"Inches or Centimeters?" Topic

Which form of measurement unit do you use when wargaming?

(a) English/imperial system – inches, feet, yards, furlongs, miles, fathoms, etc.
(b) Metric system – millimeters, centimeters, meters, kilometers, etc.
(c) Whatever form of measurement is specified by the rules.

C

(d) Inches for movement/measuring, millimeters for bases

C

Not fussed either way.

But – if I'm writing the rules – it's almost always metric so centimetres.

John T

b all the way. If the rules are in Imperial I convert them to metric.

C

Both. Even if sometimes I have used specific measurement (i.e. DBM paces)
Marco

English.

If I'm running the game A English (and I tend to convert metric rules to imperial).

If someone else is putting on the game I'll use whatever system they specify.

My bases tend to be in metric measurements in multiples of 5mm.

Imperial. Both for distances and basing.

A mostly.

A.

Both but tend to use metric as most of my bases are based on this system ( DBA, SAGA, Black Powder , etc)

C Although I,too, usually convert the metric system to the nearest English system. I'm not comfortable with that French invention.

Mostly A, but I will use metric, or measuring sticks marked off in odd increments.

Whatever works for the rules or desired effect.

b.- International Metric System.

C. Also if we are playing a tank battle in 1/144 scale and the original movement is in inches, we change our measurements to cm.

A

C

Just pick one system. Don't try and mix and match.

Whatever the rules specify.

StarGrunt ground scale is 1 inch represents 10 meters, which I find pleasantly whimsical but also functional.

A.

C – I'm easy.

I do think Imperial measurements give a nice period feel for Colonial games, though.

Neither. I use base widths. It's a lot more flexible and actually means something concrete.

Both, depending on which rules/period I am playing.

Also BW. (base widths) for some rule sets.

In some parts of the world, finding imperial measuring tapes is tricky. So, rules writers, please please please make sure you include metric measurements!

I sometimes help out my friend, Reiner the Mad Kraut, with his joinery business.
He's an excitable chap, and obviously, being Deutsch he was brought up on metric.
You've heard nothing so funny as his reaction when he's crawled into some awkward space in an attic, clutching a flashlight between his teeth, to take a measurement… and realises he's holding an Imperial tape measure.

Veni Vidi Vici rules say, you choose.

Inches or imperial. The number specified or double (or treble) it. Let the player decide, I see no harm in it.

None of the above.

With the exception of mm for bases occasionally, you could pick the one measurement unit in the rules and find/replace with "glizborks". The actual units I want to use are based on the table and the minis I want to use.

A

I will not use rules that uses metrics. Sorry, but I like to use inches. With metrics and no pre-measuring, I can't estimate distances very well.

While metric is superior in every shape, way or form, most of my customers are either yankees or are familiar with yankee measurements, hence I use inches.

C

Mostly A.

Thumbs, hands, cubits and furlongs. And drachms/drams for the drinks!
Either (a) or (b) depending upon the rules being used.

Well I think C is obviously the choice. But which system actually works best depends on the following: the period of the game, the physical scale of the miniatures and the figure ratio. I find that for rules using a figure ratio of 1:50 or 1:60 and 15mm figures (or less) that the good old English inch subdivides in a much more usable fashion than centimeters. This may be less consequential for fast moving modern era troops with long-range weapons, but for close-order troops armed with smooth-bores you are likely to find yourself measuring increments for both movement and fire that are far more easily done by half or quarter inches than in millimeters.

I am now imagining a Napoleonic game where the French use metric measurements and the English use Imperial measurements. Napoleon shall not win !

Figures and bases in cm. Ranges in inches. Penis in yards

Inch by inch we're going metric…..

Been saying that since the mid-sixties. But if you give them an inch…

The United States is inching towards using metric.

I prefer fingers, spans, cubits and (for really long distances) stadia.

But mostly it is D – inches for action and millimeters for bases.

As above 'D' inches for games and mm for basing.

B

Pints. Generally a good game comes in at two pints an hour.

etotheipi for the WIN!

Won't go metric in my time or my grandkids time. Although the military is. I can remember in the 4th grade we were having the metric system ram down our throat because by 1970 the US will go metric. How did that work out?