was about 12 I started making deals. I’d go to FAO Schwarz and say, ‘I don’t want to buy one box. What if I buy four or five, will you give me a good price?’ and they’d say, ‘How old are you?’ [laughs] Later on, as I traveled doing assignments for Omni magazine, I’d always get a city map and visit every toy shop in the local Yellow Pages. I’d go to every Paris arrondissement, asking to see what they had in the back room and end up sending cartons of soldiers back home.   

WSR:  What do you say to critics with moral qualms about war-gaming? 

JD: I’m a lifelong pacifist. My father was a socialist lawyer for good causes; he was on the NAACP board, marched in all the marches. And he raised me to detest war and to love democracy. The game is a continuation of that for me. Yes, we have all the battles and action and intrigue and adventure. But ultimately, it’s always about making sure the right side wins. 

WSR: Which doesn’t always happen in real life. 

JD: As a pacifist I don’t see any contradiction in terms. If you play Stratego, are you a warmonger? If you play chess? The only difference is, instead of having an unpainted bishop, you have one of these little guys.

WSR: There seems to be an insatiable appetite for fantasy combat. Video games like “Call of Duty” and “Worlds of Warcraft” are hugely popular. Are they playing to the same instincts as toy soldiering?

JD:  Exactly the same. The difference is, if my Odysseus is firing a bow, it’s in my imagination. In “Call of Duty” you have an AK-47, you’re gunning someone down, making giant blood spatters, all in about a six-minute experience. Then it’s over and you go to the next and the next, 30 or 50 or 100 times.

WSR:  So murder isn’t the goal with toy soldiers.

JD: Shooting is such a tiny point in the game. It’s about strategy. It’s about mathematics. It’s about child-like wondering: How can I get across that street without being seen? How might we capture that bridge from the enemy? 

WSR: Your enthusiasm is making me feel like a kid again. But after 39 years of shipping out mini Trojan horses, ancient Gauls, and Davy Crocketts, does retirement beckon?  

JD: My father worked until he was 89, so I figure I’ve got at least 14 more years in me. Though Jenny and I do it all ourselves – the website, product photography, fulfilling orders, shipping – we’re both quite happy to be doing what we’re doing. And we get to work together every day. It’s great. 

WSR: You’ve won the game.

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