Your first real Army... (1 Viewer)

[maloyalo]

My actual first soldiers were my brothers hand me downs & later green armymen types but those are long gone.

The first army I built with intention to keep (when about 11 years old) was a medieval army mainly based on Britains Herald Knights and acronistic Trojans, Timpo Knights & Crusaders, a few Swoppets and a Marx Fighting Knights Playset. Had a few Transogram and other HK copies too.

I managed to hold on to those and have added pieces from time to time. It comes out rarely onto the battle table, but when It does, its very nostalgic. Of those, the Herald have held up best, as far as condition goes (PVC). Other then the shield stickers discoloring and nearly all the pikes having the spear tips broken from past battles & fragility, they look pretty much like new. Some of the Timpo (Polyethylene) has developed cracks and increasing brittleness damage. But most still are OK and also have retained vibrant coloring. Some of the HK copies of Timpo have dramatic color bleeding. The crusaders show it worst & are basically no longer presentable. I'll have to test to see what plastic they are.

Any other firsts ?

 

[pugio]

some of my fondess memories of youth.... cold winter day, after playing outside in the snow. getting together with friends and building forts, on living room floor, out of american bricks and lincoln logs. maning them with marx and lido 60mm soldiers... then attack with the greatest toy tank ever built, the remco bulldog tank. after shelling the fort, and watching the brass slide out, the tank or tanks would rumble and totally smash the fort. great times.

 

[nmrocks]

My first army was when I was either 6 or 7, yet at past 50 I can remember it clearly.
My Dad couldn't have been out of the service for more than a couple of years and money was obviously really tight, though as a child you never notice the money thing. I was real close to my cousin, within a year age wise and it was Christmas.
We each got a big orange bag ( you know the kind, orange color net bag) full of various sizes of wood blocks, it's obvious now they were various nicely finished cuttings but, they were great for fort building! It could have been a brand new deluxe lego set and I wouldn't have even noticed the different, they were great! Then we each got a bag of Civil war ring hand soldiers, I got grey and he got Blue, from that point, IT WAS ON!!!
My cousin and I have grown up together,more like brothers, to this day we share our common interest in all things military and for the next 10 years we fought the campaigns of history across the huge battle fields that were our back yards.
From ring hands through huge 1/72nd scale conflicts ending with custom terrain fields for vast Panzer battles from the russian steppes to the battle of the Bulge in GHQ 1/285th scale.
Great times with the simplest of needs.
Ray

 

[woodenwarriors]

Marx US GIs and a dirt bank. Wait these were not the first but came in right after my Dinosaures.
Charlie

 

[kilted vampire]

Closest thing to a real army would have been a complete Marx castle set with the plastic moat. My son still has them.

 

[Rob]

1/72 Scale airfix plastic figures.WW1 Brits/Germas,AK/EA, US Marines/Japenese inf.Funny how certain figures stick in your memory?.Like the US Marine figure who sat on the edge of the Dingy with a paddle.Then the was 1/35 scale figures,Action Man, all fought in the back garden in the mud or grass (for Australian/Japenese troops)Happy carefree days when i knew nothing of Mortgages,terrorism etc.How is it in those days (the 1970's)the summers were warm and long and all was right with the world!.

Rob

 

[maloyalo]

What made me think about this, was I had brought out the old knights and my son was using them on the 'battle table' in the basement. I made it my rule years ago, that he could play with any and all, even MIB ones. I call it my 'Prime Directive' and it serves as a link to some shread of sanity. But he's always been careful, although I do sometimes wince when I find a pile of figures 10 deep up against a wall & a Siegetower on top of that.

I have made the rule, that these can't go outside however. We have an 'Outside Army' for that. All modern green army, even some old, scuffed figures, etc, all are assigned to that Army. Which is good. He's using fireworks and such, and live on a large creek. During recent years flooding, I know hundreds are scattered down stream.

 

[Rob]

There must be thousands and thousand of 'Lost' toy soldiers around the world.Their final resting place being Back Gardens,sandpits,fields woods and rivers.They are the forgotten army

Rob

 

[modwalls]

My first real army was, Marx Battle ground playset. Actually it was my older brothers. But what was his I thought was mine, and what was mine, we both knew was his. I did get my own, we must of had at least four battle ground, two large Blue and Gray, four Viking and Knights, one Alamo, four or five Fort Apaches, cowboy and miners, a Robin hood playset, and even a Cape Canaveral, that was boring. The countless hours playing with those little men, now I'm back trying to get them all back again. I can't leave out the MPC Russian, German, and Japs, they were not as good, but they went well with the Marx. I never had Airfix as a kid, I have to say, they are every bit as good as Marx, I wish I had. But if you don't know about them, you can't miss ever having them. The Marx Christmas's at our house, will live in infamy.Mike

 

[maloyalo]

I always thought it odd, that as a kid (60's) I only saw a fairly limited ammount of types of American made toy soldiers. Mainly Timmee, MPC, Marx GI's, Common Cowboy & Indian stuff, etc. In later years, collecting, I couldn't believe the huge ammount of stuff I never heard of before. I guess a lot of it was only out for limited time, like a year or two. But even so, I would think I would of seen at least 1 Warrior of the World, or Marx Miniature Set, or Big Ceaser roman, etc.