"Using HO scale buildings for 15mm gaming ?" Topic

Gentlemen, what do you think about HO buildings in 15mm gaming ?

Thanks,

Piotr

Fine for skirmish (1 figure is 1 man) games. A bit big for larger games.

I think they look too big if the figures will be close to them. If they're just for looks, they can pass.

Usually too big, but sometimes they seem to be okay. It's usually a hit or miss judgement call….

I use some hotwheels and matchbox cars the same way, and sometimes have the same problems…

I'm a big advocate of using HO scale buildings for Flames of War. The industrial buildings you can get for railway kits are perfect for 15mm, you get the advantage of reasonable to low cost and the buildings themselves are large enough to allow FoW bases to fit easily. Additionally many of the kits allow for roofs and where applicable entire floors to be removable. I use a fair few HO kits to represent warehouses and factories and they mix perfectly well with my other terrain (JR miniatures, Fieldworks, Hovels etc). I've also seen them used for office blocks and they look great, even with slightly out of scale 15mm figures all over it. The only buildings I'd say wouldn't work are stand alone residential ones like farmhouses etc, and even then it's a matter of taste. The Plasticville HO range is one I'm currently investigating for a series of FoW tables for a large FoW convention here in Australia.

There are several threads on the Flames of War forums with pictures of some stunning HO kits used. FoW, or WW2 may not be your thing, but check it out for an idea of how they match etc.

I don't think HO trees would be any problem.

I'm not real picky about a little scale creep, so I'm probably not the right guy to give input….I will anyway though. I think technically they're a little big but for me they look perfect. When I can buy a box full of already built highly detailed buildings at a train show for $10 USD it's the way to go. They are more detailed than anything I would build myself and much cheaper than any 'official' gaming buildings you can buy in that scale. Going to a train show or box lots on ebay is the best way to build a city on the cheap.

Also I found this old building toy set that I'm using to make buildings that are generic looking and great for 15mm. You can see what I'm talking about here:
link

Good luck, happy gaming.
Mongo

A very useful thread… especially as I'm about to start Wargaming 15mm (FoW rules) for the first time. I'm definitely not a purist when it comes to scale and I can live with a slight discrepancy in size. Money is always an issue but especially as I'm starting from scratch (all my current stuff is 28mm) and on a limited budget.

BigLee
Blog: link

Slightly too large looks ok to me. Slightly too small doesn't. I would never use 10mm buildings with 15mm figures. Just my personal preference.