PLAYMOBIL!?

I bought some Playmobil toys while on my recent vacation in Europe. I wasn't sure where to put this... ultimately it ended up here because kind of "miniatures" that games COULD be played with...?

I have started putting together posts of the trip to Europe. One was here on this blog... a couple others have been posted on the Art Blog... 

I have fond memories of Playmobil toys growing up. I think it was because many were historical in nature - though the only "historical" Playmobil available was the time were Pirates, Knights, and "Old West"...  I didn't have a LOT of them, just a few of the smaller sets of figures. (I'm not sure I HAD any of the knights or Pirates... just a couple "Old West" sets and some modern police and fire fighters..?) There was a toy store in a mall near my place when we first moved to Saskatoon that had a large display of them and was in awe of the castles and pirate ships and larger sets (which I never owned myself) 

My kids ended up with a LOT of Playmobil. They were the first grandkids for both of our parents and it seemed to two were constantly trying to outdo each other... so the kids ended up with bins full of it!? MULTIPLE pirate ships... AND a Viking ship... and a Victorian Mansion and dinosaurs and... and.. and... 

I've often thought it might be fun to game with them - skirmishes on a smaller scale. Or maybe use them for role-playing games...? I did see someone bought enough Romans and Germans to put together De Bellis Antiquitatis armies for both at one point! a fair few models of historical subjects have been produced over the years... very few of those are available in Canada, however... So collecting enough to play games might be expensive and challenging. 

When travelling to Amsterdam, I discovered there were a number of sets made specifically for the Rijksmuseum and the Van Gogh museum and somehow my brain decided I NEEDED these. 

I thought of looking for other sets of historical playmobil figures while in Europe... but then didn't. partly because I didn't have the time to go looking around for toy stores that MIGHT stock them... and partly because of the acquisition of BOOKS (and all the Playmobil stuff I'd already picked up were starting to fill up the luggage!!) 

As it turned out you didn't NEED to go to the respective museums to get these sets... 

We found they were ALL available in a tourist information shop in Amsterdam Centraal Train Station - along with a VERY BIG playmobil figure! 

I didn't pick them up there, I ended up grabbing them all at the respective museums! 

I had intended to keep them all in their boxes until I got home... but after two train trips (Amsterdam to Amiens and Amiens to Boulogne-Sur-Mer) they were in pretty bad shape and taking up just too much space in my luggage, so I removed them all in from the boxes (though I cut up the boxes and kept parts of them - for reference when I got around to assembling them at home!) 

BIG VINCENT playmobil display in one of the Van Gogh Museum's gift shops

MORE Large Display pieces in the other Van Gogh Museum gift shop

In Paris I found another... 

Emperor Napoleon! This I picked up the the Hôtel National des Invalides gift shop. (Specifically, I picked this one up in the gift shop in the Tomb of Napoleon!? Because... that's a thing!? and the main gift shop has closed for the day!?) 

There were also BIG playmobil figures. One was outside the main gift shop. 

A second was inside the shop. 

It was only within the last week that I finally got around to pulling them out of their plastic bag and assembling them all. 

Luckily (for the most part - with the exception of one broken item) no gluing was required for assembly and NO PAINTING WAS REQUIRED!! 

ALL of the sets acquired in Europe.

This was the first bunch I picked up at the Rijksmuseum. (Which does include a Vincent Van Gogh painting a self-portrait!?)

These fist two are from Rembrandt's The Night Watch. 

(A few more swashbuckling types like these and I'd be ready for a game of En Garde!)

The Night Watch by Rembrandt

(Oh, damn... just noticed I should have had the lighter character carrying the spontoon in the other hand at level... bah... not going to go back and take another picture...) 

We didn't get to really see The Night Watch as it was currently under restoration when we were there... despite that, there were still CROWDS of people gathered at the glass that separated the public from where they were working on the restoration! 

The milkmaid and table from Johannes Vermeer The Milkmaid (or The Kitchen Maid)

Johannes Vermeer's The Milkmaid 

The Milkmaid (or Kitchen Maid) was another one of the other "Rock Star Paintings" at the Rijksmuseum and there was alway a LARGE crowd around it... 

This is as close as I got... Amanda, I think was a bit more patient and got right in front of it to take a picture... 

Rembrandt drawing a self-portrait... bare-headed... but while wearing a dashing beret... (he was THAT good, I guess!). 

This one was also available at Rembrandthaus - Rembrandts old house and studio which has been restored into a museum. They had an incredible collection of his etchings there... which were tiny! Many images I mistook for (or have been misattributed as) drawings were actually etching that were about the size of the playmobil "drawing" here! 

I bought a few books at Rembrandthaus. 

I did learn about Dutch Masters in an art history class many, many years ago and was kind of... "meh"... but now that I've seen these IN PERSON... and the fucking DETAIL in so many of them - whether GIANT paintings that fill rooms or teeny-tiny postage-stamp-sized etchings... I feel like now I kind of GET IT!

These two came in a kit together but were based on separate portraits by Rembrandt of Maerten Soolmans and Oopjen Coppit

Rembrandt's portraits of Maerten Soolmans and Oopjen Coppit

I didn't take my own pictures of these... there were SO MANY pieces of art... I couldn't take pictures of EVERY SINGLE ONE... (though it seemed like SOME people in the museum were trying to!). 

Vincent Van Gogh painting a self-portrait. 

The little dark cap band is a sticker that I had to apply on my own (as with all the paintings). it was included to make his hat match the painting... and it is NOT staying stuck... I may have to peel it off and, if I feel like that hat REALLY needs to match the painting... I'll just paint it on..

The actual self-portrait in the Rijksmuseum. 

There were a LOT more of his self-portraits at the Van Gogh Museum, which we visited the following day (and bought MORE Playmobil there!). 

These four were picked up at the Van Gogh Museum - just down the street from the Rijksmuseum! 

All kits of Van Gogh... Did I really NEED that many Van Goghs... probably not... but there was a deal if you bought all four... so... 

Vincent Van Gogh painting one of his Sunflowers paintings... 

This was another "Rock Star Painting" that was constantly surrounded by swarms of people... 

In the gift shop you could get a LEGO kit that made a sunflower portrait... for €200!? 

I did not feel at all compelled to get one, but surprisingly AMANDA thought it was kind of interesting... We did not get one in the end, it was a rather large box!... 

This is one of my favourite kits - Van Gogh painting Bedroom in Arles - I thought it was fun that they included elements of the still life of his room that he was painting. 

This was also very much a "Rock Star Painting"... but I took my time waiting to get up close and get a good picture of it. I've seen in in reproduction in prints and books and somehow always thought it was considerably smaller than the actual painting was! It was really something to see up close in real life.

Van Gogh painting Almond Blossoms

I didn't get a picture of the Almond Blossoms... but there were SO MANY THING in the gift shop with the almond blossoms on it, shirts and hats and scarves and prints and postcards and just about anything you can imagine short of sex toys and cheese graters... (no, there might have actually been cheese graters...). I actually bought a bicycle bell with the blossom pattern on it... but it's sitting on a bench in the garage as I haven't decided which bicycle to affix it to... 

There was also this whole WALL with the painting reproduced on which you could take selfies in front of... despite no one needing to see pictures of me, Amanda insisted. Blame her. 

Not actually based on a painting (as far as I am aware) but celebrating or representing the fact that he wrote many, MANY letters - to other artists, and to his brother. We know a LOT about Van Gogh and what he was thinking about at certain times because he wrote so many letters - especially to his brother Theo - which were preserved by Theo's wife after both had died. 

Finally we get to the ONE I bought in France... 

Emperor Napoleon. 

I tried to prop the horse up like it was rearing in Jacques-Louis David's Napoleon Crossing the Alps... but it ended up being too much of a chore and gave up... also, the Playmobil Napoleon is not wearing quite the same uniform nor is he wearing that fabulous flowing cape... so... 

EVENTUALLY I'll get to posting MORE about these museums I went to and the pictures I took at them...  this seemed like it might be fun and quick... but then ended up being less quick when I decided to add in pictures of what each kit was referencing... 

I'm not 100% sure what I'm going to do with all of these now, though... 

I suppose I could find some space on a book shelf to set them up... 

much like Funko Pop Vincent Van Gogh (NOT purchased in Europe... I've had this for some time...) 

He resides on one of the shelves of graphic novels with a few other funko pop dolls I've acquired over the years... 

Another thought was to build sort of display boxes to house them in, and paint the insides of the boxes with the background like the paintings or the area around where they were being painted... like paint the rest of the scene from The Night Watch behind the two playmobil characters that are in the foreground. Or paint the rest of the Room in Arles - floor, walls, etc... 

This seems like a super FUN idea... but also would be a lot of work... 

While working on this I went digging and found a few of the old Playmobil toys I have from the late70s/early80s (pre-1982 - because the hands are fixed - wrists don't move) 

A few of the other Playmobil toys I picked up in the last 20 years - at the time I was buying them for the kids... I picked up a few, here and there, for myself... Some of these usually reside in the book shelves in the basement. A few ended up in a box during one of the renovations and were forgotten about until recently and I haven't decided where THEY are to go... 

Amanda has hinted at getting rid of the kids toys. At one point she held on to some things thinking "What if we ever have grandchildren!?" I think she is starting to realize it is very unlikely we will ever have grandchildren! She did get rid of the giant victorian mansion and a bunch of the room furniture along with it. I've been reluctant to let things go simply because the kids may at some point decide they want them again (Nostalgia gets the better of all of us sometimes!). 

Also... I still regularly think about trying to find ways to play games with them!!

August Games

We got back to playing a few games in August. Through the middle of the month, I ended up with a nasty cold that laid me low for a week or two... though I had to get up to work on a few home renovation projects... that very nearly did me in... 

Here's what we got up to! 

Sunday, 2 August 2026

Vera was in town for the long weekend, so she and Nick and Charlie were all to come over for waffle brunch and then an afternoon of boardgames... but then Nick got called into work, so it ended up being only Vera and Charlie... 

We played a couple games of Magical Athlete. 

It is a light racing game. 

You draft four different racers (each has a special power/ability/rule), and run four races with them - secretly revealing which or your racers will run each race just before each race starts. The player with the highest accumulated point total at the end of the four races wins the game. 

This is one of my racers - the Dicemonger! about to win one of the races! I did not win either game... Amanda won one, Charlie won the other. 

The only real decision making is when you draft your racers and then when you decide which one to use in each race. Everything else is just rolling a d6 and moving your racer forward and applying any applicable rules. I guess there are some instances when you decide which opponent to affect with your special rule... but usually game theory would suggest there is a pretty obvious choice. 

Still, a fun little game. Would totally play again. I might even pick it up to have around for when people might want a game, but just want to play something light... or there are people that really aren't people who can wrap their heads around more complicated games. I think the game can play up to six... which would be just bonkers. 

And fun.

Then we played a game of Space Invaders the board game - a cooperative dexterity game!? 

Vera had found it for $5 (I think) at Krazy Binz Liquidation...? She'd brought it along because I'd been posting pictures of all the Space Invaders I'd seen on my vacation in Europe! 

Ugggghhh... three of my shots totally just centimetres short of damaging the UFO... 

In the last round, Amanda took SIX shots and COMPLETELY MISSED EVERYTHING!?

So... We lost... We scored 730 points and destroyed the UFO... but ultimately took too much damage from the invaders before we could finish off the last of them. 

Finally we played a round of Just Desserts - and Morgan joined us!! I thought it was going to end before I even got a turn when, on her first turn, Charlie filled orders for two customers of the same suit!? But then it went on and on... and EVERYONE (except me!) ended up with customers of four different suits (you need five different ones to win) and at least one or two pairs of the same suite (you need three of one suite to win)! Amanda finally won - and when she did we had exhausted the customer deck and there were only two left in the shop!? 

Thursday, 6 August 2026

Thursday I played my second league game in the Bridge City Blood Bowl League - against a guy who'd played in league I ran through the Wizard's Corner 35 years ago!? 

Blood Bowl League: Match #2 - Gnarly Gobbos versus Ctesiphon Crushers (Ogres)

Saturday, 8 August 2026

On the weekend, I ended up getting in my third league game against the third Ryan in the Stunty Division (ALL of the other players in the Stunty division are named Ryan!?) 

Blood Bowl League: Match #3 - Gnarly Gobbos versus The Warman Hobbit Tossers (Halflings)

Thursday, 20 August 2026

This evening I went over to Trevor's to try out Test of Honour (second edition). We played a four-player free-for-all. I'd not played the game before - or with any of these players before! Good times were had. Not going to run out and buy it, but I would totally play it again. You can read about the encounter here:

Test of Honour - First Game!

Monday, 24 August 2026

Last Monday I played my fourth Bridge City Blood Bowl League match against The Elm Street Slashers  - a Necromantic Horror team that is currently leading the league! It did not go well... You can read all about the game here:

Blood Bowl League: Match #4 - Gnarly Gobbos versus The Elm Street Slashers  (Necromantic Horror) 

And... that was about it!? Games were played... four of them even involved miniatures! Not a LOT... but not NOTHING!!

Not sure how things are going to go in September, as I start classes again on Wednesday - this term I am FULL TIME (Winter Term I was only part time, taking a single class!). Not going to lie, I'm a little freaked out by this prospect... If I'm not posting much over the next month... or... next FOUR months... that's probably why. 

I do have two Blood Bowl games scheduled for the league in September, so hopefully, at the very least, I'll get to play those! And I'd hoped to get playing Warhammer Quest again this fall... but I don't have the minis I need for the Nemesis campaign done... Maybe that's TOMORROW's task, before things get CrAzY on Wednesday! 

Blood Bowl League: Match #4 - Gnarly Gobbos versus The Elm Street Slashers (Necromantic Horror)

For my fourth game in the Bridge City Blood Bowl League (Second Season) I played my first interdivisional game against the Elm Street Slashers - a Necromantic Horror team! 

This was also the first non-stunty team I played... and... wow... Goblins suck. 

David and his team of Necromantic Horrors, ready to go. 

The Gnarly Gobbos received the kick off for the first half of the game. 

I'd decided to leave the Doom Diver OFF the field and focus on SMASHING THINGS with the Ball and Chain and Chainsaw... this was probably a mistake... I could maybe have left one of those in the dug out and tried for a one-turn touchdown... but the Slashers had kind of set up to BLOCK that kind of Shenanigans, so... 

ALSO... in this game **I** had the lower Current Team Value, so I spent some of that sweet, sweet free monies... on some bribes for the referees (three of them, but I also had to spend some cash out of my treasury to get the third, because I didn't get THAT much Petty Cash (I think it was around 120,000 gold - Bribes are 50,000 gold each). I'm not sure WHY I bought bribes, since the Ball and Chain Fanatic and Chanisaw Loonie are usually out of the game due to INJURING THEMSELVES before they're actually sent off by refs for illegal weapon usage!? 

#48 Lil Bopper caught the ball 

Hotlicks Wobblespot and Ted "Wildboar" Grogan moved into blocking positions

Fungusface, the Chainsaw Loonie, cut apart a zombie lineman (I think...?). 

Jean Klean, the Ball-and-Chain Fanatic surged through the Slashers lines, knocking down more Lineman... maybe...? 

Even the Troll surged forward knocking back one of the Ghoul runners.. 

In retaliation, one of the Slashers Werewolves charged forth and knocked down Fungusface, who fell on his chainsaw, seriously injuring himself (see? out of the game before the referee even noticed he was up to no good!) 

Flesh Golems and Wraiths went after Leon Cankersore and S. Maulfart on the Goblins left... 

Lil Bopper bounded up the field, swinging left... the rest of the team surged in that general direction in support of the move. 

Leon Cankersore and Ted "Wildboar" Grogan running defence for the Pogoer! 

Jean Klean veered in the general direction of the werewolf, but was unable to do much more than knock it down. Fawkzy the Bomma, threw a few bombs around, with little effect. 

Logan knocked down, the Slashers Wraith and Ghoul go for Lil Bopper... 

but Bopper stays on his feet... or... rather stays upright on his pogo stick and dodges out of the way... 

And just bounds away from the horrors for the end zone! 

With Dirk Blood trailing behind running defence, Lil Bopper almost makes it there... potentially scoring the first touchdown against this team in the league so far!!!

But one of the Slashers Ghouls races back and blocks Lil Bopper, knocking him to the astrogranite! And the Ball is loose for anyone to grab! 

The Ghoul manages to pounce on the ball first! 

Meanwhile the rest of the Slashers are beatind down the Gobbos left and right! 

Hotlicks Wobblespot joins Dirk Blood and Lil Bopper to try and wrest that ball away from the Ghoul and back under the Gobbos control right on the scoring line! 

A Wraith is knocked down, but so is the Gobbos Troll! 

A Werewolf rushes back to aid the Ghoul, hearing it's desperate cries for help. 

Dirk Blood is knocked out and another Ghoul comes to help out... 

The Ghoul with the ball shoves his way past the diminutive Lil Bopper... 

and rushes down the field past the rest of his team trying to overwhelm the Gobbos Ball-and-Chain Fanatic! 

Who was knocked down... and knocked himself out... and was out of the game... 

The Ghoul rushes up the field, followed by a protective entourage of an additional Ghoul, Werewolf, and Wraith... but Lil Bopper gives chase, trying to trip up the Ghoul! 

The Ghoul Breaks away and Fawkzy tries to intercept and throw bombs at the Ghoul, but the Slashers other Werewolf interferes with the Bomma's plans

Ted "Wildboar" Grogan rushes to block the Ghoul... 

Lil Bopper Catches up AGAIN! 

Grogan makes a play to take the Ghoul down, but the slippery dead thing, covered in goo, just slides away! 

...and scores the first touchdown of the game!!! 

And, I think that was the end of the first half... so the Gnarly Gobbos were kicking to the Slashers! 

The Slashers Ghouls scooped up the ball and made for the Gobbos sidelines, while their Were wolf punched a hole through the middle, stunning #16, S. Maulfart! 

A wraith knocks down Fawkzy the Bomma, while the other wraith along with a Flesh Golem and zombie try to take down Dagadyr the Troll. Any yet ANOTHER werewolf tries to block "Icky" Russ from going anywhere... 

Once again is Lil Bopper, the Goblin Pogoer, and Ted '"Wildboar" Grogan, moving up to try and block the Ghouls advance! 

Just a mad, pell-mell melee in midfield! 

The Ghoul runner tries to sneak around the side. Dirk Blood joins Grogan in the attempt to stop the Ghoul advance... 

Grogan is down and the Ghoul ducks off to the side and runs to centre field... 

Where the ball is handed off to a werewolf who runs it in for a second touchdown for the Slashers!! 

Receiving another kick off, the Gobbos get the ball to their boy, "Icky" Russ! 

#28, Dagadyr the Troll, manages to remember why he's here AND NOT to eat the goblin, and instead HURLS "Icky" Russ down the field! 

But he does not complete the landing and the ball scatters freely... 

One of the Werewolves snatches up the ball and the Slashers are off up the field with the ball again!

Wraith and Ghouls kick the poor Doom Diver while he's down! 

The push forward leaves a trail of Gobbos flying through the air and hitting the astrogranite HARD! 

and the Werewolf runs in a THIRD touchdown for the Slashers!! 

There is ONE TURN left and the Gobbos are recieving a kick off! Can the pull off another one-turn touchdown!? The elements are all in play; Lil Bopper, the fastest moving Gobbo on the team is ready to receive the ball and dash it forward to the Doom Diver, "Icky" Russ. Dagadyr the Troll is still in the game and standing by ready to hurl Russ up the field... The kick goes up, the ball couldn't come down in an more ideal place - right between the Pogoer and the Doom Diver!!

Nope! #48, Lil Bopper, the Goblin Pogoer bounds forward to scoop up the ball and bring it forward to "Icky" Russ... and fails to do so, knocking the ball forward up the pitch... and the whistle blows, ending the second half! 

Well... it went about as well as I could have hoped... Would have been really cool if I could have scored that first touchdown against this team as they have completely shut out all other teams so far this league - including Vera's Dwarf team, the Mi'Ami Dagfins! 

Somewhere along the way Bill S. Pestmaim was "Killed" in the confusion of one of the smash-ups... I let him die and kept the apothecary in case someone else more important was killed or seriously injured... I'll probably just buy a new lineman and call him Bill S. Pestmaim and say the money was spent on a resurrection spell... which are cheap for goblins as they're really just an excitable fungus and mostly need fresh clean water to revivify them! 

Jean Klean knocked himself out good with he old Ball & Chain when the slashers tripped him up and will be out the next game (and has a deep dislike of all thing undead now...) 

Lil Bopper was aware MVP for that initial, but ultimately unsuccessful rush! He had enough experience that I COULD get a new random skill... but I think I might hold off and see if I can't get a few more points for him and pick something useful!! 

S. Maulfart and "Icky" Russ also have enough points for a random skill... but I think I'll also hold off...

My next game is against Sakura Blossom, the Gnome team... the only team in the entire league that is actually doing WORSE than me! This will be the chance for ONE of us to finally win a game!! 

(Ugggghhh... unless the game ends in a draw... damn... I would rather see them win than it end in a draw... because that would just be TOO SAD... seriously, I might just have to throw the game if it looks like that might happen!!?)