"Who dabbled in 15mm and then went back to 28mm?" Topic

A question for those Sci-Fi and Fantasy gamers who were mostly 28mm, then dabbled in 15mm and went back to -only or primarily- 28mm.

Why did you come back to 28mm?

As for myself, I was a 28mm gamer. 15mm looked like just the thing for building armies affordably and a chance to work on some impressive terrain projects. After buying a few packs of figures, I was pleased with the detail but realized that:

-They didn't offer the convertibility that I liked so much with 28mm.
-the size, combined with my just-ok paint skills meant that I couldn't get the same detailed and characterful paint jobs
-both myself and my club members were invested in 28mm, and there wasn't alot of folks interested in change.
-Buying and trading used figures the way I do, there wasn't much of a cost difference between the two.

So I sold my 15mm's and went back to 28mm's where I've been ever since. I still marvel at the great vehicles in 15mm, but I don't regret it.

Me for one, what is available in 15mm SF is just gorgeous, but playing mainly skirmsih games, I just didn't get the right feeling from the 15mm guys.

me

The best thing about it is that there's a choice. I'm 15mm but won't part with my 28mm for PS gaming. More character than 15mm IMHO.

Not me. I started in 15mm and thought that the minis were so fiddly and just so/so quality wise. I switched to 28mm and collected Old Glory, Foundry, and others. Great miniatures! Nice detail, high quality, just excellent figures. So I bought, bought, and bought. I had complete armies but I paid an arm and a leg for them and they weren't very large… not a lot of choice in units. So about five years ago I switched back to 15mm and haven't looked back. The only 28mm I keep is my GW LOTR and VOR figures. And honestly even their days are probably numbered. I now have tons of 15mm stuff now… lots of choices to pick from. I even game in eras that I wouldn't have given thought to because of the expense of 28mm. Don't get me wrong I do love the scale! But it just doesn't work for me… and now even 15mm's quality in detail is as good as many 28mm ranges. Check out Splintered Light, Peter Pig, and Khurasan as examples.

Anyway, to each his own.

Lots of 15mm Fantasy for Mass Battle, LOTS of DnD Plastics for RPGs

I've always had both. Figures and terrain. Depends on what size game we want to play ? Running out of storage area..but..what the hey !

The new ranges of plastic 28mm have convinced me to stay with this as my main scale.

Inexpensive, detailed, easy to convert, no messing with metal etc.

Looking forward to a box of Perry Brother mounted knights…

TomT

I briefly went to 15s before their recent resurgence. Even then, I found plenty of nice figures at reasonable prices to fit my needs. But gaming with them just left me cold. They just lacked some of the character and customizability that I love in 25/28mm.

It's easier for me to paint 28mm

To each his everlovin' blue-eyed own, of course, but I believe the 15s are easier to paint. I can't match David's work but for me white-drybrush-prime-over-black-prime and then judicious application of color produces very serviceable wargame units. David's work with the Dip is fantastic. As a mediocre painter I just find that the smaller minis are more forgiving, while (perhaps paradoxically) their small size makes the really excellent paint jobs that much more spectacular.

And I DO have extensive collections of 28mm, especially for skirmish games, but also masses for Alamo and American Revolution.

I raised 15mm for historicals and a few sci-fi armies, and left the 28mm stuff for skirmish gaming. Then came WH40K, and I've got a ton of it painted and unpainted, plus more one-off stuff. So, I've got a ton of both scales, in WWII figures I've got three scales/sizes, 1/285, 15mm, 20mm, and now a few 28mm figures.

Me too, just not for me.

I still have 15mm WWII and 10mm Warmaster Ancients (OG models mostly) but otherwise I'm almost all 28mm now. This year my eyes "changed" and I now know what other gamers mean by "those <insert small scale here> are too small to paint!"

I have some unfinished 15mm Sci-Fi I'm probably going to sell at the Historicon Flea Market. Oddly I'm selling my 28mm WWII but keeping my 15mm WWII collection.

hike the newer 15's have more and more detail 28's lend to my painting style

I think 15's are popular largely due to FoW. But I never could jump into it because they're too little for me to paint in the level of detail that I need.

There just isn't enough female sculpts in 15mm for me to make the change. Tried it, but if there just isn't enough representation of women in 15mm Sci-Fi & fantasy.

-Elaine

Have you checked Splintered Light? The armed and unarmed space crews are about half female, for instance, and there are plenty of female elves and dwarves and other races. And the Robin Hood range has several women too.

link

I was brought up with 25/28mm so that's what i play, except for DBA.

i switched to 15mm from 28 and was pretty dead set on sticking with it.

then Pig Iron showed the preview of the Heavy Infantry resculpts.

looks like i'll be pulling 2 scales.

I never left 28mm but I built up a small force for our games of GRUNTZ and was really excited about getting more… but then I got distracted by old 25/28mm fantasy figures and so I'm wallowing in both… and 6mm as well.
But mostly we play skirmish games and IMO 28mm is king in that arena.

You mean they still make 28mmSF?

I mean it is still viable for some games mostly Fantasy, but there where so few Science Fiction figures out there in 28mm (more in 25mm, but that is like 20mm for the size of the markets availability. And what has been produced new in 25mm in years?).

But 28mm SF?

Is there any?

Ok Hasslefree and a couple of other like small companies not much else…

I never left 28mm for fantasy, lots of great things but hardly a thing for Science Fiction.

Had several attempts at 15mm – SF, Fantasy, Historical – still have the figures {Martian Miniatures Traveller anyone ;-)}.

I just could never get myself to paint them, I repeatedly considered the white over black base, but failed to get really started. Another problem is that today's 15's have detail levels of 28's a few years ago, and demand I paint them to the same level.

I'm running with both scales, only recently go into 15mm and think that the majority are really good looking, nice & easy to paint.

I get the same detail in them as I do with my 28's (as my painting isn't fantastic anyway)…

@infojunky: Why would you need anything other than Hasslefree for 28's – you have seen those sculpts yes? ;-)

Infojunkie: I guess Infinity is one of those small companies, then?

I gave up on 28mm for mass battles (ie, gave up on 40k). Went to 15mm because of Flames, and discovered I could paint 15mm to the same standard as I painted 28mm. cue big 15mm armies.

But Infinity called me back to 28mm, at least for <20 minis per side. So pretty, so much character.

I went the other way, dabbled with 28s but went back to 15s as a good compromise of cost, detail and storage space.

Colonials, not fantasy. Fantasy I've gone 20mm down to 15mm and stayed there ever since.

I have always done both.

Infojunky,
Sorry to pile on this one, but you're dead wrong in your ideas about 28mm.

There's plenty of companies doing new 28mm sc-fi. Infinity, Reaper, Defiance games, Ramshackle, Zombiesmith, Urban Mamoth, Mantic, etc, etc. There's tons of new sci-fi coming out.

Certainly more than 15mm Sci-Fi.

and ordinarybass even forgot a couple of my favorite ones! (Pig Iron Productions, Spriggan Miniatures' Spugs, the old Denizen figures)

28mm sci-fi just seems to get overshadowed by GW.

Started with 20 mm back in the 80's and then went straight to 15 mm. Only just in the last decade did I start buying 28 mm, and then only for skirmish games.

I have no idea why someone would want to use 28 mm for mass-battle games. Apart from the visual aspect, where would you put them? I'd have to move the fishing gear!

Cheers,
JohnG

I have no idea why someone would want to use 28 mm for mass-battle games. Apart from the visual aspect, where would you put them? I'd have to move the fishing gear!

I like the way you think!

Some days are far too nice to be inside at the game table.

Stoss55 Stated
[q] 28mm sci-fi just seems to get overshadowed by GW.[/q]

Is anything by GW 28mm anymore?

But to be honest I count GW and it's clones as Fantasy. If it looks like it was inspired by GW it is fantasy.

Note: the original Beaky plastic marines were 25mm not 28mm. Then they got short….

Lion in the Stars stated
[q] I guess Infinity is one of those small companies, then?

Honestly!?! Yes I kinda did. Not a lot of it on my FNGS walls. And it is a nice line for a RPG.

I tend to look at it like this 28mm is for RPG style of fights 20 or so figures total in a knife/pistol ranges at best. Vehicles are terrain. Small mechs are in play in small numbers. The single Infantrymen is the character figure

15mm for squad level skirmish gaming (20 to 40 figures/stands/vehicles in combination), still relatively short ranges. Vehicles/mechs are in play in small numbers. The small vehicles or mechs are the character figure.

Then there is 6mm….. I can conceive of infantry skirmish in 6mm. But Vehicles are both the grunts and characters….

To be honest if I where going to switch out of 15mm, there would have to be an explosion in availability in either 20mm or 25mm (in the classical sense of the good old days (think 25mm GZGs or the Space Lords line that EM4 has now) The trick is the figure needs to fit a 20mm base. Vehicles where reasonable for these sizes. Or an expansion of character models in 6mm with more smaller packs of troops available, yes I periodically consider 6mm as my go to scale….

i think GW offically calls them "28mm heroic" scale.

I have 2 scales. 1/285(1/300) for my microarmor and battletech. and 28mm for EVERYTHING else.

The main reason is terrain.

I havebuildings, hills, rivers, roads, all kinds of stuff. and it's nice to know that the ruined stone cottage i use for my fantasy stuff can just as easily be used in a 1/48 scale wwII fight. That the stone bridge guarded by trolls one day can be stormed by nato forces the next. That my micro armor bunkers and trenches can be used in a battletech fight.

Going to 15mm would require me getting 15mm scaled buildings. trees and rivers from my 28mm stuff would probably work, but the roads? fat chance.

I just want more selection in vehicles for 28mm… they need to make more modern 1/48 model kits.

I do both. I never went anywhere. I have a lot of stuff in boxes though.

For a horribly funny thought, I have about a 40k army's worth of Infinity minis. A full GW case, and that's not counting the TAGs and Remotes. Of course, that's 3 different factions, but still.

But yeah, it's hard to get Infinity into a store when there are about as many SKUs in Infinity as there are in Warmahordes. Plus you only 'need' 20 models in your entire collection to play a whole lot of games. And then you need every single terrain piece in the club, on one table.

I have 10mm and 28mm fantasy.
Dabbled in 6mm and 15mm but 10mm is big enough you can see pointy ears or whatever and small enough to be cheap.

Not done anything on my sci fi stuff for some time.
They're 15mm.

Infojunky says:

"To be honest if I where going to switch out of 15mm, there would have to be an explosion in availability in either 20mm or 25mm (in the classical sense of the good old days (think 25mm GZGs or the Space Lords line that EM4 has now) The trick is the figure needs to fit a 20mm base"

Thats a rather odd set of requirements.
-20mm has always been an extremely niche size for Sci-Fi gaming.
-25mm Sci-Fi is mostly dead (lack of new releases) except where folks are integrating it into 28mm. (the Spacelords I have are 28mm to the eye).
-Lastly, 25mm or even 30mm are now the accepted base sizes for 28mm figs.

Well to be honest with the hobbys penchant for "scale creep" "15mm" will be 25mm before long. Which kinda the entire issue for the my requirements…

I have don a lot of Indoors sorts of games and larger mean less terrain to play in for my guys.

I also love vehicles, and 28mm in a miserable scale for building lots of varied models in, in that the storage rapidly becomes a issue.

I have considered 54mm more than once for building. But then the storage issue rears its head.

And the last bit is I scratch build a lot from scrap, and materially 15mm is much more economical in the amount used and time to build.

While I have said some inflammatory things about 28mm, please don't take as I am saying them about you or your choices, I am not. I am just shaking the tree to see what others opinions are in variance from mine. The are lots of cool projects being done in 28mm that would be very hard replicate in smaller sizes.

I started my Fantasy with 15mm. I wanted mass battles, and ether 15mm or 10mm was the was to go, and when I started there was fare more 15mm than 10mm. I would not want to try and play mass battles in 28mm, I would go broke.

Noel

I STARTED in 15/20mm with a little dabble in 6mm and moved to 28mm where I stayed.

There's an eyesight reason for my staying with 28mm.

I wear glasses and the right eye vision is stable (but not good) – trying to paint – let alone focus on – 15mm models would have driven me mad. 28mm I can do easily.

I use what best suits the game. For mass combat I prefer 15-20mm as I can get really big armies on the table. Even with the reduced cost of plastic 28mm, you just can't get the same giant army feel as you can with 15-20mm. For skirmish and rpg games I use 28mm because I don't need as many miniatures, and it looks better in 28mm scale. My only problem with 15-20mm is finding consistency in size. I hate buying dwarves from two different places and have one set look like dwarves, and the other look more like humans. With the larger scales a difference of a couple mm doesn't matter as much, but in the smaller scales it can make a huge difference.

I never cared much about height differences. Folks in real life vary a LOT. I have friends who are 5 feet tall and others approaching 7! In any scale the variation tends to be within 2 or 3 mm at the most..

I started in 28mm and didn't know there was anything else. (I was young, I learned of miniatures through GW). Actually, I started with micro machines… 20mm (though some more or less) but that was before I had painted my space marines…

Two years ago now I switched to 15mm. I didn't get rid of my (mostly GW) 28mm troops.

I haven't gotten new 28mm in awhile but they still see play.

I play skirmish (platoon+ to a side) and less with both. For larger I prefer 15mm but I don't generally play larger. Theoretically 28mm is more characterful but the ability to have larger, more accurate maps gives more too for RPGs… And the models have a lot of character still… Especially given how important the paintjob is at this scale. The fact that I can get a lot more models and variety (due to price and a more various selection in general) means that in the long run I think I'm sticking with 15mm.

Still like 28mm in a few cases though (squad on squad ww2 because I have the models and terrain for it, real showcase painting, 40k gaming, fantasy because I have more of it, room to room/melees that dont fit into a larger landscape, building, or battle…)