The Importance of Scale

[vodkafan]

Well once again Eric you have made me think about some things I had either not thought about or not considered important.
I guess "scale" is an OK descriptor but I like a lot (and will henceforth use) Carlos' double-barrelled idea of "game scale vs figure scale" with the ratio used  creating a vector between the two.
By "ratio" I mean of course the ratio of 1 model = x number of real troops.
I have come to understand a few wargaming terms, this is what they mean to me, maybe different to what others understand:

Skirmish : 1 model = 1 human.  (bear in mind, that can still be a Platoon level game if you are the Platoon Commander and you have 40 figures on the table, for instance Chain of Command)

Large Skirmish: My particular "sweet spot". For example most of the Osprey Blue Book games I would describe this way. About 5- 6 UNITS on the table but with a  ratio utilized so one is "zooming out" a bit. For instance, with the 12 man units of Rebels and Patriots I always imagine a ratio of 1:8 so a unit becomes a Company -sized of @100 men.

Bathtubbing:  To me this means specifically when a battle is shrunk down to make it manageable by combining/missing out units. For instance I toyed with the idea of wargaming Quatre Bras in 28mm on an 8 x6 table. However a quick bit of research showed me that around 50 battalions or units  per side took part. Out of the question to represent them all. On paper I bathtubbed it down so that 1 battalion  (usually the most famous one) would represent 3 or 4 battalions.  (It was still too big for me to do)

However, if I had represented EVERY unit but made each one a single figure on a base, that would not be bathtubbing, that is just playing with the figure ratio.

Wendyhousing: When one uses smaller scale buildings than the figure scale.

[carlos marighela]

If nothing else you a new way of announcing the end of a game. 'Please place your tray tables in their upright and locked positions'. Bound to end in tears if you ask me.

Bath tubbing by the way is a Frank Chadwick term for a concept that may have existed pre-Frank but I'm pretty sure Frank coined the phrase. Don't mess with Frank. Few people have written rules mechanics as well as Frank.

[eilif]

Not sure if I'm officially answering the question or even correct grammar but I use the term "Scope" to refer to the size of each side and specify that with a generally accepted military unit term.  As in "the scope of the engagement is Battalion level". Or " it's a platoon level ruleset"

Regarding the ratio of how many soldiers each figure on the table represents, as a primarily Pulp Sci Fi and Fantasy gamer, it doesn't come up often enough to have to specify a term

[has.been]

I guess "scale" is an OK descriptor but I like a lot (and will henceforth use) Carlos' double-barrelled idea of "game scale vs figure scale" with the ratio used  creating a vector between the two.
By "ratio" I mean of course the ratio of 1 model = x number of real troops.

This aspect of playing with toy soldiers rarely concerns me. It did however force its way
into my world when a friend commissioned me to make the Crimean war battlefield of
the Alma, (The Bloody Heights of Alma!). He was using what was then the large Britannia
figures. I, thankfully, did not have to concern myself with his chosen figure 'scale'. The
models were officially 25mm & one figure represented 20 men. What did concern me was
the 'terrain scale'.  A 25mm figure = six foot, but one inch (25mm) on the table surface
was ten yards. What size to make 'The Bloody Heights of Alma'??
Match the six foot tall 'man' and the hills would be over seven foot tall!
Match the ground 'scale' and the Mighty Heights would be only a few inches.

I fell back on the old favourite of mine...what looks about right. Something in-between.

[Elbows]

What you're referring to is colloquially called "ground scale" and is absent from all wargaming except, generally, very strict historical games.  It's up there with "unit frontage", and each man actually representing 33 men, etc.

While these are all established things in old Napoleonics gaming, they've always seemed a step too far.