Picking the Bones Clean

Well I've paid my last respects to Model Zone and it was a very depressing affair. That's not to say I didn't leave my local shop without a bag of bargains but it was sad to see half the shelves empty of stock like that. More importantly I felt really bad for the staff in the store. I've been in their position myself many years ago and its not an enviable one. I had a quick chat with them while I was paying for my stuff and wished them well but that's little comfort when they are faced with unemployment. 

I really should have gone to the store last week because there wasn't much left that I wanted (most of the Vallejo paint had gone) but I didn't want to leave empty handed. So I joined the other vultures circling Model Zones corpse and picked up a few items as a last huzzah to yet another high street victim of the ongoing 'recession that isn't officially a recession but bloody well feels like it'.

RIP Model zone

I bought a 1:72 Airfix Cromwell Tank to paint up as a display model and some Tamiya spray paint to base coat it with when its assembled. I'll see if I can get the Young Padawan to join in and build it with me. I also bought her one of the Revell mini kits mainly because she seemed to like building aircraft and because I think the Fokker DR I is an interesting and evocative plane. If she continues to show an interest I'll see if I can pick her up something a little more challenging at the next show I attend.

I was never a big spender at Model Zone but I did go there regularly to stock up on sundry items like flock, glue and paints. Personally I always thought the stuff it sold was a bit overpriced and certainly couldn't compete with other retailers or the Internet. But it did carry a reasonable variety of items in its stores and was my main 'local' source for modelling paint and materials outside of trade shows. Its other main selling point as a brick and mortar store was that it wasn't Games Workshop. With the departure of MZ I guess I'll just have to stock up when I go to shows in future. 

War & Peace 2012 : Model Marquee

Ok, this will be the last post on the War & Peace Show as I'm sure your sick of the subject by now! There's a model marquee at every show and it usually features a range of model builders, a couple of traders and sometimes a display game or two. This year Armourfast and Plastic Soldier Company were present and the guys from Crush the Kaiser had their display game out to view. Here's a few pictures of the best bit from this part of the show.

Armourfast models on sale and on display

Armourfast Panzer III command tank

A Tamiya model T34

Another Tamiya model this time a Sherman

Part of an impressive collection of WWII aircraft contained over 300 models

Crush the Kaiser on display in the Model Marquee

Closeup of part of the Crush the Kaiser display

A converted Tamiya model of a Sherman Crab flail for clearing mines 

Outside the Model Marquee there were a couple of traders including Mr Models where I picked up a couple of Vallejo paints that I needed. There was also a tent set aside just for Armortek 1/6th scale Remote Control models. These puppies are for the serious enthusiast and cost thousands of pounds to build... one day, when I win the Lottery!

An amazing collection of Armortek Tanks...there's probably about £20k's worth of models here!

Right this really is my last word on War & Peace, honest.  I have now edited, labelled and uploaded all my pictures from the show and put them on my Picasa web albums storage space. You can view them all by following this link.

Big Picture : Toy Soldiers

Part of the large collection of Toy Soldiers at Bletchly Park.

Big Picture : Dambusters

This was taken at the Ilford Wargames Group annual Rampage show. This was an excellent recreation of the Dambusters Raid run by the Whitstable and Herne Bay Wargame Club.

Can of Worms

Why oh why did I venture into the subject of scale?!? I must have been out of my head. Thus far pretty much all of the feedback I have received on Mondays Guide to Scale has been positive and informative and I have learned a lot. But I have also come to truly understand the complexity and intangibility of the whole subject. Crunching the numbers and deciding which assumptions to adopt and which to abandon is giving me a headache. Whatever I do It will be utterly wrong for some people...and they will be completely right to think so.

I work in an industry who's unwritten motto is "Assumption is the mother of all muck-ups" (or something like that). Scale, as defined for gaming purposes, seems to be built on a huge foundation of assumptions built on top of different definitions which in turn rest on a sandy beach with the tide coming in!

Firstly, what is the average sized human? Height varies between ethnic groups, between the sexes and over time. So whatever height a manufacturer (or blogger) settles on as 'average' is by definition a compromise. I have based my table on the height of the average man being 5ft 8inches and the height to eye level as 5ft 3inches. The only reason I have done this is because it seems to correspond to average heights for European males and because several other sources online have chosen the same height. Its a compromise and an assumption, but its a firm point from which to start calculating scale.

Another big problem is that manufacturers and most gamers measure height in different ways. It seems to be an 'industry standard' that model height is the measurement "to eye level". However this isn't always the case and its impossible to definitively state that all manufacturers use this method when clearly some measure to the top of the head. One change I'm planning on implementing with my original table as posted on Monday is to add a second height column showing the theoretical height to the top of the head. The current height listed is based on the assumption that height is measured to eye level.

I think the biggest misnomer however is the idea that our models are a particular 'scale' and persist in referring to the height (such as 28mm) as a 'scale'. To be utterly pedantic about this that is not the correct definition of the word. One definition I found online says that scale is "A proportion used in determining the dimensional relationship of a representation to that which it represents". Now I'm no linguist but that sounds a lot like the Ratio or Fraction (eg 1:72 or 1/72nd scale) rather than a vague height to eye/scalp/hat level.

For me - and this is just my opinion, not a statement of right or wrong - which definition we use doesn't matter. I'm not a scale modeller, I'm a Gamer and slight variations in size don't bother me too much. For some gamers this is utter blasphemy and I wouldn't be surprised if a whole group of readers un-followed this blog immediately! [Please stay, I promise to behave in future] What I am most interested in is can models from different ranges and manufacturers be used together? and that is a much more difficult question to answer.

Tabletop Gaming - Scale Guide

This chart of scales/sizes has been compiled from various sources and is my attempt to bring some clarity to the subject of scale and more importantly what alternatives are compatible with your chosen models. I have deliberately limited this guide to the range of tabletop gaming scales encountered on this blog and have left off anything smaller than 6mm (1/268th) or larger than 54mm (1/30th).

There are two measures of scale that seem to get used interchangeably between different manufacturers, groups of gamers and collectors. However where applicable I have also referred to the equivalent Railroad Scale as it is often possible to use buildings and models for tabletop gaming purposes.

• Ratio or Fraction (i.e. 1:72 or 1/72) – The number on the right shows how many units (Inches, centimetres it doesn’t matter) on the life sized object are equivalent to one on the model. So a 1/100th model that stands 1cm tall represents a real object 100cm tall.
• Size (i.e. 15mm or 28mm) – This is usually taken as the height of the average male figure and is measured from the bottom of the foot to eye level. But this isn’t standard across the industry and a lot of variation has resulted in “scale creep”.

The following table refers to the Ratio/Fraction in the first column and gives the equivalent Size next to it in the second column. I have highlighted the “scale” as it is referred to by gamers (i.e. 1/72nd, 15mm) in bold.

Fraction	Size	Common Applications(& Example Manufacturers)
1/268	6mm	Equivalent to 1/285 scale and 1/300 scales. Popular for ‘Micro armour’ games.
1/220	7mm	Z scale model railroad scale
1/200	8mm	20th Century armoured vehicles and aircraft
1/161	10mm	Fantasy, historical and science fiction. (Pendraken Miniatures)
1/160	10.06mm	N scale model railroad scale. Trees in this scale work well with 10-15mm models.
1/144	11.2mm	Official FOW Aircraft scale (Battlefront)
1/107	15mm	Popular Wargaming scale. Official FOW infantry scale (Battlefront / Old Glory / Peter Pig)
1/100	16.1mm0	TT Gauge. Alternative for 15mm
1/87	18.5mm	HO scale. HO Buildings are suitable for 15mm models (Hornby / Airfix / Revell)
1/80.5	20mm	Skirmish-level 20th Century Wargaming.
1/76	21.2mm	OO scale. Plastic miniatures and kits are available in this scale for aircraft, ground vehicles, and soldiers. (Hornby)
1/72	22.4mm	Popular for die-cast toys and plastic kits. (Revell)
1/64	25mm	S Gauge. Traditional Wargaming scale. Fantasy Wargaming, historical skirmish-level games, science fiction, and for use with role-playing games.
1/58	28mm	Sometimes referred to as "large" 25mm figures. Popular size for roleplaying models. (Games Workshop / Perry Miniatures)
1/54	30mm	Another scale used for pre-20th Century miniatures.(Enigma Miniatures)
1/50	32mm	LoTR’s models (Mithril Miniatures)
1/43.5	37mm	British O Gauge based on 7mm to the foot
1/48	33.5mm	US O Gauge which is 0.25 inches to the foot and referred to as "quarter inch scale". Popular for plastic aircraft kits. (Tamiya)
1/40	40mm	ACW & Napoleonic figures (Old Glory / Eureka Miniatures / North Star Figures)
1/38	42mm	Roughly corresponds to old B Range (Irregular Miniatures)
1/35	46mm	Plastic kits of armour. (Tamiya)
1/32	50.3mm	I scale.
1/30	54mm	Sometimes called "Toy Soldier" scale

Links to Sources and Further Reading:
The Miniatures Page - Wikipedia - Model Makers Resource - Antenocitis Workshop
There is also an excellent series of articles about scale creep and figure proportions on the blog The World According to Tom

I'm treating this as a work in progress (like so many other things) so please let me know if I've made any glaring errors or omissions. Once I'm confident this is accurate and comprehensive I'll post the table as a Page for ease of reference.

Rampage 09 - Pt 2

There was an interesting selection of display and participation games at this years Rampage, although there was a notable lack of games for pre 20th century historical settings. This is a great pity because nothing epitomises the classic wargame more than massed ranks of Napoleonic or Ancients. Having said that the games that were on display were high quality eye-candy and seemed to be attracting a lot of attention from visitors.

One game that couldn't help but catch the eye (as it was positioned just inside the entrance) was the Dambusters table put on by Whitstable & Herne Bay Wargame Club. I first saw this game at Salute 07 but never took the opportunity to play the game. This time I was arm twisted into playing (not much arm twisting though... "Would you like.." "YES").
The game took less than 10 minutes to play and the rules were pretty simple but resulted in a quick paced and exciting 'Bomb Run' towards the The Möhne Dam.

As a player you can adjust your attacking Lancaster's speed and height during your run down the lake, trying to avoid Flak where possible. However to drop your bouncing bomb the Lancaster must be at 220 mph and 50 ft altitude. More importantly you have to gauge your distance from the dam by eye and release your bomb Exactly 28 inches from the target!
There's about a half inch leeway in that measurement but its still quite a feat of skill to get the distance right. Unfortunately after fighting my way through the Flak and making it to the target, I dropped my bomb too early sending it harmlessly over the top of the dam.This was actually a cut down version of the game as presented at Salute, the table being shorter by a few sections dues to lack of space. But that didn't detract from the fun of the game or the impressive scope of the table with 1/72 scale Lancaster's zooming towards their target.

Scale Creep Pt 1 - Defining Scale

To understand Scale Creep it is first necessary to understand scale.

Scale can be expressed two ways; either as the size ratio between a full sized object and its miniature version (e.g. 1/58); or as a measurement that represents a given standard (e.g. 28mm). Most wargamer’s use this latter expression of scale to define the models they game with. Using a consistent scale ensures that miniatures and their ‘equipment’ remain in proportion to each other. This is especially important when purchasing from different manufactures. For role-players some variation can be tolerated but for tabletop wargamer’s such differences are not acceptable, especially for large projects like building a period army or creating a large diorama.

Tabletop wargames use a proliferation of scales but the most common type is 6mm, 15mm, 20mm and 28mm. The smaller 6mm miniature is roughly equivalent to 1/300 scale and has the advantage that the gamer can put massed units on the tabletop. Many historical wargames come in this scale but sci-fi games such as Warhammer 40k Epic also utilise 6mm miniatures.
Probably the most popular scale for pre 20th century historical wargames is 15mm (1/107th). This is also a popular size for ‘skirmish level’ games. Also popular for historical games are 20mm (1/76 to 1/72 scale ish). However my main focus is on so called 28mm models as these are the type that I have gamed with and painted most over the last 20 odd years. 28mm scale is roughly equivalent to 1/56th scale but there is huge variation within this group of miniatures.
In Part 2 tomorrow I’ll be giving some real life examples of scale creep and try to explain some of the reasons for its occurrence.

(Updated 16:45 with some scale corrections)