Battles with Playmobil

[da Hugh]

This may not be the proper department for this question but I thought that this is where 'gaming' or 'battles' with Playmobil is posted and you are the folks I address this question to.

I am a wargamer by hobby and having been retired for several years, wargaming is what I do for enjoyment.

So, my question is:  "Why do you play wargaming or and battles with Playmobil?"

It dosen't matter the period in time whether Medieval, ACW or Napoleonics, why do you use Playmobil figures rather than other plastic or metal figs?

I am writting a lot to ask one question.  Myself, I like the ability to somewhat pose the klicky, it is already painted, it comes with extras and backgrounds such as trees and buildings, etc., It is of a larger size, which is good for us old folks who have trouble seeing and painting 15-28mm minatures.  It has interchangeable weapons and gear, and helmits and hats that fit over their hair.

Don't get me wrong, I have a lot more LEGO figures than Playmobil (over 7,000 minifigs to over 2600 klickies), and each brand has its own type of fun.

Just curious...

-- Donmobil

[AndrewL]

Hi,

I think this is an excellent question, and I can't think of a better place to pose it.

I perceive perhaps two questions combined in your query:

1. Why do you wargame or fight battles with models (regardless of the size, material or manufacturer)? [I note the use of models to distinguish this activity from playing wargames as boardgames, computer games or card games, i.e., without groups of figures, but doing those things could be included.]

2. Why do you use Playmobil as opposed to any other sort of figure, e.g., Lego, 15-28mm figures, etc.?

Having posed these 'expansion' questions, I will try to answer them, but it will take a bit of thought...

As the former governor of California once said: I'll be back.

Cheers,

AndrewL

[WarriorOfToys]

I like using them because they have interchangeable weapons,
They can be customized easier then the steel figures,
I never had any steel figures, but always collected Playmobil, so I didn't want to buy a whole other collection.
I don't have the patience to pain my own figures,
I like Playmobil more then Lego because Lego people are yellow...
And since I had Playmobil as a kid I have an sentimental connection with them.

I probably could think of a lot more reasons... But maybe it's just me.

[AndrewL]

Me again...

I think Warrior of Toys has hit a lot of the reasons I have for using Playmobil as opposed to anything else (answering my question #2).

As a child, I also had Lego and HO or 1/72 scale plastic figures as well as cast lead figures (roughly 54mm) my father and his brothers had made and painted themselves as kids in the 1930s-1940s [those were the days: 8-12 year olds casting lead figures on their own, with minimal parental supervision. I don't think Health and Safety would approve today!].

I never painted the 1/72 scale figures, and even the ca 54mm figures I inherited I found difficult to paint with the kind of detail and control I would have liked. To be able to paint 15 and 28mm figures seems to me to require dexterity comparable to a brain surgeon, and I definitely haven't got that!

I think the sentimental connection WoT mentions is probably a key element for me: I got my first Playmobil figures (Schaper cowboys) at the age of about 5, and though there was a long period during which Playmo-philia lay in abeyance, it never really went away.

The ease of customisation, the ease of posing, the (in my opinion) greater-than-Lego tendency toward realism in the figures' printing and accessories, the larger and more easily handled scale (when compared to Lego and 15-28mm miniatures) -- all these things are great pluses for Playmobil in my mind.

The one downside (which is a corollary of the scale) is that setting up a diorama or playing a wargame with lots (by which I mean more than 100 per side) of figures requires lots of space. Being able to fight a battle on one's tabletop is probably the greatest boon of using 15-28mm miniatures.

I'm sure I can/will think of more relating to this question.

But why do I wargame in the first place? That will take some more thought...

Cheers,

AndrewL

[da Hugh]

To Warriors of Toys and AndrewL, thanks for your reply.  I will not got into why I like playing games of war.  Being a Viet Nam veteran, I know the real thing.  So for me, it is tabletop gaming and that at the end we can pack up our troops and no one is harmed and nothing is destroyed.

I got into Playmobil just a few years ago and at the end of the best of Playmobil troops wained.  I would have really liked to have built up an army of Blue Coats verses the Red Coats.

I have a small army of knights but no where to set them up.  I have really enjoyed the different posts of battles here on Garden Wargaming.  AndrewL, I have looked at your three battles many times and could say nothing but praise for the presentations.

I play a game called 'Warlord'.  It is written for 25-28mm medieval troops just before the invention of gunpowder.  We play with less than a hundred troops each.  The rulebook is less then 30 pages written back in the late 70's but is has stood the test of time.

AndrewL, is would like to see the rules you use for your games.

Best to all,
-- Donmobil

[marco_snijder]

A very nice question and one of those which makes me have to think of why I do what I do!!

 


 

I'll come back to you with a clear answer (more or less) when I have given it a little thought!!

[Justindo]

Great question, Don!

I have to echo many of Andrew's comments.  I grew up with Playmobil, so that's a big part of it, and I really like that one can easily customize klickies, which one can't do with cast soldiers, except for color.  I did have Legos as a child, and while I loved to construct things with them, their figures always lacked the flexibility and realism (e.g. yellow skin!) of Playmobil's.  I also had some of my father's and grandfather's lead soldiers, and cast some lead ones myself, and played with them when I was a child.  (This was a little over 20 years ago, so either there wasn't the number of absurd nanny laws regarding lead that we have today or I simply ignored them.)  While I enjoyed casting, painting, and playing with these cast soldiers, they didn't and don't capture me the way klickies did and do, as they lack the flexibility and, to me, charm klickies possess.

I do wish Playmobil figures were just a bit smaller, as large battles require a lot of space, and that their heads were smaller, as they do look disproportionate when wearing helmets, but they are great fun regardless.