Musings on future playsets. (1 Viewer)

[larso]

Nick continues to do great work with playsets. The new ones based on those classic movies about the Civil War are excellent. I remember the Horse Soldiers particularly fondly. I think the Great Train Chase was on the Disney hour we used to get down here. They seemed to get movies right a lot more consistently back then.

Anyway, my thoughts tonight are what might be playsets next year? My first suggestion in Monte Cassino. Nick has heaps of excellent Germans and Americans already of course. I think each playset needs something new though and a set of German Paras would be the main thing. Also though, some Cassino Abbey type ruins as well. Another special element could be Nick's GIs issued in a different colour to stand in for the Poles, who I think were equipped with American gear? It might also be time for a British Commonwealth set to really flesh the battle out. A SellToy Jagdpanzer would also work really well in this too.

Secondly, a Hannibal set. The Romans are done, though a mini set (4) or Roman cavalry would be a nice addition. I also think a mini set of Celts with a few of the existing Barbarians all done in blue would be a cost effective way of beefing up Hannibal's ranks. Then a mini set of Numidians, mounted like the Roman cavalry on the Indian horses. With this done a set of six Carthagians might be enough to get a decent phlanx. So a few new figures to be made but do-able over a year!

What else would be a good idea as well as being feasible?

 

[einaroneeye]

Nick continues to do great work with playsets. The new ones based on those classic movies about the Civil War are excellent. I remember the Horse Soldiers particularly fondly. I think the Great Train Chase was on the Disney hour we used to get down here. They seemed to get movies right a lot more consistently back then.

Anyway, my thoughts tonight are what might be playsets next year? My first suggestion in Monte Cassino. Nick has heaps of excellent Germans and Americans already of course. I think each playset needs something new though and a set of German Paras would be the main thing. Also though, some Cassino Abbey type ruins as well. Another special element could be Nick's GIs issued in a different colour to stand in for the Poles, who I think were equipped with American gear? It might also be time for a British Commonwealth set to really flesh the battle out. A SellToy Jagdpanzer would also work really well in this too.

Secondly, a Hannibal set. The Romans are done, though a mini set (4) or Roman cavalry would be a nice addition. I also think a mini set of Celts with a few of the existing Barbarians all done in blue would be a cost effective way of beefing up Hannibal's ranks. Then a mini set of Numidians, mounted like the Roman cavalry on the Indian horses. With this done a set of six Carthagians might be enough to get a decent phlanx. So a few new figures to be made but do-able over a year!

What else would be a good idea as well as being feasible?

I do like the idea of a Monte Cassino set, especially with some German paras and British/Commonwealth figs. As for the Hannibal set, I don't mean to be a "rivet-counter", but the Romans that Nick currently has are from the later imperial period in terms of armor and gear. The Hat sets show Republican Roman armies that fought in the wars with Carthage. This is a noticeable difference in the legions' appearance.

 

[larso]

With a thousand years of history that issue jumps up a bit. I can personaly turn a blind eye to it. I wonder if anyone's done a list of the Roman's available and where they fit in on the time-line?

As much as I really like Nick's stuff, the Romans are my least favourite. They're a touch big and somehow stilted? I read once they'd been designed by computer, maybe that process impacted on the motion that could be depicted? Attaching shield arms was probably also an issue. This said - I still brought them all!

 

[larso]

Musing some more.

Looking a little bit further into the Monte Cassino idea. The 16th SS looks like it only arrived in Italy after the battle, so maybe the 'Elite' troops come out of the set. Other German divisions appear to be 5th Mtn, 44th, 71st & 94th Infantry and 15th, 29th, 90th PzGr. This is after only a brief look, so don't hold me to these. 15th PZGr at least had Jagdpanzers too, though most armour was PZ IV and Stugs.

I see the Polish national colours are white and red, I'm not sure either of those colours work so well in terms of representing them. The Indians, New Zealanders, French and British of course had quite a lot to do in the battle as well.

 

[Ragnar]

For Carthage/2nd Punic Wars you really cant go past Hat and CTS they just about have everything you would need!
Republican Romans, BC and there are plenty to do all ranks,
Hat have Velites (skirmishers) Hastati ( light infantry ) CTS have the Princeps ( heavy infantry ) then the last row of troops Hat's Triarii (veteran's)
So you can build pretty much a complete republican Roman army in the right formation!...Hat also have cavalry,
Plenty of troop types to build Hannibal's army including Gauls you can combine Hat and Italeri (12 poses there alone) plus Gaul Cavalry,
Then there's all the ally troops for both sides Italians, Numidians ect,
There must be around all up close to 20 sets for that time period..........which is pretty good for 54mm plastic to have almost a complete range.

For the Imperial Period, AD...gee there really is not much ACTA did one set of Romans (nothing special there)
Then there's TSSD just to BIG which is a shame as they could have been used against existing Gaul sets,

Ps I would not want to se TSSD touch the Punic Wars but maybe something like the Crusades which would be a better fit for them,
TSSD like to make big sized figures so they would fit well with those BMC sets.

 

[larso]

Interesting. I do have a few Hat/Italieri sets but I've been won over by the Conte/TSSD size figures. I would love a Crusades set!

 

[larso]

I think the Crusades has potential. Nick would need to do both Saracens and Crusaders sets from scratch. A decent castle and seige equipment would add to the playability. The only complication is the horses. As someone else pointed out the horse 'furniture' on Nicks current horses locks them into a particular time frame. Crusades work for me though!

 

[The Katzie Kid]

l. Another special element could be Nick's GIs issued in a different colour to stand in for the Poles, who I think were equipped with American gear? It might also be time for a British Commonwealth set to really flesh the battle out.

The British outfitted/equipped the Poles.The French were outfitted/equipped by US.I guess French feelings couldn't have handled being equipped by Les Beefsteaks!!{sm4}

 

[Breizh44]

l. Another special element could be Nick's GIs issued in a different colour to stand in for the Poles, who I think were equipped with American gear? It might also be time for a British Commonwealth set to really flesh the battle out.

The British outfitted/equipped the Poles.The French were outfitted/equipped by US.I guess French feelings couldn't have handled being equipped by Les Beefsteaks!!{sm4}

We say "Roastbeef" for our British "friends"...:salute::
Best from France

 

[arditi]

May not be possible (financially), but I'd like to see some WWII desert Italians in both tropical and continental grey-green uniforms and gear. Photographic evidence show them wearing both theaters of clothing types in the colonies. Makes for an interesting painted figure in my opinion. They also had an established regimen for knocking out the Commonwealth tank preponderance with hand held anti-tank weapons/grenades due to underpowered anti-tank guns, etc. Took some courage to run up on a tank and disable it with a Molotov cocktail and other anti-tank grenade types they had. I think figures such as mentioned would be interesting, dramatic and popular. My thoughts. I have some research into this area if TSSD is interested.
Russ

 

[Al Fisher]

Use of additional heads and arms similar to the Naps produced by All the Kings Men would permit many permutations of the original figures.

Bosun Al

 

[larso]

"Use of additional heads and arms similar to the Naps produced by All the Kings Men would permit many permutations of the original figures."

I think there's a really good idea here. There could be a basic Commonwealth set of six-eight but with a mix of British helmets, Australian slouch hats and French kepis etc for example. People could then create the unit of their choosing or have all three! It'd be a great selling point.

 

[larso]

I've been letting my imagination go along these lines again. I'm still keen on a new WW2 playset and German Fallschirmjagers. My thought now is Battle of St Lo in Normandy. The 3rd FJ Div fought the 29th US and others.

I'd see a set of FJs including a mortar crew, which they used heavily. Also, some sort of 20mm cannon set as another accessorie. The existing Neblewerfer would also be apt. The 75mm AT too.

Some building ruins and some hedgerows with weapon points to then be added. I'd imagine this would be a fair seller in the US?

 

[Plastic General]

OK, wanna get romantic?!
Lease the MARX mold from the Guns of Navarone playset,
rename it the MONTO CASSINO Playset.
8 new poses of German Paratroops in defensive poses.
- Mortor teams, MG teams ect.

Plastic General

 

[combatmen]

I've been letting my imagination go along these lines again. I'm still keen on a new WW2 playset and German Fallschirmjagers. My thought now is Battle of St Lo in Normandy. The 3rd FJ Div fought the 29th US and others.

I'd see a set of FJs including a mortar crew, which they used heavily. Also, some sort of 20mm cannon set as another accessorie. The existing Neblewerfer would also be apt. The 75mm AT too.

Some building ruins and some hedgerows with weapon points to then be added. I'd imagine this would be a fair seller in the US?

I would love a set like that. Hopefully one of the buildings would be a Church. By the way, if you can find it, (Some of the "Half Price Books" stores I visited had some copies last time I looked.), one of the best books about the fighting in the hedgerows I have read is "Dying for Saint-Lo" Hedgerow Hell, July 1944. Covers a lot of details about the fighting and has a lot of photos, many I have never seen before. Well worth having.
BOBBYGMOORE

 

[gk5717]

Since this is in the TSSD thread I'm wondering if TSSD will even do a new playset this year or even new figures. This time last year they had already started a go fund me type of account to jump start their VietNam figures but so for no news thus far. Throw in the fact Nick's health is not the best I wouldn't be surprised if we get a big fat zero for 2017 and for that matter from now on. Looks like we may have to rely on the Russians to do all our plastic. Maybe Trump can help us out since he is buddies with Putin.
Gary