PlaymoFriends
Getting Started => Welcome! => Topic started by: Gepetto on February 01, 2008, 04:34:18
-
I am also new to the forum after lurking in the shadows for a few months. I have been involved with miniatures for over 30 years, starting the progression from N scale to HO to 1/72, 15mm, 28mm and Warhammer before my Playmobil epiphany about 6 months ago. Of course the first thing one notes after embracing Playmobil is that all the klickys you wanted (and needed!) have been discontinued so I have been accumulating with both hands trying to reach critical mass before the next batch of klickys were discontinued.
I am interested primarily in ancients, medieval, vikings, romans, crusaders, pirates and castles. That is not to say I don't care for the others but these first I will buy out of hand. I don't do much customizing at this point other than swapping but I do cast and that gives a person a new perspective on things.
I do not belong to other forums and have never been tempted until I stumbled upon this one and was struck by the kindness and sincerity of its members. The creativity shown is also very impressive and Richard's photos always reassure me that I don't have too much Playmobil yet. I am looking forward to meeting everyone and am sure I will continue to enjoy my association with this board and all of its members. Thank you all.
Steve
-
Hello, Steve ... :wave:
A BIG wecome from the warm and beautiful United States Virgin Islands.
I loved your comment ... :lol:
... Richard's photos always reassure me that I don't have too much Playmobil yet.
And, look forward to seeing a lot of you here.
BTW ... As you probably already know, several of us here (and at GW-PC) also cast, so we'd love for you to share your ideas with us.
All the best,
Richard
-
Hi Steve,
Welcome to PlaymoFriends.
Garry.
-
Hi Steve, welcome from Oregon!
-
Hi Steve! :wave:
Thanks for telling us about yourself! :)
I think it's not uncommon for collectors to be drawn to Playmobil after collecting other forms of miniature soldiers or warriors. Must be something to do with the quality and attention to detail that can be found in most of their figures. They're also highly adaptable once disassembled, of course.
Hope to see pics of some of your creations in the near future! Especially very curious about the cast pieces you've mentioned. 8-)
Have fun at PlaymoFriends!
-
Be welcome from the South of Germany :wave:
-
Hi Gepetto,
A warm welcome from sunny Arizona!
Jimbo
-
Thank you all for your kind greetings!
Steve
-
Hi Steve!
I'd be interested in seeing some of your castings - do I understand that you're making your own Playmobil accessories?
I'm also into the historical stuff mostly, though I like to mix in the occasional modern figure - my latest acquisition is the 7224 office furniture set, which I'll be setting up on my desk at work, complete with some micro figures to represent the Playmobil on my desk at work.
How do you define critical mass? ;D
-
How do you define critical mass? ;D
When it comes to Playmobil, that 's a really good question, Martin ... :lol:
-
Well we all know that accumulating/collecting is a slippery slope to climb. Critical mass for me is when I feel I have enough figures to actually 'play' with (man a castle, have a battle, etc.) but like you said Martin, you start with 1 figure then he needs an enemy then they need friends and a place to live and on and on. When I first came into Playmobil and looked around the net I didn't realize that there was so much customizing going on and I thought I really missed the boat on the various sets.
The first one I went after was the Crusader in black that was already listed as being retired and I had difficulty finding it in any local shops. Critical mass for him was 10 units before I could pause to catch my breath but I will stop at about 50 to back fill other lines like the Romans.
Then of course I needed a castle and so bought a 'carry along' castle for about $18 and then another for parts, then an 'Eagle Castle' and after reading the review comparing the Eagle and the Empire castle I decided the Eagle was good enough. But then they were the special for December from PlaymobilUS and I bought 2 more (for expansion purposes), then my wife bought me the Empire not knowing I had the Eagles! I bought the Rock castle so the bad guys would have a home, and at last I was sated. But wait! In one of the conference photos someone was using a western fort for the Romans. The hunt was on again and what of the Viking/Barbarians? are they not deserving of a place to be attacked? and so it goes.
The Eagle was the only castle I actually set up and it took my whole gaming table! As for my casting, I am still looking for sample pieces to use as masters but can see I need many hats and kitchen type items, for now I do this incidentally because there is so much to learn about the various lines and their history. I think my first project will end up being some new helmets for those Crusaders.
Regards,
Steve
-
The first one I went after was the Crusader in black that was already listed as being retired and I had difficulty finding it in any local shops. Critical mass for him was 10 units before I could pause to catch my breath but I will stop at about 50 to back fill other lines like the Romans.
Then of course I needed a castle and so bought a 'carry along' castle for about $18 and then another for parts, then an 'Eagle Castle' and after reading the review comparing the Eagle and the Empire castle I decided the Eagle was good enough. But then they were the special for December from PlaymobilUS and I bought 2 more (for expansion purposes), then my wife bought me the Empire not knowing I had the Eagles! I bought the Rock castle so the bad guys would have a home, and at last I was sated. But wait! In one of the conference photos someone was using a western fort for the Romans. The hunt was on again and what of the Viking/Barbarians? are they not deserving of a place to be attacked? and so it goes.
The Eagle was the only castle I actually set up and it took my whole gaming table! As for my casting, I am still looking for sample pieces to use as masters but can see I need many hats and kitchen type items, for now I do this incidentally because there is so much to learn about the various lines and their history. I think my first project will end up being some new helmets for those Crusaders.
Regards,
Steve
Oh my, this parallels my own experience of the last 9 months!
I've always been more interested in the figures than the buildings, but having acquired a number of knights they needed a home, so off I went and got TWO Eagle castles AND a Knight's Empire Castle, fortunately both reduced, on the same day. That was quite an interesting trip home on the bus, and my arms are still 2" longer.
Exactly like you, I then needed a home for opposition, and off I went and got the Rock castle - but then discovered there was a bigger one, so I got that.. and then I got the Rock castle expansions from the acccessories range, actually, ahem, two of each. :-[
Having finally set up the Empire castle (with expansions from the Eagle castles) I found I had about 50 knights to man it, so I split them into the Blue Watch (with blue lion shields), Yellow watch (yellow lion) and Green or Eagle Watch, comprising all the Eagle Knights. Of course then the watches weren't quite the same size, so I ha dto acquire more, or make customs from spare parts, to even them out.
The Rock Castle then followed along much the same lines, though I still haven't actually counted the Red Dragon knights or worked out watches.
All that doesn't touch on the Romans, Pirates and Western themes of which I have quite a lot of figures.
Regarding the Special Crusaders, I also bought a few of the Black Cross ones as they were already out of the shops, then discovered an older red cross one so got a couple of those (via eBay), and now there's a new one due out with a bigger red cross and a new style helmet, so as soon as he's available I'll be getting a dozen.
Then there's the Maltese Knight, who goes well with the Crusaders. They pop up on eBay occasionally, but they're not cheap.
And so it goes...
I have to set myself a unit size, maybe a dozen grunts with a couple of officers/NCOs, and then stick to it.
-
I have to set myself a unit size, maybe a dozen grunts with a couple of officers/NCOs, and then stick to it.
I think I'll keep a copy of this, Martin. i've always found that it's difficult for me to remember ALL of my resolutions, so I thought that I'd help you out to remember this one of yours ... in about a year or so. Or, maybe less ... :lol:
-
Oops - somehow I managed to overlook this thread. Sorry about that Gepetto!
Anyway, a very warm welcome from the Netherlands. Even though it is somewhat late :-[
Bogro
-
Thank you Martin,
I knew there would be people who understood the dilemma. There's a bigger Rock Castle? Since Christmas I have also picked up several expansion sets for the Empire and Rock castle.I had wondered if 2 Rock castles could be combined but have not seen any good photos showing that it could, the castle looks a little 'thin'.
I fixed my unit size at 20, that gives a good looking group on the table w/o looking scrawny or overwhelming.
I have intentionally kept off EBay due to the cost and I couldn't stand to end up with just 2 Maltese knights so I started fresh and anything else I get will be gravy. I went to my local stockist (love that word) looking for some accessory Legionnaires and while looking around I saw a Viking fortress on a top shelf! I had given up finding one and thought that would start my foray into the murky world of EBay, when the clerk pulled it down there was another behind it! I thought I would faint. Needless to say I am one happy camper, on to those Western Forts!
Regards,
Gepetto
-
I think I'll keep a copy of this, Martin. i've always found that it's difficult for me to remember ALL of my resolutions, so I thought that I'd help you out to remember this one of yours ... in about a year or so. Or, maybe less ... :lol:
LOL ;D As I said, a couple of dozen grunts, and a full command structure of officers...
Thank you Martin,
I knew there would be people who understood the dilemma. There's a bigger Rock Castle? Since Christmas I have also picked up several expansion sets for the Empire and Rock castle.I had wondered if 2 Rock castles could be combined but have not seen any good photos showing that it could, the castle looks a little 'thin'.
I fixed my unit size at 20, that gives a good looking group on the table w/o looking scrawny or overwhelming.
I have intentionally kept off EBay due to the cost and I couldn't stand to end up with just 2 Maltese knights so I started fresh and anything else I get will be gravy. I went to my local stockist (love that word) looking for some accessory Legionnaires and while looking around I saw a Viking fortress on a top shelf! I had given up finding one and thought that would start my foray into the murky world of EBay, when the clerk pulled it down there was another behind it! I thought I would faint. Needless to say I am one happy camper, on to those Western Forts!
Regards,
Gepetto
It may be that you've seen the larger 3269 Rock castle, and not the one I first got which is a bit smaller - just the rocks, central platform, and a couple of towers. The front gate is red with a dragon head, and the back is open. The larger 3269 castle has a black front gate, and a plain red back gate. The cage on the side is also red on the smaller castle, and black on the larger one.
The 2 large rocks of the rock castle cause the problem when trying to combine two sets. They're actually the same rock, just turned 180 degrees. The rock extends beyond the front of the stonework, so you can't easily add the extra 2 rocks at 90 degrees.
I briefly toyed with that, but the castle then wouldn't fit in it's current position on top of a chest of drawers, and I didn't have the energy to rebuild it on the floor. I think it might be done, using castle sections to fill the gaps - but then where would the front & back gates go?
So the usual problem occurs - you have to leave some bits out - and possibly buy extra bits to fill the gaps.
I had the same problem with my combined Eagle and Empire castles - lack of space. I have enough wall sections and gateways with drawbridges to make a gated town, but not the clear flat undisturbed area. I mwould be able to build a larger town on the main dining table, but I wouldn't be able to keep it assembled for long.
So space, and time conditions dictated that if I wanted a castle I could keep assembled for months, it'd be on a smaller table in my study, and that limits the curtain wall length. With the castle assembled to my satisfaction, the size of the garrison (probably far too large for such a castle in reality) was determined, by the spaces available for the sentries.
I've got plenty of knights off eBay that I can't currently use, but can switch with the current crop when required.
Island of Toys made a good point in his intro thread, abut what he gets from Playmo, so I'll continue there.