"What scale to use for a large spacefleet battle?" Topic

I have been wargaming with 6mm figures for over 25 years and now I would like to do a large Sci-fi Space fleet battle now. Can anybody suggest to me what scale and what company would suit my purpose. Looking especially for large quantity of small sci-fi fighters. Future thanks.

Don't have a clue.

The GZG spaceships, mainly, though has some Star Trek and Battlestar Galactica vessels in various scales too.

The "Scale" of the miniature makes almost no difference in a space game. It is really just a location indicator. If you had a particular set of rules, that might dictate that you need to know the front versus the port side of a ship (pretty common, or even 1 of six or more "sides"). Ships are sold in sizes from a little dot to 1/4 inch. or 1 inch. 3 inch long was the typical size of a Star Trek ship in lots of games. But they could get to almost any size.

If you wanted to look like the ships of a particular book, movie, or TV show, then getting a "scale" might make a difference.

Since you are use to 6mm, you may like tiny miniatures for spaceships as well. Try pins stuck into a base. Or squeeze a little bit of foil over the end of the head of the pin. That would look something like a little space fighter. Lots of ways to make your own: TMP link

For tiny ships you can try Studio Bergstrom (6mm-12mm):
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or
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Like this:

Or if you want to spend a lot more per ship Valiant's Stardate 3000 line:
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or
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Like this:

For lower cost there is the classic Silent Death line (12mm-30mm):

There any many such to select from. Here is a line that says it is 1/12000 from a cartoon Heldensagen vom Kosmosinsel (a.k.a. "Legend of Galactic Heroes"):
hlj.com/product/WRS81009

Brigade offer both bigger and tiny ships
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Like these little fighter types:
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More on the smaller and cheeper side:
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You can look for even more on sites like this:
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If you buy the Battle Beyond Space board game, you'll get 80 plastic minis, plus a great fleet game that plays in 45 minutes or so. You can use the fighters for whatever you want.

The game runs about about $20 USD on Amazon.com.

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Thank you everybody for these suggestions, I appreciate it very much. Thanks.

You'll notice the fighter stand above from Brigade Models. This is pretty common if you're doing fighters as groups (flight/division/element). Full Thrust specifically uses them as six to a 'group', and you can use a die to indicate number lost.

If your doing large numbers of individual fighters, then larger ships may or may not be of interest.

I guess we could hear more about the game you envision.

By the way, if you ever come across the old Buck Rogers: Battle for the XXVth Century boardgame, there are a HECK of a lot of figures, many fighter-esque. I like the map for a 'solar campaign.'

Oft scene in thrift stores.

Doug

Then there's StarBlazers Fleet Battle System now granted it's not perfect but I can tell you that almost all the ships are in the same scale.

The largest ship is around 4 1/2 inches long(depending on the Fleet)and the smallest is maybe 1/2 an inch or so.

There are 4 Fleets Earth,Gamilon,Comet Empire and the Dark Nebulan Empire.

Granted there are bigger ships for some of the Fleets that could never be used because of their sheer size but there's also models that can stand in for those ships.

My own collection has over 500 ships(mostly built and painted).

Prices for the minis aren't too bad but it all depends on how many ships you want to get per Fleet.

Note that the second picture DyeHard posted in his second post are Chinese knockoffs of the Silent Death figures, and are being made without consent.

If you want small ships try these vendors on Shapeways. National Cheese Emporium micro fleets link or Armadillo Miniatures link

Models are 1 inch long or less.

I have been 'toying' w/ the idea of going back to WOC's SW Starship Battles, the (more or less) 4 in. series of miniatures and useing their mini's with SW Armada rules.

Armadas ships are Amazing!.. but you better take out a 2nd mortgage if you really intend to 'build a Fleet'. For those not familar w/ Armada; 'one' Imp. class SD is $50. USD. yep.

Their Ftr expansions are reasonable, $15 USD per faction ((1 stand – 3 mini = 1 sqdrn)8 sqdrn per box set).

But, if you bought the Clone era Cap. ships as I did, theres the problem. I havent found any good proxy minis to use for Ftr sqdrns.. this page may be the answer.
Thanks.

Sorry for directing to Knock-Offs, not my intent.
I just wanted to give an overview of what was out there. I just did a quick google image search to grab things.

ALWAYS, buy from the people to own the rights to the sculpts!
The quality will always be better and you will encourage the creation of new sculpts.

Still on my "to do" list is a fleet made from plastic wall anchors (aka "mollies"). A discussion on various uses of these (with pictures) is here : TMP link

Cheap (especially if bought in bulk), come in multiple sizes and appearances, and dang, do they look like spaceships!

Oh, and if you're looking for rules, may I suggest Generic Outlandishly Big Spacefleets! (AKA G.O.B.S.!)? thegobspage.com

@Part time gamer:

Shapeways is a great source for models, and there's a staggering assortment.

I've seen some great Clone Wars era fighters there as well, if you are looking for those PTG.

Good luck and have fun!