Today's ramblings are a sort of follow-on from my post earlier in the week about the micro armour I purchased at SELWG. I have spent a lot of time trawling the Internet for ideas not only regarding where to buy future acquisitions in this scale but also looking at rules and basing options. After just four days I have clearly only scraped the surface of this subject, but I already have a few ideas. So this post is in the form of a 'thinking out loud' moment, and I need your suggestions, experiences and advice.
So what am I looking for? I already have some basic requirements of what I want from a system in this scale and they are as follows:
- Firstly I have decided that if I am going to buy into using micro armour then I want my tanks to be one model equals one tank. I've played plenty of games where the ratio of models to real soldiers is not 1:1 but when it comes to vehicles I have a real problem pretending that one tank represents several tanks or a whole platoon.
- Second I want a system that is easy to play, quick to learn or one that I already know. I'm very much in the keep-it-simple school of thought when it comes to wargames rules and while I can see the usefulness of detailed rules in skirmish wargames I don't think detail adds anything useful to company level or larger engagements.
- Third - and in some ways this follows on from the last point - I don't want to get bogged down in masses of pre game paperwork. I'm quite happy to used a systems army lists but I'd like to avoid a situation where I am spending valuable painting or playing time hand writing lists of Stats.
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| 'Operation Deadstick' by Maidstone Wargames Society |
I'm still keeping an open mind to other options but this is the way I am leaning at the moment. Incidentally I'm considering mounting my 6mm figures and vehicles on small FOW bases (ie 25mm x 32mm) which will allow ample room for the figures and labelling. I particularly like the look of the MDF ones from Warbases as the non-bevelled edges will make them much easier to pick up.
If there is one thing I have noticed over the last few days it is that there is no one 'right' way to tackle this scale. I have come to some conclusions of my own but I clearly still have a lot to learn about gaming in this scale. So what do you think? Am I completely insane, or inspired. Should I expect the 'men in white coats' to come knocking at my door or am I on the right track?
I should add also that I am desperate to throw some money at this project and its taking all my willpower to hold back from buying everything in sight. I need to make a decision soon before I burst! So many 'shiney' objects to buy, so little time!!
ReplyDeleteMicro for the win. I play Blitzkrieg Commander II in micro - fun and fairly straightforward. 42 pages of rules. Great support forum and plenty of AARs around the web. In fact, The Wasatch Wargamers just released their newest Warning Order PDF newsletter (free) with 2 BkCII AARs.
ReplyDeleteAnyway, not trying to sell it. 'Cause I'm w you on not wanting to learn a new ruleset. If you enjoy FOW, you should stick w it.
I think a lot of gamers struggle w the concept of a model representing several tanks. I do.
Good luck. And I look forward to watching your journey.
'nother vote for BCII here.... love it.....
DeleteGHQ are also the nicest of the 1/300's - I dislike the scale, but was given a load of these little beauties a long time ago, and even I recognised they were a step up from anything else in that scale...
eBay is a good place for second hand models..... might be cheaper???
Hey Lee... I'm thinking the same thing for over a year now.
ReplyDeleteMy thought being picked up by you doesn't make it easier to further refuse buying all that stuff :D
So either we're insane together or inspired together. But you're definitively one step ahead now ;)
I'm curious how this comes out!
Regards, Mojo
I'd suggest that you GHQ tanks and Adler infantry in you are happy to spend, but the Heroics and Ros stuff is just is fine if you are on a budget.
ReplyDeleteI painted lots and lots of 15mm Flames of War and did really enjoy the rules. However, I think I played against one too many knobs and have pretty much stopped playing FoW now. I play Blitzkreig Commander for my 6mm WWII (and IABSM with my 15mm WWII collection).
I would agree with your suggestion to use the MDF bases from Warbases as the FOWs look nice but unless you have girly long fingernails you'll never pick them up.
There are quite a few shots of my 6mm early western desert WWII stuff in the BlitzKreig Commander section on my Scrivsland blog: http://scrivsland.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/BlitzKreig%20Commander
Nice pictures and an interesting blog (+1 Follower!)
DeleteLooking forward to gaming it anyway my friend!
ReplyDeleteYou might try Warwick Kinrade's Kursk rules when they appear. They are nominally 20mm but should work fine with 6mm.
ReplyDeleteThere a a myriad of rules out there for 6mm. Blitzkrieg Commander II is a decent playable set but a lot depends on how detailed you want a set to be ? The venerable WRG 1925-1950 set are also fine.
ReplyDeleteI mainly use higher scale sets than 1:1 scale such as Spearhead or Command Decision and they also work fine with 6mm
I would advise you pick a period of thecwar you want to game (such as Normandy 44 Desert 42 etc) get kit for at least two nations then you can expand afterwards once bug bites deeper :-)
GHQ are outstanding models but very expensive !! I use them for main Tanks, Assault Guns but use H&R or Scotia for soft skins etc.
Adler inf would be my choice as nicely animated and paintable
Cheers
Gary
I'm looking forward to seeing your progress Lee. There's a lot to be said for 6mm and I dabbled for a little while using Adler figures which in my opinion are the best (great service too) I must admit though that if I ever do get back to WWII seriously then it would be in 10mm scale.
ReplyDeleteGood luck!
Oh yes... 10mm is the scale of the Gods for WWII - big enough to see, small enough to have lots on the table.... that's the scale I use for my WWII Desert project - Minifigs for choice....... more here: http://steve-the-wargamer-ww2.blogspot.com/
DeleteI can't help I'm afraid not really my cup of tea, I'm all for sticking with what you know though
ReplyDeleteI have always looked at micro armour, I think the fact that the first time I saw them the guys playing it were not very nice to a young gamer wanting to learn so I move off else where.
ReplyDeleteI have just bought into 1/350 scale WW2 air warefare and this may lead into micro aroumr but would be 100% tank battles for me
following with interest
Peace James
Dear oh dear, and you only got the idea for this on Sunday! Control yourself Mr Hadley or just buy everything like you want to!
ReplyDeleteJagdPanzer is pretty nice for small scale games. New rulebook is quite nice too...
ReplyDeleteI agree that Jagdpanzer is a great ruleset for 1:1 in micro armor. I played one game at a convention and about half way through most all of the players could figure the dice needed to hit, etc. I was sold and played another game the following day. Bought the rules the same day.
DeleteGHQ are much better quality, size is a bit larger as well, however cost is substantially different.
I'm not a fan, but probably CD is one of the best systems to play that scale. I used to play the II edition back in the late 90s and remember an spectacular Kursk game extending several months played with GHQ minis. Talking about whcih I actually own a large chunk of German and Russian AFVS and infantry from that time, and I don't even remember where I stored them. I honestly don't see my current mainstream rules set (IABSM) fitting that scale
ReplyDeleteIt just came to my mind an idea (actually a project forgotten long ago): for a simple and straight forward riules system, you can try adapting Pazer Blitz or Panzer Leader boardgames from the defunct Avalon Hill to play on a gaming table with figures. I can send you the rules by pdf offline
DeleteWell Lee that's a poser! Firstly no reason at all FOW would not work as far as I can see. And as you are familure with it it does have much to commend it. No learning new rules, army lists etc. So if you are looking for a small travel game then perhaps you already have the solution. For the same reasons "Ralid Fire" would work, as would "PBI" (smaller squares naturally) or any other WW2 set with the right terrain and scale adjustments. So the choice comes down to do you want a set of rules specific to the scale, or one you already know?
ReplyDeleteIf you want 1:1 then Spearhead is not for you (although you should give it a go. We're doing Sword Beach on Saturdy and Sunday and I'll do a bat rep straight after each day's play so you can see how it plays. Much better than FoW in my opinion and you only have 1 tank per stand and 4-5 infantry per stand so not much different to FoW.
ReplyDeleteI would definitely say go for Heroics and Ros for tanks and vehicles - the troops are a bit weeny though.
Lee, as you're familiar with FoW you could stick with that for now while reading other sets to see if they suit you better for the micro-armour. There have been a number of suggestions of other rule sets you could try as alternatives to FoW. I'm not sure what support most of them have, but I do know that BKC has army builders etc.
ReplyDeleteAnothe rote for BKC II. Really like it for WWII in 10mm. Easy to learn, playable in a night. Recommended.
ReplyDeleteHey Mr. Lee, Are you using GHQ miniatures for your Micro Armour gaming. I can't seem to quite determine whether you do.
ReplyDeleteNoentheless, great array of minatures! I really like how involved you are and the BIG community that reads your blog. I am kinda just starting out in the google connect scene and would love to have you come and check out my Modern Military Model kits, collectibles and wargaming miniatures.
If you like warhammer and other collectibles I think my blog could be a great place to check once in a while. So do connect with me at www.toyconstruct.blogspot.com!
Awesome great terrain and various era of soldiers! Great stuff (:!
The thought of using Micro Armor with FOW rules never occurred to me, but it is very seductive indeed. All of the sudden it becomes practical to put full companies with an appropriate amount of divisional and regimental support on the table instead of what we so often see, bare minimum requirements and all the toys one can buy.
ReplyDeleteSo when playing Micro FOW, do you leave all the ranges and movement distances the same? Given the tiny figures that seems to be much more in scale although I wonder if one should shrink command distances.
Now that I have decided to go down this route I keep coming across other gamers that have done the same thing. In general distances are kept identical (including command distances) although I think I'd have to play-test to see if anything needed tweeking.
DeleteI think 6mm is a great scale and love your idea of using flames of war. Just for inspiration check out the GHQ forum, amazing stuff people do in this scale. Also not really what you are doing but this guys stuff looks amazing in my opinion:
Deletehttp://www.flickr.com/photos/6mmgaming/
http://myblog-lekw.blogspot.com/
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