Different ways to game – Page 6 – My Toy Soldiers & Me

Antietam/Sharpsburg 1862 (6mm) My Own for once! (I)

Visits: 42

At last! I could do it…

Finally I must say the choice (difficult) I did to sell my 25mm Collection and go 6mm has payed off! (I know not everyone’s taste 6mil) what you lose in uniform detail you gain in playable surface for the scale… same table… but lots of room to manoeuvre if you know what I mean…

A couple of thousands of minis but it does not look crowded at all. Mainly Baccus and Rapier minis (mainly painted by Robert Jackson (90%) and Turbil Miniatures), Leven and Baccus buildings (REVEILLE by Daniel Hodgson), Trees are Baccus as Bridges and “fields”.

I will use this FIRST Wargame to develop my Own House Rules (SOLO or MULTIPLAYER) mainly adapting and reforming mecanisms of POLEMOS (BACCUS) ALTAR OF FREEDOM (Little Wars TV) Fire&Fury… and what not!

Making the river is quite cheap. And the woods are not “compact” I can move the stands of tress to make them passable. The Cornfield has no corn because I do not like troop stands floating over scenery… MY taste!.

Interested in the concepts movement, attrition, spent forces, General’s limitations, and mainly Historical Reenactment, Fictionnal Wargames with more freedom will come later.

Absolutely satisfied (if such thing exists) with the layout and minis… at last Armies look like Armies and terrain is wholesome…

I will probably do a movement a day not decided with 1/2 hour or whole hour’s span of time of a wargame period… will remain experimental for a while until satisfied. Trial and error etc.

Enjoy! (I do)

No Armies yet… just a peaceful countryside…

Union Forces in place (not yet deployed)

Burnside and Porter (and general reserve)

Union Center to Right flank (anticlockwise) Sumner, Franklin, Mansfield and Hooker.

Full UNION view (Times of arrival or engagement NOT simultaneous)

My Old Wargames table (permanent once retired)

Ready to Start I guess… (On the right lower part Hill’s forces coming from Harper’s Ferry)… not yet “on the table”.

Confederates Center and Right (Bloody Lane with the rail fence)

Jackson’s left flank with Stuarts’s Cavalry.

Franco Prussian War 54mm OLD SCHOOL WARGAMING!

Visits: 117

Nothing is so spectacular as the Franco-Prussian War for wargaming the Old Style… still gaudy uniforms… you are in command (instead of those incompetent French Marshalls)… and not the gore of the XXth Century.

The other alternative is Dorking of course… but that was really improbable… BUT… fantastic alternative for gaudy redcoats!… the book is not really compulsory reading (I have it and did… but not indispensable to wargame the period… The Riddle of the Sands come true etc.)

Enjoy!

More from Paul Watson!

Visits: 45

Paul’s a friend, and I am quite happy to Post here his late production or project!

By mere chance I have them sailors too (Steadfast from R.Prati)… but not that beast of a GUN! (I used to have them in 25mm when I collected only MINIFIGS!

I am glad he is publishing pics again… always a source of inspiration!

Enjoy!

Really a mini-diorama in 54mm (toy Soldiers)

Riesig’s Own.

Visits: 61

What about something different today? I was feeling adventurous somehow… I guess they are semiflat figures that have an appeal of their own (and always look better from the side pics)… excellent flag BTW. French troops if you ask me. And I forgot to say… Prince August (they sell moulds too!)… with some additions from Front Rank!… and, of course, 40mm scale!

Enjoy!

It smacks of Barry Lyndon’s times (or even earlier)

NAPOLEONIC PLAYMOBIL CUSTOMS

Visits: 119

Just to show you the potential… to get those you have to learn to dissemble, add stickers, buy resin headgear and paint the last one… quite fast and simple once you know the tricks… but on the whole not cheap… as for collecting them it is fine… but wargames better be skirmish type.

Enjoy!

French Foreign Legion Officers (Playmobil 75mm)

Visits: 78

Maybe you are tired to see those figures?… well… get used to it!… as you know I deal with multiple scales and very different interests!…

The headgear is resin custom painted by me… but all the rest are standard pieces of Playmobil that you need to order from specialized sellers.

You maybe think they are obnoxius… but they are not… not need to paint a lot (I have to admit the fRench kepis on the left has been painted by me using permanent markers and finally gloss varnish… but that is all.

I do usually paint 54mm Toy Soldiers from scratch and it is a much more longer process… as always you need all sorts!

Enjoy!

Maybe my first Toy Figure…

Visits: 68

Vaguely 54mm, all in rubber/cautxuc… more than 65 years old (the figure… me going on 71… so it probably is nearly 70!… lol)… Original state and paint… paint that obviously peeled off from a non rigid material… played with by at least three generations consecutively and rescued before going to the bin… I used to make him run obstacles and tracks on the sheets of my bed… do not know how he survived so many crashes!… I remember having at least two of them… but also French Gendarmes by Norev (rubber too) and one in Aluminium (Quiralu?) the last two were with sidecar and had very “funny” figures on them.

A nostalgic way to close a forgettable year… hope the next is best!

Playmobil NWMP Customs

Visits: 60

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!

Using two different figures you obtain two new one’s to go North!… mind, the eskimo head has gone to increase the ranks of the French Foreign Legion…

Another view… the headgear on the left one is a resin custom, the rest is standard Playmobil pieces.

ACW in 54mm!

Visits: 61

Lovely Toy Soldiers… very difficult to do the big battles with that scale… but as long as you are a collector anything is feasible… skirmishes, AGW, etc. (imagine the range of the Artillery piece… LOL)

Just love those figures.

Enjoy!

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.

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!