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/amg/ Army Men General - Taking back what's ours

Anonymous Fri 11 Apr 2025 03:28:19 No.11398681 View View Reply Original Report

Quoted By:

Welcome to the Army Men General!

Previously: >>11371258

>Plastic soldiers, knights and pirates, cowboys and indians, fantasy and sci-fi, cops and zombies, all are welcome here!

>Archived threads:
https://archive.palanq.win/toy/search/subject/Army%20Men%20General/

>Army men wargame rules:
https://combatstorm.com/
https://onepagerules.com/portfolio/one-off-games/
https://www.plasticcommand.com/
https://freewargamesrules.fandom.com/wiki/Special:Search?query=army+men

>Places to get army men:
https://bmctoys.com/ and https://victorybuy.com/
https://www.armiesinplastic.com/
https://www.toysoldierco.com/
https://www.classictoysoldiers.com/
https://www.toysoldiersdepot.com/
https://www.hobbybunker.com/
https://www.michtoy.com/
https://www.toysoldierhq.com/
https://micshaunscloset.com/
http://www.expeditionaryforce.com.sg/

Anonymous

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Anonymous Fri 11 Apr 2025 03:37:14 No.11398684 Report

Quoted By: >>11398687 >>11401416

Was a bit of a dead stretch there but with spring finally drying out the land, should have new adventures rolling out soon.

On a related note, new acquisitions... First time I noticed that JEU is an acronym; in french it means "game" and I wondered if that was the inspiration behind the brand name, certainly no coincidence I imagine.

Anonymous

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Anonymous Fri 11 Apr 2025 03:45:56 No.11398687 Report

Quoted By: >>11398689

>>11398684
Two more cheap plastic totes with awesome cardboard inserts, both with the same battlescape so I've posed them to give the best view of that panorama. In keeping with their tendency to have the main setting consistent to a particular conflict era with one/two notable exceptions, this time we have a clear WW2 setting for the most part. Errant AH-64D Apache Longbow and pair of modern warfighters aside, we have an armoured assault led by a Sherman, T-34, Panzer (III?) and a less identifiable but still visually appropriate tank bringing up the rear, apparently engaging that artillery emplacement at left with support from a Katyusha at right (though the field gun seems more of an Allied than Axis type, perhaps captured and turned against the owners). Rounding out the lot is a very familiar FW190 commencing a strafing run on the tanks - a long-suffering aircraft indeed as that exact plane has appeared in every such battle scene, no matter the era.

Anonymous

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Anonymous Fri 11 Apr 2025 03:56:08 No.11398689 Report

Quoted By: >>11398692

>>11398687
Regular /amg/enerals will likely be familar with the overall contents of these sets - both are identical in vehicles and accessories loadout and it's all been seen before in previous sets from the company. There's one "new" item that was meant to be in one of those previous sets but had been subbed out in the final product: the green Tiger tank. This time around the advertised armour was correct, including the erroneous lower half that is accurate to the grey Japanese Type 3 Chi Nu also included. The reason for this error is likely mundane - the lower half was designed with a pullback play feature and it's more cost-effective to just slap onto different upper tank halves as those are what most people use to tell them apart anyway. Incidentally this has been the Hollywood approach to recreating Tiger tanks for films, notably in Kelly's Heroes and Saving Private Ryan.

Regarding the Chi Nu, it's interesting such a relatively obscure tank would be selected to reproduce in toy form; for these particular sets it turns out to be a most appropriate choice, as we'll see.

Anonymous

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Anonymous Fri 11 Apr 2025 04:02:46 No.11398692 Report

Quoted By: >>11398711

>>11398689
Forgot to mention that if anyone was interested in seeing the individual bits of the sets in detail I can post pics. The only area where these two sets differ from each other is in the infantry provided: both include a set of Japanese(ish) soldiers, while their opposing army differs between the sets. In this one the grey figures are (mostly) Chinese WW2-era soldiers. I have to include those qualifiers as there's a couple poses in each set that are anomalous, being very obviously sourced from a war a few decades in the future.

Anonymous

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Anonymous Fri 11 Apr 2025 04:22:33 No.11398711 Report

Quoted By: >>11398719

>>11398692
On the Japanese side we have a very nice assortment, notably a flamethrower trooper that is a first for plastic Japanese forces that I've ever seen. The mortar guy is reminiscent of the one in the Taliban army of other sets but I couldn't say if one inspired the other or if it's mere coincidence. Rising Sun banners are always on prominent display in Pacific War movies and shows so I always appreciate when plastic armies include one, easily making that guy my favourite of the lot.

Unfortunately for those who demand historical accuracy in their men, a trio of the poses come to us from a war still to be fought (relative to the rest anyway). The machinegunner and prone rifleman are close copies of poses from the famous Timmee Vietnam War set, though some effort was made to make the soldiers themselves more WW2 Japanese. It is in the weapons where we readily identify their future origins, particularly the still-recognizable M16 of the prone guy. In fairness to the machinegunner, the prototype Stoner 63 of his Vietnam War source pose could be mistaken for a Type 96 by laymen. Less easily explainable is the other M16-equipped infantryman just in front of the officer figure, though his origins do not link back to Timmee.

Anonymous

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Anonymous Fri 11 Apr 2025 04:34:37 No.11398719 Report

Quoted By: >>11398724

>>11398711
Moving on to the Chinese, their pose assortment is almost comically gung ho; they're pretty fired up and have no less than three different soldiers wielding grenades with aggressive intent. Also noteworthy are the two fellows armed with dadaos, one of them also a grenadier while the other has a bugle!

Here too we have three odd men out, and again two of these are clearly taken from the Timmee Vietnam War boys - the prone guy and more infamously the charging guy with rifle and bayonet raised overhead. Again they took pains to modify the soldiers at least; the third oddball likewise though his origins are as obscure as his Japanese counterpart - his weapon appears to be a bullpup rifle or shotgun. A case can also be made for one of the grenadiers being a little out of time with his modern-looking rifle with large magazine.

Anonymous

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Anonymous Fri 11 Apr 2025 04:40:10 No.11398724 Report

Quoted By: >>11400948

>>11398719
Just to complete the picture we have the soldiers from the other set, with the Japanese being punished for their anachronistic armaments though having to battle American soldiers from an entirely different century. These GIs are the same as included to fight the Taliban in other sets, seems the toy company didn't feel a need to create another pose set and just went with the Americans they'd already made.

In closing I want to highlight that superb Rising Sun banner accessory and note that it was also in the Japan vs China set, the latter having the current Chinese flag as theirs.

Anonymous

Anonymous Sun 13 Apr 2025 04:41:42 No.11400948 Report

Quoted By: >>11401867

>>11398724
You don't see a lot of Second Japanese-Sino War anything so this was a surprise.

Anonymous

Anonymous Sun 13 Apr 2025 18:20:51 No.11401416 Report

Quoted By: >>11401867

>>11398684
Yay.
I've been busy myself - and my girlfriend is staying over due to renovations at her place - so pics have been slow

Anonymous

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Anonymous Mon 14 Apr 2025 03:02:53 No.11401867 Report

Quoted By: >>11402625

>>11401416
Been feeling out the ground, still a little damp and chilly but we'll see next weekend when I have a rare four days off.
>>11400948
Rare indeed, making the anachronistic elements more niggling but that can be overlooked; the Chinese fought with whatever they could get their hands on, a few future weapons here and there wouldn't be terribly off the mark.

Anonymous

Anonymous Mon 14 Apr 2025 20:39:03 No.11402625 Report

Quoted By: >>11402843

>>11401867
Those look especially gummi candy in color.

Anonymous

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Anonymous Tue 15 Apr 2025 01:08:59 No.11402843 Report

Quoted By:

>>11402625
The turbans and other striped bits definitely give a twizzlers feel to them, solid plastic though. Also have them in yellow

Anonymous

Anonymous Fri 25 Apr 2025 19:18:38 No.11403007 Report

Quoted By: >>11403016

It's good to be back.

Anonymous

Anonymous Fri 25 Apr 2025 19:38:21 No.11403016 Report

Quoted By: >>11403025

>>11403007
Same. I missed /toy/'s pictures.

Anonymous

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Anonymous Fri 25 Apr 2025 19:45:26 No.11403025 Report

Quoted By: >>11403027 >>11403060

>>11403016
Keep getting connection errors when trying to post a picture, hopefully that clears up

Anonymous

Anonymous Fri 25 Apr 2025 19:45:57 No.11403027 Report

Quoted By: >>11403060

>>11403025
Oh it did, awesome

Anonymous

Anonymous Fri 25 Apr 2025 19:56:56 No.11403060 Report

Quoted By: >>11403071

>>11403025
>>11403027
Yeah, 4chan is still giving me error messages too.
Are those grey and black Yankees? I've only seen them in blue.

Anonymous

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Anonymous Fri 25 Apr 2025 20:02:50 No.11403071 Report

Quoted By: >>11405065

>>11403060
It's the lighting and color adjustments, they're different shades of blue with the one almost blue-grey and the other fairly dark, all from different companies; this is the same picture without adjustments. I like the effect, very much in keeping with the less than uniform appearance of both sides throughout the war.

Anonymous

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Anonymous Sun 27 Apr 2025 03:55:44 No.11404821 Report

Quoted By: >>11404822

Continuing my apparent mission to sample everything VIIKONDO has to offer, another pair of sets.

Anonymous

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Anonymous Sun 27 Apr 2025 03:59:04 No.11404822 Report

Quoted By: >>11404823

>>11404821
Starting with the right one, comes with an interesting world map on cardboard.

Anonymous

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Anonymous Sun 27 Apr 2025 04:00:29 No.11404823 Report

Quoted By: >>11404827 >>11405065 >>11405748

>>11404822
Its reverse appears to be a crude reimagining of the famous comic book army men advertisement of years past.

Anonymous

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Anonymous Sun 27 Apr 2025 04:04:40 No.11404827 Report

Quoted By: >>11404831

>>11404823
These sets are pretty much accessories and vehicles packs, with the latter being particularly decent quality - the sets aren't cheap even before shipping so this is likely where much of that cost comes in. The armored vehicle is clearly an SPG but could reasonably pass for an MBT. The tanker truck is a fairly rare army men accessory, particularly in military colors and was one of the selling points for me.

Anonymous

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Anonymous Sun 27 Apr 2025 04:06:41 No.11404831 Report

Quoted By: >>11404835

>>11404827
The air force and navy are represented with a couple token units apiece, nothing remarkable as all have been seen in other sets.

Anonymous

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Anonymous Sun 27 Apr 2025 04:12:52 No.11404835 Report

Quoted By: >>11404836

>>11404831
The trees, quonset hut and large rock piece are also typical of many sets. The flag and base are a variant of another common piece, the flag itself an odd but neat diversion from real/imagined nation flags with its tiger head emblem. The barbed wire is notable for having a continuous base from one end to the other - the standard is to have small, separated bases under some or all of the fenceposts.

Concerning the towers, the shorter one came pre- assembled which was a first for me with that design; the tall one came in pieces on two sprues and at first appeared to be of a known design but turned out to be a new one, or at least a variant of the previously seen tall tower.

Anonymous

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Anonymous Sun 27 Apr 2025 04:16:10 No.11404836 Report

Quoted By: >>11404840 >>11405065

>>11404835
Finally, the very modest army men contingent, a mere 10 men in five colours. With their smaller than typical stature and lack of quality in detail and sturdiness (note red binoculars guy's hand) they're pretty much an afterthought so that someone who doesn't already have troops will at least have a token squad of men to go with the rest.

Anonymous

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Anonymous Sun 27 Apr 2025 04:18:33 No.11404840 Report

Quoted By: >>11404842

>>11404836
The other set comes with a proper battle map in plastic, good-sized and well detailed with a river crossing, helipads and parking spots; the upper right quadrant is rather interesting with a military training obstacle course.

Anonymous

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Anonymous Sun 27 Apr 2025 04:20:55 No.11404842 Report

Quoted By: >>11404844

>>11404840
Once again the vehicles are the star attraction with another SPG (this one reminiscent of South African types on wheels) and an awesome radar truck - the extra details inside the dish making it perfect as a directed-energy weapon.

Anonymous

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Anonymous Sun 27 Apr 2025 04:21:58 No.11404844 Report

Quoted By: >>11404846

>>11404842
The air contingent is a bit better in this one, including another rare item in the form of a heavy cargo jet.

Anonymous

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Anonymous Sun 27 Apr 2025 04:23:53 No.11404846 Report

Quoted By: >>11404850

>>11404844
Naval assets are also doubled, with the gunboat and sub from the other set also appearing but this time reinforced with a larger warship and aircraft carrier. Though not new designs to me I appreciate the nice paint apps making the runways, elevators and jets stand out on the flattop, doubtlessly upping the total price.

Anonymous

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Anonymous Sun 27 Apr 2025 04:27:09 No.11404850 Report

Quoted By: >>11404853

>>11404846
The rest of the accessories are just about the same as the other set, with some changes to the trees and the inclusion of a slightly scaled up version of the classic three-piece ruined walls that are almost a staple of these sets. Notably we have another animal head emblem flag with an eagle, and also a second flag featuring the NATO emblem on stylized background.

Anonymous

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Anonymous Sun 27 Apr 2025 04:37:26 No.11404853 Report

Quoted By: >>11405065

>>11404850
This set also opted to provide only a few soldiers, better quality than the others and in a more appropriate size, though also a reduced complement of just 8 men.

Honestly it's hard for me to recommend either set, especially at that price point (not even factoring in the shipping) unless you're like me, with plenty of soldiers but not enough vehicles and stuff to go around. That said I did order a few sets of Japanese infantry from them, can always use more of those.

Got a couple MBTs inbound from a different store, offered in three colour schemes including the ever-so-rare blue that I've been chasing without success to date, hopefully this time they'll finally get some armour (aside from the 3D-printed ones I've made anyway).

Anonymous

Anonymous Sun 27 Apr 2025 13:23:21 No.11405065 Report

Quoted By: >>11405370

>>11403071
I knew there were problems with uniforms towards the beginning, specifically Manasass, but no beyond. Is that really true?
>>11404823
Close enough lol.
>>11404836
RIP but nothing some super glue can't fix
>>11404853
Thanks for the showcase as always.

Anonymous

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Anonymous Sun 27 Apr 2025 19:23:45 No.11405370 Report

Quoted By: >>11405395

>>11405065
Uniform irregularities were a constant issue for the Confederates, for many reasons but primarily due to the economic disadvantages of the South throughout the war. The Union blockade, lack of industry and logistical priorities meant that uniform standards usually fell by the wayside. Officers often designed their own uniforms and aside from an overall scheme of butternut and grey there was no set standard uniform for the Confederacy. Part of the problem was the nature of the Confederacy itself, with its members resisting centralization comparable to the Union's federal army system.

On the Union side things gradually changed over to a fairly uniform army by the midpoint of the war, though shades of blue could still vary and there were always the Zouave regiments (a feature on both sides). The film Gettysburg does a good job of portraying both sides and their general appearance by that time; towards the end of the war the disparity would be much greater, with the South's logistics system basically destroyed and their armies more or less in rags while the Union forces had an abundance of everything. It wasn't nearly so dramatic as the tartan-clad highlanders versus the smart-dressed redcoats at Cullodon but not far off really.
>Thanks for the showcase as always
Cheers, it's part of the fun when trying out new stuff. That red guy will definitely get his hand fixed, the Red army's numbers are modest enough already where every man counts. I have a package of soldiers that came in not too long ago to show, will probably get that up later today.

Anonymous

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Anonymous Sun 27 Apr 2025 19:48:47 No.11405395 Report

Quoted By: >>11405474

>>11405370
Huh, I didn't know that. I was only aware of the differences in uniforms at the beginning of the war because of a book I read. Like you mentioned, the Louisiana Tigers uniforms is what I was imagining.

Anonymous

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Anonymous Sun 27 Apr 2025 21:42:46 No.11405474 Report

Quoted By: >>11405618

>>11405395
First Manassas certainly stands out for the absolute mess all the disparate uniforms and styles on both sides caused, including the decisive moment that ended up losing the battle for the North. There was at least one unit, I forget which but they were originally a Virginia militia outfit iirc and their garb was heavily based on Revolutionary War uniforms. You can see them briefly in Gods and Generals, right before Jackson gets wounded in the hand. Think it took about a year for some degree of standardization to make it through the ranks of both armies, more quickly in the Union of course but there would always be a degree of individuality from regiment to regiment, whether it was based on their home state, the ethnic composition of the regiment or even their commanding officer's whims.

Anonymous

Anonymous Mon 28 Apr 2025 00:03:45 No.11405618 Report

Quoted By:

>>11405474
That's a cool bit of trivia. You really do learn something new everyday.

Anonymous

Anonymous Mon 28 Apr 2025 02:25:46 No.11405748 Report

Quoted By: >>11405768

>>11404823
I think these are great in their own weird way.
Like as a kid you didn't need to have real "lines off battle" and you just sort of dragged whatever was at hand into service.

Anonymous

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Anonymous Mon 28 Apr 2025 02:26:29 No.11405749 Report

Quoted By: >>11405768 >>11405893

This box comes from Amazon, had to pay a premium compared to the 28 burgers it's priced at on American Amazon but is an acceptable bullet to bite with the contents.

Anonymous

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Anonymous Mon 28 Apr 2025 02:38:23 No.11405768 Report

Quoted By: >>11405774 >>11405923

>>11405748
Indeed, I very much treasure the sometimes schizophrenic artwork and battle maps included in many sets.
>>11405749
This box however does not indulge in such practices - you get four armies and four flags, nothing more nothing less. But they are splendid armies indeed, heavily based on earlier armies, themselves descended from legendary Matchbox sets; this box in fact is basically a remake of a classic Hing Fat/Billy V bucket of said quartet of armies. A few years ago there were similar such buckets floating around, probably still are and they pretended to also be heirs to the Billy V 4-army bucket; unfortunately the preview images betrayed the substantial loss in figure quality and thus I was never tempted to try one. This box was different and customer-supplied photos helped seal the deal.

Moving on to the actual troops, I would say of the four armies they are the closest to their near-ancestors, with all the same poses and few cosmetic changes. The most noteworthy changes would be the removal of bayonets from the charging figures' rifles and the prone Bren gunner's aim is more elevated.

Anonymous

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Anonymous Mon 28 Apr 2025 02:39:23 No.11405774 Report

Quoted By: >>11405818

>>11405768
After each army I will be posting their older brethren for comparison.

Anonymous

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Anonymous Mon 28 Apr 2025 03:16:09 No.11405818 Report

Quoted By: >>11405824 >>11405923

>>11405774
Up next are the Germans and this is where things diverge considerably from the Matchbox ancestry. While the box clearly indicates they're meant to be the classic Afrika Korps troops, what was actually included is quite different. I would go so far as to say only a single pose bears a strong enough resemblance to a Matchbox original (one of the grenadiers) to suggest a faint connection there.

Going under the assumption that many army men sets started life as 1/72 kits I've scoured plasticsoldierreview for possible source armies and come up pretty much blank; a crawl through toysoldierco met with same results. These guys seem to be fairly OC overall, though I still suspect there's a source army out there somewhere.

Anonymous

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Anonymous Mon 28 Apr 2025 03:20:51 No.11405824 Report

Quoted By: >>11405833

>>11405818
Interesting thing about the Billy V Afrika Korps is it's a blend of mostly Matchbox with a few Airfix poses.

Anonymous

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Anonymous Mon 28 Apr 2025 03:26:22 No.11405833 Report

Quoted By: >>11405835

>>11405824
The box also promised Matchbox Americans and provided something different, though in this case they're much more closely aligned with said ancestry. All the poses are modified from the original classic set, with the biggest difference being the truncated barrel of the M2 machinegunner, now appearing to be more of an M1919.

Anonymous

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Anonymous Mon 28 Apr 2025 03:28:04 No.11405835 Report

Quoted By: >>11405849

>>11405833
Army Men evolution can be a curious thing.

Anonymous

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Anonymous Mon 28 Apr 2025 03:40:54 No.11405849 Report

Quoted By: >>11405858

>>11405835
Last and certainly not least, the Japanese army, like the Germans, has diverged considerably from the Billy V army, rather fittingly in this case as the Billy V Japanese have little in common with Matchbox's Japanese army. I believe this is primarily due to Matchbox never making a 1/35 version of their Japanese, unlike the other armies above; thus, the Billy V and similar Jap sets were apparently cobbled together from several different lines, as I'll unpack a bit later.

Getting back to the army at hand, unlike the Germans one can find several poses that were sourced and modified to varying extent from the Billy V figures. Even so, there are some OC poses like the radioman and sharpshooter with scoped rifle.

Anonymous

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Anonymous Mon 28 Apr 2025 03:50:12 No.11405858 Report

Quoted By: >>11405862 >>11410541

>>11405849
In my experience sets of Japanese soldiers have been the more varied and inconsistent; generally more uncommon than other armies, with pose variety different from company to company, as well as some of the details of said poses.

Going by info from plasticsoldierreview, what I've been referring to as the Billy V Japanese army has been sourced with sets by Airfix, Atlantic and Esci. The most uncommon pose seems to be the mortarman, being absent from many of the sets of these guys I've found over the years; the machinegunner with tripod-mounted Type 92 is also frequently absent.

Anonymous

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Anonymous Mon 28 Apr 2025 03:51:48 No.11405862 Report

Quoted By: >>11405866

>>11405858
Case in point, this unit has drop both entirely, as well as the officer with raised sword and a couple other poses.

Anonymous

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Anonymous Mon 28 Apr 2025 03:55:58 No.11405866 Report

Quoted By: >>11415113

>>11405862
The officer and other missing poses return with this army, though once again the mortar and machine gun are left out. I am eager to see the composition of the Japanese troops currently on the way from VIIKONDO; the listing suggests it will be essentially the same as this group but I'm hopeful for surprises.

Anonymous

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Anonymous Mon 28 Apr 2025 04:23:02 No.11405893 Report

Quoted By: >>11405897

>>11405749
Should probably mention that there's about 50 soldiers per army; the photos are just of all included poses, some of which there was only one of in the set. I've got another box of them on the way in order to form four 100ish-man battalions, because reasons.

Most of the time with setups I haven't given much attention to unit structure as outlined in my order of battle, preferring to just deploy forces haphazardly. The other day I decided it would be interesting to stick with unit structure and practice some of the doctrine that's emerged from having so many units of differing strengths and load-outs.

The resulting battle took all afternoon to shoot and will take more time to write up, as it still fails within the Colour Wars canon; we'll see when I can get to it, busy week ahead.

Anonymous

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Anonymous Mon 28 Apr 2025 04:25:31 No.11405897 Report

Quoted By:

>>11405893
*falls
Heh, bit freudian as it turned out. Incidentally this unit and the above were the ones called upon for this little military adventure.

Anonymous

Anonymous Mon 28 Apr 2025 05:26:52 No.11405923 Report

Quoted By: >>11405930

>>11405768
Those are some nice Tommies.
>>11405818
I don't know if it's the shot but, is the fellow behind the officer wearing a pith helmet or a WW1 style?

Anonymous

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Anonymous Mon 28 Apr 2025 05:40:47 No.11405930 Report

Quoted By:

>>11405923
It's the angle and a bit of untrimmed sprue, can see in this pic that it's a stahlhelm.

Anonymous

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Anonymous Mon 28 Apr 2025 05:46:36 No.11405936 Report

Quoted By: >>11405943

So my go to guys are the BMC Winter Korean War Americans - mainly because anything can look bleak.
But I need more people for them to kill.
Does anyone make Stalingrad Russians of Germans at that scale?

Anonymous

Anonymous Mon 28 Apr 2025 05:55:46 No.11405943 Report

Quoted By: >>11406764

>>11405936
BMC does:
https://www.toysoldiersdepot.com/store.php/thedustyloft/pd10819112/bmc-toys-wwii-german-assault-medics-soldiers-set-67315
https://www.toysoldiersdepot.com/store.php/thedustyloft/pd10819111/bmc-toys-wwii-german-infantry-soldiers-set-67310
TSSD too:
https://www.toysoldiersdepot.com/store.php/thedustyloft/pd188021/tssd-132nd-scale-world-war-ii-german-elite-troops-plastic-soldiers-set
https://www.toysoldiersdepot.com/store.php/thedustyloft/pd188023/tssd-132nd-scale-world-war-ii-long-coat-german-infantry-plastic-soldiers-set
https://www.toysoldiersdepot.com/store.php/thedustyloft/pd188024/tssd-132nd-scale-world-war-ii-russian-infantry-plastic-soldiers-set

Anonymous

Anonymous Mon 28 Apr 2025 21:32:30 No.11406764 Report

Quoted By: >>11407037

>>11405943

Neat. Thanks.
I'll wait and see if the Canadian election shifts the dollar a to be a bit more favorable.

Anonymous

Anonymous Tue 29 Apr 2025 01:59:10 No.11407037 Report

Quoted By: >>11407258

>>11406764
Yeah would be nice, there's a lot of army men stuff on burgerstan amazon that even at current prices and exchange rates would be cheaper to order there than on canada's, if it's there at all.

Just received a couple more unique army men from ali today, have to say I'm disappointed how much they differ from the listing and that they were 3D printed. Guess I should've expected as much but I could've done something like that at work and saved the money. They'll pop up sometime in a future story or vignette I'm sure.

Anonymous

Anonymous Tue 29 Apr 2025 07:00:19 No.11407258 Report

Quoted By: >>11408210

>>11407037

I've seen pic there of stuff that looked 3d printed.

Anonymous

View Same Google ImgOps iqdb SauceNAO 20241013_184252adj.jpg, 393KiB, 1600x1200

Anonymous Wed 30 Apr 2025 04:36:23 No.11408210 Report

Quoted By: >>11409211

>>11407258
The listings had renders rather than final product images which is what threw me off a bit, should've been a clue but I was hopeful they'd made the figs the traditional way. 3D printed army men just aren't all that viable outside of making unique poses but that's edging into miniatures territory. Call me a snob but your fighting plastic men should be cheap (at least relatively) and can be stored together loosely without worrying about things breaking off too easily. Granted some army men are so cheap this will be the case for them too but you take my point heh.

Anonymous

View Same Google ImgOps iqdb SauceNAO P1350756a.jpg, 1MiB, 1428x993

Anonymous Thu 01 May 2025 00:20:23 No.11409211 Report

Quoted By: >>11409213 >>11409989

>>11408210
They seem to go against the "everyone has got them philosophy" - or something.

Anonymous

View Same Google ImgOps iqdb SauceNAO P1350758.jpg, 359KiB, 1440x1080

Anonymous Thu 01 May 2025 00:21:09 No.11409213 Report

Quoted By: >>11409989

>>11409211

Anonymous

View Same Google ImgOps iqdb SauceNAO 20250419_161420adj.jpg, 437KiB, 1600x1200

Anonymous Thu 01 May 2025 17:20:35 No.11409989 Report

Quoted By: >>11410329

>>11409211
>>11409213
Top tier shots as always. Yeah there's certainly overlap between army men and miniatures/wargaming so it's not a big deal really, but I like army men being their own distinct thing. Maybe it's splitting hairs a bit but the latter don't feel so much like toys in the same sense.

Anonymous

View Same Google ImgOps iqdb SauceNAO P1080983.jpg, 252KiB, 1920x1080

Anonymous Fri 02 May 2025 00:51:05 No.11410329 Report

Quoted By: >>11410458

>>11409989
Thanks.
I know what you mean.
I occasionally think about slipping in a random MEGA setup but that's still "non army men."

Anonymous

View Same Google ImgOps iqdb SauceNAO 20241226_174124adj1.jpg, 207KiB, 1600x1200

Anonymous Fri 02 May 2025 03:54:13 No.11410458 Report

Quoted By:

>>11410329
Eh I have those too, they're close enough that some crossover isn't out of the ordinary. Heck, the Colour Wars took a bit of a strange turn last chapter...

Anonymous

View Same Google ImgOps iqdb SauceNAO Japanese Assault Battalion.jpg, 282KiB, 1600x1200

Anonymous Fri 02 May 2025 05:23:17 No.11410541 Report

Quoted By: >>11410549

Received my second box of these guys and then realized I would have to retake the unit photo for the Japanese as this lot included a pose that was absent from the first box (and only one of that pose to boot). The guy swinging his rifle like a bat has its origins in an Esci 1/72 set that was later modified for the larger army men scales, alongside many of his brethren here >>11405858. Of all the poses in this newest iteration he's one of the least-changed, with a few little details added but is otherwise basically identical.

Anonymous

View Same Google ImgOps iqdb SauceNAO 20250501_231302.jpg, 249KiB, 1600x1200

Anonymous Fri 02 May 2025 05:30:04 No.11410549 Report

Quoted By:

>>11410541
Something I've been noticing with these four armies in general is while a lot of extra detail has gone into them, somewhat less care has been taken in the manufacturing and QC. Specifically, there's several soldiers with tumour-like lumps of plastic that seem to have bubbled out when they were molded; not sure if that's impurities in the plastic, temperature control issues or something else but finding these has dampened my enthusiasm a bit for these spendy troops.

There's a few worse examples from the other armies but I have these at hand. Note how some of the soldiers have a "paunch" to them; some of their bayonets didn't come out very well either. Overall I still think they're great soldiers, just not quite at the price I had to pay.

Anonymous

View Same Google ImgOps iqdb SauceNAO 20250502_211358adj.jpg, 321KiB, 1600x1200

Anonymous Sat 03 May 2025 19:54:17 No.11412079 Report

Quoted By: >>11415869

The Japs have some great facial expressions

Anonymous

View Same Google ImgOps iqdb SauceNAO 20250502_210906adj.jpg, 373KiB, 1600x1200

Anonymous Sat 03 May 2025 19:56:23 No.11412081 Report

Quoted By: >>11412084

Of interest to gun nuts, this trooper's MG42 somehow has both a drum magazine and loose belt feed.

Anonymous

View Same Google ImgOps iqdb SauceNAO 20250502_202846adj.jpg, 374KiB, 1600x1200

Anonymous Sat 03 May 2025 20:00:29 No.11412084 Report

Quoted By:

>>11412081
By contrast this Nip gunner's Type 92 has no apparent ammo supply at all.

Anonymous

View Same Google ImgOps iqdb SauceNAO 20250502_203627adj.jpg, 368KiB, 1600x1200

Anonymous Sat 03 May 2025 20:06:34 No.11412089 Report

Quoted By:

The inclusion of a mortar man in this German set is long overdue - every German army I've raised previously was devoid of such portable artillery, having to be content with a few panzerschrecks and a profusion of grenadiers. Mortars in general are routinely omitted from army men sets, with the notable exception of the famous Timmee Vietnam War Americans. Some older companies like BMC would have mortar crew figures and a separate mortar piece for them to serve, possibly a reason why they're uncommon as army men have largely moved away from that style.

Anonymous

View Same Google ImgOps iqdb SauceNAO Red Lobster Infantry Company.jpg, 437KiB, 1600x1200

Anonymous Sat 03 May 2025 20:35:00 No.11412108 Report

Quoted By: >>11414543

One can still find remnants of that style, notably in copies and imitations of a Marx set of US GIs. Decades ago when I went to Red Lobster for the first time ever I was presented with a choice of toys from a treasure box they had for children. Among them was a small packet of army men which ever after have been known as the Red Lobster soldiers in my army. They're rather smaller than their Marx ancestors; I would later get a pile more of them in the same size but significantly simplified detail by redeeming tickets from arcade games at the mall amusement park.

Among the poses is a kneeling soldier with a mortar round in his right hand; unfortunately Marx produced their mortars separately from the soldiers so he's forever raising his round in futility (I would hand-wave this into a more useful grenade, until I saw Saving Private Ryan anyway). I did manage to get a few BMC mortars that would probably work with these guys.

Anonymous

View Same Google ImgOps iqdb SauceNAO 20250502_205351adj.jpg, 354KiB, 1600x1200

Anonymous Tue 06 May 2025 04:08:28 No.11414171 Report

Quoted By:

Do your army men make use of captured enemy vehicles or equipment?

Anonymous

Anonymous Tue 06 May 2025 15:59:57 No.11414543 Report

Quoted By: >>11414984

>>11412108
That seems the best thing to do with the mortar guy.. just that he's throwing a fatter grenade.
When I was younger I was confused by the guys holding rifles up over their heads.
They were mostly in a bayonetting pose but I had no idea what the hell they were doing.

Anonymous

View Same Google ImgOps iqdb SauceNAO 1681971926383844.jpg, 165KiB, 747x600

Anonymous Wed 07 May 2025 01:04:54 No.11414984 Report

Quoted By: >>11415529

>>11414543

Anonymous

View Same Google ImgOps iqdb SauceNAO 20250506_212651.jpg, 355KiB, 1600x1200

Anonymous Wed 07 May 2025 04:31:26 No.11415110 Report

Quoted By: >>11415111

Reinforcements have arrived! It's fairly unusual for army men to be carded, enough so that I can faintly remember some of the times across the years I'd raised armies packaged that way. The earliest one was actually sets of 1/72-sized soldiers with an assortment of vehicles in the same scale... come to think of it pretty much every time I found 1/72 army men they were carded.

Anonymous

View Same Google ImgOps iqdb SauceNAO 20250506_212722.jpg, 335KiB, 1200x1600

Anonymous Wed 07 May 2025 04:40:25 No.11415111 Report

Quoted By: >>11415113

>>11415110
The backs of the cards have surprisingly decent artwork, though most likely "borrowed" from somewhere; what strikes me in particular is the half-starved fanatic at centre missing his shirt and shoes (sorry bud, no service). Another odd detail is among the flags in the background is that of the Republic of China aka Taiwan, right above what appears to be the Canadian Red Ensign flag; odd flag choices but especially Taiwan's.

Anonymous

View Same Google ImgOps iqdb SauceNAO 20250506_213643.jpg, 146KiB, 1200x900

Anonymous Wed 07 May 2025 04:43:05 No.11415113 Report

Quoted By: >>11415115

>>11415111
As it turned out they were basically the same as these guys here >>11405866 though the molds seem a little more worn. For some odd reason there was a small packet of extra soldiers included with the four carded sets; these are a slightly different shade from them as well. This pic and the following have a packet fig, older set fig and carded set fig for comparison respectively.

Anonymous

View Same Google ImgOps iqdb SauceNAO 20250506_213713.jpg, 184KiB, 1200x900

Anonymous Wed 07 May 2025 04:47:51 No.11415115 Report

Quoted By: >>11415117

>>11415113
While the new guys didn't have mortars or tripod-mounted machine guns they did have a pose that was missing from my old platoon, a standing aiming rifleman that really should be a staple of any army men set.

Anonymous

View Same Google ImgOps iqdb SauceNAO Japanese Machine Gun Battalion.jpg, 295KiB, 1600x1200

Anonymous Wed 07 May 2025 04:56:05 No.11415117 Report

Quoted By: >>11415531

>>11415115
Of course a new pose means retaking the unit photo for my records but was going to anyway to reflect the three shades of pink heh. With these new recruits my Japanese army is quite respectable at over 900 men, tempted to aim for a thousand but we'll see.

Anonymous

Anonymous Wed 07 May 2025 17:58:20 No.11415529 Report

Quoted By: >>11415871

>>11414984
ya. it really boggled my mind. The grenade guy was also a bit odd and I tended to use them as "guys with arms wide after being shot"

Anonymous

Anonymous Wed 07 May 2025 18:00:43 No.11415531 Report

Quoted By: >>11415869

>>11415117
See... the guy who's but-stroking someone - is he out of bullets?
and the other guy with the rifle over his head..
Surrender?
or wading?

Anonymous

View Same Google ImgOps iqdb SauceNAO US Assault Company.jpg, 447KiB, 1600x1200

Anonymous Thu 08 May 2025 01:02:29 No.11415869 Report

Quoted By: >>11415993

>>11415531
For the former, probably and has either forgotten or lost his bayonet and thus has to resort to clubbed rifle. The latter is less certain, though wading or performing the banzai cheer would be the most likely - surrender was anathema to Japanese and even in the rare event of a surrender he wouldn't still be holding his rifle. The banzai cheer makes more sense with the remake version of this set >>11412079 - the original figure's facial expression is rather neutral whereas the newer version has real emotion.

On the subject of strange poses the one guy with the downwards-pointing rifle in this Matchbox army has always seemed strange to me, particularly with how his feet are positioned.

Anonymous

View Same Google ImgOps iqdb SauceNAO Classic Vietnam Battalion.jpg, 427KiB, 1600x1200

Anonymous Thu 08 May 2025 01:04:54 No.11415871 Report

Quoted By: >>11415886

>>11415529
Funny thing is the guy I think you're referring to didn't have a grenade originally, just an open hand; a "reimagined" version of that classic Timmee set emerged around the turn of the century with most of the poses altered in one way or another.

Anonymous

View Same Google ImgOps iqdb SauceNAO Green Vietnam Brigade.jpg, 378KiB, 1600x1200

Anonymous Thu 08 May 2025 01:15:18 No.11415886 Report

Quoted By:

>>11415871
Pic related, that one pose's only change was to add a grenade to his empty hand. The famous "guy with rifle over head" got a different lower half (one that seems to be a modified version of that from the "guy with open hand" oddly) while his original lower half went to the kneeling bazooka man who is thus now standing, giving up his own kneeling legs to turn the standing flamethrower guy into a kneeling one. Flamethrower's standing legs turn the kneeling aiming rifleman into a standing one, the minesweeper's sweeper head went from square to round, machine gunner's weapon loses its bipod and the two prone poses swapped lower halves for some reason. Radioman and mortar man are basically unchanged, while the most dramatic change would be the officer with pistol, being converted from a quite passive pose to a very active one.

Anonymous

View Same Google ImgOps iqdb SauceNAO P1340116.jpg, 137KiB, 1440x1080

Anonymous Thu 08 May 2025 04:40:01 No.11415993 Report

Quoted By: >>11415995 >>11416363

>>11415869
He's hiding behind or beside something. .
maybe ducking from a shell blast?
Okay, that last one is stretching.

Anonymous

View Same Google ImgOps iqdb SauceNAO P1340115.jpg, 112KiB, 1440x1080

Anonymous Thu 08 May 2025 04:44:09 No.11415995 Report

Quoted By: >>11416363

>>11415993

Sort of like that?

Anonymous

View Same Google ImgOps iqdb SauceNAO IMG_20200716_193117318adj.jpg, 197KiB, 1600x1200

Anonymous Thu 08 May 2025 16:13:05 No.11416363 Report

Quoted By: >>11416936

>>11415993
>>11415995
Child me assumed he was there to shoot the prone/crawling guys; waiting in cover is probably the most logical. This other set has a more obvious pose for that, though he's unusual for being a WW2-era soldier in an otherwise modern army.

Anonymous

Anonymous Fri 09 May 2025 04:59:55 No.11416936 Report

Quoted By:

>>11416363
Looks like some right doorkickers.

Anonymous

Anonymous Sun 11 May 2025 02:13:40 No.11418694 Report

Quoted By:

>>11418693

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