"If you had to start over again....." Topic

Hello

Played O'Group last week and I think I found my game. I've only played CoC in 28mm and while I like the rules I do not like large scales and prefer NOT to play a skirmish game.

So, my question to you fine people is this, if you had to start O' Group over again (or any WW2 company to battalion level game) with a new scale would you go 12/10mm or 15mm. Those are you're only choices 😁

My game table is currently setup for a 6'x5', easily modified to 6' x 7.5' and with some serious arse-kissing to my wife I could go up to 6'x10' but that would rarely happen.

Appreciate your comments.

I think I would go 15mm, just for the vast quantities of items made in that scale.

Ditto for 10-12-1/144th scale- vast quantities out there in those scales. Pick the one you like most and fits your budget.

As I've often said, if starting WW2 from scratch, I'd go 15mm all the way. A good compromise of looks, cost, ease of storage and availability.

Instead I have WW2 in four scales…. although I have thinned out the 20mm stuff and finally got shot of 54mm stuff.

I prefer 15mm to 10mm as it has more a feel of the old Airfix figures and vehicles I started with.

A great set of rules. I've done it in 15mm, because I already had suitably based figures. I'm happy with it (figures are based 3 to a 30mm square base) and I can easily distinguish forces from a distance.

I would seriously consider going 10/12mm now , as some of the models look as good as larger scales .

I'm doing PTO and CBI in 15mm, ETO in 1/144. I guess I'm not much help here.

- Ix

While I like the look of 15mm, I would generally always default to 6mm for WW2 , Cold War and moderns. I would only go down the 15mm path if playing skirmish games.

If you plan to transport the figures to a show, buddys house , etc go 10mm/12mm. Otherwise 15mm.

Without question 1/144. Basically we have more or less moved over to this scale. I still have some remnants of 1/72 to play folk who are more into the models than the game, however most has been disposed of. 1/72 is too big to have a great game, the ground represented is too small or else the vehicles look daft if the area represented is too large.

As an added incentive Hexon 2 terrain fits 1/144 well and terrain is vital to a decent game.

Go with a scale you already have in other eras/genres. Then you can share terrain features. Having the same building in three or four scales fills your storage space pretty quickly.

+1 Murvihill

Years ago I did a huge purge. With 1 exception (Lord of the Rings) all my collections are 15mm or 6mm.

To answer the OP, 15mm because I have shedloads of terrain in 15mm and none in 10mm.

Armies are small. Terrain is big.

Second bite of the cherry. Starting from fresh I would definitely consider 10/12mm. Cheaper, even easier to transport, and less storage required. The smaller scale is closer to the ground scale, and built up areas will look better.
The downside is infantry recognition. Painting might be easier in 15mm.
Listen to the opinions above; then go with your gut.

all 54mm

@ron skirmisher

I don't think 54mm was an option ;)

I switched to 20mm from 28mm but if starting over would do either 15mm or 12mm – I have a lot of other 15mm armies so would probably go that way

I started gaming with 15mm ancients, so to avoid duplicate terrain collections, I stick to 15mm for all land-based periods. This is one reason I have 15mm PTO figures.

There are a few more reasons I like 15mm WW2:
- You can get miniatures of nearly anything;
- Almost nothing is too small to see;
- Almost nothing is too big to fit on the table;
- There are a lot of 15mm collections showing up in flea markets.

I got into 1/144 sideways, by inheriting a starter tank collection. I didn't buy any more until I realized that I was going to have to buy all the WW2 buildings and fences anyway, and might as well get smaller ones. My universal terrain (trees, roads, fields, swamps, etc.) can be used for both 12mm and 15mm. Even then, 1/144 was a non-starter as a WW2 gaming scale before 3D printed models made it possible to get good looking gear.

-Ix

My first massive 1/285 WW2 army in 1977-79 was good but if I had to do it over again I would go 10/12mm. 15mm is nice but I like to spend less money.

I wish I had stuck with the 20 mils of my youth…but I think it's impossible to do so because if you want game with other folks you have to follow the tends in your club. Hence 6mm when WRG armour and infantry rules appeared, 15mm when Crossfire and Flames of war, 10mm Blitzkrieg commander and more recently 28mm Bolt Action.

So I blame other people.

If I had to pick, probably 15mm because of the plethora of products available from tons of manufacturers. You could also probably get away with N-scale (12mm) buildings and stuff without it looking too off.

I'm not away of a huge amount of 10/12mm stuff (could be out there and I just don't know about it though) while 15 has been like "the" standard for decades.

-Wayne

15mm is nice but I like to spend less money.

Do you really spend less money or just buy more stuff? My experience is your wargaming acquisitions expand to meet the available budget and then some.

Do you really spend less money or just buy more stuff? My experience is your wargaming acquisitions expand to meet the available budget and then some.

Very true. Whatever scale i select i just keep on buying figures, i think its an addiction. However if you are disciplined you can build out exactly what you want and only purchase those figures.

Well said Fred and PF!

"Build to the scenario."

(this of course means you should have a scenario already in mind) – and that's the real discipline to master.

We were lucky, 1/144 had just come in (CANDO and the like) and as they waned 3D printing took up the slack.

Many, many, years before we did look at 15mm but in those days it could be more expensive than 24mm and of course scale creep was rampant, is only now being seen as what it was always was a failure of scuptors to get to grips with the term scale. Matching stuff was not always possible. With the rise of 3D printing scale creep is finally becoming a disease of the ancient scuptors. New stuff matches as it's based on the real world. Progess can be wounderful.

I started in 20mm (Shows age I guess). Would do 15mm now (have started 1930's armour gaming in 15mm – because one can)

I think O Group is best suited to the 10 – 15mm scale area. (It's what we are using, anyway)

Saying that, it is very flexible, you could easily up-rate every unit by 1 level (so the lowest element is a platoon) and hardly notice, play it at 6mm

We find you need to add more Orders to O Group once you've got c 1 1/2 battalion's worth of elements on the table

I would definitely use 10mm for my big battles as the figures are so good.
I would stay with 25/28 for skirmishing.

I would definitely use 10mm for my big battles as the figures are so good.

I am mainly into 15mm, but i suspect you may be correct and 10mm may be the best scale for big battles.

If I was to start over……..I'd be doing it with a 3D Printer now.

I'd also would have learned 3D modelling along the way, and would probably be designing print files, so everything could be scaled to whatever game board dimension and command-level the current project demanded (so custom-scale/print to project purpose).

What I'd like to see more of right now – units – not figs or individual models, but those troops or vehicles pre-arranged on textured stands as single [group] pieces. We've seen this as "strip" figurines in the small scales in lead and recently as 3D prints, and like Warlord's latest plastic Epic troop strips – why not platoons of Panthers in various formations on nicely-textured bases, as an example?

To a degree then my comments are focusing not on figure scale so much (though group stands would have to be 'hand-sized'), but on a desire for a unit scale……somebody with the 3D design skills acquired will do this for the likes of WW2 and Moderns gaming I think (if they appreciate major conflict is fought by men within units, and deployed formations).

What I'd like to see more of right now – units – not figs or individual models, but those troops or vehicles pre-arranged on textured stands as single [group] pieces

Figure gaming is about bling and diorama's add to the blind. I base everything on MDF bases and try and add some terrain to it. If its artillery i make a lot of effort with diorama, but as my main scale is 6mm its not very grand. But the diorama path is the way to go.

I agree PF, and this has been on my mind lately, as I'm working up some unit bases for a tactical Cold War board game coming out soon.

Thinking a lot of diorama-style detailing could be pre-modeled on 3D print designs, making it quicker and easier to get small-scale units ready for gaming (with embedded diorama features 3D modeled right onto the bases, little fence lines, tank tracks, artillery shell holes, etc. – rather than needing to be made by us hobbyist).