Sunday 6 May 2018

An old toy castle

Somewhere in the mid-nineties, I bought a vacuum-formed plastic castle from a toy shop that was closing its doors. It looks a bit like the old Elastolin castles, but I guess it is one of the later replicas.

Anyway, I kept the castle for many years, and never really used it in a game, apart from the now infamous Lowenheim game I ran in the attic of my previous house in 2006.

Then, I gave the castle to my younger nephews, along with a lot of plastic soldiers, in the hope of planting the wargaming bug. We still have to see about that, but I think the force is strong in one of them - he is addicted to a D&D dungeon-exploration boardgame (also one of my gifts), a promising sign.

Anyway, since those nephews all have reached the double-digit age at which they consider castles and toy soldiers beneath their dignity, the castle has come back to me, still in excellent condition.


Time to set up another game ... ! A siege perhaps?

2 comments:

  1. Intrigued to see what you do with this and how you use this - I bought a version of one of these at a school fair in about 1985/7 for my 15mm Peter Laing medieval figures but found it slightly awkward and cramped to put figures in.
    I still have it waiting in my garage thirty years and many house moves later for use, as I can't bear to part with it. One day ...

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. You're right about trying to put figures in the castle, it is a bit cramped on the ramparts and towers. That's why I think some sort of "area placement" or "area movement" would match such a castle better. Figures are visually placed somewhere inside the castle, but the castle itself only has a few areas, e.g. north wall, south wall, courtyard, etc. Actual detailed placement of figures is therefore not important, as long as it's clear what area they are placed in.

      Delete