Macrossmartin's MS Gundam Skirmish Thread

[Macrossmartin]

Fear not, eilif, my mistake! 

Mech combat in 28mm? Wow! The majority of Mobile Suit Gundam Skirmish players use 1/144 scale Gunpla, which I thought was big enough... Colour me impressed.

[Grimmnar]

Reminds me of the Iron Hands (Necromundicon) Gundam project taken to the next level.
http://www.ironhands.com/gundamsog.html

Keep it up!

Great site. Been following it for years. But I especially love it for the VOTOM content.

Eilif shouldn't sell himself short either, his Mech attack con game is spectacular!

Very much in agreement. He and his group do some amazing things.

Fear not, eilif, my mistake! 

Mech combat in 28mm? Wow! The majority of Mobile Suit Gundam Skirmish players use 1/144 scale Gunpla, which I thought was big enough... Colour me impressed.

Well the fact that a GunPla and say a Battlemech in the same scale would have the Gundam towering over the other buy double or more. Gundams are huge in size. Even in 1/144 scale a Gundams is like 6-9 inches, I think? Could be wrong.
But hey, it isn't like I would love seeing it. :-)

Grimm

[Macrossmartin]

...Well the fact that a GunPla and say a Battlemech in the same scale would have the Gundam towering over the other by double or more. Gundams are huge in size. Even in 1/144 scale a Gundams is like 6-9 inches, I think? Could be wrong.
But hey, it isn't like I would love seeing it. :-)

Grimm

4" to 6", Grimm. The Master Grade kits are about 8" for a UC era Gundam (with the exception of the bonkingly-huge Psycho-Gundam). RX-78's were 18 metres tall, empty weight of about 40 tonnes. Not crazy, compared to some Assault Mechs.

There's bigger MS's of course; The 'O' stands about 25 metres, and so does the Sazabi. But it's worth noting Yoshiyuki Tomino - Gundam's Gene Roddenberry - said he didn't want his mecha to be improbably huge like the 'superhero' robots of preceding anime in the '70s.

[YPU]

Not to mention the Psycho Gundam at 40m, that thing is scraping the super robot genre. For a more realistic size I prefer VOTOMS  (and heavy gear, which is votoms the game in all but name really)
Still, looking at even the original anime for Gundam the suits never felt exceptionally over the top size wise to me. Even the first series has commando troops on hoverbikes using sticky charges to bring the Gundam down!

[beefcake]

I'm really loving this stuff. I can't believe how cheap 1/144th scale are from Hobby Link Japan. I might finally have a reason to do a big purchase from them now!

[YPU]

I'm really loving this stuff. I can't believe how cheap 1/144th scale are from Hobby Link Japan. I might finally have a reason to do a big purchase from them now!

Welcome to the addiction. 

[Grimmnar]

4" to 6", Grimm. The Master Grade kits are about 8" for a UC era Gundam (with the exception of the bonkingly-huge Psycho-Gundam). RX-78's were 18 metres tall, empty weight of about 40 tonnes. Not crazy, compared to some Assault Mechs.

There's bigger MS's of course; The 'O' stands about 25 metres, and so does the Sazabi. But it's worth noting Yoshiyuki Tomino - Gundam's Gene Roddenberry - said he didn't want his mecha to be improbably huge like the 'superhero' robots of preceding anime in the '70s.

Yep, knew some of those buggers were huge.

Not to mention the Psycho Gundam at 40m, that thing is scraping the super robot genre. For a more realistic size I prefer VOTOMS  (and heavy gear, which is votoms the game in all but name really)
Still, looking at even the original anime for Gundam the suits never felt exceptionally over the top size wise to me. Even the first series has commando troops on hoverbikes using sticky charges to bring the Gundam down!

Yeah, don't forget to mention him. LOL I don't know who the Psycho is.
And yes, I am a VOTOMs fan, and the Heavy Gears as well.
I am not a Gundam fan as i dont like the flamboyant designs. I am more of a Leo Gundam kind of guy. And the Scopedogs and there predecessors are more to my liking.

I'm really loving this stuff. I can't believe how cheap 1/144th scale are from Hobby Link Japan. I might finally have a reason to do a big purchase from them now!

You never need a reason. There is always a reason.
But don't forget Macrossmartin's source on eBay. That guy has a good selection in many scales for reasonable prices.

Grimm

[eilif]

Gundam's of the same scale are easily 2-3 times as tall as battlemechs.  We game with 10mm'ish (1/144) aprox rebased mechwarrior clix figs and compared to 1/144 scale gundam, the battlemechs are tiny.

4" to 6", Grimm. The Master Grade kits are about 8" for a UC era Gundam (with the exception of the bonkingly-huge Psycho-Gundam). RX-78's were 18 metres tall, empty weight of about 40 tonnes. Not crazy, compared to some Assault Mechs.

There's bigger MS's of course; The 'O' stands about 25 metres, and so does the Sazabi. But it's worth noting Yoshiyuki Tomino - Gundam's Gene Roddenberry - said he didn't want his mecha to be improbably huge like the 'superhero' robots of preceding anime in the '70s.

This was our experience.  I only know this because I bought a couple 1/144 gundam as possible mecha in our 28mm games.  They were a bit too small.  However, one of our members bought the older 1:100 scale Zaku kits which come in at 7-8 inches IIRC and they looked great (though of course not in scale as proper gundam).  Like most of the mechs in our nominally "28mm" game they probably looked more suited for 25mm pilots, but on the table their comparative height fools the eye pritty well, they're probably more The simplicity and sturdieness of these older (80s?) kits really works well for wargaming too.

Here's one next to a Dust Tactics building.


And with some of the other mecha we use. As a general scale comparative, the big round bases are standard sized CD's

I'm really loving this stuff. I can't believe how cheap 1/144th scale are from Hobby Link Japan. I might finally have a reason to do a big purchase from them now!

As for 1/144 gundam, Even the cheap ones are pretty great kits from a wargaming perspective and you can basically put together a Gundam game with 6 inch gundam for considerably less than the cost of a 1:300 scale battletech game with 1.5 inch battlemechs.

Lastly, Kiwarm/Outland models on Ali Express or Ebay is a great source for cheap n-scale buildings ($7-15) that are actually tall enough to conceal a gundam.     I've just bought a couple for my 10mm sci-fi and they're quite nice looking.

[beefcake]

As for 1/144 gundam, Even the cheap ones are pretty great kits from a wargaming perspective and you can basically put together a Gundam game with 6 inch gundam for considerably less than the cost of a 1:300 scale battletech game with 1.5 inch battlemechs.

Lastly, Kiwarm/Outland models on Ali Express or Ebay is a great source for cheap n-scale buildings ($7-15) that are actually tall enough to conceal a gundam.     I've just bought a couple for my 10mm sci-fi and they're quite nice looking.

You never need a reason. There is always a reason.
But don't forget Macrossmartin's source on eBay. That guy has a good selection in many scales for reasonable prices.

Grimm

Welcome to the addiction.  

You guys aren't helping. I thought this was a support group for people who buy too many miniatures.  

I've been looking at the Kiwarm stuff in the aliexpress thread and thinking I don't need to get that stuff.
So in a completely unrelated question that in no way is to do with me wanting to buy anything... What figure scale do these guys match best with, 10mm or 15mm?

[Macrossmartin]

You guys aren't helping. I thought this was a support group for people who buy too many miniatures.  

...What figure scale do these guys match best with, 10mm or 15mm?

It is a support group! We support each other's inclinations to buy too many miniatures. 

The 1/144 Gunpla scale well with 10mm, but I think you could get away with 15mm, really. As for my chosen scale (1/400) I'm opting for 1/285 infantry and vehicles, just because they are easier to pick out on the battlefield.

[eilif]

You guys aren't helping. I thought this was a support group for people who buy too many miniatures.  

I've been looking at the Kiwarm stuff in the aliexpress thread and thinking I don't need to get that stuff.
So in a completely unrelated question that in no way is to do with me wanting to buy anything... What figure scale do these guys match best with, 10mm or 15mm?

I think you made a mistake, this is an "Enabler's Group". the "Support Group" is down hall, take a left and through the door marked "EXIT".  

As for sizes,

The KiWarm stuff looks best with 10mm but it would probably be ok with 15mm too.  Alot of the doorways are a bit larger than they have to be or have above-the-door windows that coudld be easily modded into a larger doorway.

Precisely speaking, the 1/144 Gundam kits are 11mm which is essentially 10mm.  In reality however, Gundam are so big compared to tanks and infantry that you could easily field them with 15mm stuff and it wouldn't look at all out-of place.  This is essentially the same calculation that MacrossMartin is using with 1/400 (nearly 4mm) Gundam and 1/285 (6mm) Infantry and vehicles or that I'm doing in large scale with 28mm Vehicles and Infantry and some mechs with cockpits or torsos more suited to 25mm or even 22mm pilots.  Doesn't make mathematical sense but it looks right on the tabletop.

 I would recommend going with whatever scale you prefer to game with and/or have scenery for. From a practical standpoint the comparison is basically this:

N-Scale buildings and terrain are cheaper than 15mm/1:100 (some folks use HO scale 1/87)...
...but...
...despite a few new entries in the 10mm range (Plantefall and Dropzone Commander), 15mm figures and vehicles are still more plentiful and in many cases the same cost as 10mm.

We went with 10mm for our sci-fi mostly because at the time we had access to lots of cheap mechwarrior clix. However, if gaming Gundam today I'd be pretty torn as to which way to go.  I love the look of N-scale urban buildings, but there is such an amazing and growing array of 15mm figs and vehicles out these days.

[beefcake]

I think you made a mistake, this is an "Enabler's Group". the "Support Group" is down hall, take a left and through the door marked "EXIT". 

Well I'm here already and the Support Group just seems so far away. I reckon I'll go with 15mm for the sake minis are more plentiful to ge with them (I like the thought of little infantry troops fighting against big mechs.
Sorry for slightly hijcaking the thread, you've just really piqued my interest in this.

[eilif]

(I like the thought of little infantry troops fighting against big mechs.

I agree. Our mech games got much more interesting when we started using combined arms.  Most of our games now include objectives that can only be siezed and held by infantry.  Suddnely APC's and infantry become important.   Paired with that, you can dial up or down the importance of Mechs based on what portion of Objectives/VP's come from destruction of enemy units.

[eilif]

I use my 1/144 gundam for 28mm. They look too small to carry a pilot for the most part so I use them as bots.

They would be cool autonomous bots for 28mm.  I used to have a 1/144 gundam (since traded to a friend) with 4 awesome rotary cannons that would be great as a support or AA platform  I think it was called Tall Geese.

[YPU]

Probably the movie version heavy gear, or maybe the serpent custom. Tallgeese is more of a melee suit with a single big cannon.

But now that you mention it, a gundam kit would be a good starting place for say a Sentinal from X-men.