Hello, Generals!
As I mentioned in the last post, I'd like to exchange our childhood experiences related to the world of toy soldiers.
This is not an update, and it's not an advertisement for my new games, it's just a chat with friends.
I'll start and, if you like, tell your story <3
How did I start?
The first to buy me the packs of toy soldiers was my father, of course.
It was he who passed on to me this great passion for the military world, who explained to me the first tactics used by real Generals, and who told me anecdotes that still make me dream 30 years later.
I don't remember exactly which one was the first, but I remember the places where he gradually bought them for me; most often, it happened in the summer when we were on vacation by the sea.
Here in Italy, I don't know abroad, usually in every package there are two-colored soldiers: green and grey. The former represents the Americans and the latter the Germans, as they almost always represent World War 2.
Where did I play?
The place where I played it the most was undoubtedly my maternal grandmother's table! A huge table (looking at it now, it's not that huge :D ) where I put the gray soldiers on the left and the green ones on the right.
Usually, first I prepared the base of the gray ones, which I think also had a few more cannons, then the green ones, which instead had more variety of infantry ... typical things for children's games :D
Particular units?
I also remember that since there wasn't all the military variety I wanted, I used Lego to build planes, spaceships, and heavy tanks. I also seem to have used some GI Joe as a hero just to break through enemy lines.
For the air units, I used another package which, however, had small planes, absolutely not in scale with the toy soldiers, but which, together with the film Top Gun made me dream! The F-14 Tomcat remains my favorite aircraft and always will be!
I also had some unlikely underwater soldiers, but I never knew how to use them in battle :D so I ended up creating totally unrealistic underwater battles, haha, but somehow I had to use them.
I also had dinosaurs, but I don't think I ever used them in these battles. A childhood without dinosaurs is no childhood!
What tactics did I use?
Contrary to what you may think, I don't like complex strategies.
I've always liked breaking through enemy lines with brute force, maybe with artillery and tanks. It makes me smile that I still prefer this way of doing strategy games that I can play in my little free time.
Who did I win?
Since green is a more positive color than gray, I generally let them win, regardless of the nationality they represented, but it could happen that sometimes the gray soldiers massacred the green ones, and then the immediate revenge started! :D
Conclusions.
The years in which I have been able to play toy soldiers have been the best of my life so far, not only because of them of course, but because it is a period of life in which you mostly see the good in the world and ignore the bad.
That way of playing has developed a lot of imagination in me, a lot of passion for the military world, even though I reject war as an instrument of attack.
When I remember those moments, I also feel that plastic on my fingers (typically very low quality plastic!), the sensation of my grandmother's tablecloth which in the summer used to stick to my little chubby forearms :D and the smell of food I pour lunchtime came out of the kitchen.
This is kind of my story :)
I'd be curious to hear yours <3
How were the toy soldiers in your countries? what tactics did you use? How did you get interested in the military world?
See you soon, my friends!