"Modern air combat: 1/300 or 1/600?" Topic

I blame the book 'Yukikaze' and the 'Titanium Rain' graphic novel for my renewed interest in modern air combat…

What are the pros and cons for each scale, and which one has a more complete range of fourth-generation and newer aircraft?

Personally I went with 1/600 (I also have a large collection of 1/1200 for my modern naval). With 1/600 there is a very large selection of relatively inexpensive aircraft out there between Tumbling Dice and OO. 1/300 is nice, but would be more appropriate for a few aircraft per side, and AFAIK the selection is more limited when it comes to ultra-modern aircraft.

I agree about 1/600. Tumbling dice make nice aircraft and they are dirt cheap. This allows you to game most wars. The 1/300 are nice at the top end of price. Put another way, buy one 1/300 jet or 3-6 1/600 ones for the same price. I also use 1/700 aircraft and the Air War C21 rules.

Thanks,

John

smaller scale allows you more latitude with scale speeds/ ranges…

All good points for 1/600. And pretty much all the reasons why I converted from 1/285-1/300 totally to 1/600.Another example too is that with the O8 miniatures you get 8 aircraft to a pack. And new aircraft types are coming out quite frequently. Almost every couple of months. If you haven't yet you should check out my Yahoo Group for 1/600. Lots of pics and information there. And a very helpful group of people too.Quite a few here belong :). Robert

My 1/600-3mm Miniature Aircraft Wargaming Yahoo Group
link

I've moved from 1/300 to 1/600 for all air combat games and highly recommend Wings At Wars series of rules that come with 1/600 aircraft from Tumbling Dice.

Dan

Oh I forgot to mention to that on the site there is also posted a list of what aircraft are available and what manufacturers are out there :). Robert

My 1/600-3mm Miniature Aircraft Wargaming Yahoo Group
link

1/600th has a lot of benefits, but 1/300th are much more visually impressive.

LOL Top Gun Ace. Depends on your opinion. I have seen some truly impressive 1/600 games both in order of size and the amount of detail of the aircraft. :). Another reason I changed. You can field more aircraft on a smaller space for sure. Robert

My 1/600-3mm Miniature Aircraft Wargaming Yahoo Group
link

Hey Ace. So are 54mm figs or 1/48 scale jets. I guess a lot depends on what you want out of your jet gaming. If you are doing a handful of aircraft a side and only one or two wars then 1/300 can work well. They ARE nice. I just don't see myself buying only for one war. I am currently working on about 4-5 with a dozen aircraft or more per side plus some 1/600 ships. 1/300 isn't practical for me.

Thanks,

John

Alrighty, sounds like 1/600 is getting to be a better idea… especially with the average big fighter running over 2" long in 1/300.

Thanks a lot, guys!

I have another perspective for you which votes for 1/600. 1/300 require a far higher level of painting skills to look good on the table and take a lot longer to paint. If you want lots of decent looking planes on the table quickly 1/600 wins.

I'd go with 1/600 for all of the reasons mentioned above, EXCEPT that I already do almost everything else in 6mm. Therefore, 1/300 it is for me.

Doug

My 6mm armies are supported by 1/600th aircraft for the very reason of scale. An SU-24 occupies as much room as a small town where as a 1/600th aircraft is almost in scale when viewed from the Ground upwards (time spent in all those air recognition lectures as well as looking up at all the fast jet training flying over my house)

Si

Since I don't play anything but the rare scifi game in 6mm, scale-matching is not a big concern for me.

Neither is painting skill, since I'm painting good 15mm troops the same way I paint 28mm (with more contrast)

I am wondering about what scale to use for SAMs, Triple-A, and other 'points of interest' (interest defined as 'where do I put the bombs?'). Using the same scale as the aircraft is doable (but big), and I'd like them to be reasonably identifiable on the map, so they can't be too small.

For Vietnam-era games (about as early as I'd play), I was thinking about a 'fill-the-hex' marker with the SA2 star layout on it and enough bumps to look decent.

For more recent situations, I was considering just putting the radar unit on the table, since those seem to be pretty quickly-identifiable and related to a single SAM system.

Suggestions for objective markers?

I suppose I should ask for suggestions for rules, as well. I'd like rules that can handle seriously unearthly maneuverability, like the Su37 or F22.

Lion,
Try the following website. They're relatively new to the industry but seem to be supplying some very interesting targets.

fightson.webs.com

Ray

I go with Ray's suggestion. We (me) are using some of the items from these Guys light weight resin, good scuplting detail and most importantly you get feedback during the ordering process.

Oh, my! Thank you, Ray! Those are *exactly* what I had in mind, and it saves me having to make the stupid things!

I think these guys are going to get a lot of business from me in the next year.

=====

Now, what about rules? I'm looking for rules that will handle excessively-maneuverable aircraft like the F22 and Su37. I've heard about Air War C21 before, and it's supposed to have rules for 'build-your-own'. Any other recommendations?

where as a 1/600th aircraft is almost in scale when viewed from the Ground upwards

I thought of that approach, and was tempted, but I usually end up looking down at the ground (the table) from the level of the planes, rather than up from the table at the sky. Made more visual sense to me to have 1/300 planes. YMMV.

Doug

I'm going to game the Vietnam Air War in 1/300. I like the GHQ and CiC minis but they are way expensive. Any good reason for this? Alternatively Raiden has some very nice models. Any other suggestions?

Some say more detail; some say the seller thinks they are worth the price. Sort of a "historicals" version of the perceived value of GW miniatures.

Gracias,

Glenn

Is there a site with 1/300 aircraft reviews and comparisons?

I can't recall any, other than individual e-mails about various aircraft on some of the aerial wargaming Yahoo groups.

E-mail me at topgunace111 AT yahoo DOT com and I will try to assist.

Generally, Scotia is one of my preferred suppliers, with Navwar a close second. In some cases Navwar makes jets that Scotia doesn't.

There are other suppliers out there too, but other than Raiden, they are either of very high quality and cost, so better suited to display models, or of inferior quality.

The newer range from Raiden is very nice too, but 1/285th scale, where the others are about 1/300th.

Bit of a plug [I am sorry :)] but for rules for both scales, try my 'Bandits' rules, available online at E Bay for North America/ROW and from Vandering Publications – the guys who do Shipwreck and Tankwreck, for UK and Europe.

David