Dollar Store Toy Soldiers...The Alternative To Spending Lots Of Money

Dear readers:

Welcome back to the Game Master Blog! We all know money is tight these days, and if there's one thing that hurts a gamer's pocketbook more than almost anything, it's miniatures. Let's face it: buying even one regiment of lead or any other metal miniature runs you up to around sixty to one hundred dollars. Plastic miniatures are slightly cheaper, but not much; a box of 10 miniatures can sometimes cost fifteen to twenty bucks! Yikes!

So, in this episode, I'm going to discuss a cheaper route...a route that leads straight to the dollar store. That's right, I'm going to tell you how to take those sixty-for-a-buck toy soldiers and convert them all into great-looking miniatures that you can be proud of.

An example of my own custom-painted dollar store soldiers, before and after.

Let's start with the basics. I'm assuming that all of you have the proper painting supplies, including:

*Glue
*Paints and brushes
*A razor blade or X-Acto knife

You'll also need:

*The actual toy soldiers. You can sometimes find cowboys-and-indians at dollar stores too. They provide a nice change of pace, if you get tired of the regular GIs.

One of my cowboy and Indian toy soldiers, also found in the dollar store.

*Heavy cardboard or card stock of some kind for bases.
*Black Sharpies (optional)

Ready? Let's get started!

The first thing you need to do is to create a sturdy base for the figures. Toy soldiers are notorious for not wanting to stand upright for very long; bump them or nudge the table slightly, and they tip over. To prevent this, cut bases (about 1 inch by 3/4 inch) out of the heavy card stock and glue the figures to them.

After the glue has dried, it's time to paint! Grab your brushes and pretty them up as you wish. (If you're new to miniature painting, these are a great way to practice before moving up to the more expensive stuff.) Once the paint has dried, I like to take a black Sharpie and color the edges of the base black to hide the brown from the cardboard.

That's it! Your army is ready for battle!

Another set of soldiers I painted.

Now if you want some games to play with your newly-formed regiment, I have a few links for you.

*PLASTIC BRIGADE: A ruleset written by yours truly.
*1BC TOY SOLIDERS: A great set written by Pete Kautz.

(If you have any toy soldier games that you want me to list here, email me at sketchreedartist@yahoo.com with the link.)

I hope you've enjoyed this week's entry into the blog. Stay tuned for more next week. In the meantime, get to painting and battling, my friends...there's wars to be waged!

Kudos
--SKETCH

Sketch Reed Reviews: The Bicycle Eco Edition and Prestige Card Decks

Welcome, fellow gamers.

Today, for the inaugural issue of the Game Master blog, I've decided to take it old-school and cover those little slices of paper that are oh so intriguing. I'm talking about playing cards, of course, and today, I'm reviewing the Bicycle Eco Edition and Bicycle Prestige decks.

Before we start, however, let me explain this is going to work. Each deck is going to be graded in four categories: shuffling (how easy it is to shuffle in all forms-bridge shuffling, over-hand shuffling, etc), durability (how well these decks stand up to abuse), feel (how well these cards work in terms of dealing, cutting, and how well they "feel" during use) and style (how cool the card looks--this one's completely arbitrary, but I'm an artist, so trust me on this one). Each rating is from 1 to 10, with 10 being perfection and 1 being total crap. An excellent deck usually earns 7 or 8, with 9 being near perfection.

Got it? Good! Let's begin!

To start with, I've picked the Bicycle Eco Edition. These particular cards caught me by surprise; mainly because, in my experience, "eco-friendly" usually means "somewhat lacking in quality". Not the case with these cards.

The back of the box claims that these cards are "crafted from sustainable forest paper, starch-based laminating glue and vegetable-based printing inks". It also states that these cards are recyclable, which doesn't have any bearing for me...mainly because there's no recycling center near me. But I digress; onto the tests.

In terms of the Feel rating, this deck is great; it cuts well, deals with ease, and is somewhat slick to allow the cards to slide off the fingers when over-hand shuffling, yet not too slick, which allows a better grip. Then again, this is usually expected with the Bicycle brand; they do a great job on giving all their cards a good feel. The deck also gets a good rating on Shuffling, mainly due to the relative flexibility of the cards, which allows one to bridge-shuffle it rather easily. However, like most decks from this manufacturer, the cards are a little stiff when new, so you might need to shuffle it a lot before it becomes "broken in" enough for some people (kids and those with arthritis) to shuffle without some difficulty.

For the Durability rating, I did what I usually do to test; bend the card in half and see how quickly it bounces back. For the Eco Edition, however, I have to give this one a relatively low rating; like most cards made using any type of laminating glue, it has some bounce-back, but it's rather slow and easy to crease if you accidentally step on it or bend it too far. It's also sensitive to moisture, so don't keep it in a pants pocket on a hot summer day without a case.

The Eco Edition, I must say, gets a great style rating from me--not because of its back (it has the same style of back design as do most in the Bicycle line, except for the fact that it's green), but because of its front: the reds in the cards are GREEN. It's not unheard of to change the front of the cards to one color besides black (they did the same thing, if I recall, with the Designer decks), but it's still cool, and the green palette lends to the earth-friendly cred. The Eco Edition also featured colored Jokers, which are useful in some games. That earns it some points as well.

Final ratings for the Bicycle Eco Edition are:
Shuffling- 7 of 10
Durability- 5 of 10
Feel- 8 of 10
Style- 9 of 10
Overall- 7.5 of 10

Now on to the next: the Bicycle Prestige. Aside from its obscenely large price tag (about 9 bucks at Wal-Mart..I was lucky to get one in exchange for a drawing I did, because I otherwise wouldn't buy one), this is hands-down the best deck I have ever tested or played with.

Made of 100% plastic, the Prestige is incredibly easy to shuffle. The cards almost glide when shuffling over-hand, and has no stiffness to speak of, making it perfect for anyone to shuffle bridge-style, even if you have arthritis. I don't do this often, but in terms of the Shuffling rating, I have to give it a 10. It's that good. The Feel rating is high as well, due to the smooth plastic and the "snap" of the deck.

Now, with a deck that thin, you'd almost automatically assume a weak Durability. Not the case with the Prestige. You can bend it all the way back, and it'll almost always snap back within a second. And, since there's no paper used, the Prestige holds up great in a sweaty pocket, unlike most decks made with paper and laminating glue.

For Style, I have to give it a good rating as well. It has a different back design than most decks from Bicycle, and it looks great. Also, some Prestige decks come with a textured black cardboard box that looks amazing, and also protects the deck extremely well. (It also fits any other deck, so if you have a deck you like better than the Prestige, just swap it out). That case definitely earns it some points too.

However, despite its extremely high rating in every category, I have to take points off the overall rating. Why? Simply for one reason--the price. If you have eight or nine bucks that you really want to spend on a deck of cards, by all means, this is the deck for you. But for the average gamer, the Prestige is just that--prestigious, and as such way too expensive.

Final ratings for the Bicycle Prestige are:
Shuffling- 10 of 10
Durability- 8 of 10
Feel- 9 of 10
Style- 9 of 10
Overall- 7 of 10

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Thanks for visiting, my friends. Come back soon.

--SKETCH