testing out 6mm for O Group

[Melnibonean]

I've been considering doing O Group in 6mm for a while and decided to get a few figures and vehicles to see how they might work out. I like the results but I'm unsure whether to commit or not, considering my current considerable investment in 20mm WWII. Somewhat of a dilemma.

More thinking and pics on my blog at: http://this28mmlife.blogspot.com/2022/12/a-little-post-6mm-wwii.html

[Pattus Magnus]

Your test units look excellent!

I get where you’re coming from about being torn about the pros and cons of adding a scale to your gaming. My trajectory was a bit different, started with 6mm, got into 28mm, 1:72 s and 15mm for different periods and have been drifting back towards 6mm. I like the advantages of 6mm for modern period games, but, as you pointed out, getting terrain put together takes substantial time and effort. Damn but it looks great once you’re there, though! You’ve probably already see them, but if you haven’t, take look at the threads by mluther (I think that’s the right name…) on LAF, the tables are spectacular!

I think in the end a big question is whether you’ll enjoy (or at a minimum, tolerate) putting together enough terrain… Maybe initially aiming for a 2x3 foot or 3x3 battlefield would be a place to start. (Or pick the western desert theatre- a desert cloth with a few small hills, and oasis or two, some huts and you’re set!)

[fred]

O Group is a good ruleset, we had lots of good games earlier in the year.

My figures are 10mm, which is no particular help here! But I would say that O Group is primarily an infantry game - and I have always found 6mm infantry a bit too small - even though I quite like 6mm tanks.

As you note terrain is the biggest factor. O Group forces are quite small, so won’t take much effort to build up, but you will need terrain, and doubt much of your 20mm terrain will work, other than hills.

[jon_1066]

Terrain at 6 mm is pretty easy to make

I use chicken wire with hanging basket liner and foliage glued on top to create woods.  Individual trees are nails with foliage impaled on it

Brown decorators caulk for mud roads - run a bead then flatten with your finger.  Break up surface and dry brush lighter colour. 

Metaled roads - strips of roofing felt

Streams - same decorators caulk but two strips so you get a sort of bank.  Paint the inner channel a muddy green and stick some foliage to the edges.

Hedges - hanging basket liner cut into strips and foliage glued to it with the odd individual tree impaed through it.

Buildings - lots of paper buildings available.  I like this site for Central Europe
https://www.grundschule-pretzschendorf.de/en/Our_village/paper_models.html
Print off - glue onto light card and get sticking.

Runied buildings - matchsticks glued into a vague house shape and painted black

Hills you just need some carpet underlay or similar and a cloth.  Cut the underlay to you contours and drape the cloth.  The figures are usually so light they sit on the top fine.

eg (with Napoleonics but not too dissimilar)


The foliage is made from upholstery foam died green with kids poster paints.

Storage is easy as well - a whole battlefield will fit in a single box.

[Pattus Magnus]

Jon_1066, that’s good advice regarding making terrain, I’ll have to use a few of those ideas. It certainly looks effective in the picture you posted!

[Fitz]

Gorgeously modeled terrain is a nice thing to have, but when you're testing out different rules and things, basic stand-ins like cut-out bits of cardboard and Monopoly houses shouldn't be discounted. They'll give you enough information to know if you want to commit to the new scale.

A very cheap and low-impact source of decent-looking terrain items can be had from the Paperboys range. They can be resized, printed, cut out, and be on the tabletop in half an hour, and they really don't look half bad.

[gweirda]

I second Fitz's comment on getting something on the table to test things out.  It doesn't take much to make 6mm stuff look acceptable.

"...foliage is made from upholstery foam died green with kids poster paints"

dunno how jon does it, but you can dump some chunks of foam into a kitchen blender with a dollop of paint (household latex works - sample jars from DYI stores work well), pulse until the desired size, and then spread it out onto wax paper to dry - a sprinkle of WoodlandScenic-style grass or equivalent while it's wet can provide some color variation.


A great deal of the appeal for the scale (I'm doing Ogroup in it) is in getting the footprint of the troops to a size that fits the ground scale.  The visual picture of the table better communicates the space/scope of the battlefield to the players (requiring less 'translation' of "what you see" to "what it is"), and -more importantly imo- reduces the detrimental impact on gameplay imposed by figures/stands taking up way too much space on the table - often inhibiting/preventing players from doing what they'd like to do with their troops.

[YPU]

Oh hey I sculpted those tanks for 2d6, you did a cracking job on the paint there!

Terrain wise most have already covered the basics, hills tend to be scale agnostic and actually look like good sized hills in 6mm.

A point I often make though is that 15mm and even 20mm intended forests and trees actually are good for 6mm because we are inclined to massively under scale our forests. A good oak can go up 30 meters! I live in a reasonably sized apartment tower and the tiny park next to it has trees that challenge the 9th floor for height!

[Melnibonean]

Thanks for the advice folks. I'm still making up my mind about where to go with this. I've looked at some terrain options and card building look like a quick solution. Rivers I don't need because I have some 28/20mm streams that will fit the bill. Roads and woods are the main concern.

Oh hey I sculpted those tanks for 2d6, you did a cracking job on the paint there!

And a damn fine job you did too. It was seeing the PzIVH models on a facebook page that caused me to order a test batch.