Lead Adventure Forum
Miniatures Adventure => The Second World War => Topic started by: abhorsen950 on December 25, 2009, 05:58:00 PM
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After deciding on a game setting ide like to play some WW2
But theres a model shop close by that sells all form of Airfix, Tamiya and Dragon kits.
Now i cant decide what to go for.
Airfix 1/32 with some tamiya and dragon.
Or just game with Airfix at 1/72
IMO Airfix 1/32 would be much more appealing but hmmmmm
Any thourghts
Steve
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The WW2 community usually games in 20mm. Have a look at the Guild: http://www.guildwargamers.com
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no, no there is only one scale... 28mm. Do not stray from the righteous path ;)
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The most important question would be, what do your friends play? No real point in starting when you are alone in that.
Every scale has its + and -, it depends on what you want, and what kind of funds you have. Skirmish, big engagements, Kursk?
1/35 will give you a decent skirmish, 20mm will give you a skirmish right up to a nice engagement anf if you have more mates and plenty of room you could go up to the insanity called Kursk.
But then again, if you look outside the shop you can find anything from 1/600 to 54 mm and everything in between to game with. But if you are stuck between 1/72 and 1/35, 1/72 would be more sensible in terms of storage room, playing field and cost.
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Ill use some 1/72 plastics then
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Don't limit yourself. Do what most of us do and game WWII in multiple scales lol
I'm 28mm Skirmish
15mm Company/Battalion level games
1/600 airwar
1/3000 Naval
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Ill use some 1/72 plastics then
Actually any scale will do.
Grew up with 20mm (1/76-1/72) models and to be honest there's a bewildering choice in that scale. However for wargaming I'd take another look at either 15, or as you already stated yourself, 1/35th scale. The latter only suitable for skirmishes.
Most 20 mm models, at least if you want to stay with plastic kits, are no longer suitable for gaming. Way too fragile, they are aimed at modelers and not wargamers. You could of course get some beautiful metal models like MMS for example, but that would cost you much more.
Same applies to some degree for 1/35th scale models. Nothing so heartbreaking as to find out that you've lost two grab rails, an antennae and a machine gun mount after your first game. But since most 54mm scale wargaming will be infantry skirmishes with perhaps a single AFV this problem might not be so serious.
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Most 20 mm models, at least if you want to stay with plastic kits, are no longer suitable for gaming. Way too fragile, they are aimed at modelers and not wargamers. You could of course get some beautiful metal models like MMS for example, but that would cost you much more.
I guess you are out of the loop then, but 1/72 wargamesfriendly models have been hitting the stores for several years now. And quite a few resin vehicle manufacturers are actually a lot cheaper then the same plastic kits. So both points of cost and fragility don't hold up. 15mm scale vehicles of the popular FoW type are even more expensive then 20mm here!
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I went 28mm since all of my existing terrain was already for that scale...
The miniatures and vehicles available for the period in that scale have excellent detail.
Darkoath
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I've wargamed ww2 for wll over 40 years and have tried all sorts of scales and sizes. I have always returned to 1/76 Airfix/Matchbox/Fujimi with a few 1/72 Italeri/Esci and 20mm Frontline resins to fill gaps. Many of my vehicles are coversions. Almost all my soldiers are Airfix or Almark plastics witha very few metal figures for difficult to convert figures.
I've tried skirmishing in 54mm 1/32 and 1/35 and found it disappointing for the effort in getting a game going. Tried 6mm or 1/300 and found that interesting but lacking visual appeal. My brother has 15mm anf those look ok. I also have 1/200 ships made from balsa.
Because my mediaevals, ancients, WW1, ACW and AWI are all 1/72 plastics I've stuck with a common scale to economise on terrain pieces. In other periods I have different scales/sizes and try to ensure that as much terrain as possible is common with what I already have.
The best advice I was ever given was to collect both sides of whatever period you choose. That way you can always set up a game or even play solo.
Alan
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I started out, like most people, in 20mm with Airfix and Esci vehicles and figures. There aren't many vehicles you can't get, likewise aircraft. My only downer on 20mm is the figures available. Some are excellent, but others are awful. I'm not up to the painting standard of some guys on here, so having detailed figures makes up for poor painting. ;) Drawbacks are that most vehicles come in kit form, but if you like making kits, that's extra enjoyment.
15mm is becoming amazing with the standard and variety of figures and vehicles available. Aircraft are a little harder to source and quite expensive unless you can lay your hands on the few 1/100th plastic kits about. The added smaller groundscale looks slightly more realistic to me.. but that's in the eye of the beholder. The scale is more forgiving of lack of painting skill, but some of the stuff out there is amazing, so the 'lack of detail' criticism often raised is null imo.
28mm is the scale I'd do if I wasn't hampered by cost. The most common vehicles are available and over time, more and more obscurer ones are entering the marketplace. The figures are on the whole excellent, but some ranges really suck compared to others. Table ranges have to be telescoped a bit, bearing in mind that even a 300 metre enagement range for small arms is a large chunk of most tables. My only misgiving is the cost of vehicles. They are good value for what you get and I'm not calling 'rip off' here by any means, but at £20-ish a throw they are costly. Obviously you won't need many before your table looks crowded anyway, but a variety of vehicle types requires deep pockets.
I've never considered 54mm as a gaming scale. After spending hours on a kit and then risking damage by gaming is a no go for me. Again table ranges are going to be problematic, but the games themselves will look pretty awesome. A platoon level game with some in depth rules would really work for me.
I wouldn't really try to convince anyone on which scale is best, it's down to so many factors. I would pretty much guarantee that for the 3 smaller scales you shouldn't struggle to find someone who also plays it. Dadlamassu's advice is spot on though; if you collect two forces you only have to find someone to play.
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if you collect two forces you only have to find someone to play.
which can turn out to be the hardest bit :/
just to make your day worse, have you considered 12mm or smaller?
I've seen some really nice games using the minifigs-stuff :)
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15mm is becoming amazing with the standard and variety of figures and vehicles available. Aircraft are a little harder to source and quite expensive unless you can lay your hands on the few 1/100th plastic kits about.
There was a really good range of 1/100 aircraft with magazines ("aircraft of the aces" or similar) a few years ago - a Deagostini or Delprado collection, but the aircraft crop up fairly frequently on ebay etc. if you search for "Ge Fabri 1/100".
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Fastolfrus... nice one, I'd forgotten about them (Italeri?), they are quite common on e-bay and usually only £3-5. I've got some Mig 17 of theirs and they look perfect. Old Glory are doing a few WW2 in their Lil' Flying Fokkers range, but £9-20+ depending on the size.
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I bought handfuls of 1/100th scale Fabri planes at Bovington last year: BF109, Fw190, Me262, JU87,P51, Hurricane, Spitfire,Meteor, Tempest,Wildcat, P80, P47,P40 for £1 each.
Of course then I bought an old Faller JU52 for just a little bit more lol
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heres a link of a good place to start if you want to get into WWII.
http://frontline-command.com/forum/index.php?sid=7802f0b0fdf21f9c0c104f519a560b15
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Cheers guys im gonna look into Aircraft gaming now lol
Any rulesets reccomended for aircraft wargames?
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check six or wings of war
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no, no there is only one scale... 28mm. Do not stray from the righteous path ;)
It's not a scale you donkey......
it's a way of life! ;)
Anyway, if your not interested in 28mm for this genre then don't go 1/32 (1/35 for tamyia figures etc..). I would suggeste Flames of war compatibility would be a must if you were starting out, fives you loads of vehicle options, available at hobbycraft stores too if youve no local gaming store, (plus get discounted in their regular sales!) also allows you to go gear krieg when the weirdness takes hold.
Just my thoughts
The Commander
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Yeah been thinking about FOW for a while since ive got a Hobby craft which stocks it about ten mins away
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Yeah been thinking about FOW for a while since ive got a Hobby craft which stocks it about ten mins away
The FOW online order is pretty good too. Certainly you can pretty much see what you are getting from the pics on the site. There are a few other companies out there too in 15mm (QRF, Peter Pig etc). I don't think there is much you can't get in that scale now.
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I think the best scale for starters is 15mm. Reaosnable prices, wide ranges available and reasonable tables. Said that I play in 1/300 (larger games with a lot of armor), 15mm (company-battalion) and 28mm (squad platoon).
20mm is a nice combination between 28mm and 15mm and 10mm is also a nice entry point (sometime I think I could have switched from 20mm to 10mm instead of 15mm). 10mm can also a good alternative for larger games if you do not want to sacrifice detail.
Arrigo
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Cheers guys what would you say the best scale is for playing aircraft wargames?
1/300 or 1/72?
Cheers guys
Steve
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1/600 myself, but started in 1/300.
1/72 is only useful if you have a ballroom or a gym to spare.
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Cheers guys what would you say the best scale is for playing aircraft wargames?
1/300 or 1/72?
Cheers guys
Steve
I'd probabaly go for 1/144 if just for air wargames. There's quite a selection out there in this scale and still some detail to be had on the models.
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1/72 is only useful if you have a ballroom or a gym to spare.
You could easily play Crimson Skies with 1/72 planes, if you manage to make the stands fit into the hexagons.
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Right cheers guys ill probably stick with 1/72 as its what im familiar with for planes and its easy to get hold of for me.
Wings of war
Can anybody fill me in?