What is your Egyptian army like?

[Martin Milner]

I created a Roman army that is, in my opinion, too large, so I'm not going to go as big with my Egyptians.  That said, it will exceed 100 men.  I've kept my other ancient armies to 45 or so total men.

I kept to about 80 legionaries (four centuries), and just one "century" of 20 Blue Praetorians, but other than that my army is about the same size, Justindo. I agree, it's too large to work with, it more than filled the biggest table I have here in the UK, and now we're busy packing things away prior to our move to the US the army is boxed up, and probably won't be on parade again until next Summer.

The Egyptians having four different colour armours have suggested to me an army of 4 matching units, with maybe 15 footsoldiers and 5 archers in each colour, with some special units like Pharoah's guard. My problem again is that they're now packed away so I'm not sure exactly what I already have and what I'll need to add. I'll probably have to unbox some stuff to get a rough count, and make up the numbers through DS and spares orders before we leave the UK.

I've ordered an Egyptian Temple and Sphinx, and a couple of the 5 man army set, but am holdign off on the Pyramid until we are settled in the States. 

[Richard]

Hello, Martin ...

Unless you want to buy it on eBay, you might want to think about buying your Pyramid sooner, rather than later. Because of the "recession", Geobra may accelerate their program for discontinuing the larger sets.

Speaking of the Egyptians ...

I was looking at my recently acquired collection. They're beautiful!

IMO, the Egyptian Lady in set 4243 is the best looking Playmobil female figure ever made.

In fact, I love all the figures in that set  ... 

Again, in my opinion, the Egyptian theme is the best series that Playmobil has ever created!
(And, being a long time fan of Playmobil's Victorian theme, I never thought that Geobra would ever be able to create something even as good as their Belle Epoque!.)

But, as I said, that's just my opinion ...

All the best,
Richard

[Martin Milner]

Hello, Martin ...

Unless you want to buy it on eBay, you might want to think about buying your Pyramid sooner, rather than later. Because of the "recession", Geobra may accelerate their program for discontinuing the larger sets.

Thanks for the tip Richard - do you think they'll discontinue it within a year? The set was only released in the UK and US in July, so I'd expect it to still be available in the US until July 2010. I nearly got one at ARGOS because they were putting in an extra 4247 set for free, but shied away because we are trying to get stuff out of the house.
On balanc

[Justindo]

I doubt Playmobil will discontinue the Egyptians in a year.  I think they'll have the same run as the Vikings and the Romans, which I think was about 3-4 years.  Therefore I'd wait to get the bigger sets until you move to the US.

It would be nice if Playmobil would keep both the Romans and Egyptians around indefinitely in some capacity.  They could add other Ancient cultures (e.g. Athenians, Spartans, Persians, Hittites, Parthians, Celts, Dacians, etc.) to it too to keep it fresh.

[Martin Milner]

Too late, I got the Pyramid at Argos 'cos they were throwing in a free Robbers with Camels set, which made it very good value.  Haven't assembled it yet.

[Justindo]

That's a good deal, Martin!  With all the Playmobil you have, I don't think the pyramid will significantly add to the weight or size of your boxed-up collection.

I know you've now got the pyramid, temple, sphinx, camels, chariot(s), and troops, but do you have or intend to buy the ship or house?  I think the latter is a little pricey, but very versatile.

[Martin Milner]

I'll leave the ship & house until I'm in Oregon, unless there's an offer on.

[Justindo]

I like the new forum picture, Richard.  The pharaoh's chariot is quite attractive!

I've been building up my Egyptian army up over the last couple months, but I still have a way to go.  I've decided on having 40 soldiers in each company with one company of each of the following:  heavy infantry (helmets, torso armor, shields, and spears), light infantry (shoulder armor and axes), archers (shoulder armor and bows and arrows), and cavalry (helmets, torso armor, shields, and spears).  I may split the cavalry into two companies of 20 men each.  Each company will have its own colored armor.

I currently only have one chariot for the pharaoh, but I'm wondering if I should add others.  How many chariots are you all planning to have?  Is anyone planning to have a chariot corps?  That would be most impressive!

[cheng]

Justindo, Richard and friends....
here's my little Egyptian army.....I'm trying not to add to this (trying)...its not my theme but like the Romans, its a fantastic effort from GB not to collect should it be discontinued 

[Justindo]

That's a very nice royal entourage, Cheng!  I really like your painting of the men's chests, as plain they would look quite, well, plain!

[Richard]

I like the new forum picture, Richard.  The pharaoh's chariot is quite attractive!

Thanks, Justindo ...

I agree about the chariot. IMO, Playmobil has created a magnificent new theme with their Egyptians.

[Richard]

This beautiful painting by H.M.Herget, which appeared in the October 1941 issue of National Geographic, clearly shows that the Playmobil designers really did their research for the Egyptian theme.

see attachment

[Justindo]

I really do think Playmobil did an excellent job with their chariot and all of their Egyptian sets.  I only wish they would have included and made room for a driver for it, as that would have been more authentic.

[Richard]

Hello, Justindo ...

You are indeed correct. Egyptian war chariots (Click HERE) had a driver and an archer. However, it seems that the chariot Playmobil chose to depict was the personal chariot of young King Tut who appears to have chosen to ride alone.

All the best,
Richard

[Richard]

BTW ... Playmobil has produced THREE Pharaoh crowns in their Egyptian theme.

The attached images are from Playmobil's wonderful Egyptian site ... Click HERE.

The first two are the Blue War Crown and the Nemes which was more of a head covering that an actual crown.