Playmobil – My Toy Soldiers & Me

You’ll pay your money and you’ll take your choice…

Got a bit of time today. So not intending to preach I just would show you the main differences in approach of two scales I have been involved with in the course (curse… lol) of my wargaming life.

Nowadays 28mm (no one in his right mind says 25mm anymore to MINIFIGS shame!) is the reference of the very big table boys!… meaning of course big Clubs or organizations fans of IN THE GRAN MANNER of the late Peter Gilder… see posts about the Wargames Holiday Center for instance… it is a scale where everything is “right”… you can paint as a master Military Modeler… even customize minis… indulge in fancy flags and whatever… whatever but one thing… room to maneuver… (meaning on the tabletop)… you can use fancy systems to simulate flank marches, reserves, and the like… but you NEED square meters surface to fully appreciate the scale.

Back in my time (middle seventies of the past century!)… oh! dear NO! reminiscences of an old man!… well, you can call them that I do not care at all… 15mm was a “new” eccentricity… and the only 6mm where not called even that (1/300 Heroic&Ros was their name… and I even painted a Cuirassiers Corps of Napoleonic French)… sadly they were mainly used in WWII affairs with plenty of Tanks… I failed miserably in that scale because there were not GOOD or AVERAGE RULES for them… and none had come with the notion of using 6mm in brigade stands (or regimental if you are truly megalomaniac)… obsessed with minor tactics like forming square, changing from column to line etc. I still based them in too small stands and that was impractical… if you want small tactics go 15mm or 25mm and skirmishing or Divisional Games would do you good… BUT..

BUT…

IF you want to play GETTYSBURG (after all 50% of my readers come from the USA) or WATERLOO… or even LEIPZIG… to name but a few… get yourself a copy of the rules POLEMOS (by BACCUS) RUSE DE GUERRE (by PEARCE) or ALTAR OF FREEDOM (by the LITTLE WARS TV team look for them in YouTube). The concept of wargaming strategically and brigade tactics instead of company tactics… will become clear and THEN and ONLY THEN you will make a rational choice about what you really really want!

Enjoy the pics!

PS: You can also go for “old fashioned Traditional Toy Soldiers games” or even Playmobils… keep your options open! LOL

Or why not 54mm Britain’s style? (Here REPLICA by Andrew Stevens)

Ship (for Playmobils) AESCLICK SPAIN.

From time to time I can not refrain of showing some Playmobil Dioramas… this is peculiar because of the fantastic ship (scratchbuilt I guess)… some details maybe a bit awkward but the result is IMHO magnificent!

It must have been hours of work… and how the figures blend in is truly awesome… probably difficult to “play with” because of the sheer dimensions of it… but I just loved the pics when I saw it in Facebook.

Talk about HMS SURPRISE and Aubrey/Maturin saga.

Enjoy!

British “Squares”

Since seeing “The Four Feathers” (1939 version if you please!) film as a child the idea of a British “square” formation has been ingrained in my brain (not that it appears in the film at all but vaguely the idea is there when the Fuzzy-Wuzzies attack at dawn the lone company of Captain Durrance -already blinded by the Sun- and Burrows and Willoughby of course!

The reading many years later of SMALL WARS revealed to me nothing “new” but it is a book I recommend because it is a compendium of “obvious things to do” (but easily forgotten)… it took me a long time to read and digest (meaning that since begun I read and finished a lot of other books) because it was interesting and meticulous. It has been a long time since I recommended a book!

So today I chosed some old pics from my personal Vault to illustrate the point. Maybe when I get the remaining 16 figures from DORSET (sorry IMPERIAL MINIATURES nowadays) I will indulge in a new series with Khaki clad warriors.

Maybe you already have seen them but anyway…

Enjoy!

A Major (later Colonel) in the Artillery… and specially useful if you are a colonial wargamer or buff. Not the edition I’ve got… but that’s the one!

A variation of my first one with Perry’s added to my Old Minifigs.

I even did it with customized Playmobils (75mm).

I used those well known pics on the cover and backcover of my Spanish Second Edition (unavailable because of the I.R.S. that was pesting me every year!… I am not American you kow… and I pay my taxes in Andorra!) So I deleted the books from amazon and that put an end to the harassing.

The second and final English Edition (try ebay if you must)

NAPOLEONIC PLAYMOBIL CUSTOMS

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)

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!

Collector at Work! or Dorking (II)

That’s part of the fun… on the wargames table a big mess of spare parts boxes of Playmobil and freshly done units for wargaming in that scale (75mm) in a simpler variant of A GENTLEMAN’S WAR… not only happy to do DORKING… my convoluted mind has designed an alternative scenario post-Dorking… with Queen Victoria in her Windsor Castle protected by The British Guards (foot, horse and RHA) and a Prussian Corps detached from the main Army to capture the Empress in a coup de main!… LOL

This is the main fun… devising plots and scenarios to use the troops. Prussian Cavalry and Artillery already done… and even that pesky ADC Rupert of Hentzau!

Will give you some pics of units finished and ready to go… but still no complete pic… needs time… needs time…

Enjoy!

French Foreign Legion soldiers with a change of headgear… Prussian Volunteers in a minute!

NWMP (II)

My first post of 2023… well… I guess it would be a continuation of a theme… a la Oliver Curwood (if you know who he is)… as a child I was fascinated by the North West Mounted Police… and recently got the sledge I was waiting for… so here it is… on the trail up North!

Enjoy!

An eskimo guide
opens the trail for the NWMP

Playmobil NWMP Customs

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.

French Foreign Legion Customs

I sold half of them to an ex-legionnaire, but the main thing was to experiment with a black&white pic for a change!

Hope nobody comes restless again… I just love the films about it… romantic and post-romantic stuff (see BEAU GESTE all versions and also BEAU IDEAL… BEAU SABREUR -with Gary Cooper_ has been “lost” for decades… UNDER TWO FLAGS… MARCH OR DIE… spectacular “irreal” battle scenes (the “arbis” would have shot them away from a safe distance) in full colour and a great Gene Hackman and a very subdued and nuanced performance by Terence Hill in one of his best roles)

Curiously enough I still have a couple of dozens of Playmobils to play with… habits die hard!

Enjoy!

I thought… why not a bit of black&white?

Building up DORKING… (I)

The battle of Dorking is the fundamental or quintessential scare of the XIXth Century in Britain, based on the book namesake after 1870… the Prussian Army concerned a lot of the fears on the Island (silly without a Navy who could slip the Royal Navy at all of course!)… but the scenarios you can build around the them are FUN!

I am currently waiting for three parcels to arrive to complete the small units I need to play them. The British are finished but the Prussians lack Cavalry and some “touchs”.

Enjoy!