Welcome to the Army Men General!Previously: >>11861081>Plastic soldiers, knights and pirates, cowboys and indians, fantasy and sci-fi, cops and zombies, all are welcome here! (civilians are fine too)>Archived threads:https://archive.palanq.win/toy/search/subject/Army%20Men%20General/>Army men wargame rules:https://combatstorm.com/https://www.plasticcommand.com/https://freewargamesrules.fandom.com/wiki/Special:Search?query=army+men>Places to get army men:https://bmctoys.com/ and https://victorybuy.com/https://www.armiesinplastic.com/https://www.toysoldierco.com/https://www.classictoysoldiers.com/https://www.toysoldiersdepot.com/https://www.hobbybunker.com/https://www.michtoy.com/https://micshaunscloset.com/http://www.expeditionaryforce.com.sg/
very intriguing! I’m going to follow up on this next month when I get a bucket, I see excellent potential here!
The world was on fire and no one could save me but you
It's strange what desire will make foolish people do
What a wicked game you play, you make me feel this way
What a wicked thing to do, make me dream of you
And I want to fall in love...
with you.
"Order your men to step aside or there will be violence."
>"I choose violence."
>The Colour Wars
>all rights reserved
Been a while since I last got my hands on a decent grab-bag of secondhand army men, managed to find a couple promising lots on ebay.
>>11889743There were a few things in the listing photos that caught my eye, notably these various Napoleonic Wars infantrymen. These were the ones in best condition, as the following photo will expand on some; pretty cool mix of mostly British soldiers, with a lone French Guardsman reloading his musket.
>>11889746There were a number of rather worse off infantry, with enough various detached bits that I can probably nurse a few of these casualties back to fighting trim.
>>11889749I gather from this half-dozen that the intent had been to paint up the lot, for display, wargaming, who knows.
>>11889750This next pile suggests display - not proper army men but model kit figures in various stages of assembly. Most have at least one broken element; not sure if I'll do much with them but the fact that half are feudal Japanese warriors is interesting.
>>11889751Back to more conventional army men, though the back three standing figures are anything but; a trio of defeated Wehrmacht. Not sure I'll be able to find a suitable stand with which to repair the broken Matchbox Afrika Korps soldier but the pair of medieval men-at-arms have all their pieces at least.
>>11889752A few midget Matchbox US infantry are frequently found in these kinds of assorted lots, it seems. The other two are real treasures however; the kneeling grey soldier with PPsH is an Airfix original from the looks of it, while his prone olive companion with knife and Sten is a British Commando.
>>11889755The Commando also being Airfix, forgot to add. There were a couple mounted poses, one Napoleonic, the other medieval and neither suited for the quadrupeds also found in the lot; will have to look for better mounts in my western stuff maybe.
>>11889756These diminutive fantasy figures were part of the selling point of the lot for me, been looking for stuff like this for the medieval era chapters of the Colour Wars.
>>11889759Lastly for this batch is a pile of various 1/72 figures from across the history of warfare and a few odds and sods randomly included in the mix.
>>11889760Now for the other one. I trawled through every page of army men listings in Canada last week, opening up any that showed some promise but rejecting all of them for this or that reason: newer dollar store junk, less new but still common dollar store/TRU stuff (usually overvalued at that), perhaps a couple interesting figures drowned out by a horde of soldiers I've already got in spades... this bunch just about met that same fate, until I spotted a couple things that ultimately got me onside.
>>11889763These may not seem like much and indeed they're mostly crude reproductions of the classic Matchbox WW2 US Infantry, as well as the equally classic Desert Storm infantry set. The guy nonchalantly clutching a bazooka was one of the elements to catch my eye when scanning the listing photos for treasures; it's a pose lifted from a set of soldiers whose original manufacturer's name escapes me but they were slightly larger than the average army men and usually painted, with fun action poses. Pretty sure the guy at centre with grenade and M16 shares that ancestry; it's been reproduced crudely in many "schizo" armies but this one appears to be closer to the original.
>>11889764Kills me how much the word "vintage" is abused on ebay to justify overpricing mass-produced plastic soldiers... More often than not it'll be a bunch of stuff like these, another crude recreation of classic soldiers (the Matchbox US infantry and Desert Storm boys joined this time by a single pose from the iconic Airfix British Paras set). I'm pretty sure I got a pile of these many years ago in a few different colours, back when my priorities were more about raising sheer numbers of troops as opposed to selecting for quality and uniqueness. This particular group though has the saving grace of that Airfix Paras soldier being a little bit off; hard to tell from pic but the mold had a defect where his head tilts back slightly, giving him a peculiar attitude.
>>11889768These guys I've encountered a few times before over the years; back before Dollarama and Dollar Tree drove all the mom and pop dollar stores out of business with their duopoly there was a party store that stocked these guys at times. They were a bit overpriced even then but they were touted as "Canadian" soldiers, including maple leaf flags.Truth of the matter is whoever created the set just took the many poses of the legendary Matchbox Afrika Korps, British 8th Army and US Infantry to form this multinational outfit. I guess it could be argued on technicalities that this is a fair representation of Canada, at one time anyway.
>>11889771Moving on we have yet another of those cheap (and even more crude) reproductions of the Matchbox US Infantry with Desert Storm soldiers mix. I emphasize their poor quality as they were not clipped from their sprues very well at all, leaving behind significant nubs on the bottom of their stands. I'll get them all trimmed down later but I could barely stand up a representative of each pose for the shot (the charging guy with "MP40" was especially challenging as the pose is already leaning forward due to being modified from the original). Note the kneeling guy with heavy MG as we check out...
>>11889773Their opposite numbers in green. Identical in every way (down to the terrible sprue-cutting) except for the green side lacking the heavy MG pose entirely, though they make up for this some by having the running guy with M60 in one hand as their own exclusive pose (the one without the ammo belt and foregrip). I realize not that the green side is also without the standing aiming rifleman; guess this almost-illness been feeling all day is getting to me.
>>11889775Now the next two images are what really excited me about this listing and I'm certainly happy to have pulled the trigger on it. I'm no stranger to these poses; got plenty of them in a softer plastic and most of those are painted too. Even had some like this already, plain and in a more standard plastic, unfortunately a rather brittle one that keeps me from enjoying them too much.These men-at-arms are a cut above that with a good plastic, nice details and above all else they can stand up on their own without having to fiddle with their stands. That one shot earlier in the thread with a good-sized army of these guys in the soft plastic red/black paint scheme was a chore to set up, even with the advantage of grass and dirt to aid in propping them up. Flat surfaces? Can just about forget it for most. The guys with smooth maces were an interesting oddity - the guy with round shield is a ridiculously common pose but in every case his mace is studded or spiked.
>>11889778They also had counterparts in black which seems to be the standard when differentiating armies of medieval soldiers. While they lacked the standing soldier with flag on spear they more than made up for it with a few exclusive poses of their own, and several more of those Greco-Roman soldiers a thousand years out of place and yet most welcome all the same.
>>11889779Nearly done but I had to try and showcase this squad of Timmee knock-offs for one reason and one reason only; their commanding officer's face is terrifying. Tried my best to capture his unique expression but alas, my camera can't do him justice. Given that one quarter of their number are dedicated minesweepers suggests they're tip of the spear soldiers, first ones in and likely have seen more Hell than the average grunt.
>>11889749 My face..... They took my Faaaace!
>>11889780Lastly are a few odds and ends, including the lone non-soldier item in the form of a case of mortar rounds. A serendipitous inclusion, given all these mortarmen who appear to share a set with the prone rifleman and the kneeling panzerschrecker, though not the Airfix Paras grenadier at left in the same shade of olive. The green twin of the panzerschrecker seems to be an orphan, while the rest of the men are from one or more of the near-ubiquitous clones and copies of the Airfix Paras that continue to pop up in army men sets year after year.Will have to go through my various Airfix Paras units to find one that fits these boys best; most of the rest will likely form new units in their own right while any oddballs will join the Veterans Brigade, as is tradition in my plastic armed forces.
>>11889784
>>11889778 Is that Roman doing a speech. "Do we not entertain you? Are you not amused? Have at em boys!"
I just received an order in the mail from Armies in Plastic for The French & Indian Wars in 54mm/1:32. I am putting together a campaign over on >>>/qst/ that will revolve around the rangers (white team, pc) vs. the French (blue team, gm/dm), and the Native Americans (red team, PvP). This game will be based on an army standard topographical grid map of The Niagara Gorge. This game will follow d6 rules which will be playtested in the eventual thread. Stay tuned /amg/
>>11892021 This sounds neat.
>>11892106Hell yeah man, look forward to seeing you!
>>11891772One could certainly make that case. Many years ago my brother and I found these sets at a dollar store, they were carded and each came with a siege weapon (catapult or cannon) and a handful of men-at-arms, either the ones painted red/black or all silver with gold shields. The latter were mostly medieval but mixed in would be two poses that clearly dated to Antiquity - the silver fellow at center being one of two. Over time I've come across these same poses in different colours and plastic; the original silver men are in a softer plastic which unfortunately makes them a challenge to pose on flat surfaces. Most interesting was finding a few in that same red/black scheme and modified stand for reasons known only to the toymaker.
>>11892941The other pose with its Corinthian style helmet is unmistakably Greek. Bro and I took to calling their band "Achilles and his Myrmidons" after Troy came out; we even conducted a battle to determine which figure would be our designated Achilles. Feel like there was a third pose too...
>>11892943Turns out my recollections were accurate, there is indeed a third such pose. Only two of them plus an example of the previous guy who clearly had the same origins, though my memory cannot dredge up that particular detail. Would be nice to see army men make a comeback for another golden age; there are certainly some good sets out there and even at reasonable prices but they feel stuck in a holding pattern with the same pose sets. The many castle sets all use the black and silver (and sometimes gold) sets of knights, great poses but I'd like more variety at some point.
>>11893379I keep forgetting not everything was green
>>11894313>it was all yellow
It was a hard fought battle, but in the end Green just couldn't overcome Tan's defenses on the beachhead.
>>11894429The Green tends to struggle outside his native grasslands.
Well, today was a learning experience.
>>11896027We must protect the wall.. with a wall. Also, that's a BIG fortification. Are they raiding the cart - or is it a heist?
>>11896205Just a routine mounted patrol about to pass by a trade caravan; there were going to be more wagons but the day didn't work out as planned. There was another chapter's worth of shooting in the making but I got up late, was delayed further past midday and the wall's construction took longer than anticipated. Ran out of daylight far ahead of completion; not sure yet if I'll make another attempt, running out of viable weather but perhaps monday will be the day.
What's yalls opinions on the same sort of toys, but cowboys and indians and farm animals?
>>11896239 I know the feeling. I was setting up the Jungle hut I got for Tarzan and co and found out too late I had decided to deploy in the middle of an ant war.
>>11896343I have a bunch of cowboys and indians, long overdue for another shoot or possibly a Colour Wars chapter, might have to think up a story.
>>11896380More like Tarzant, as it were. Last year this squad was nearly overrun by an ant column mere moments after the photo was taken, nearly had a repeat this year for the same reasons. Turns out a slaver colony was set up in the dirt driveway to our garage and would periodically send out armies to raid other ant colonies for future forced labour.
>>11896760Neat. Do some overly dramatic historical photos with them.
>>11896343Animals come in all sizes but I agree anything like that would work. For a secret santa on /co/ a few years ago, I went through the site we used (Amazon) and looked for toys that were under the cost of a comic book trade, which was the common gift, so $9.99 - $14.99, and picked out toys since I no longer collect physical comics. One of the things I picked was essentially army solders of some Superman's villains, but it also included Perry White, Jimmy, Lois, etc. and similar.They were cheap and are fun to display.Of course, people make fun of anything that's not imports, or don't articulate but they also probably never really have fun with their toys at any age.
>>11896770>>11896770 I have a bunch of pictures where I pulled back knocking things over as the biggest wasp I have seen just kind of wandered over to see what was going on. I finally got it on a stick and flung it. In the same area a big slug started inching towards me. And damn it was fast. Hopefully I will be taking pics there tomorrow. I can't make up my mind if my Kentucky Fried toys cowboys are dinosaur or fossil hunters.
>>11896343I tend to mix in stuff like giant spiders n stuff with or against my troops. I don't own any cowboys and Indians but I have a 1/18 skeletal elk that I would use as a Defending Spirit if I did.
>>11898573Much of the shooting for the last segment of the Red chrono incident and the Private Fennec story was done dodging clouds of mosquitos, courtesy of the record-breaking rainfall this summer. Pic related happened when one brazenly landed on the camera lens itself.Best of luck with your next photo foray; the forecast here is promising for tomorrow so we'll see if I can get the wall story done again. If I have time I'll see about some Western action too.
Welp, the threat of rain is minimal and though a bit chilly, it's tolerable. However, wind is a steady 20 klicks, gusting to 45... the last time I attempted something with even modest complexity under those conditions it was an ordeal and a half, even with the containers to one side as an improvised windbreak (slightly visible in this outtake). I know when I'm beat, the Wall will have to wait. Maybe I'll pop out later for some smaller stuff.
What a week... been bedridden with some ailment, maybe hopefully coming out of it finally.Random question, how do you crew your artillery pieces? I can remember like three decades on now, one of my first sets was red British 8th Army versus blue Germans and the Brits were given a couple small field guns (Union Jack stickers on the gun shields). That Airfix-copied army has relatively few poses compared to others but among them is a standing (or marching) soldier with rifle at port arms; invariably they would end up crewing the guns, usually two per gun as they were the smaller version. The Germans didn't have a comparable pose so I can't remember who would serve if they managed to capture one, or if that ever happened at all heh.Many sets would include one or more artillery pieces, either the small or regular versions of the Brit 25-pounder (originally by Fencibles I think) like the ones mentioned above, or more likely the near-ubiquitous field gun that usually came in brown and was as generic as you can get. Typically if it was a WW2-modern set it would come with small wheels; for cowboys and indians it got larger wagon wheels to appear more like the artillery of the day. Speaking of, it was always the guys holding their rifles casually at their waist who would be in charge of the guns, occasionally backed up by other poses for variety.Was just thinking on it cuz it occurred to me I didn't even know there were artillery crew army men until I got my first Civil War set. There's definitely options out there but is expensive to get even one crew; they usually come with their own gun as well so that doesn't solve things for the rest of the arsenal.
>>11902712That lone Playmobil cannon, I've had longer than just about anything, must've been four or five when I was gifted that set. Funny story, it spent well over a decade with a lego cannon round stuck inside until I finally made a fresh attempt to clear the jam, successfully too.Coming back to that one generic gun, these ones derived from Airfix US Paratroopers have a few poses that I find work together to make a decent gun crew. I've seen it described as a Marx knock-off but haven't been able to verify that claim; the version we know and love is still very much in production, anyone from a few threads back will recall the following...
>>11902716So. Much. Arty. There aren't even enough soldiers in the set between the Union and Rebel armies to man all those guns; not that any of the poses were artillery crew anyway. Still baffled by the decision to include so many cannons... I'd like to use them for an epic grand battery sometime; the fact that I bought two of those sets and another smaller version that "only" had six guns means it should give Porter Alexander's battery opposite the Union centre at Gettysburg a run for its money.
I've been thinking of getting the Safari toob of Zombies, maybe two of them so I can maybe rig a zomboid-style game to play with my plastic dudes.I also want to get some of their animals for general hijinks; maybe you can rescue them for an NGO like in MGSV, maybe they're a hazard when your PMC is touring Africa, or maybe a bear ate a local drug lord's stash of cocaine and they are on a rampage.I really want BMC to release their recast of the Airfix Cowboys already. Hopefully they have more Airfix molds to recast in 1/40 scale like Russians and Afrika korps
