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You know I also indulge in Playmobils… do not ask me why… I explained in my book no longer in print (LOL)… Actually waiting for a sledge from a standard set to go patrol up North… he always get his man… And YES I will post a pic of the mountie on his sledge once received…
Seriously they are fun to manipulate and even role playing with them.
Enjoy!
PS: I achieved (the Blog) 130.000 visitors today… I must thank those who do assiduously!
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You know I am a 6mm orthodox (more or less) solo wargamer… a collector of 54mm Toy Soldiers (part of them used in traditional old style games)… but also a Playmobil fan with my grandchildren. Let me explain why… probably you do not care at all for those german toys (mainly quite pacific oriented!)… but some of us perversily used them in wargames and role-playing… LOL
As always a picture is worth a thousand words so here have some… have in mind I collected Playmobil soldiers mainly for years without knowing they could be dissembled and rebuilt exchanging parts!… quite easy once you know how… the method of kitchen scissors and a towel is my own as seen in YouTube!
Lets start with the US Cavalry (You all know I have a fixation with the French Foreign Legion thanks to P.C.Wren) but this is not my only obsession… John Ford and John Wayne (and Richard Widmark, Ben Johnson and a lot of other mainly from Ford’s stock company) plunged my young imagination into it… as Errol Flynn of course!
Well, here is a theme overdone by Playmobil thanks God! See some pics:
The head act as a plug that keeps the lot together (german engineering), actually a great idea that permits personalization.
More pics:
Many times only a change of hat does the trick! In subsequent entries you will be introduced to my battle of Dorking outfit (not related to Dorca at all) and will see how my French Foreign Legion Playmobils double as Prussians with the change of hat!
More will follow.
Enjoy!
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Playmobil has a policy of not encouraging War Toys or Wargames (idiotic if you ask me when the most popular sales are the Pirate Ships… nothing worse than pirates in my book… and also produce Imperial Romans and even a Circus (Roman you know)… hundreds of fans indulge in making for themselves Napoleonic Armies (a forever popular addiction)… why Playmobil do not produce sets os soldiers or Military Bands eludes me completely… after all they do the pieces that you can collect bit by bit and then mount on… the most difficult part to get are Hats (some astute manufacturers in resin do) the rest is fairly easy to get. There are even flags adhesive manufactured! So there you have it we have those Armies after all… and Playmobil can manufacture James Bond Aston-Martin etc. Toy Soldiers are NOT their forte (a part from the ACW which they did!… and a lot of soldiers to do AWI/7YW… and cowboys and redskins)… a strange world we live in.
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Well, this is a pic from ebay (and not a very good resolution) but once the parcel arrives I will substitute for another one… yoou get the idea I guess.
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I am afraid the Goldberg are much better! specially those by Gould. But joking aside I did dedicate a whole chapter of my book to those plastic german chaps. They can be customized quite easily once you learn how.
And that is entertaining, specially if you are affected by the syndrome “I’ve been there, done that, got the T-shirt”. There used to be the middle age crisis -I do not know what middle age is nowadays- at 39 I bought a New Model LOTUS ELAN two seater (front traction) if you know what I mean… Happy marriage does not need a divorce! As I said before let’s put joking aside.
Basically a Click as they are known is a plastic chasis with a head plug that holds all the other parts together. Quite simple concept. But a small engineering feat. They were originally very crude and toys for kids. They evolved. From what I call the third generation onwards they began to interest me. I started buying them for my grandchildren -who already got them never fear- and stocked a few because they were too young by far. Then one thing lead to another IT WAS FUN!… anything that fits the formula TOY SOLDIER + FUN = ENTERTAINMENT in my life. So, there I was, first I learned to disassemble them -YouTube is full of tutorials -https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Y8KYaO-83o-, and Wikipedia will tell you the full story of Playmobil- and the “creation” of new soldiers, or to be fair, NON existing ranges was extremely funny.
After an intermittent span of ten years since I bought the first one and finally lost interest and got back to wargaming -6mm- and collecting -54mm toy soldiers- I went through many periods, I customized a lot, gifts to grandchildren were made, and complicated conversions were even sold! I have the tendency to sell the parts that does not interest me anymore to raise funds for new ventures, that way I have a real budget -more or less- I always spend more than I cash back but it helps!
So I did the ACW -and then sold the collection because it was too real brother against brother- I did Ancients (sold), I did British Colonials including Highlanders! (sold), I did the 7th at the LBH (still in my hands but for sale), I did the Household troops I already had in 54mm Traditional Toy Soldiers -quite a recurrent job- I did the Charge of the Light Brigade in the Crimea (sold). I did the Spanish and French Foreign Legion outfits (both sold). I bought Ships -customized them- now in the navies of my grandchildren. And I probably forget the Ivory Patrol and a lot of other minor subjects that were also sold. It was real FUN.
I explained it all quite in detail in my book but it is a lot easier to include pics in a blog.
Thought I add some more pics…
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It is a Boer war game. I put a stop on my own wargaming just before that. But it is impressive in a way.
Britain’s (it has been said before) never developed a proper ACW lot of figures, the majority were Boer Wars minis painted differently. Probably an exaggeration but with some truth in it…
I am sure Paul Watson appreciates!
Enjoy!
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Do not tell me this Post is childish because it isn’t… wonderful Fortification or Castle (what you prefer), nice Toy Soldiers… and a PURPOSE!
Yes, the British are attacking the Russians!… it smacks of the Crimean war (War was War back then.. you know!)
How can you play (unashamedly) with Toy Sodiers…
Enjoy!
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I have a passion for colonial affairs in my fantasy world (because In the real world I think Imperialism was wrong… mind probably inevitable in context and I mean historically… but definitely wrong on the whole approach of white man supremacy… LOL… I do not know why I have to include my private opinions in this Blog at all!)… pros and cons aside… there was colourful troops and little actions who deserve attention if you are a wargamer in 54MM or whatever scale.
Find this setting and troops delightful even if some need a bit of repair (that prone figure with broken rifle hurts my eyes).
Enjoy!
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It has been a while since I first saw this pics from an awesome diorama.
I have been delaying getting into it and making a Post because in a way it is so much Military Modeling and sculpting that the term Toy Soldier did not seem to apply to it.
After much reflection I decided to make a Post… it deserves it in spades.
There are no comments on the five pics… they are self explanatory I guess.
Enjoy!
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I do not know how to contact him myself (I guess that a search on Facebook or Google will do the trick…
But those boxes of Toy Soldiers are very nice… Mignot influenced he says… whatever… just my thing (if I was Napoleonic inclined again)
Enjoy!
