When I was a kid and my miniatures were plastic army men, there were green army men, Americans, and there were grey army men, Nazis. In all the battles over all of the years that I played with them as a child, the grey army men never won. Not one single battle.
They were almost always outnumbered, except maybe in those first few months after receiving the Marx Battleground playset. Not too long after Christmas that year, I started adding to my toy soldiers, and the Germans almost never got anything. So as time went on, they became more and more outnumbered.
A a kid, I never saw any plastic army men representing other countries, there were a few diecast toys, like the Saladin armored car that fought with my American forces, but no British troops, no Russians, No Japanese, etc.
The Americans benefitted from the advance of technology also. Their first tanks were M26s, later receiving M48s ; they also got things like a CH53, and lots of troops with M16 rifles. The Germans never advanced past the Panther, their additions being restricted to the technology of the war years. In time they received a Sdkfz7, and a single Panzer IV, but not much else.
All things considered, the grey guys never had a chance. They fought hard, but still, never had a chance.
Surprisingly, I never considered any of this before.
Now, sometimes the Germans win, and given that I've played a lot of 1940 battles, they've often won. They also never had to face M48s with their Panthers, and American infantry don't benefit from M16s (well, not until Vietnam anyway).
These days, I suspect that I'd get bored with the green guy always winning, but I do miss other aspects of the simplicity of the old days. Just buy the stuff and play, consumer wargaming at its best. No assembly, no painting required (though I did tend to paint them). Scale not overly important (within reason), no research, no historical maps, no pulling teeth and jumping through hoops for historical accuracy or realism.
It was a lot of fun without too much work. In reflection, I wonder if I've lost my way to some extent. The grey guys probably wouldn't think so.
Those were fun days.
ReplyDeleteI had Airfix figures in a host of different colours if memory serves. Greys, greens, blues, sand, etc.
Everything got to fight so those Roman infantry with the fiddly shields that always fell off at the wrong moment got to face up against the US astronauts with their moon buggy.
Days setting them up and then throwing a rubber to knock them down. Taking it in turns to see how many were killed. The dog, especially when happy, was a weapon of mass destruction.
I never got to experiencing the WMDD.
DeleteMust admit, we never called them Nazis. It was just Germans
ReplyDeleteI appreciate your commenting on that.
DeleteI may have more often called the grey guys "Germans", but from the time that I received them, I had a sense that they were something more sinister than just being soldiers, they were Hitler's soldiers, and that made them "bad guys". I refer to them as "Nazis" in the post to try to convey that.
Your post brought up fond memories of plastic soldiers and the battles they fought, too.
ReplyDeleteBut I was also thinking, what if one had a battle where one transformed the plastic troops and tanks into a more "rigorous" battle? I have a whole mess of armies, both modern and WWII. Fist Full of TOWs rules have stats for AFV that translate from WWII to more modern age. I can pit my WWII Germans against early/mid Cold War US forces. Panthers and Tigers vs M48A3s with 90mm guns. How certain would the outcome be?
Just a thought.
--Chris
To some extent, that is what my imagi-Africa games are, an excuse for having a little of WWII meet some of the Cold War.
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