"HO Scale Buildings for 15MM" Topic

So I have been kicking around the use of HO scale building in 15mm gaming 15mm equaling about 1:100 scale and HO being 1:87 I feel a 10% different isn't that far off to worry about much.

I found a Guidancetown building set for just a few dollars and here's picture that I have taken to compare with figures and the buildings

Now I don't like the style of these buildings but I do like the scale so I'm going to get more buildings for doing Zombie games, Alien Invasion and Giant Insect Attacks then I will do a set for a P.A. environment.

ooh yes, Guidancetown buildings! I was addicted to getting them (cheap) on ebay for a while, and actually have enough to build a small town/city (and it's still not enough ;-) They are pretty easy to convert (though the plastic is a bit thick to cut.) The only drawback is that you will have to build stairs if you want them for building exteriors… ;-)

Once you put the 15-18mm figures on their washers/bases, most of the HO scale buildings are perfect for the job:

link
TMP link
TMP link
TMP link

And, unless the weapon sizes are drastically, I like to mix 15mm and 18mm figures for the sake of realism. After all, we are not all the same height, are we? :)

Dan
PS. Some HO (1/87) furniture works too:
link

Paint and texture on the houses makes a huge difference. Stark colors and sharp edges emphasize size disparities.

Dan,

NO, I'm taller and better looking.

Dave

I use HO building for all my 15mm figs as well as "small" 25mm like my Western figs from Pass of the North apaches etc.

Dave

LOL. I just got a flashback of Stephen the Irishman in Braveheart, who said he was too pretty to die.

Dan

I plan to go a little hog wild for the Plasticville stuff, I want two of each buildings one for regular games and one for P.A. games plus a handful of some others, a theater, power station, radio station, hospital and a water plant of sorts maybe a fuel or chemical plant.

Walther's has a few 5 or 6 Merchant Row models that are between 4 to 6 shops/buildings all connected side by side which would make for a really nice couple of a main street and side streets.

I have a couple more pictures here link

Doug
silo1313.blogspot.com

I've found most of my "15mm"/ HO stuff at MRR club swapmeets, and at the local MRR shop's old-used-model shelves. Lost of fun stuff at a very reasonable cost.

capt. z

Thanks for the tip Zeelow, I will keep an eye out for them

I agree, I don't think :87 to :100 is a big deal what (:13 'pts') difference? And think they look great.

Im not familiar with these, Im guessing there very basic, i.e., you'd have to do a bit of work so the roof could be removed if you wanted to do interior detailing and gaming.

And just fyi gents, the Miniature Market and The WarStore both carry some Plast Craft buildings as well.

I hope to get to my HO buildings soon. I scored a bunch of Walthers storefront rows for a song, NIB, but need paint and attention!

HO = 1/87 = 18.5mm according to the TMP "All about scales" page. TMP link

All my vehicles and armor is HO (mostly because I have a 50+ year head start on that.

The troops are 15mm unless I can actually find enough in HO.

The best part is that I can get ready-built European buildings for $5 USD-10 each at model train shows and the entire village of Strudelburg fills an 8x10 table and can be transported in one go.

Wyatt

Oh yeah! I can't wait to get them all together for a few good zombie games and P.A. survivor games too!

For easy interiors, you can cut poster board to fit into the Guidancetown buildings as floors, then draw in the walls with a marker (the interior could get really cramped if you put in actual walls… ;-)

That was the idea I was thinking of, was something for the floors and thin strip of cardboard just to indicate where the walls are, kind of on the idea of 2.5 dungeon tiles you see folks make. Thin strips of cardboard to represent the walls.

Hey War Monkey can I suggest foam board for making houses.
I sat down and made burnt out hose with some today with no planning, and no skill :P, and turned out so well I wish I'd made my houses that way instead of ordering them on line.
Its cheap, easy to cut and light.

OH I have made them with foam board for my sci-fi stuff and they look great, but I just really like the look of the HO stuff, the details of the brick work and lap board siding widow details as well.

Do railroad aficionados measure HO figures to the eyes, or to the top of head (like the rest of the planet has always measured human height)?

Dan

I think they measure from the top of the head, but I'm not sure but I guess I'll find out soon, seems someone at Shapeways.com has a set of modern zombie soldiers in 1/87 scale. I thought I had seen a 1/96 scale set but I will have to look again.

Check EBay for a company called Outland Models from Hong Kong who produce some very nice and affordable HO buildings…..

auction

It appears there are several other dealers selling similar stuff too……

My biggest complaint about model railroad buildings is that they are almost all of a design theme pre-1970s. There is very little, if any, ultra-modern or futuristic buildings. Even the Outland Models designs are very 60's-80s with a bit of a brutalist edge. Where are my shiny glass skyscrapers? Where are the zinc clad free form monsters? Or even engineery Calatrava style edifices?

I agree there should be more modern buildings but I live in a small Midwest town so most of the buildings work for me.

now 15mm figures are 17-18mm so HO works fine.
BTW, what kind of zombie game could use 15mm figures? I really would like to know

The HO modelers use 1/87 scale for the most part (some of the operating bits are deliberately out of scale for more reliable operation). The 1/96 scale stuff is usually Naval or Architecture (1/8"=1foot).

Even then, the railroad guys tend to compress buildings some.

As far as what kind of zombie game could use 15mm figures, well, there's Weird War options (Weird War 1 or 2), you could do Living Dead or Resident Evil type scenarios, Blue Moon does lots of Horror sets, etc…

"What kind of zombie game could use 15mm figures?"

There are several different games out there like "All Things Zombie" (ATZ) from Two Hour Games many games are written for 28mm but all you have to do is just divide ranges or distance traveled by 1/2. so instead of it being 6" is 3".

Sure there are other games that I wish to play out as well other then Zombie Games. Attack of Giant Insects, Alien Invasion, Alien vs Predator and the list goes on.

I did come across a modular city terrain board or tiles depending on how one would look at it, that I can't wait to get started on and will be posting on here hopefully soon.

I Have a lot of 15mm figures of Zombies and Survivors, from Blue Moon, Rebel Minis, and Khurasan. I also have many others figures from them and from Peter Pig, GZG, RAFM and many others, so I am not shy on figures in any way, except Pirates and Pulp which I am working on filling that gap as well.

Thanks for the information on HO train scaling I am working on a list of building that I wish to get and hope to get this project all together soon!

"BTW, what kind of zombie game could use 15mm figures? I really would like to know"

Just to remention All Things Zombies for 15mm.
Because ATZ is so flexible and 15mm leaves so much table space I've had some tremendous chases around Suburbs and CBD's with ATZ.
In one 3 characters were Driving to another neighbourhood when they crashed the car after hitting some zombies. So the one able body character had to help the other wounded survivor around most of the table with zombies converging from different directions.

@War Monkey & @Maxshadow:
Thank you! ATZ, I have that game but it is a skirmish level game and you need to operate individual characters. Using 15mm figures to play ATZ is really too small.

Frank Wang,
I have seen others posting on here using ATZ with 28MM, but I use it and it works just fine for myself.

Frank, IIRC 'most' if not all Zombie Apoc games are more or less set in a skirmish style situation, IMHO it makes the game more fun.
If you don't want to run an 'on-going' survivor group type game (keeping record of abilities etc.). I'd just suggest you simply give your survivors a single "combat rate" depending on them being military, police or routine civilians and so forth.
As well as a set movement (both humans & Zombies), a set number of / type of attacks.

In most games Im familiar with, even some 'old' home grown games I came up w/ over the many yrs.
'Wpns roll To Hit, if they hit Only a 6 on d6 would of course kill a Zed.
(perhaps 5+ for close range or w/ a shotgun w/in "X range').

Just a cpl thoughts there.

@ War Monkey Great paint job on those 15mm in the first picture btw. I received one of them in the mail yesterday and you've inspired me to try and do a better job.

Thanks the one on the right is my version of "Burt Gummer" and the guy on the left is "Bubba".