Codex: Army Men

[Dr. The Viking]

I'm inclined to agree...

What is the reference? I have never heard of any of these points before, despite having played feverishly with army men as a kid!

[Jaeger]

@Thorbjørn: Brilliant stuff. Pigion attack, heh...

@abhorsen: Sure. Pinch away.

Well, this may be against the basic concept of play from when we we're kids (although I've never heard of any of the 3 concepts), but I gather my inspiration from the Nintendo and PC games, so no biggie.

I'll leave it to others to stay true to the basic concept.  

/Jaeger

[Will Bailie]

The purple heart is the wound marker. The other markers are to indentify units from each other, so you can use standard infantry as paratroopers if you like (or can't get hold of paratrooper models).

Wound markers should do the job - hope you enjoy and I'm looking forward to the battle reports!

[rob_the_robgoblin]

Awesome idea... but I feel you are destroying the basic concepts of Army Men;

a) Bazooka always destroys tank if in range, always, no exceptions...

b) Soldiers shot immediately die, unless they are named by the player (that'd be a 'character figure' to us), who often die dramatically, or linger on a bit.

c) There is always one figure, who has never been killed in any battle and never will be, we can call him the 'Immortal' - downside is usually that the weapon he is depicted with is nothing to write home about, or he's a medic or something.

d) A Tank's most potent weapon are its tracks, more army men have been lost to being run down than to a tanks mg or cannon.

That's how I remember it any way. 

Sounda  bit like GASLIGHT... 

[Christian]

d) A Tank's most potent weapon are its tracks, more army men have been lost to being run down than to a tanks mg or cannon.

... and it was always accompanied by a mysterious "nyooooorrrrmmmm" sound.

[Arlequín]

What is the reference? I have never heard of any of these points before, despite having played feverishly with army men as a kid!

You'll find no history written down, just the lived experiences of the forgotten heroes of numerous battles and skirmishes... men who asked for nothing (not even a paint job) but gave their all. From the hell of the sandbox, the unforgiving featureless terrain of the lawn, to the close quarter battle of the dining room table, whether green or grey, Army Men we salute you!

Such was the length and intensity of this conflict, that even today, 35 years on, these men occasionally emerge from the shrubberies and decorative borders, where they've lay in wait for the next battle, and ask "Is it over? Did we win?"


Teasing apart, I like where Jaeger is going with this.  

Just out of interest I did a search ad found these;

Army Men

Plastic Army Men

Quite nostalgic for those of us of a 'certain age'.    

[Dr. The Viking]

*Snip*

Haha you seem to have gotten quite a connection to your army men! 

[Arlequín]

Haha you seem to have gotten quite a connection to your army men! 

Could be, or I haven't addressed my survivor guilt and this thread has triggered long suppressed memories. 

[abhorsen950]

@abhorsen: Sure. Pinch away.


/Jaeger

Will do, I had to check whether I still had my Warhammer 40K 5th Ed book lying around, I do, so let me know when the PDF is done and dusted.

Cheers
Steve

[Christian]

I had tonnes of the smaller sized ones. From memory they weren't even HO... I wonder where they got to. I had heeeeeeeaps!

The good thing is plastic army men really are a dime a dozen (or $2 for 700).

Can't wait to try this out. I'm going to try and get my D&D group to have a go.

[abhorsen950]

I'm quite excited for it myself, due to how cheap Army men actually are.

Thanks for sharing
Steve

[SBRPearce]

Two years ago, my brother and I (ages 40 and 42) were clearing seedum and other ground cover from the front yard at our parents' house. We kept unearthing terribly weathered old green army men from beneath decades of foliage. My nephew (age 10) was picking through the growing pile of "returnees" and asked "Dad, who are these guys?"

"The Lost Battalion" my brother answered, without even turning around.

(My nephew took them home, cleaned them off, and still plays with them from time to time.)

[answer_is_42]

About a year ago my dad unearthed a mass grave of plastic soldiers at the bottom of the garden - about 200 or so who had been smashed, cut, slightly melted etc, from when me and my friends aimed for more 'realistic' games. And of course, troopers still turn up in the undergrowth from time to time, or from behind bookshelves and the like.
Ah, the memories...

[Doomsdave]

I have dozens of single-page rulesheets hiding aroun the house.  Everytime my boys would buy a package of "soldiers" they would demand we make up rules to have a game with.  This brings back the nostalgia.  I'm going to do some of this gaming this weekend.  Thanks for inspiring me!


On a side note, my little brother and I used to write point values on the bottoms of our army men and we would shoot them with rubber-band guns knocking them off shelves, trees, etc.  Hi-score was the winner. 

[Jaeger]

"The lost battalion"

I love it. I must make a squad like that. An Elite choice for sure (fearless to boot- they've seen it all). They might need some brown/black shading to make the look weathered.

/Jaeger