Playmobil by GEOBRA (I)

Visits: 76

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:

A tyiycall US Cavalry Trooper (1876) 7th Cavalry. Black hat.
Same as above dissembled (18 parts you can exchange at will) The only part not Playmobil standard is the resin carabine hand painted by me. Steiner models produces a range of weapons.

The head act as a plug that keeps the lot together (german engineering), actually a great idea that permits personalization.

A typical Comapny of US Cavalry.

More pics:

Same figure with kepi and saber goes to the ACW and the Michigan Brigade in a flash!
You like the Cavalry trilogy? a change of hat and there you are… as you have deduced the choice of weapons is a must… saber, revolver, carbine… you name it… bugle etc.
Another hat and the Apache wars comes to mind!

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!

The whole 7th (nearly sold them once! happy I did not.)

Dorset/Imperial “new” castings.

Visits: 56

I have a lot of ideas and pics to post this days… but those arrived yesterday and have got priority no matter what… My FFL order to complete an Army is underway and in good hands… simply ask Antony!… he will deliver… this is as silly as commending a good Restaurant… afterwards no way to book a table for you!… but he deserves it in spades… ask Scott Lesch if in doubt!

Hope you enjoy the pics as much as I do.

FFL bugler charging!
Another view of the same figure!
FFL ensign or standard bearer charging!
FFL Officer charging on foot!

Castings from DORSET/IMPERIAL (again)

Visits: 46

I must say all this posts are against my own interests… my orders get delayed and delayed because new orders arrive daily at DORSET/IMPERIAL HQ’s… LOL but I must admit they deserve “the plug”… those lovely figures once painted would be proud pieces of a collector… no doubt about that… in the meantime I guess I would have to email Antony asking what about mine? LOL (again)… now seriously one must be patient dealing with the world of conversions and Toy Soldiers “a la carte”… it is not the same to ask for ready made sets than to ask for special pieces… this take time… but the results are worth the wait!

Enjoy!

A Dorset/Imperial Conversion for a german customer…
Other conversions using the same basic body…

Playmobil Russians (not available commercially of course).

Visits: 54

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.

When Russians are made through customization…
Paulowski Grenadiers

Improving sets with bits&pieces

Visits: 55

Sometimes perfection needs a bit of variety… meaning that the REPLICA set was great but strangely enough the 4 gunners where a bit repetitive… 4 gunners in the same instance or attitude made 8 for a battery… so… with the passing of time I become obsessed by their looks and finally decided to add ramroads and bullets to them… see second pic. It was just a matter of ordering some bits&pieces to IMPERIAL/DORSET miniatures… and glue them on.

Now they look much better in my collection I guess… same to be done to an Indian Raj Battery (Only the bullets). There, now you know what obsessive collecting is… at least mine!

Enjoy!

Royal Artillery Set by Replica (Original)
Same set with “improved” gunners.
See what I mean?

More from IMPERIAL/DORSET MINIATURES…

Visits: 49

Since a very young child I was a fan of P.C.Wren, yes I was able to read at a very young age… since then The BEAU GESTE trilogy (in fact five books and some short stories here & there) influenced my taste for toy soldiers and have collected them in all kind of scales (see elswhere in this Blog). In 54mm my DORSET collection precedes the REPLICA BRITISH 2nd AFHGAN WAR at least a couple of decenies… influenced by A GENTLEMAN’S WAR wargame rules (Howard Whitehouse) I am nowadays squaring the collection into 12 minis units to fight each other (for fun and tweaking the rules a bit). Of course the minis are not only used for AGW… a lot of scenarios can be played with each Army alone… more of that one day.

I let you with two recent additions by Antony Spencer head of design at IMPERIAL/DORSET (and ALL THE QUEEN’S MEN too I guess).

Enjoy!

FFL officer with flag.
FFL officer variant.

John Clarke’s Own

Visits: 57

Expressly built for A GENTLEMAN’S WAR ruleset I guess…

The battle of Dorking (completely fictional) is surely embeded in the mind of a lot of Toy Soldiers Wargamers in 54mm… do not ask me why… a sad depressing book (highly readable though)… shrinks/quack doctors do make a hard cash from it!

Enjoy the model! Ah! incidentally topped 120.000 visitors a couple of days ago, as usual this is popular specially in the USA (It puzzles me because stopping at 1900 it leaves out the US Century… but you’ll never know why at all)

I must confess I have acquired some Prussian Playmobils to play it too but maybe à la Wells.

Another nice piece in gloss this time…