"Flames of War in 6mm" Topic

Hi guys!

After realizing i have grim prospects for a playing area (normal 6x4 table) i decided to switch to 6mm for Flames of War. Details bellow on what i actually ordered (a big big pile for only 100 pounds). As usual you can go read the article on my site or read it bellow (but bellow you don't have pictures! :) )

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Space! Not the final frontier, but the actual gaming space that us wargamers need to be able to…well…play! Having an assembly/painting desk is nice and dandy and extremely important however having a playing table is the icing on the cake. The possibility of setting up a table whenever you want for a nice game with friends or a solo adventure is something each of us dreams of. Personally, for me, that gaming table would actually help in getting some more content available for the website in the form of a few solo AAR's for various game systems and i would actually get some practice and actual value out of all the rulebooks i buy (especially Flames of War).

However for now the prospect is grim and I can't see any possibility of actually getting more then 3×3 feet available for a small table. That is smaller then what you would normally need, namely 6×4. So pondering that while reading TMP forums (what, you don't know TMP forums?) i came across the 6mm range. 6mm is actually 1:300 and there are several companies that produce miniatures in that scale (well, that and 1:285). In case i lost you on the way, let me explain. Flames of War is a 15mm game played on a 6×4 feet table. Using 6mm miniatures and scaling down all the measurements means you can play that same game on a 2.4×1.6 table. Of course ideally it would be better on a 3×2 as you get some more wiggle room and yes, this does not solve the tank park issue (the fact that in Flames of War usually the tanks are deployed shoulder to shoulder, unrealistically). However it does mean that i can get some games in and actually practice some army lists.

I dived into researching the option and was pretty amazed to find that some 6mm vehicles are actually crispier and more detailed then some 15mm ones. GHQ springs to mind and if you don't know what i mean then just visit their website and take a look. Here's a sneak peak for a vehicle that i would have swore it's actually 15mm.

Great quality comes with a steep price (well, lower then the actual PSC/Battlefront/FiB/etc price) and after adding up all that i wanted to order for 2 starter armies (Germans and Americans, Late War) i arrived at the grand sum of 300-400 pounds. Yikes! Suddenly those lower quality Heroics and Ross seemed very tempting. A few days later and with a price tag of only around 100 pounds (shipping included) this is what i actually ordered. Vehicles are generally 40 pence a piece and infantry comes in groups of 50 for 2.5 pounds.

160 German Infantry with Heavy Weapons, Panzershreck teams and Command options
3 x PaK 40 Anti-tank guns
2 x 7.5cm Infantry guns
4 x 15cm Howitzer
2 x 8.8cm Anti-tank guns
4 x StuG III G
4 x Marder III M
3 x Sdkfz 234/2 Puma
3 x Sdkfz. 7/1 Quad 20mm
12 x Panzer IV H
12 x Panther
9 x Kfz.70 trucks
3 x Wespe
4 x Mobelwagen
4 x Kubelwagen
3 x Jagdpanzer IV/70
10 x Sdkfz. 250 with various options

160 American Infantry with Heavy Weapons, Bazooka teams and Command options
12 x M4A1 Sherman
10 x M5A1 Stuart
4 x M10 Tank Hunters
2 x M20 Scout Cars
3 x M8 Scout Cars
12 x Jeeps
24 x M3 Halftracks
2 x M15 AA Halftracks
2 x M16 AA Halftracks
6 x M7 Priest
6 x M1 Anti-tank gun
4 x M2A1 Howitzer
4 x M1 155mm guns
3 x M8 Howitzer
3 x M21 Mortar Carrier Halftrack

It's quite a haul, isn't it? I spent around 2 days figuring out what i would need to field pretty much every option from the German and American basic lists (V3 manual) and once i was pretty sure what i needed i simply sent the order. I was hoping to get it sometimes after Christmas (ordered around the 20th) but that wasn't feasible (and i completely understood) so right now i am waiting for my delivery in mid January. I am extremely anxious to get it all, to paint it and actually start pumping out some AAR's!

Seems i posted in The Industry by mistake. Can an admin please change that?

Please keep us update with your progress. I am really interested in seeing games working in smaller spaces.

I'm going to 6MM for everything but skirmish (and maybe even that!) as well. Even though I have room for a larger table I don't want to reach across the darn thing for 5' by 5' game, I can do the same in 2.5' using half inches for the scale (or even less with CM instead of inches)

A sizeable bit of my stuff is H&R and although not as detailed as GHQ they are still very nice. At the 400% price difference in the UK I would go exclusively with H&R too.

Some of the newer H&R that Ian Armstrong is modelling is of a much higher quality than the older stuff,that has been around for a few years. Eventually I believe they are going to re-model the older vehicles.
I use 6mm for the Fire & Fury Battlefront rules, more due to storage space as my flat is only a one bedroom place. I have 3 25"X 48" tables that I can bolt together to make larger tables if need be.

I play FoW in 6mm in "half scale." I made rulers where each 1/2" is marked. So your typical 4x6 table is now 8x12. But you can easily play a "normal" game on a 2x3 mat, though the smallest I have used is 3x4.

If you don't cover the table in troops it plays very, very different. Fast tanks, for example, are *deadly* when they have some place to go. And even the big cats have to move because they can't dominate the whole battle from a single hull down position.

Loads of fun!

At our club we mostly play FoW in 6mm on a 6*4 table, but without changing ranges etc… Even my Russian army now has elbow room :-)

FOW works great in 6mm. I did FOW Vietnam in two ways: first I changed everything to cm, and it looked just like a regular game, fun but very crowded. Second, I did everything in standard inches and like Crispy noted the game flows much faster, with considerable movement. FYI I based all of my elements on 1 inch bases ( vehicles also) and command stands on half inch bases. I use GHQ and the savings over 15mm are dramatic.

I was toying with a 6mm FOW idea/project 9 or 10 years ago, but I sold it off. I think it has a lot of potential.

I agree, 6mm but on 6x4 and keeping the measurements looks more real or epic. :) Unfortunately my goal is to play the crowded version for tournament practice.

Interesting, what size are you going to make the bases? I think I've still got lots of 1/300 moderns around that I should be able to do Arab-Israeli……..

If you don't cover the table in troops it plays very, very different.

Exactly. I find FoW becomes a different game with more space. For starters, on board artillery actually starts to make some sense

Bases will be scaled down also. So if an infantry base has 4cm in FOW it will go down to 1.6cm for this project.

FOW looks much better in 6mm, in my opinion, at full scale for the weapons ranges.

Good choice.

Enjoy!

Love the idea, but I sold off my 6mm stuff a year ago and got into 15mm because my eyes are so bad I was having trouble finding things on the board. Nothing like finding that recon company after the game is over and you're picking up the table!

played it with the conversion of inch to cm, worked for me.

We have a recent battle report for Fate of a Nation in 6mm:

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Hi Baycee,

When your order arrives, please let us know what you think your new models. I have been tempted to get a handful of 1/300 Heriocs & Ros figures and vehicles myself.

Jeff

I will definitely take pictures of all models for review purposes. :)

If I was not a regular tournament player with stacks of terrain as well all in 15mm in several periods and was looking to start again from scratch I would seriously look at doing the whole thing using 6mm figures but 15mm base sizes and rules. Visually things are much much better with models closer to the ground scale.

Our 6mm gamers who did early war WWII stuff played with half size bases and 6mm figures but changed nothing else.

It looks a LOT better. I would have gone that way if I didn't have other sets that 15mm was preferable and all that 15mm stuff I already had…

Think if I did Vietnam or WWI then I might do 6mm…

My order has arrived! Lots and lots of little tanks in small bags now fill part of my desk.

I have to say that the quality is better then i expected however it is indeed noticeable that some details lack. With that said i am extremely pleased with how they look and they are definitely worth the money. I did not make a mistake by ordering them.

Not going to tease you further but i will have pictures up on my site as soon as possible.

Hi guys,

I took the time today to snap photos of all the models. You can see them all following the link.

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Warning: The article is picture heavy!

Spoiler (look at that pile!)

This is a great idea. I have often thought of useing 6mm and keeping the regular measurments. Has anyone done brigade or div sized battles?

Almost makes you wonder about a full sized table using 6MM for a WWI game.Think of all the infantry and trenchworks you could fit in.