Miniature military invasion launches

Forget hyper-realistic, graphic war games. Forget high-spec computers.

Here’s a chance for dads to turn the clock back to childhood days of metal soldiers — and drag their internet-age sons back to the good old days.

A tiny mid-Cork community is playing host to what is believed to be the world’s largest model recreation of the Battle of Waterloo.

The venue is surprising as it has no known historical connection with the epic struggle which took place on Belgian soil 200 years ago — although Irish soldiers, in fact, fought on both sides.

The Prince August toy factory in Kilnamartyra, near Macroom, has become the unlikely home for the unique and spectacular miniature display of the famous battle fought in 1815 between the Anglo-Prussian allies of Wellington and von Blücher and Napoleon’s French forces.

RELATED: 15,000 toy soldiers to recreate Battle of Waterloo in Kilnamartyra, Cork

The closest Cork association to Irish soldiers fighting in the bloody battle comes from records at the north Cork garrison town of Fermoy, which show troops who trained there in 1806 going on to fight with Wellington’s forces at Waterloo.

To mark the bicentenary, Prince August owner Lars Edman scored a major coup in acquiring 15,000 exquisitely and accurately hand-painted soldiers of the time, which have been set out on a diorama to replicate what was probably the most colourful battle in modern history.

Since founding the factory in 1976, Lars has provided a godsend to the small community, employing three generations of local people, and it is hoped the new exhibition centre will bolster the workforce through increased orders and visitor numbers over the years to come. The factory currently has 20,000 visitors a year.

However, Lars believes the figure will double with the arrival of the exhibition, which opens tomorrow .

Lars has signed a five-year deal with its creator, German restaurant owner Andre Rudolph, to exhibit the 1in tall soldiers.

It took Andre eight years to create the collection.

Lars discovered the treasure trove while trawling the internet last January and contacted Andre because he knew it would be a fantastic addition to the Prince August factory.

Andre used moulds manufactured by Prince August to create the figures and put them on diorama boards which were all shipped in a container from Cologne to Kilnamartyra and carefully reassembled by Prince August staff in recent days.

There will no doubt be “a wow factor” when visitors view the extraordinary exhibition. Numbers may peak on June 18, the 200th anniversary of the battle.

DISCOVER MORE CONTENT LIKE THIS