Reading wise I picked up Terry Pratchetts 'Snuff' from the library it has my favorite discworld character in good ol' Sam Vimes. Only about a third of the way through but I love the humour already and forgot how funny his books where. I will have to dig them out the loft and give them a re-read at some point.
15mm or not?
Can't decide or not to get into 15mm gaming or not been watching various posts on peoples blogs and on various forums and there are some absolutley cracking figures that I would swear was 28mm with how good the details are. I think if I did it would have to be sci-fi related I quite like the look of 'Tomorrow's War' by Ambush Alley games and love a lot of Khuasan's range. But what I can't decide on is things like scenery for it.
Whats cheap to get? Do I look at model railway stuff? Do any of you guys play at this scale and what do use?
At 15MM you'll need new buildings and possibly roads or things like that. Generic land mass like hills and cliffs still work but they will seem much larger. For cheap buildings I made a bunch of adobe style buildings by filling a plastic cookie tray with plaster, the buildings turned like the ones on Tattooine in Star Wars. Here's a link that shows a game I played, we use those cliffs for 28MM gaming as well.
ReplyDeletehttp://sippinonpaintwater.blogspot.com/2012/02/battles-from-frontier-world-of-sellas.html
I don't have a lot of terrain to be fair
DeleteI've never read any Terry Pratchett, but have a good friend that swears by them; perhaps this summer I'll give them ago.
ReplyDeleteJoin the library mate, You can try stuff without buying it that way :D I really recommend 'Guards Guards'
DeleteThe key is, the 15mm terrain and vehicles are dramatically cheaper, making the price of entry easier than you think.
ReplyDeleteSo where would you get them from? I look at a lot of toy vehicles and think they are quite big
DeleteIf you're anything like me you are getting inspired by AngryLurker and Ray's 15mm posts. I love their set up of two feuding countries, and spent a lot of today looking at 15mm modern minis. And some20mm too, but 15 seems more likely.
ReplyDeleteI did have a scifi concept in the back my mind, but 15mm modern would be cheaper and easier I think. Force on force is what I'm looking at
Really should get the ATZ project to a playable point first though, heh
Yeh I still will stick with my 28mm but its been something on mind for a few weeks or so. Esepcially with all the great figures being shown from Khurasan.
DeleteSci-fi is dead easy for 15mm, so if you did zombies in space for example you can get plenty of buildings and vehicles in 15mm (Ground Zero Games for example).
ReplyDeleteYou could always do a "Ghost of Mars" type of sci-fi zombie game.
I have some of the 15mm GZG sci-fi things - but as mentioned, it is sci-fi, not modern.
Historical buildings are very easy to get too, but not so modern western buildings.
You can always shrink card stock buildings at the printing stage.
Rebel Miniatures do 15mm zombies and military that you can use: http://www.rebelminis.com/index.html
jr miniatures do historical buildings, but not that useful for modern city games: http://www.jrminiatures.net/
Cars etc - I have no idea! The Matchbox cars are too big (perfect for 20mm figures)
Rules are not a problem, and with 15mm figures you can play a game in a 60 cm x 60 cm area
Sorry - not much help apart from a ramble.
Thanks for the links. Will give them a look
DeleteCars - someone on TMP suggests these cars are closer to 15mm than Matchbox cars:
ReplyDeletehttp://87thscale.info/autosculpt.htm
I don't think you can buy them from the link I just gave you, but it is suggested that you can get them on ebay
Cheers I will give it a look
DeleteI play 15mm FOW, but that isn't sci fi. When we started out, we mostly played with battlefront's (the ones that make FOW things) houses and such, and simply 28mm trees. Now we bought some french houses and such, but that didn't came up that cheap, as every building is from resin. One guy made woods with some cheap trees he bought on amazon. For modern cars, I found something like that when I planned to play 15mm zeds:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.ebay.com/itm/100x-Building-Train-Layout-Set-HO-Scale-1-100-Model-Car-/300543628966?pt=Model_RR_Trains&hash=item45f9cbd6a6
As they've said, the problem, or challenge, if you want to view it that way, is that you start from nothing.
some guys here went sci-fi 15mm too, lately, thats what they came up with:
http://www.oldcrowmodels.co.uk/ocproducts.htm
http://www.antenocitisworkshop.com/governance-of-technology/g-o-t-vehicles-15mm.html
http://thesceneuk.com/
http://www.brigademodels.co.uk/15mmSF/index.html
http://www.micropanzer.com/mws-2012_003.htm
http://www.combatwombatminiatures.com/motor%20pool.htm
http://ravenstarstudios.blogspot.com/2012/01/land-core-15mm-armor-models.html
http://rebelminis.com/15mmscifi.html
http://www.groundzerogames.net/mambo/
http://www.criticalmassgames.com/default.asp?category=arcfleet
http://khurasanminiatures.tripod.com/15mmscifi-infantry.html
Rules:
http://dropshiphorizon.blogspot.com/2011/11/playing-by-rules-guide-to-15mm-rulesets.html
And here is, what it seems like, 15mm sci-fi blog of one of our guys:
http://blackfang15mm.blogspot.com/
Nothing about terrain I am afraid, but I guess you could always build a moon station or something :P
I have apart from a few cars/lorrys very little terrain. I have started a bitz box to make terrain so have a selection to make stuff. I'm only thinking theory at the moment as funds won't allow but Its worth having some idea as when i'm out and about I may find a bargain
DeleteHi Brummie just to add to the replies. I would suggest that the first thing you need to do is decide what the setting is. Your planet might not be like earth with grass and trees or even free standing water. It could be an ice world, sulphur desert, volcanic or even complete vacumn. Work out your setting and take it from there. It will influence your terrain needs and your figure selection.
ReplyDeleteRules wise I favour "Stargrunt". "Tomorrows War" is a good set of rules but not sufficiently different from "Force on Force" (which I use for ultra modern wargames.)
Just my 5.56mm
I'm thinking Aliens Colony type setting at the moment. Especially having seen Khurasans Exterminators
DeleteHmm, interesting post. Needless to say I like the 'Guards' series, although I'm not a great fan of Terry Pratchett, I think I should try harder. As for the 15mm puzzle. I did historical wargaming 16th centuary stuff and found that rewarding. I can't envisage 15mm modern althoguh the Angry Lurker's stuff looks promising. I could waffle for ages. See you again.
ReplyDeleteI'm thinking small skirmishs to be honest a few squads per side or vs some sort of Alien creatures. perhaps the odd vehicle
DeleteI've never played 15mm, nor do I have any desire to, so I can offer no help. However, from what I've read, I get the impression that you're going to go for it. So, I wish you well in your new project.
ReplyDeleteNothing definate at all yet its all just floating round in my head. It's mainly because I'm working in office in the easter holidays with nothing todo but browse the web looking at shinies. If I do it will be nearer December time I have plans before then.
DeleteThe book Snuff is brilliant and as for 15mm I say go for it as it's cheap and Khurasan do some lovely stuff, I will will be getting their evil mid tech figures soon!
ReplyDeleteI love "thinking" Brummie, but I call it "planning" lol.
ReplyDeleteLook at it from the bright side, if you want to play small skirmish games, like some "space marines" vs "aliens" as in that...what was that movie again...gah...you know, there are some weird big insects on some random planet and then those ppl find that big brain bug? To be honest, I was thinking about that too. I play some funny game, where you got 4 space guys and you run around colony killing bugs.
Eh, I really talk too much. Bottom line, I wanted to say, if you want to start completely new thing, and only on squad level, 15mm ends up much cheaper than 28mm. And 2 different scales are another positive thing, if your wife is anything like my girlfriend and "everything looks the same" :P
15's the way to go, I love 28's but you need a second mortgage to buy all you want. 15's have been going up in price recently but they're still a hell of a lot cheaper than 25's/28's. Another good reason is your painting time will more than half, you'd get so much more done. I can't help you with 15mm Sci-fi figures, as I don't know too much about them, but Fran has been banging on about the new Khurasan figures like you said???
ReplyDeleteI have recently changed from 28mm to 15mm scale, and I can thoroughly recommend it! A lot less expensive for a start, and there is so much choice out there now. Sci fi at this scale is terrific, and many manufacturers have buildings and scenery. Check out the colony buildings etc from GZG Games-I've got pictures of some on my blog, as has Spacejacker. Plenty of choice, therefore. And as for Terry Pratchett, I am currently re-buying all the Discworld titles to put on my Kindle, so we're in agreement there. Cheers Brummie!
ReplyDeleteI think i'm gonna get a few figures perhaps and see how they are to paint. Thanks for the tips much appreciated
DeleteAny time-keep us posted as to progress-all the best!
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