Okay, this has to be the most boring play set I have ever seen.
White House Presidents Plastic Figurines from 1972
I am all for learning about the past presidents, but come on! My army men had to fight off Godzilla on a regular basis. When do you ever send in the presidents! In 1972 I would have been six so I give this play set a rating of ten Zs… ZZZZZZZZZZ.
This was another one of those play sets that, when it finally found its way into my hands, there was only bits and pieces left. I couldn’t even begin to tell you what play set we had. I just remember some of the chickens, sheep, cows, horses and etc. They weren’t as fun to play with as the army men or dinosaurs. Let’s be honest…. it is hard to find ways for animals to terrorize the countryside to the point that army men have to intervene. Though I did manage to do so!
Farm Play Sets from 1969
My brother (who was five years older than me) had one of these as a toy. I am not sure which set he had because when I started playing with it many of the pieces were missing. The only thing that survived after I had grown up was an orange colored Stegosaurus.
Like most kids my age I had a huge fascination with dinosaurs. I had lots of fun with the pieces that I had, but sadly many army men died a glorious death protecting civilization from the dinosaur invasions. Calvin and Hobbes would have been proud.
Prehistoric Play Set from Aldens 1972
One Million BC Play Set from Sears 1975
1976 Pre-Historic Dinosaur Play Set from JCPenny
1979 Pre-Historic Dinosaur Play Set from Sears
In the late 70s the Navarone play set got a face lift and it became the Iwo Jima play set.
Iwo Jima Play Set from 1979
It looks to have fewer army men than the Navarone play set, but it does have some additional vehicles. This will become one of the last great sets of plastic army men to come out of that time period. About the only thing you can find these days are cheap and low quality knock offs.
I like comparing the value and quality of toys from when we were kids to that of today. Here are Battleground Europe and Battle of Fort Apache play sets from 1966. (The year I was born!) I am sure 9.99 was a lot of money back then but look at the number of pieces that came with these plastic army men sets. 330 pieces!
Battleground Europe and Battle of Fort Apache from 1966
I think plastic army men were pretty much standard issue toys for most boys in the 1970s. We had the Marx Battleground play set.
Marx Battleground Play Set
This is the Marx Navarone play set from the JCPenny Christmas Wishbook. I wanted this set really bad also.
Marx Navarone Play Set
And this was another cool set from Marx called Desert Fox.
Marx Desert Fox Play Set
Even our dad used to play army men with us. We had a huge dirt pile in the backyard and our father would help us set up the army men posed in a classic American versus German configuration. The cool thing was, he was planting firecrackers in strategic places while helping us set up. Then when the battle was ready to commence he would light the firecrackers one at a time as we watched the battle unfold. Those were some good times.
Oddly enough not a single piece of that set survived. I clearly remember what happened to the last surviving army man in that set. I don’t remember which army man it was, but it was an American soldier. I will not outline exactly what happened (as I don’t want to give ideas to younger readers) but it involved a model rocket engine, an exacto knife, the army man, and an ingition device. All I can say is not even a single piece of molten plastic was left behind.
I was wrong in my previous post. I thought my brother had the Fort Apache play set but turns out he had the Fort Cheyenne version of the toy.
Fort Cheyenne Play Set
They look similar. The fort in the Fort Cheyenne play set is about half the size of the fort in the Fort Apache because part of the battlefield is an Indian reservation. The set pictured above is from 1968.
Fort Cheyenne Play Set 1970
Fort Cheyenne Play Set with Case
This set actually came out in the late 60s. My brother had received it as a Christmas gift before I was old enough to play with it in the 70s. The play set folded up like a suitcase making it easy to take anywhere. The fort was a great toy overall. I don’t remember why we got rid of ours, might have just worn out or most of the pieces may have been lost, but between my brother and I many hours of playtime came from it.
Fort Apache Play Set 1974
Here is another version that looks like it does not have a case.
Fort Apache Play Set 1975
