"Sell me on 20mm WW2" Topic

I've gotten the itch to do something a little bigger than 15mm for skirmish gaming, and 20mm came to mind.

So, if you're a 20mm gamer, sell me on why 20mm is completely awesome and, specifically, what benefits it might give me over 15 or 25/28mm.

Also, what are the best 20mm companies? Mostly looking for the usual suspects (yanks, brits, krauts, ivan's) but Finn's, French and other stuff would be nice too.

Lots of figure/vehicle choice is one good reason for 20mm, as for figures, AB Miniatures sold via Eureka are good, as are Battlefield/Blitz miniatures. Fantassin have a nice looking range too.
Plastics are another cheaper option, Airfix, Revell, Italeri, Caesar to name a few.
Scenery is plentiful, HO/OO railway stuff being useful.

Look at The Guild website and you will find lots of info there.

I really shouldn't try to sell 20mm over 28mm, but here goes:

1.) 20mm or 1/72 are cheap, widespread and accessible. You will never lack for choice. There are probably more companies supporting this scale than 15mm and 28mm for WWII, combined.

2.) Most rule systems support this scale, and many others written with 15mm or 28mm in mind can easily be adapted to fit 20mm.

3.) Battlegroup Kursk and its Overlord and Berlin expansions.

4.) Don't like to paint? You can now purchase pre-painted 1/72 miniatures from Pegasus Hobbies, not to mention diecasts from Dragon, IXO Models, Forces of Valor, etc.

5.) Same for terrain. Conflix and IMEX offer nice pre-painted buildings at good prices.

I would go with 1/72 plastics but 20mm metal is up to you. Caesar, PSC, Pegasus are but three companies that make 1/72 plastics at reasonable prices.

ease ,price,compatibility,abundance, and not Warlord Games

I find 20mm feels a lot like 15mm – if you want "bigger" consider moving up to 25s. To my eyes there's just not *that* much difference.

How well can I mix 1/72 plastics and 20mm metals?

Smaller in height I assume?

I'd figure metal infantry would be more "chunky" than the plastics.

Yes---most metal is chunkier. But some are more chunkier---Brittania for example. But don't mix them in the same unit and it's hard to notice difference.

I second the BattleGroup rules as a reason to go woth 20mm!

Yes I have found that the BattleGroup stable of rules has rejuvenated my 20mm gaming – its great to get them out – they do look good on the table!

I find 20mm feels a lot like 15mm

I feel the opposite. I think this is the second time this has been said between us!

I think the more modern 1/72 scale plastics are actually closer to 25mm and give that visual impact of a larger (25-28mm) figure. Plastic soldier review is your friend.

Not into plastics? Lancer, Raventhorpe and Dixon all have some fairly complete 20mm ranges at least as far as infantry is concerned. PSC, Armourfast and S-Model all boast some nice looking quick build vehicles. If you want to do ultra cheap like me, card models from Paper Tiger Armaments, Best paper Models as well as some freebies around the web will provide lots of vehicles for your army for a fraction of the cost.

Why 20mm?

Cos its the best for variety, quality, animation, accuracy and just looks the dogs danglies…

But pictures say it better…

Right …and Piers couldn't make 15 or 28mm look good… ;)

OK, my turn to try and sell you on 1/72 scale aka 20mm:

C'mon now, you know you want to…

Leland R. Erickson
Metal Express
metal-express.net

As above, more variety, pleasure building and adding to the models:

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Tally Ho!

I'm a 20mm player through and through but if you're already invested in 15mm I don't think there's a lot of point switching since the difference in size isn't a lot. If you want to do something different to what you already have I would have thought 28mm or even 54mm would be more worthwhile.

And buying a load of 20mm won't turn you into Piers Brand any more than buying a Stratocaster will turn you into Jimi Hendrix

20mm ww2 is still the main ww2 skirmish scale because it's Airfix scale and they were the first on the scene producing tanks and plastic soldiers.
Other manufacturers joined in and produced more.
Newer players bought 20mm because that's what everyone has been using since the 1970s.
15mm and now 28mm are new kids on the block really.

Then there's the actual size. I think 20mm is the ideal compromise scale where men and tanks are big enough to look good without being so good they take up too much real estate.

Having said all that.
If I was someone who had a load of 15mm stuff then I'm not sure I'd be so keen to also buy 20mm.
Individually based 15mm stuff can be used for skirmish. They look a little small to me, but it can work.

Also consider what terrain you already have that you can re-use for 20mm.

Trees, hills and things are multi scale generally, but houses may add an extra cost when going 20mm.

Oh and anyone can paint like me… Just practice and knowing what techniques to use.

Though I like the idea of being the wargame equivalent of Jimi Hendrix… Though not as many drugs involved in my case sadly.

I don´t know about Weasel, but all this is tempting the hell out of me!

I do WWII in 10mm, which is quite enjoyable as well as being inexpensive. But there are such great models coming out nowadays from manufacturers all around the world, that if I started anew I would go with 20mm.

Btw, all the stuff pictured in this thread looks great!

It's true that you can find just about anything in 20mm scale, but if you're already invested in a different scale I'd keep with that if possible. Terrain takes up more storage space than troops and the fewer scales you have to buy buildings for the better.

You can do MUCH more with 20mm vs 15mm modeling wise.
I can preshade and do color modulation easily on 20mm.
In 15 it takes A LOT of time and even more skill and still doesnt pay off.

All very sexy stuff. The points about terrain is a good one though some will scale Im sure.

A good compromise scale between micro-armour, and 28mm.

see FOW guys? you can play a ww2 game without the tanks being hub to hub…

At Trumpeter Salute 20mm game.

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The ready availability of just about any vehicle you could want – really good quality and cheap plastic infantry that are excellent models. In summary:
availability
cost
range

Some really stunning photos all. Thanks for posting!