15/28mm ranges and movement vs area of actual play.

[Legionnaire]

I game exclusively in 28-30mm but have recently bought a rule system that's primarily written for 15mm. The suggestions are:
 
"for 15mm, table size 2'x2' or 3'x3'"
"for 28mm, table size 4'x4' or 6'x4'"

The query I now have, is that my table is 3'x3' and looking at it, most of the ranges and movement will be ridiculous if I use the suggested "inches for centimetres in 28mm". At 34" end to end, NO ranged weapon will ever incur any penalty shooting at an opponent, not even a handgun!

" up to 5 centimetres away, Point Blank +2D Attack"
" up to 10 centimetres away, Short +1D Attack"
" up to 20 centimetres away, Medium +0"
" up to 30 centimetres away, Long +1D Defense"
" up to 40 centimetres away, Extreme +2D Defense"
" over 40 centimetres away, out of range"

I assume, from what I've read in other posts, that the main reason for smaller scales is that you can game with more on a smaller area. But this game (The Department, a noir sci fi Blade Runneresque skirmish game) is only really going to use a handful of minis or two on the table, so plenty of space.

So in short, with the scale to range and movement as written on the area of play, it seems like inches would be quite disproportionate, would I be better off with just gaming with the centimetres for my 28mm? Other advice/ suggestions? (No advanced mathematics please, just something that could work out better  , keeping movement in inches but ranges in centimetres, halving ranges/ movement in centimetres to use inches?)

[has.been]

When we changed our Western Gunfight games from 54mm to 28mm we changed the ranges to CMs from Inches, but kept the moves to Inches. It felt...right.
I suggest you do something similar.

[Legionnaire]

When we changed our Western Gunfight games from 54mm to 28mm we changed the ranges to CMs from Inches, but kept the moves to Inches. It felt...right.
I suggest you do something similar.

Thank you for the advice. Yes, I think I keep movement in inches but ranges in centimetres, it's just a matter of getting it to feel "right" . That way, Point Blank (within 5 cm/ 2") will become REALLY Point Blank  .

[DaveCrow]

If it works for you to measure movement in inches, but ranges in CM I think that is an elegant solution as the only thing you need to change is which side of the ruler you look at.

I have found that base size matters more than figure scale om the tabletop. I used to base 40mm figures on one inch fender washers and use them for games written for 28mm figures with no issues. I have done the same with 15mm based on US Pennies, and 28mm on 20mm round bases. All three of these base sizes are similar enough to be largely interchangeable with rules written for 25mm.

Your question does point out an issue I have seen with larger figures on smaller tables. Weapons ranges that are longer than the width of the table. Having a 36 inch maximum range when playing on a 48 inch table is almost moot. I have played games that gave artillery and the like a range of "line of sight" to reflect that the whole table was going to effectively be in range.

[Legionnaire]

If it works for you to measure movement in inches, but ranges in CM I think that is an elegant solution as the only thing you need to change is which side of the ruler you look at.

I have found that base size matters more than figure scale on the tabletop. I used to base 40mm figures on one inch fender washers and use them for games written for 28mm figures with no issues. I have done the same with 15mm based on US Pennies, and 28mm on 20mm round bases. All three of these base sizes are similar enough to be largely interchangeable with rules written for 25mm.

Your question does point out an issue I have seen with larger figures on smaller tables. Weapons ranges that are longer than the width of the table. Having a 36 inch maximum range when playing on a 48 inch table is almost moot. I have played games that gave artillery and the like a range of "line of sight" to reflect that the whole table was going to effectively be in range.

Thank you for the response. I think this could work for me so the ranges wouldn't be ridiculous. On the other hand, I don't expect the "fuzz" to do much shooting in the first game, trigger happy police is not seen upon kindly. More apprehending suspicious individuals .