"Attention Sindri, fans of Plastic Wars, from 1998-2007..." Topic

Sindri, I just saw your post from 19 February, inquiring about my Army Men rules set, Plastic Wars.

Background information:

In 1998, I self-published, and sold through mail-order, an introductory set of wargames rules for beginners, using inexpensive Army Men plastic figures and vehicles. I taught local Community Education classes, for both adults (very low attendance), and children (always sold out, was asked to add additional classes to accommodate interest).

I offered the rules until 2007, when I ended my website, and my mail-order offerings. The game was published in 5.5" x 8.5" booklets: Basic (with scenarios), Advanced (with scenarios), and a combined book of revised rules with new features, Total Annihilation (scenarios removed). All three versions of the booklets were limited in page count, which necessitated adding/removing materials; all were B&W, on colored paper stocks.

Long story short, I am s-l-o-w-l-y working on a fourth version, PDF and POD, in color, with most of the original material included, along with new materials, ideas, and scenarios. I hope to publish it on POD sites, by the end of 2025. Cheers!

Sgt Slag – We never met, but I was close friends with a pair of brothers who took your community education course featuring your Plastic Wars ruleset.

After many years, we all started wargaming again and have been playing updated or streamlined rulesets of the games we used to play. Plastic Wars came up, and I went searching to see if a copy of the rules could be found, which ultimately brought me here.

I was very excited to see that you were hoping to release updated rules. Do you have any updates since the above post?

Sorry to have missed your post before now…

I signed on with Pacific Sky Games to publish Plastic Wars through them: POD, soft cover, perfect bound. No idea when I will get them up for sale, sadly.

I re-wrote the rules, twice, in the last 15 years, but after working with PSG, I realized I needed to take a different approach in the re-write. I started work on them, but life got in my way, late last year. I have not yet re-started my work on them.

The new version will start with a more direct, bare bones rules writing approach: it will assume war game familiarity, and dive in more directly. There will be a separate chapter for newbies, to introduce them to the concepts of what a war game is, and the basic concepts -- this chapter will be at the end of the book.

I will include all of the scenarios from the previous editions, which will total around 20+ scenarios. It will also include a painting guide and a terrain-making guide. I will likely update the Higgins Boat model from simple paper, to something a little more advanced.

The rule book will cost around $30 USD, be Print-On-Demand (POD), so it will need to be printed after your order is paid.

The downside to using POD is that reference sheets will be a little challenging: I can print them in the book, but Players will need to make photocopies, themselves, or cut the pages out. I will include instructions on how to print them on cardstock, how to laminate them both professionally, and as a simple DIY project.

PSG just notified me that they will be collaborating with Litko Games, for laser-cut markers and such. I will likely set up activation markers with them: laser-engraved round disks, which Players will dump into a bag, then randomly draw out the unit activation markers. We did this in that massive game: one of the players owned a laser engraver, so he prepped unit activation disks, and we drew them out of a bag -- it worked superbly, adding a new dimension to the game; the engraved wooden disks were more durable, less likely to be lost or damaged, than playing cards. LOL! I will try to post updates on Plastic Wars here on TMP. PSG is a paying advertiser on TMP, so when Plastic Wars is re-released, there will be news articles posted on TMP about it.

Unit activation will be random, based on some playing cards, so you won't know when your troops will activate, which makes it far more interesting than I-Go-U-Go, like the old game.

Your inquiry is spurring me on to get back at it. It is a labor of love for me. I played a massive game of PW around seven years ago. We put together a table that was 12 feet wide by 30 feet long (link to photo album of that game); we had an amphibious landing, a slog up a hill into a city, and lots of pitched battles along the way. We had over 400 Army Men on the table, with trucks, Jeeps, DUKS (amphibious road trucks from WW II), a supply train loaded with troops, tanks, and howitzers rolled in, mid-game to try to re-supply the Defending army.

We put together a table that was 12 feet wide by 30 feet long; we had an amphibious landing, a slog up a hill into a city, and lots of pitched battles along the way. We had over 400 Army Men on the table, with trucks, Jeeps, DUKS (amphibious road trucks from WW II), a supply train loaded with troops, tanks, and howitzers roll in, mid-game for the Defending army. It was a massive, two-day battle over a weekend. That game had most options of the game thrown into it. That game is also pushing me to finish the re-write of the rules. Hoping it will be more professional than the earlier editions.

It was a massive, two-day battle over a weekend. That game had most troop type options thrown into it (I think the only thing it was missing, was paratroopers); Snipers were in play, but their effectiveness was limited. The end result was that the invading Green Army scored a technical "win", on paper: both sides lost so many troops, armor, and vehicles, that the victory was pretty hollow as it cost them so much…

That huge invasion game played back in 2019, is encouraging me to re-write the rules. I have models in progress, for a large city, where the battles will be street by street, with Infantry men ruling, where Tanks will be very vulnerable. There will likely be a lot of Close Assaults taking place within the buildings, and even on the streets. I have a simple means of making multi-story buildings, which can be easily, quickly stood up for a game, and taken down for storage, which will be included in the terrain-making chapter.

Thanks for the shout out about Plastic Wars. I am glad to hear my game still has fans. I find it to be the most fun, the fastest playing miniatures game I've ever played. I like fast, fun, and dynamic, so that is how the re-write will be, hopefully improving upon the original game. Cheers!