So Why Play 15mm?

[yar68]

Some great answers here to a good question. I like many of you have armies in 25, 6 and my favourite 15mm. Yes 25mm is probably the best scale, there are some beautiful figures out there, but for me it's gotta be 15mm.
It's mainly down to cost, e.g one 25 man Battalion pack/unit in 25mm=£24.85. 4 packs of figures to make up a 30 man 15mm unit £8.60. Also 15mm is so much more easy to paint, you've not got to be an expert painter, you can get away with a lot more in 15mm that you can't in 25mm.
Just my opinion!!
Ray
http://onelover-ray.blogspot.com/

[Peter@BattleScape]

When I started out in the late 80's I went with 15mm due to budget and space restrictions.

Over the years I've just stuck with the 15mm as all my terrain is in that scale, despite the best efforts of Conquest Miniatures, Perry Miniatures and Empress 

Thing is Baz, you are a South Australian....you have only just reached the 90's anyway!!! When you catch up with the rest of us you will grow up

I sell VERY LITTLE in the way of 15mm through the shop, most of my customers are 20mm with the 28mm guys doing their best to catch up.

Pete

[number9]

I subdivide my pursuits in 15mm and 28mm as gaming and hobby projects respectively. I prefer to play games with 15mm models. Cheaper to buy, quicker to paint to a high standard, easier to transport and store, and all with no shortage of quality and diversity for purchasing. The same can be said for 15mm terrain as well. Altogether I find it perfect for an evening of games at the club, a friend's basement, or the local shop if I'm willing to brave it.

That said I far prefer to pursue 28mm for more painterly projects I don't intend to game as much with, or at all.

[icedcanid]

With 15mm the only reason I used it was when getting into DBM the club played 15mm so if I wanted an opponent....

But 2011 will be interesting to see if 28mm plastic will continue its rise especially in expanding significantly into non Napoleonic periods.

[Brummie]

I have mostly stuck with 28mm.

28mm for all genre's
20mm for WW2 and Modern Warfare.
15mm for sci-fi.

I doubt I will use 15mm for anything else, I prefer 20mm for vast battles when it comes to the sort of 20th/21st century warfare (though I get 28mm for smaller more characterised stuff)
28mm Fantasy for the same as the above, and I like having ancient/fantasy medieval armies in 28mm due to the detail on a 28mm figure (nothing can beat Perry's War of the Roses range, if they were any smaller i'd doubt they'd be as good!)

But I do really like sci fi in 15mm, I don't know why, it just seems to fit, and ever since going on trips to gaming shows with the pa it was certainly characterised by seeing GZGs 15mm sci fi range, which are still great stuff!

[Arlequín]

I'm only interested in a narrow number of interests, all 20th Century and I've struggled with determining which scale to plump for in preference to all others. Each has its advantages and disadvantages, along with their shortcomings for gaming. Ignoring WW2, which I don't play, and Vietnam, which is quite well covered across the board, I'd grade them as follows;

28mm - Great figures, very limited vehicle range, aircraft are out of place unless it's a big game. While Iraqistan and 'Black Hawk Down' are quite well covered you will struggle to find anything else post-WW2. Works very well as a small unit skirmish scale. Big games (Platoon +) look a bit silly on a typical table, as the combatants look like they are close enough to throw their rifles at each other. Otherwise very visually appealing. Store bought buildings are expensive and limited.

20mm - Virtually every vehicle and aircraft is available, usually as a plastic kit. Large amount of off the shelf US & European buildings, thanks to model railways, but fewer 'exotic' ones. While there are a few gems out there, the figures are in the main a bit crude in style, which shows at this scale more so than 15mm. There isn't much you can't get or convert though. You can game almost up to company level without it starting to look a bit cramped on a typical table. Visually appealing but let down by the figures themselves in some cases.

15mm - There aren't many vehicles that aren't available. The figures are quite well proportioned, but lack the presence of their larger brethren. It's far easier to make a 15mm figure look awesome than it is a 20mm figure but also the scale allows a paint job to convert most generic figures to what you want. Aircraft can be a problem outside the major types, unless you downscale them to 1/144th, however more are slowly becoming available. You can game at company level and the ranges look more realistic (even though they're not). Some really good terrain items available, but limited choice.    

I like 28mm figures, but my painting skills might be more suitable to 15mm where I'd get away with being rubbish. That isn't to imply that there haven't been a lot of awesomely painted 15mm figures put up here, which would put some 28mm folk to shame. I often see the comment 'are they 20mm/28mm?' etc. I've also seen 15mm terrain which looks awesome (I would love to find that African shanty village that was posted here a couple of years back, that was possibly the best thing I've seen) and 28mm which exposes too many flaws because of its size.

Cost is a bit of a white elephant imo, a 28mm tank is around the £20 mark, but on a typical table you really wouldn't use more than one, a platoon of 20mm vehicles would actually be more expensive than that (depending on where you got them) and might be a little cramped, even with a 3 tank platoon. A three tank 15mm platoon is slightly cheaper at £15-ish, but then you might feel more are required to fill the table. The same goes for figures, a platoon at 28mm will cover the table, while at 15mm might begin to look a little lost. Obviously you can fool around with ground scales to make it 'work', but too many or too little still looks too many or two little. Let's face it, most wargamers with £50 in their pocket, will spend that £50 at whatever scale they game at, so it is certainly no more, or no less expensive either way.

To me there is no one size that has it all, whatever you choose you are trading off something in favour of the games you wish to play, it all comes down to what you are happy with at the end of the day.

[Arrigo]

I do not think there is a "one true scale". And a lot of people I know had stopped to wander in 28mm due to cost and smaller revenues...

anyway every size has its own advantages disavantages. A lot of people tend to debate in term of "absolute values", but in the end it boils down to what you can afford, and what is your purposes. You lke to play large tank battles? 6mm or 10mm. Combined arms smaller operations? (say company level) 15mm, from reduced platoon downaward 28mm. If you like more infantry you can "up-scale". but again on the usual table more than 2-3 AFV in total will look hugely silly. The only time I had a tank on tank battle (2 M1s, 2 Bradleys, 1 T80, 3 BMP-2) was on a full 180x180 table and the distances were pretty short. To be quite honest nxt time I will redo the action it will on 180x120 with 15mm but with some more tracks. Yet, if you have an armoured column in a cramped terrain it can works also in 28mm.

As large battles of the pre gunpowder/pre tanks period are involved, in the end 15mm is useful when you really want a lot of troops. Price and foot prints are the key here. I can do a small band of nromans in 28mm, but even with Conquest plastic box I cannot afford a full hastings. Instead I can deploy a large 15mm army.

As far quality goes, I have to say that we have reached a point where 15mm have nothing to envy to 28mm and the good painter can show off in both scale, plus when we move from miniatures to full table 15mm table allow more variations.

Again I play both sizes plus 6mm and 10mm, but everything is a question of objective and resources.

Example. I wanted to enter AWI... fell in love with perry. Painted a unit of Grenadiers. Then make some calculations and realized I was not able to afford them. Looked at Peter Pig 15mm and Pendraken 10mm. Ended in 10mm and not regretting it.

French Indochina. Started with a 15mm project. I loved eureka... moved to pendraken. Funding is short (actually desperate) and eureka while nice are too expensive at the moment. Plus in 10mm I can do more stuff, probably a full GM and a vietminh battalion.

To be quite honest I am feeling I have overspent in some 28mm projects that now are to large for simple skirmish and to small for pitched battles. I do not like to sell good stuff except in dire emergencies. Yet it is difficult to really find a proper rule set for what I have.

At the moment except for some limited endeavours I am largely a 15mm man.