""you should use rice instead!"" Topic

I've heard the 3mm v rice comment enough that I've had a thing or two to say about it on my blog.

link

Too funny!

Doug

As a 2mm and 3mm fan, very nice rebuttal!

These people are fat fools -your stuff looks great. I'm impressed with the detail of the models.

Actually, I cannot tell which model rice that was. Are you sure rice produced at that time wore just plain dark green? My research shows East German Rice Shock Armies should be painted with a grey, green camo mix! ; )

@History PHD, your stuff looks excellent. Don't let anyone dissuade you from your chosen scale. H.ll, I hear the same crap about my 10mm stuff from the same crowd.

Nicely done.

B

The rice is about 30% smaller than the T-55s, and are probably a better proxy for 2mm models than the 3mm models you are comparing them to. Which is also a nice rebuttal to the rotund boors, "Nah, we use rice for the 2mm games, not the 3mm games!"

A while ago there was a game using 6mm Napoleons. The guy running the game told use he bulked out the armies by painting the rice like the models and placing them in the back ranks. I thought he was kidding until I took a closer look.

Funny as heck! Of course, it does show that you COULD use grains of rice and save lots of money!!!

My wife is Thai. I'm not allowed to waste more than those 3 grains. Even that was borderline with her!

No, after looking at those pics, I think the boorish gamers might be correct. I can see absolutely no difference in the detail between the two. Identical, if you ask me.

That brought a much needed smile to my face. Thank you! You even used long grain rice (3mm) and not pearl (2mm) to reinforce your lack of bias. Well done!

I strive for unbiased journalism

Very nicely done! What happens to the German Rice platoon when it attempts to cross a river?
Rod Robertson

A previous take on this that I found on line looking for people who do paint up rice as miniatures:

link

But Sir, they are indeed grains of rice, well painted and sculpted grains of rice.
I liked your blog and your funny and clever pictorial rebuttal.
Congratulations.

I wouldn't ever say that 3mm sculpted figures look like rice. Obviously they don't. But, as I have to crew a lot more of my 1:600 gallies, that rice idea is a very clever one – if I can find the right sized rice.

Rod, if the rice platoon crosses a river of hot water, it swells up into a battalion!

I've been playing 6mm for 50 years, and have no desire for buying 15mm and larger stuff. The 10mm toys I have now are detail enough. It's more about the strategy than the detail for me.
Awful hard to field a battalion of armor and infantry in 20mm if your table is only 5x6. But then, I dont do many skirmish fights.
3mm sounds interesting!

I can get a whole division on a large table with no crowding whatsoever!

So to make your point you feel it ok to disparage inocent rotund men like me everywere , I personaly had no position about that scale after all I myself game in 6mm. But Now I am so angry that I promise to not only opose any and all gaming with rice but all food products espeacialy rice.
Not one food stuff shall pass this I promise…..

No, it's quite fair. I'm getting a bit "portly" myself

Hmmm…Those rice grain would make nice alien grav vehicles

Well, hopefully the other side of the coin is that people don't look at rice and say, you might as well eat 3mm miniatures.

OK fellows. I am not joking when I say this. After looking at the rice miniatures I think I could easily find a use for them in my 3mm SF army as APCs. I might even try making some other vehicles with rice as the hull.

I'm quite fond of 3mm, 6mm and 10mm armies and 1/6000 ships and while 95+% of our hobby will stop by and compliment a good looking smaller scale game, that 5% rotund boor factor does exist.

Why is it that the blessedly rare but not uncommon walking feminine hygenie products described feel free to opine on smaller scales exclusively? I don't think I've ever been in a 28 or 54mm game and had someone stop by to offer the sage advice that the figures were grotesquely large and why couldn't we just use small logs.

McKinstry, I actually might say that about 28 mm and 54 mm. Let's all be boorish! Actually, if I had painted the rice with a bright white, it would remind me of those little speeders in Logan's Run and other 70s sci-fi movies.

I'll be very happy to start selling pre-painted rice to anyone!

I'll be very happy to start selling pre-painted rice to anyone!

How are you going to get it way from the wife? :-)

Perhaps my eyes are going, but I could not figure out if the German platoon was kitted out with the Panzerkampfgemaltreis Mk IV or the PKfGr Mk V. The models are so tiny that they are hard to make out, especially with the dark paint scheme.
Rod Robertson

Fred, that could be a problem

I love the public service announcement on your blog. I was formerly a skeptic of 3mm, but after actually purchasing some pico armor I am an enthusiastic convert and my eyes are 55 years old. Even with glasses I have no problem telling rice from 3mm. The pico armor stuff is incredibly nice, most of the photos on their site do not do it proper justice. I WILL be doing moderns in 3mm with it. The naysayers are just scale snobs upset that you don't play with "proper miniatures".

When I first started in on 6mm ACW, I vividly remember the response from a shop owner when I asked about ordering figures. He scoffed at the idea with "I don't game with lead slivers". Yeah, I still get some condescending remarks when I set-up a game (usually from the over-stuffed, over-opinionated crowd), but much fewer than in past.

And I'm still painting 'em up. And that's with 60yr old eyes that are behind progressive bifocals!

My wife is Thai too, and has a distressing readiness to throw out leftover food without a thought for whether it would be usable for lunch the next day. I'm guessing yours is a north-easterner (where they learn to respect food)?

Sobieski, yes, she's Isan

As long as you don't mix them on the same base I see no problem.

History PhD,

I like it, cracks me up. Not only do we share an affinity for 3mm armor, my wife is also from up north.

V/R,
Jack

Jack, Roi-Et!

Kop, Udon-Thani.

V/R,
Jack

I like the nano paint jobs. Did you prime them in black, white, or soy sauce?

Fish sauce, then light grey primer

@Allen57 – my thoughts exactly.

Very nice paint jobs on your 3mm forces!

Gaming in that scale enables you to fight much larger scale battles than at the larger scales, plus it enables you to mount multiple vehicles per stand which help reinforce the multi-vehicle platoon look.

Pico manages to get incredible detail into their minis for the size…and you do an outstanding job painting them to bring out the detail.

Well done!

Frank