"I want to do miniatures but need very small footprint setup" Topic

I want to do miniatures, not sure what yet. WW2 or sci-fi

I need something that I can setup and take down
I will have a 29" x 72" table

I don't want to go anything smaller than 15mm

ideas of how to go about this?
and I would like "real" scenery; no paper/cardboard.

Force on Force/Ambush Alley was originally meant to be played in 15mm on a 2 x 2 ft. board. Any skirmish game will fit your needs.

For terrain that doesn't occupy too much storage space, I do the following things. I mostly play StarGrunt II with 25mm figures.

Cloth table covers: Roll them up or stuff them into a bag (but don't fold them neatly, because you don't want straight creases on your game table). Make a few different ones for different situations, like desert tan, woodland brown, urban gray, caves dark gray, etc. I just paint mine, usually with paint samples from the hardware store, smeared on with irregular thickness (just do the opposite of how you were taught to paint things). You can get texture effects with caulk and similar materials.

Hills, berms, high spots, large rocks: I like foam rubber, which is unbreakable and can be stuffed into a box or bag for storage. Spray paint, household paint, even Sharpie pens get used for marking it up. Make edges and surfaces more natural with scissors or just using your fingers to tear off little chunks.

Buildings: I use various kinds of boxes, like shoeboxes for large buildings like factories, business card boxes, food containers (mushroom boxes make great buildings), and I've just become hip to electrical boxes, which are pretty much indestructible and very cheap (sometimes under $1 USD for a decent box). To the extent possible, I stack boxes and store boxes inside larger boxes.

I play Five Men In Normandy on a 2'×2' board. Very quick to set up, play, and put away.

I agree with all that has been said but if your go historic games in 15mm I would reconsider you statement against cardboard terrain. There are a lot of really nice and versatile buildings available in cardboard.

SF, lots of the things mentioned by Oberlindes make great buildings.

Despite what has been said I find 2X2 tables get really small in a hurry. If you have any vehicles in your mix I would want a bigger table. Your table should work fine for most 15mm skirmish.

For ancients & medievals, DBA and Triumph fit that space nicely, as does Hordes of the Things for fantasy.

WW2 or Sci-Fi skirmish games with 15mm would work well in that space. Larger scales would seem cramped for my tastes at 209" deep.

Battletech Alpha Strike and Ogre miniatures would work just fine.

Is a six foot table a "very small" set-up?

Depends on what you are interested in. A skirmish game in 15mm would work with that size table. Trees can be purchased from many sources and buildings are a lot cheaper in 15mm then in 25mm.

What you are interested in is what you can get into. I suggest you go to a game club or convention to get ideas.

I built a pirate tavern in which all the components, including dice, Figures, terrain, etc. fit into a single box. The tavern, when assembled uses about 18" x 24" of table and can accommodate up to 8 players. The rules Blood and Seash have some pictures.

For WW2, get a copy of the Memoir 44 boardgame, buy a hex ground cloth from Cigar Box mats, and upgrade the boardgame components to 15mm.

The Portable Wargame could be played on that size table using 3 inch squares.
link

Rommel would work also.
sammustafa.com/rommel

Crossfire is a great game but would require a bit more terrain.
crossfire.wargaming.info

I'd say 15mm on a 4' x 4' board would be your best all-around option.

15mm gives you a huge range of excellent figs and vehicles, (GZG Games' stuff by itself is remarkable, let alone all the other options out there). Plenty of good terrain at that scale too. And 48" x 48" is certainly a do-able size.

Thanks, this will get me going in the right direction.

Any game where base frontage determines movement/ firing distances etc and which could use single base elements would work. DBA already mentioned above; on Monday I played a game of Sword and Spear (Mongols v Hungarians) on a 36 inch by 27 inch table. The extra length on your table woukd allow for flanking moves or bigger forces (we used roughly 500 points, which gave 12 Mongol,units and 15 Hungarian).
If you want to do WW2, I think the width of the table is a real constraint, unless you go for micro tanks, or play down length of table. 15 or 20mm tanks shooting at 2 foot range just looks wrong to me.

Another WWII option that is relatively cheap, portable and requires a small space….Two Hour Wargames' "Hell Hath No Fury" tank battles using GHQ (or other) microarmor and scaled accordingly. Suited for solo play as well.

link

You could clamp a piece of 4' x 4' plywood to your 29" wide table to expand increase the depth to your battlefield.