"Is 54mm a Niche Wargaming Scale?" Topic

Last year at Derby there was a 54mm Napoleonic game…so much work had gone into the figures but the table just looked too crowded….it didn't really have anything which a 25mm game wouldn't have had and actually looked a bit worse…

I would think something like a Gladiator style game would look great as a 54mm game. Even perhaps a jousting match. You just have to find the right game for the figures.

It was a neat idea with the Inquisitor game from GW. The figs were great, the rules were sort of neat, the game flopped big time. If GW can't do it it is a serious niche wargaming scale.

Though there are certainly proponents (I know some guys ran a nice Colonials game using upgrade Heroscape terrain at Fall-in last year), a big barrier to playing exists in that all terrain must be scratch-built.

Define "niche". Not the majority? Then all scales are "niche".

I think it depends on how you want to Wargame. If you want hugh armies on the table, then you will chose a small scale. If you want diorama style gaming, you will go with the larger scales.

Second, you will have to admit that 54mm figures are found more often in shops that are not wargaming retaled than standard wargaming figures. Most 54mm figures already come pre-painted and ready to put on the table.

Third, wargaming started with the 54mm figures and playing with toy soldiers.

I started a 54mm project several years ago for WWII fire team skirmishes using 1/35 Tamiya models… there is a lot of material to be had out there that way…

I think it's a niche, but I'm sure those doing it don't thing
so.

It's not a niche anymore than any other period is. It is what it is. I'm planning on staring up ECW gaming with plastic 54mm minis in the spring.

I don't see how it's anymore 'niche' than anything else, although I think there are more barriers to get involved with it than, say, 15mm…

It's just another size of miniature, great for some things bad for others. What would make any size "niche"?

"I don't see how it's anymore 'niche' than anything else, although I think there are more barriers to get involved with it than, say, 15mm…"

All depends on what you want to do. Old West? How many figs does it take for a gunfight?

Gangsters / Cops & Robbers? Same thing. And many others. It is a matter of scope and scale. Borodino in 54mm is as "pointless" as is doing the Gunfight at the OK Corral in 6mm.

JJ

It is a matter of scope and scale. Borodino in 54mm is as "pointless" as is doing the Gunfight at the OK Corral in 6mm.

I think that would depend on what you want to do. Forbes didn't consider it pointless. There is a group of guys that game ACW, large battles using nothing but 54mm. One way to cut their cost is they had figures sculpted and do their own casting. I also believe they game in a barn.

I also believe they game in a barn.

Well there you go. If I had ready access to a barn, I would change my vote.

I have a number of 54mm, but must admit that I never game with them – they are mostly for painting and display – I think most people who paint 54mm do it for exactly those reasons; of all the gamers I know, only one does 54mm in addition to other scales

Love the figs, just don't game with them

I would tend to say that it might become a niche, as soon as it's popularity increases by a couple of orders of magnitude.

If I had to pick a descriptor… maybe "curiosity".
-Kle.

Well yes, of course it is – how many people do you know with (m)any 54mm figures ?

Not that that matters a jot – anyone who wants to game in 54mm should go right ahead and do it.

Borodino in 54mm is as "pointless" as is doing the Gunfight at the OK Corral in 6mm.

It just depends on how you base them, and the scale of the game itself.

"It's not a niche anymore than any other period is."

Isn't that wrong in several ways? 54mm isn't period specific, and its gaming figures are created by a relatively small group of companies.

"A niche market is a focused, targetable portion of a market.

By definition, then, a business that focuses on a niche market is addressing a need for a product or service that is not being addressed by mainstream providers. You can think of a niche market as a narrowly defined group of potential customers."

Many producers lines cross 25mm, 15mm, and 6mm, whereas I'd suggest 54mm gamers are a relatively narrowly defined group.

Except for all those little lads and lasses playing in green plastic. No niche there. ;->=

Wait, if the majority of 'gaming' is Hasbro (breathe slowly, open your eyes), this whole site is populated by a niche market; 54mm niche in a niche!

I'm an owner of a game store; I am niche!

I feel like Shatner on SNL…

Doug

As an older player, I can recall when 54mm was refferred to as "American Scale" as most players on Napoleonics in this size where in the states, as were most manufacturers of the same. This was probably also due to the prevalence of the English 'tin soldier' scales like 40mm and 25mm became the major size used.

I think it's a lot less common than other scales but hardly a niche. Now, 6mm in new zealand however . . . :)

I played 54mm 7YW and plastic ww2 when I was younger, switched to 28mm in my 20s.

About four years ago I painted 800 figures, and scratch built a destroyed village for a ww2 gamer in sydney. A very impressive collection which had a real wow factor.

It is impressive when you see well painted large scale figs on the table, still I think it is a niche market, that may grow as the baby boomers start getting nostalgic.

cheers
matt

I was in Hobby Town, as I needed some tubing and saw some 54mm
Teutonic Knights. I just may change my vote before I get that barn!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

As A kid, most of my toy soldiers were 54mm. I think they are still very good. However, their size would seem to relegate them to small unit actions as most wargamers do not have a huge table to game 1/32nd and/or 1/35th scale.
Count Natokina.

I game 54mm among other scales but I like 54mm the best.
Western gunfight
ACW using Morchauser rules
Britains Knights

My table is 6'x 8' and serves a three regiment ACW force perfectly.

thepennywhistle.blogspot.com
My Blog with some 54mm games.
the cover art is French Foreign Legion in 54mm at a convention. The table was maybe 6-9'.

There is a fellow in New York State who has gamed in 54mm for over fifty years … on a MASSIVE SCALE: peterswar.com