My First Wargame...Battle Beasts

I make no secret of the fact that I collect toys, and most of the

followers to my blog are wargamers of one description or another. When
I look back at the history of both of my hobbies, however, collecting
and gaming, there is one common point: Battle Beasts.

These were a great toy put out in the mid '80s by Takara Tomy. They

could be had in two-packs, and had semi random heat press stickers. I

have been told those stickers were completely random, but I never did

see a squid or octopus with a fire sticker, so I never quite beleived

it.

Beasts were really only marketed as toys, but the kids in my

neighborhood (of which I and my brothers were pretty dominant members)

quickly put together a Pokemon-esque 'League' for competing with them.

It went like this:

1. Pick a Roster of a set number of figures.
2. Write down the 'Batting Order.'
3. Go up against opponent's line-up, revealing each fig as you went.

The written down order was given to a third person, who judged the

event and made sure the opponents didn't switch their order for

favorable matchups. After a while, we got to know what sticker

everyone had on what figures, so the secrecy of the order was very

important. It was basically street Stratego with toys, but I remember

thinking it was very organized, and it WAS a very big deal.

 
Currently, Diamond Select, the maker of Mini Mates, holds the Battle

Beasts license. They are not doing much with it currently, though

there is expected to be a change on that front soon.