"Fort Apache Playset Book" Topic

Playset Magazine has released the ultimate book on Mar Fort apache Playsets. If you lived in the US(1950's-1980's) and loved toy soldiers, then you had a Fort Apache playset

Probably the most popular "under the tree" playset of all time. Loads of color pictures and contents lists of all of the For Apache's ever released. Check for yourself.

link

I have the reissued version of this set. Still some of tne greatest 54mm figures ever made. Thanks for this info.

Ha, I remember those!

Had an epic battle with a friend, back in the day.

We threw rocks to represent rifle and arrow shots, out in the dirt. Dirt clods were cannon fire. Lots of mayhem all round. Great fun!

They had other sets too, IIRC, e.g. a civil war set, and a toy soldier set, with green and tan troops, tanks, and aircraft too.

They were a lot of fun, great stuff to feed an imagination. I had a lot of fun with the Zorro playset, too.
Bob

I remember sets with sheet metal buildings. Nothing guaranteed to cut you up like sheet metal. "Captain Gallant" was one with 54mm FFL, plastic palm trees and well which I still had many years after most of the set was history. Detail on the soldiers and other plastic bits was quite good but the sheet metal was nasty.

I had one of these as a kid, wish I still had it!

My dad used to buy me the latest Marx Set every year at Christmas. Fort Apache was a surprise thrill. He bought it on Christmas Eve and it was the last one in the store. He had to take a second job every Christmas season for three weeks to buy us kids our gifts. The Fort Apache set cost $5.00 USD back then.

I loved these sets as a kid. My memories are just as Mako called it out. My dad used to get aggravated that me and my brothers, and a friend of mine from down the street. We would take fistfuls of gravel from the driveway to use as ammo for the fight, and use them to fight in his gardens. Dirt clods for artillery! Deep trenches were made to keep the troops under cover.

My buddy from down the street and I, every once in a while, would set all of our troops and cavalry up across the yard and facing one another for battle. He had as many soldiers as I had. It was a boy's dream to field over 2,000. So, with, over 4000 toy soldiers splayed across the back yard, we would sit together, share cool aide and marvel at our masterpiece.

Too much fun.

Better than an Xbox any day…..Kids today don't know what they're missing…

One of my best remembered Christmas was the one that I found a Fort Apache set and a WWII set both under the tree! Many happy memories.

My distant cousins, who I rarely got to visit, had a complete Marx Alamo set. I remember coveting that set in the worst way! Always wondered whatever became of it…Probably sold at a thrift sale.

I live in Belgium but remember with a lot of fondnes having the RIFLEMAN and JUNGLE JIM sets, and yes, also with metal sheet buildings. I do not think FORT APACHE ever got over here, I'm sure I would remembeer it.

Yep, and if you were good, you could emplace some of the troops in trenches, foxholes, of behind rocks.

Digging their bases into the dirt a bit, or putting a rock on top of it made the "troops" a lot more robust. They could usually survive several direct hits, and still keep on fighting, since they're not out of the fight until their lying down on the ground.

Usually took 3 – 6 direct hits to knock those out of the fight.

We used to put powder in a small balloon and bury it in the dirt until there was just a little mound of dirt sticking up. When we fired artillery, we would stick a pin in the dirt mound and it would explode with what looked like smoke shooting into the air and leaving a white dirt like crater. We had soooo much fun.

I had the Rin Tin Tin version from 1957. In 1962 I made the jump to 20mm using Thomas figures from K+L. Amazingly, in 2013 I decided to get back into the hobby and found they (K+L) were still in business some 50 years later.

The book will bring back good memories and maybe spur you to replace that long lost playset.

Fort Apaches are on Eaby all the time and they are cheap. You can find them without the box for under 50 bucks.

Once you get that one under your belt, we can move onto the Blue and Gray playsets.

I had the Fort Apache set with the metal building and the plastic wood walls. Made it bigger with the addition of Lincoln Logs. Added Cowboys to compliment the soldiers.

The Indians were outside the fort in skirmish. I took one of those neat dart guns you can't buy anymore. I took turns shooting at the Indians then the army.

The Indians always won because they were in skirmish and were harder to hit. The fort walls would go flying and take out several troops at one time. I was all of seven or so. Fun!