"Skirmish Action - using 15mm multi minis per base" Topic

.Up front disclosure. I am the Skirmish Action rules author responding to gamer feedback and questions especially from the recent NJ Con, which BTW was really great fun!

While many gamers use 28mm minis when playing Skirmish Action rules and many have played games I've run at Cons using 28mm, you can also use 15mm minis as well. In fact I've recently played several games using my Flames of War army with multiple figures on a base mounted as fire teams. Data for using multiple minis on a base and building lists with them is included in the rules. The only change I recommend is using artillery templates half normal size. Since the templates are made from folded paper that's a snap.

What I like, and many other gamers have said they like about 15s vs 28s, is the larger variety of minis, especially AFVs, available in 15mm scale. The SA rules allow for using other rules systems TO&E so I've been able to use my FoW minis as mounted and organized to play games ranging from Patton's dash across France after Cobra to Frost at Arnhem Bridge and even a Nam Scenario play testing SA Modern rules due out later this year.

While I enjoy gaming with my new 28mm minis I love the fact that I can also use the ton of 15mm stuff I've collected over the years. So if you've been wondering how suited Skirmish Action is for 15mm with multiple minis per base the answer is it works really well.

Cheers! Lee (the Author)

Multi based 15mm figures are also find with other rules like CoC

It never ceases to amaze me how many gamers seem incapable of converting rules from 1 scale to another. Surely it is just a matter of adjusting ranges and possibly counters for casualties where bases have multiple figures. I don't know if this is a lack of imagination or a generation brought up on GW where you must stick to their rules rigidly.

Oh, Vigilant, must we? Again? Yes, certainly some rules can be adapted easily to certain scales. More rules can be adapted if you're willing to put up with bookkeeping, clutter your board with counters or some combination of the two. We are not, as a body, "incapable" of making adjustments, nor as a group, do wargamers suffer from a "lack of imagination." (If you don't believe me, watch them misinterpret rules.)

But just because you can imagine a way to play Bolt Action with 2mm figures does not make it an idea worth pursuing. Rules involve presumptions about figure sizes and basing. Generally there is some flexibility, but that flexibility is not infinite. Place the square peg in the square hole and the triangular peg in the triangular hole. Don't break out the whittling knife.

Robert, I didn't say that all wargamers suffer a lack of imagination, but how often do we see the "can I use these rules for…" question asked over periods which area very similar, especially modern/late 20th century rules. If you want to go to extremes like a 28mm game to 2mm then there are bound to be problems, but 28mm to 20mm or 15mm is not a major leap. As for bookkeeping and markers, I've not come across any multi-figure based rules that don't need some form of markers or bookkeeping, that is some thing you will always get where. The the miniature represents more than what you see. Many skirmish games where a figure is a single character also require markers for wounds/status so that isn't an argument against adapting rules from single to multiple figures. My point is that there seems to be an element within the community that seems to need everything set out for them without having to think about it, and I wonder where it comes from, that is all.