Wargamer problems…

[PatG]

Damn you Mike!

So let’s see how I got there. A friend is doing a massive downsize on his board game collection. I have put in for any spare Heroscape figures. In the past I have used mechs from this line as the basis for big stompy steam robots for VSF and also snagged a few of the humanoid critter ones for future ideas (they’re going to be primal venusians). One of the critters is very big even for 25mm and Soldier’s Companion (Space 1889 mass battle) doesn’t have monster rules so I started thinking about how those worked. That went well but I looped back to the mechs since I also have a few small ones that are would work well as mechanical men. Now the 1889 RPG has very basic rules for mechanical men (so many commands pre-programmed, another set that can be changed on command) but to put them into battle I would need to figure out some sort of orders mechanism – perhaps written. Now those of you who have been around for a while may remember an old SF section to brigade set of rules for Traveller called Striker. It had a pretty good orders system which I will probably crib from. I even have a few 15mm figures kicking around and I have always thought about getting in a game or two. However I never really liked the impression that four figures on a 1″ square base gives – too close especially with area effect weapons and it just looks weird in 15mm and I don’t want to lay out a bunch of extra money on top of what I have already put in for Gruntz (I single base these). Say I wonder what the ground scale is… and Google says 1″ to 40 yards or 1:1000 or exactly the scale used for 6mm moderns. If only I knew a manufacturer or two that sold really nice 6mm SF figures and vehicles – with maybe some in power armour….

Again I say Damn you Mike!

(and come on back pay!)

[Victoria Dickson]

Isn’t 6mm 1:300?

http://crazywargames.blogspot.co.uk/

[Rhoderic]

Damn him. Damn him! 

Victoria Dickson wrote:

Isn’t 6mm 1:300?

It’s that old chestnut of ground scale vs figure scale. One house is really a cluster of houses, one tree is really a small copse, and so on, or modern/sci-fi weapon ranges won’t be realistic on a normal-sized wargaming table, especially in regard to mechanised warfare. To be honest it’s something I personally tend to willfully ignore when it comes to sci-fi, but it’s a value judgment and everyone has to make those judgments themselves.

[Angel Barracks]

PatG wrote:

If only I knew a manufacturer or two that sold really nice 6mm SF figures and vehicles – with maybe some in power armour….

😀

[Rhoderic]

No, that won’t do. You’re going to need more of an “evil overlord cackling maniacally” type emoji.

[PatG]

Victoria Dickson wrote:

Isn’t 6mm 1:300?

Yes it is, but the ratio of ground scale to figure scale is only 3:1 for 6mm as opposed to 10:1 for 15mm. Four 6mm figures on a base looks more like a proper formation than 4 15mm who look like they are square dancing. As Rhoderic notes, there’s less disbelief to willingly suspend.

[Victoria Dickson]

Thanks for the explanation, that makes sense to me now. 

http://crazywargames.blogspot.co.uk/

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