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Post by jhonpog on Aug 29, 2019 0:06:37 GMT
Hey all after a long absence from wargaming I have recently been getting back into the hobby, especially the hobby part of the hobby. Rather than returning to 25mm/28mm I've found myself more drawn to the one true scale and I'm not 100% sure why So I'm curious to know why others got into this particular scale over others. It seems a hell of alot more challenging. ok fire away!
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Post by rupertm on Aug 29, 2019 8:18:05 GMT
Good question! I started 1/32 scale a few years back after I was offered a joblot of Blue Box Elite Command Romans and from there one thing led to another and I now have several ancient armies. I find them a nice change from smaller scales (which I also collect) and easier to paint. For me the main challenges are storage, size of gaming table and finding suitable figures. Although for the latter I do like converting figures and tracking down what I need so it adds rather than detracts from the enjoyment.
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Post by v on Aug 29, 2019 8:44:58 GMT
I used to have a massive collection of 54mm Wild West figures and buildings which we used extensively. The reason I loved 'em so much was that playing with them took me back to the sixties when I was a kid! These days I can put on a FFofL skirmish with Britains Deetail WW2 figures with a couple of vehicles kicking about. But my 'main force' in big boy's toys are sci-fi figures. I've got the Doctor, Brigadier and U.N.I.T. soldiers to defend Earth. Outer Space is guarded by a brigade of Stargard Troopers. These worthies take on assorted Britains Deetail evil aliens, Corgi Daleks and Cyberman. To answer the question as to why you are 'drawn to the one true scale', it's because You're... Peter Pan... the boy that never grew up!
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Post by leswhite on Aug 29, 2019 12:34:13 GMT
54mm is THE toy soldier size and since I wargame with toy soldiers this is what I use, and always have since the '60's. It does have its' challenges as the makers don't like to finish off ranges as they don't understand the business , but this can prove to be quite a satisfying part of the Hobby , which includes modelling and painting, working out how to fill gaps. Also it's too late to change to another size now, too much stock lying around 54mm games look more impressive on a table and you don't need a lot of figures, accessories or a large table to have a interesting and fun game.
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Post by Mike Lewis on Aug 29, 2019 13:21:46 GMT
I started with 54mm at the age of 12 when I found Little Wars in the library and so it has a nostalgic appeal because of that.
I find the lack of figures, the 'having to hunt around and convert things' appealing in a day where you can now get ANYTHING you want in other scales - most of it in a box as a complete game that doesn't require you to research or think for yourself. 54mm is nostalgic in that respect as it brings back the early days of wargaming in the 1970s, Battle for Wargamers and converting airfix with plasticine!
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Post by Mike Blake on Aug 29, 2019 13:23:52 GMT
This is the short version. In early adulthood in the early 60s I discovered that you could actually play wargames with rules, as opposed to moving a few 54mm figures about and blowing them up with fireworks (outside!) as I had done in my childhood. This was Airfix 1/72 and Don Featherstone's first wargames book. I stayed with the smaller scales, and went into metal as well as plastic, different periods, stared a wargames club in Bristol...
A wargaming buddy wanted to fight the Gunfight at the OK Corral, another friend voluntered to write some 1:1 figure:man rules and so then all we needed were the figures.
They didn't really exist in small scales - Airfix cowboys just didn't look right with 4 on one side and 6 on the other - and there were no buildings anyway. The best toyshop in Whiteladies Road was Dawsons, near where one of the others lived - he recalled seeing some Britains and Timpo Cowboys there, and even some buildings! He funded a raid and...the rest is bunkum as they say.
Still PLAY in all other scales, but only collect and make in 54mm, 60 years later, don't regret it for a moment.
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Post by jhonpog on Aug 29, 2019 21:25:22 GMT
I agree there's something very appealing to me about how the figures display vs smaller scales.
I like many of you love the challenge of trying to add to my collections as I am trying to improve my sculpting/ converting etc etc.
And you're right V there's a big nostaglia/ peter pan factor in using this scale. Those old airfix and britains figures are hard to beat.
Thanks for all the replies very interesting.
I'm just starting to build terrain, I have a fairly big dinning room table. But I can see terrain being a bit of a challenge depending on how fussy I want to be:)
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Post by aducknamedjoe on Aug 30, 2019 3:09:07 GMT
Since 54mm is "army men" scale, and those are what I grew up playing with in the sandbox, I just never *stopped* playing and so 54mm it is. Plus, you can't take those namby-pamby, painted-and-glued-together "scale model miniatures" out in the dirt and stick 'em in trenches without some delicate part breaking off
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Post by Mike Lewis on Aug 30, 2019 9:30:48 GMT
I'm just starting to build terrain, I have a fairly big dinning room table. But I can see terrain being a bit of a challenge depending on how fussy I want to be:) I think the advantage of accepting that we are playing with Toy Soldiers is that you can abstract the terrain - it doesn't have to be realistic or be the correct footprint. Hence my squared terrain with abstract fields an built up areas for the Portable Wargame...
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Post by Mike Blake on Aug 30, 2019 10:30:03 GMT
Some people call it chess with a thousand pieces...I call it playing with toy soldiers.
We've just played a great scratch SF Judge Dredd vs Daleks game using a mix of board game tiles, floor tiles and cut up plastic shelf lining for corridors. Did it look great? No, not really. Was it a great game? Absolutely!
When in doubt - improvise.
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Post by jhonpog on Sept 1, 2019 3:00:47 GMT
Some people call it chess with a thousand pieces...I call it playing with toy soldiers. We've just played a great scratch SF Judge Dredd vs Daleks game using a mix of board game tiles, floor tiles and cut up plastic shelf lining for corridors. Did it look great? No, not really. Was it a great game? Absolutely! When in doubt - improvise. Hey Mike what Judge Dredd figures did you use? Proxies?
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Post by jhonpog on Sept 1, 2019 3:07:25 GMT
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Post by Mike Blake on Sept 1, 2019 14:18:24 GMT
Hey Mike what Judge Dredd figures did you use? Proxies? No - real JD figures! There were a whole load of them - 60mm 1/30th rather than 'true' 54, but they mix fine IMHO. We have a personal alter ego judge each, plus the usual mix of standard named judges from the stories. There are Perp figures too - and just about any crudy looking figure can be greened-up to add to them. Some of the Fortnite figures are usable for example.
Shall I start a new JD thread and post more info and photos of figures and games? I'll dig out the name of the maker too.
I have a biker Perp gang WIP because we have the judges on motorbikes too (these were made by the same maker in the JD range).
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Post by oldsilly on Sept 1, 2019 14:32:35 GMT
When our son developed an interest in toy soldiers at around the age of 5, I realised that resistance was useless and the appeal of the one true toy soldier scale was irresistible. They look good, they paint easily they convert well and they game like true toys should. 24 years later the old 25mm metal stuff is still in the loft, and the plastic invasion continues.....
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Post by jhonpog on Sept 1, 2019 20:48:03 GMT
Hey Mike what Judge Dredd figures did you use? Proxies?
Shall I start a new JD thread and post more info and photos of figures and games? I'll dig out the name of the maker too.
yes please
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