HO scale buildings

A few days ago I bought 6 'HO Scale' buildings on eBay for a little under £6. Not bad. But when I unpacked them, I found that 2 were clearly smaller than the others and really didn't work with my 15mm. Now, I have no knowledge of HO scale except that I have read it can vary widely and, for the price I paid, I am happy I got 4 usable buildings.

The purpose of this post is to show the buildings next to some figures and invite some discussion on the subject of using HO scale for 15mm.

First up, the church. This, along with the following house, look wooden and handmade, which surprised me as I expected them all to be plastic. I quite like how it looks. a sticker underneath identifies it as by "Vau-Pe" and having been "Made in Western Germany". I don't know if this is being used synonymously with "West Germany" and just suffering slightly in translation but, if so, it seems to be quite old! Note the spire/bell tower is not in the picture as I was mainly trying to show the scale with the figures.

The second building is a house in the same style of construction as the church. This is by RS and has an ink stamp underneath clearly stating it was "Made in West Germany".

Next up is a 'building under construction' made out of plastic. I have seen this advertised elsewhere. I like this as a variation on all the fully built buildings I'd normally have on the table.

Again, based on the size of the door/windows, this one works okay with 15mm figures.

Last from the 'good batch', a smaller plastic house.

Again, it seems to scale well with my figures and will be useful for games in rural areas. Of course, most of these buildings are 'European' rather than 'American', but such things will not stop me from using them for my zombie games.

Now the difficulties begin. This was actually the first building I opened and it made me fear the worst for the whole lot before I saw them:

Aside from looking like it came out of a Kinder egg, it is clear that no one 15mm in height would be able to fit through that front door!

The last one looks like a kind of Alpine barn I have seen in Europe, but is also woefully small:

I am very interested in hearing if other 15mm gamers use HO scale buildings and what their experiences have been. I have a feeling that the smaller two are actually of a different scale and were described incorrectly by the seller but, having read about the amount of variation and not having any real knowledge of the scale, I don't feel sure about it.

Ideally, I'd like to gain a clearer idea in my mind about what an HO scale building 'should' look like. If they are generally like the first four, than I will be keeping an eye out for more eBay bargains.

"Do you want to know more?"

My new 15mm Starship Troopers project is coming along fairly well, so I thought it was time I posted something...

First up, the handful of warrior bugs that I have completed so far:

They are from Khurasan's range, but I am trying to paint them black/red/yellow like the ones from the movie. The light has made them look a bit greyer than they are in real life.

For the humans I have completed two Light Armour Squads and some Power Armour figures (all GZG):

I have several more bugs to complete as well as a few more squads of humans. As I was trying out the rules again today, I thought I'd present a little walk-through of a simple turn to show how the game plays.

This example only displays the simplest parts of the game. You can have multi-hit units, air-support, tunnelling, bug holes and much more with these rules. I am impressed by the way in which they are familiar yet at the same time have a lot of differences which add up to a fresh experience. I look forward to building my collection of figures and playing more games.

Getting my mojo back...

Well, it has been a tough couple of months. Not for any 'real' reason of course, I am purely referring to my hobby output! Real life is just fine, but not something I concern myself with in this blog!

What has been tough has been my painting output and my disinclination to put a brush to anything vaguely 28mm tall. It seemed to start when I was painting my Warhammer army for 3rd Edition and just couldn't muster the energy to finish even 500 points of troops. Fortunately my friend was terribly understanding about it and did not grumble. It probably helped that my ramshackle Empire force was utterly trounced by his gloriously painted High Elves.

But this fielding of an unpainted army was obviously of great concern to me and I went into a period of hobby-hibernation (as evidenced by my lack of posts). However, something slowly started to change. I became inspired to start a little 15mm project which I had been wanting to get off the ground (http://15mmhavoc.blogspot.co.uk/) and I found I really enjoyed painting the little fellows. So perhaps scale was an issue?

Thinking about the two big projects which have entirely stalled in the past, WW1 and WAB, it struck me that they were both 28mm games which required a fair number of units to be painted. The more I thought about it, the more I felt that this was the crux of the issue. As a result I have cut back on my 28mm projects to a few 'core' games which I either can't, or don't want to, game in 15mm:

• Pirates
• Doctor Who
• Lord of the Rings
• Warhammer Fantasy 3rd Ed
• Rogue Trader
• Gorkamorka
• Star Wars

All except WHF are really skirmish games and Star Wars doesn't require any painting!

I have played All Things Zombie and, most recently, The Department in 15mm and it proved that even skirmish games can work in that scale (at least as far as I am concerned). As for the rest, between manufacturers such as Khurusan, Rebel Minis, GZG and Peter Pig (to name just a few) there is very little that cannot be done in 15mm. And of course there are profound benefits in terms of cost and storage.

As if to cement my decision, I leaped into a new sci-fi project with great fervour, the fruits of which are almost ready to be blogged about. I am able to paint figures without succumbing to utter tedium and the speed with which they can be painted means I feel like progress is fast and constant.

So my decision is to shift all my gaming primarily to 15mm from hence forth. Of course, none of this is to say I feel that it is objectively a 'better scale', just that I have been lucky enough to find what I think really suits me as a wargamer.

Hopefully you will see some interesting posts in the not too distant future.

It's all a bit quiet!

Well, it has been a very long time since I posted anything. To be honest I have been woefully unproductive on the painting front, and almost as unproductive on the gaming front... Last Saturday night I did get a chance to play the Gears of War boardgame, which is a really fun solo/co-op game. The enemy AI is really rather effective and you feel under constant pressure as a player, two things which are essential to a solo game, in my opinion.

A hoard of Tickers prepare to be blown sky high...

My guys getting brutalised by the far superior AI!

Today I got to play my first games of Commands and Colours: Napoleonics. I was a slightly unsure as I have mixed feelings on the underlying system from my experiences with Memoir '44 and Battlelore, but this was a very different beast. Highly enjoyable. We played twon and a half games and perhaps were a little ambitious trying to re-fight Waterloo when we didn't have much time left, but the end result was that I really want to play this again as soon as possible.

Waterloo, C&C:N style

Apart from that I have a whole new 15mm project which I will be starting soon. I will be posting more on that as soon as the figures arrive, Can't wait!

New Blog!

Well, I thought it might come to this. I have found a small project which I have decided is worthy of having a blog by itself.

15mm Havoc

Please take a look and follow if it is of interest to you.

Thanks
Chris

Epic Armageddon (Small Game)

 I found the opportunity last week to print off the current Epic rules available free from Games Workshop. Although I enjoyed the previous incarnation, it felt to me that the amount of work required during the army creation process did not yield a proportionate amount of fun or detail in the gameplay, so was keen to try a different version.

I put together a small table and fought a battle using two Space Marine forces, mostly consisting of Marines and Land Raiders so I didn't have to worry about a lot of special rules, although I did include a few characters and a small titan. The simple story was that one force had turned traitor and the other had been dispatched to show them the error of their ways and flush them out of the city they had fortified.

End of Turn 1

 The assault got off to a reasonable start. I like how each side alternates in giving formations an order, with the option to attempt to command two in a row. This makes a change from the usual IGOUGO format of GW games and, although I played solo, I imagine this would add to the meaningful decisions during a game as you have to decide which formations are important to be ordered early on and which can wait until later in the turn.

End of Turn 2

At the end of turn two the defenders had started to take a battering. Their only Land Raider formation had been almost destroyed by the titan's firepower and the defenders on the right flank had been driven back from their fortifications.

End of Turn 3

By the end of the third turn it was all over. The attacking force had shown itself to be overwhelming and there was no point continuing. 

 

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Although it was very one sided, it was a fun enough learning game. I definitely feel motivated to paint up some of the vast amount of Epic figures I have, more so than when I played the previous version of the rules. I'm very interested to see what it is like with a greater variety of unit types and different armies. The rules are not very complex at all, but have a better level of detail than the last edition, which I think makes the game feel more engaging and interesting.

It is slightly disappointing that GW decided to focus on the Armageddon campaign and therefore focus on Imperial and Ork forces, as there has only been an Eldar list published in addition to the core rule lists (and two alternative Ork and Imperial Guard ones). That said, there are fan made lists for Tyranids and Squats, which I look forward to using.

I always liked this scale of game in the Warhammer 40K universe and look forward to painting and playing more battles using these rules. I had previously intended to use Dirtside 2 for 6mm, but they are back on the shelf for now...

Doctor Who game report

Today is apparently one of the last days of sunshine we are going to have in the UK before normal weather service is resumed, so how better to spend it than sitting indoors pushing lead men around?

A good buddy of mine also works part time and has Mondays off, so we were able to take advantage of this coincidence (finally) and play a game of Doctor Who.

We modified a scenario from the main rulebook, which has Sea Devils attacking a UNIT base while the Master searches buildings for a vital component for his escape from earth. Our version had Cybermen attacking a village while the Master searches buildings for a vital component for his escape from earth...

I took the part of the good guys, controlling the 4th Doctor, K-9, Leela, the Brigadier, Sgt Benton and several UNIT soldiers. My friend took control of the Master, a Cyber-Leader and several Cybermen.

Here is a summery and some pictures:

The Cyberman assault begins!

The Master sneaks into a building which also happened to contain material the Doctor could use for inventions

Leela entered the house to confront the master but ended up being hypnotised by him!

Cyberman advancing on the right flank, soon to be shot!

The Cyberman left flank approaches the village

You can see UNIT forces deployed along the road with the intention of slowing the Cyberman advance and buying the Doctor time to deal with the Master or come up with a useful invention!

The Doctor stuns Leela with his sonic screwdriver!

 The above picture requires a bit of explanation. After hypnotising Leela and conducting a search of the building, which showed it did not contain the device he was after, the Master left and ran into the nearby woods.  Under his control, Leela attacked the Doctor with her poisoned blowpipe, fortunately missing. As she attacked an ally, she was entitled to make a check to break the hypnotism at the end of the turn. However, the Doctor was not taking any chances and stunned her with his sonic screwdriver. Fortunately she made the hypnotism roll and came back under the control of the good side. Unfortunately she failed every single stun recovery roll for the rest of the game except the last couple of turns! This kind of 'narrative' event which spontaneously happens in the game is absolutely fantastic and makes it a great experience.

Cybermen fall to concentrated fire from UNIT

The view from the UNIT battleline

Man down!

The left UNIT flank starts to buckle. Cybermen distruptors are brutal when they hit...

More dead Cybermen...

The casualties mount up.

Okay, this is how it went... I was so pleased with my defence of the village that I took a few pictures of the dead Cybermen. My buddy insisted I return the favour and photograph the UNIT casualties. The result? A load of picture of miniatures on their backs... Ah well...

The Master breaks cover from the forest and is confronted by K-9 and his nose laser!

The Master makes it to the church, where he will again search unsuccessfully.

UNIT starting to feel the pressure. Their fire was most effective when concentrated on a single foe. By this point he Cybermen were gaining ground and able to bring their superior weaponry to bear. Nasty...

Cyberman viewpoint along the road

Sgt Benton falls, the Brigadier fails a morale test and starts to run!

At this point the good side had about 4 figures left and the Cybermen had breached the village.

The stunned (quite literally) Leela looks on as the Doctor finally completes his invention. A quick d6 roll shows it to be a weapon designed to take out Cybermen with ease! Hurrah! Just a shame it is a little late...

A view of the village and UNIT corpses...

A Cyberman makes his ominous way along a hedgerow.

The Brigadier looks on, helpless in the face of the Cyberman advance.

"Delete! Delete!" The Brigadier falls!

The Doctor and companians make a last ditch effort to stop the Cybermen.

Regeneration time... the Doctor falls.

So, the good side didn't do too well at all. It all seemed to be going okay at the start and I rolled some excellent damage dice against the Cybermen, but when they got close enough to use their slightly shorter range weaponry they really started to take a toll on my forces.

The Doctor was fairly slow in creating an invention and by the time he did, most of the UNIT force was dead. The Master didn't have much luck with finding what he was after, but in the end it didn't matter too much! UNIT definitely should have tried to avoid the full on firefight with the Cybermen.

Final Victory Points: Bad Guys 12, Good Guys 1. But a very fun game!