10 replies to this topic

[Oldallamerican]

I have most of the parts and figures. Several years back while in college I was living in an apartment. My stuff from childhood was stored in a closet. It wasn't till I'd finished school, got a good job, and settled in my own place I discovered that someone (probably one of the maintenance workers at the complex) had stolen a box of my accessories that contained two original Ft Apache forts and my vehicles from "Battleground" and "Desert Patrol." It was too late to file a complaint as how could I tell when it happened, much less who?

 

Thanks to ebay I was able to replace all the stuff at fairly decent prices (this was when it was first taking off); not quite the same but better than nothing.

I guess about the only thing I'm missing is the small weapons sprue(s) but I still have some of the weapons somewhere.

[nevinsrip]

I don't recall owning a Battleground set as a kid. Blue and Gray was my mainstay and I do remember a 60 mm Fort Apache. Most of the WW 2 stuff I had was cheap bag stuff, like Tim-Mee and Lido. I hated those Lido guys because they would never stand up.

[jimclouse]

I had a Battleground playset when I was a kid - an earlier version with green and tan GIs and Marines... It did not survive my childhood.. I do have another one now, though. It's a great playset!

[eborris]

I never had a Battleground, but somehow I managed to acquire the GI's & Marines, mine were in 3 colors Green, OD Green and a yellowish tan, I still have them.

[eborris]

I just sold off about 85 Gi's and Marines, kept my old ones though. In the last year I probably acquired and sold 200 GI's and over 100 dark gray Germans, plus assorted battleground equipment and accessories.

[binder001]

The first time I saw the "Battleground Playset" was about 1960.  The kid down the street had one I fell in love with Marx figures right there!  His set was the original "tan vs green" set.  I remember trading several of my older figures for some of his Marx figures.  From then on I wanted Marx stuff, but nobody in my area carried them regularly.  I poured over the Sears catalogs that showed the even bigger playsets with "128 figures".  My first Marx set was the "Battle of the Blue and Gray" playset during the Civial War centennial (everybody had ACW toy soldier sets at that time).  Later, when I should have been too old to be buying soldiers a local Kresge store opened and they were loaded with Marx products,  I finally was able to save up and buy a "Battleground Playset", although the figures had changed to GIs versus Germans.  I also was able to pick up an extra bag of GIs and a bag of Germans, so I finally had my big playset!  Still have many fond memories of that set.

 

Gary B.

[THE SHOOTIST]

My fondest memory of the Battleground! playset were the "88", and the "155" which launched the shells. My sister always had to be the Germans, and I always the US. We'd pick off each other's soldiers one by one with the cannons, a hit to a tank or a half-track and it was turned on its side and couldn't be used.

She used to cheat and put the German kneeling rifleman in the pillbox with the "T" slots in it, it couldn't be hit, so it couldn't be killed.

[Oldallamerican]

When my older brother and I got the Marx Giant Blue and Gray set in 1961 he wanted the South as he had been born in Atlanta. I said, "Good! I get the side who won!" (Boy, if only I had known I'd end up spending most of my life in the Deep South...).  Anyway, we figured the black accessories belonged to the Yankees and the silver/gray stuff the Rebs. So I got the black cannon he got the silver or gray cannon (I remember it gray but we had  a big discussion on this elsewhere so...). We decided we'd fight our battles using the shooting cannon to kill each others' troops. Then a friend of his  came over and broke the Reb's cannon's firing mechanism. I figured it was his friend and his cannon so... I can't remember how we settled the problem of how he would kill my troops but whatever it was it wasn't as efficient as my black cannon shooting the large black plungers. For years the family used to kid me about keeping the only working cannon. It kind of ticked me off because of the circumstances; but I definitely reversed the outcome of many a Civil War battle we refought on our bedroom floor.

[eborris]

Not to mention the Yanks had more shooting poses than the Rebs and were a more stout figure, must have been better fed. Rebs didn't even have a cannon crew. The Rebs were mainly marching, yodeling or  running.