"Help, I'm stuck!" Topic

Okay, so let me start with this. I already have Cold War figures in 3mm and I have pretty much come to terms with rules I will use for them. I have played a few solo games of Brigade Commander and recently picked up Tank Wreck and Armoured Strike, like them both and they fit in with what I have in 3mm, or can easily obtain.

While I like my 3mm armies, I also realize I have old man eyes and want to scale up a bit. My friends think the small guys are cool but I would like to roll out some games with more visual impact. So recently I purchased some of the Team Yankee figures… the British Mechanized Infantry. Right now I have started painting them but I am finding that I am being very wishy washy about how I want to use them. I think I am literally stuck in indecision for the 15mm scale. For whatever reason, I am not that fascinated by the Team Yankee rules.

Part of the problem, I know, is I realize how slow the build time is going to be with these forces. With two kids in organized sports I have a fairly constrained budget, no buying tons of stuff up front, and since I don't have a gaming group—sharing gaming time with friends when they come into town—I need to build forces for both sides. In 3mm, that is pretty easy as the minis are pretty darn affordable.

My problem is that I can use some of the rules I already have but it will take a while to get to something playable. I have also considered trying the Rapid Fire/Able Archer rules because you can get going without a ton of equipment. Of course, a lot of people don't like the Rapid Fire system and think it is too bloody for infantry and there are some things that seem a little fiddly in the rules. It also based the infantry in ones and two so it becomes a little less flexible in that regard.

I know I could do skirmish battles but I have never really been drawn to the 1 to 1 ratio thing. I also want something simple, yet with reasonable results.

So, I have gotten to this point, bogged down in indecision. I need someone to climb up on the ledge and talk me down.

Steve

Well, the good news is you could play any of the games you list in 15mm.

Brigade Commander might look a little funny that way, but nothing too bad.

You could play Rapid Fire with 15mm infantry based in 3's, which will require a larger umber of figures but will look far better.

Alternatively consider company scale gaming.

You could use my Company Command rules, since you're already familiar with Fivecore, it's 1 stand = 1 squad, so you don't need a trillion figures to get started.

Crossfire does a legit cold war infantry game too and sits somewhere around a half battalion for the best games.

If you base 3 figures per stand, you'll need 27 figures per company plus a few extra for platoon leaders (Crossfire) or specialists (company command), so you can buy and paint that without too much time required.

You could try us:-

Maneouver group

link

Platoon is right at the bottom level fot maneouver grouip. Its scenatio driven but that can have advantages for solo play. No neaed to base the figures but they do fight as teamss (mostly).

To be honest 15mm is a bit big for good 1:1 tank battles and 1/144 (10 to 12mm) is better (personal opinion), but proably not much cheaper).

6mm figs too near the 3mm ypou have to usefull I would think and still very small. 1/144 is quite a bit smaller than 15mm.

Best of luck in your search.

Have you looked at Skytrex 200? It is a mid range scale that is reasonably priced.

Ivan,

I have your big four: Brigade, Company, 5MAK and NEIS. I will probably try a few game with Company Command. I think it is the infantry that trips me up… having the flexibility to try different games without rebasing. BTW, I did try out Brigade Commander without the IGO UGO… confusing, but may be something workable.

I did toy with the 10/12mm but for some reason I didn't go that route, probably because it seems like 15mm is getting a lot of support in the Cold War Arena.

UshCha, I will take a look at Maneouver Group.

Would prefer to go 1/144 (10/12mm) but have found that there are big gaps in availability of certain items at that scale (though Pendraken is doing a good job of filling those gaps).

I've been looking at Pico just so I can do large scale games, but I have a lot of 15mm and a 3D printer that does a great job at 15mm (I can print smaller, but find the clean up to be more of a chore and gun barrels get really brittle at that size).

I feel your pain.

Creative Guy fell free to ask questions. Download the free stuff first it will give you a better idea of the level of detail. WARNING unlike most games our tanks have to turn their turrets (like the real thing). Apprently this is subversive in many wargaming citcles and just "Not Cricket". ;-).

15mm is definitely better supported, 10mm does benefit from cost and space though.

For tank heavy games, I'd definitely give 10mm another long, hard thought since the savings are significant, but if you want any of the more esoteric stuff, you'll have a harder time finding it.

For infantry basing, regardless of what rules say, I've found that if you base a few guys on a 1x1" or 1.5x1.5" you can play just about anything from Crossfire to Spearhead and nobody will complain too much :-)

Speaking of rules, the new Command Decision does cold war doesn't it?
Or am I remembering wrong?

There's also Modern Spearhead which is pretty good. Some people don't like written orders but I found it helped get the game moving actually.
You need a fair number of figures for it though.

True in some cases, for 10mm, though some stuff runs as much, if not more than products in 15mm, so it depends upon the manufacturer, items, and quality/marketing price points.

I'm a multi-scale gamer, which probably isn't wise, but I'm too far down that road to quit.

1/285th – 1/300th (6mm)is an excellent option for armored battles.

If you want some infantry mixed in, 1/144th and larger might be a better option, given the very small size of infantry in 6mm scale (I don't like mixing 1/220th scale troops with 1/285th scale tanks).

With 1/144th, you get twice the playing area in the same amount of space, which is a real plus to me, and there's quite a bit of prepainted, and preassembled armor to help with that.

I like the looks of 15mm troops and vehicles, but the scale compression for most games is difficult for me to swallow. I can't see playing most games on anything smaller than a 6' x 12' table, to avoid the armored parking lot syndrome.

Pendraken has some Cold War stuff, and are working on the Korean War next. Reportedly, after that, they'll be doing the early, Arab-Israeli Wars.

Minifigs has a pretty decent range of minis for the Cold War, and some Ultra-Modern releases, but sadly, still no Cold War era Marder IFV for the West Germans (their Marder 1A3 only came into service after the end of the first Cold War, but is appropriate for the second one we are in now).

Timecast looks like a very good option for the mid-1980s, given their new release(s). They're doing the Soviets and British first, to be followed by Americans, West Germans, and French eventually, starting later this year.

There are also some very nice 1/144th scale 3D printed minis available on Shapeways, too.

I've even seen people putting on some beautiful games with 1/72nd scale armor and troops.

So, lots of options for minis.

I'll leave it to others to recommend the rules, since I'm more interested in the 1:1 troop/vehicle ratio end of the spectrum for that.

Neither skirmish nor a ton of equipment needed, and playable at 3-20mm. Central Front 1980s lists available.
Free trial version to try before you buy:
sabresquadron.com/index.html

I'm throwing in the love for Cold War Commander, which is a golden oldie but plays really well. Their 'skirmish' scale is perfect for 15mm, though they have now been bought out by Pendraken, and they are focusing on getting it back into print.