"Thinking of switching from 6mm to 10mm" Topic

Hey folks

So, I started down the road of 6mm WW2 gaming. I play a company level set of rules and thought 6mm would give a more realistic scale view on my table. My table at most is a 8x6.

6mm armor does look good in terms of scale to table space, but those little s are…..small. Sometimes I have to squint or move closer to tell if that's a Panzer IV or a Panzer III

So,anyone here make the switch from 6mm to 10mm and have any regrets 🤔

Capt., many of us here have probably moved up and down the scales over these many years of hobby 'campaigning'.

I have regrets that I sold off my expansive 6mm collection, for one reason – it could have been used for larger, battalion+ level gaming – by converting the minis to multi-based stands to reflect platoon-sized units (or larger). So instead, I've been collecting 3mm WW2 to do that scale of gaming with now.

I think as our eyes start to get strained to see our minis, there's opportunity for diorama-style basing, like these beauties painted and arranged by Gareth Beamish -

I wouldn't discourage anyone from getting into 10-12mm, but it can be targeted collecting to start with, and I wouldn't get rid of your Micro-scale collection, and maybe consider that for a repurposing project (neat, diorama-looking units can have a impact all of their own!).

I'm actually in the process of doing the opposite, moving from 10mm WW2 to 6mm. I too wanted more table space to depict larger engagements, but one of my main reasons also was the much greater number of available 6mm buildings compared to what is available in 10mm. Since I've begun this transition (it's been agonizingly slow due to other projects I prioritized first) 3-D printing has been making that less of an issue, but even though I have some printed buildings I like I still don't think they measure up to a lot of the traditionally made buildings.

I agree with FlyXwire, making the bases into small dioramas is a good way to get around the "squinting" issue. As my bases represent a platoon I put two tanks on a base for armor and 5-6 men for an infantry unit.

I also am on the move to 6mm largely for the reasons stated above- plus much easier to paint since my OCD recognizes that there are no eyes to paint in 6mm

All good points

@ FlyXwire…..I never thought about larger games. What rules would you suggest?

I intend to do 10mm. I found a rulebook made for 10mm WW2 gaming.

I went from 15mm to 6mm with few regrets, but it was a table space thing. The 2mm project with bigger stands will actually require more table space. But I would certainly consider bigger bases before I considered larger castings, especially if you're basing tanks one to a stand at present.

Captain, sorry but I can't give you much in the way of rules recommendations, as I usually design my own for these endless projects, but maybe Command Decision would be a good starting point.

Though, if you have that favorite set you like already, you could probably assign hit points to any newly-mounted stands you convert, in order to reflect their greater, multiple-element strengths, and use the factoring in your ruleset (you might also want to change the ground scale/ranges to be more 'grand-tactical', to reflect the larger battlespace you're then featuring).

As an example, here's some threads showing some of my own small-scale evolution.

The first thread shows how I've mounted my units on different size stands, so their platoon/section strengths are immediately discernable on the tabletop – small stands take only one hit, while larger platoon units, these reflecting 4-5 vehicles, hvy. weapons, or squads each require two hits to eliminate -

TMP link

TMP link

TMP link

TMP link

Just now working on an 'improved' 3mm project, which I'll probably be mounting these minis on clear hex bases, instead of circular ones as used before (the combining of unit hexes will then determine the composition of [attached] combat teams that can activate together). Anyway, it's going to look good I think -

Captain, you could probably work up some really sharp looking multi-mounted stands with your 6mm collection, way nicer than my 3mm units. I moved to the clear basing for these, because it allowed me to use the same units on my temperate or winter mats, but for this new working version, and the hex basing, I'm thinking of doing some texturing on the stand tops…..nothing looking like dioramas though. ;)

Hey, was thinking if you want to go even further up the command chain, you might consider rules sets like Rommel too.

The comments you've gotten from the guys here seem to be encouraging you to consider doing something more, but maybe different with your Micro-Armor scale collection, that you might look back on later, and say "Wow", I never figured they could look so good – when mounted together!

So its horses for courses, we went to (1/144) 12mm from 1/172(about 25mm). A typical game for us is a company battle group as the biggest force on the table. So reasons for and against 1/144:-

We play more or less 1:1 but infantry are on fire team bases typically 2 to 4 figures. At 1/144this is a base about 30mm by 20 mm so is easy to pick up, very fiddly at 6mm

We still use a typical 6mm ground scale, 1mm represents 1m so actually the ground scale does not change depending on the rules.

While we don't play 1:1 on buildings they are too small due to ground scale, we sort of do. 6mm you can't easily get down a road that's a sensible ground scale width, it's too small to get your fingers between buildings. Just possible at 1/144 but even then we tend to use village bases so houses can be removed and replaced if necessary. Plus at 1/144 you can have houses that have a second story and put figures in the building easily. Also a bit of a bizzare logic. For a village that is the same ground scale size you need 4 times the number of buildings at 1/300. Now buildings to us are fixed entities we don't just use the area and say "here be Urban". So placing 4 times as many 6mm buildings precisely is harder than for 1/144 just because they are far fewer. And there are far more to "Play Through" arguable that's a very big compromise but we live with it and count it as a benefit.

Hedges are a the same pain 1/1300 or 1/144 as we use the 1/144 ground scale. While typical field boundaries at about 500m are a bit small they are not too bad so you can still represent real terrain most of the time even at the bigger scale.

Therefor for us 1/144 is the sweet spot, but you may not have the same drivers as us.

There may still be issues of recognition of foot types even at 1/144, not a problem for vehicles. We use close to scale figures so minimal to no detail so in some cases we modify the shape of a fire team base to make it recognizable at a distance.

In our rules "Maneouvre Group" vehicles need to turn their weapons, at 6mm this is OK(just) for major tanks, but smaller vehicles it's not possible. At 1/144 this is not an issue even with small armored cars.

NOTE- we are not modelers so I have made no comments on modelling as we are almost pure gamer's, artistry really is bottom of our list so read the above with that in mind.

Access to vehicles is no issue, lots of excellent 3D printed ones.

FlyXwire, that's a magnificent job overall--miniatures, board and scenario design. I will rest content well short of that for my own projects, and still be pleased with myself.

Captaincold69, I can't really advise without knowing more about your present basing and representation, but if the basic problem is visibility, I'd suggest you at least try larger bases with more vehicles before you do a time-consuming and expensive army build. As you see, the results can be pretty spectacular.

I consider 3mm and 6mm good scales for mass gaming. My plans for my own 6mm collection have always been to mount them for multi-stand units, a thing not really seen in WWII gaming, but easy to do with rules like Rommel or boardgames where units take multiple step losses before removal.

For 1:1 gaming, I think 10mm or 12mm is about the minimum. I have 1/144 miniatures for this. I find 1/285-300 scale miniatures too small for this kind of handling and measuring.

- Ix

Robert and YA, maybe we can get CaptainCold to start up a new thread of inquiry on TMP here, like –

"MULTI-BASED WW2 minis – plz show us your work"?

(think that would be an awesome topic)

Example of what inspiration might be out there – from member Braxen – and some of his excellent 3mm WW2 stands (as YA mentioned, I think Braxen was doing these for the Rommel rules) -

Definitely for Rommel, from The Wargaming in 28mm and Sometimes Smaller blog – 6mm DAK multi-mounting -

Link -

link

Compared to 6mm, 10mm is a better choice on the board. The only drawback is 10mm availability

Good to see you Rudy!

10/12mm is becoming much more available. Part of the "renaissance" is due to all the companies and individuals with 3d printers. But also looking forward to a number of folks going "old school" with metal castings. I for one like the heft of metal better. Also none of those annoying print lines though they are getting better.

Yeah I have been blocked out for over a year by my computer. It would not accept the verification process. Lol
Marc, I just walked 8 feet with my new leg at the Tuesday fitting. Crossing my fingers for a return to Hurricane.meant Recon.

Stay strong brother and hope to see you at Recon!

If you move the wrong unit because you can't see it isn't that just part of the Fog of War or a SNAFU?

I do 6mm and 1/144.

Wolfhag