Is 20mm the unloved ginger child of WW2 Wargaming?

This is for Mark really, but I think it may be interesting to see what others think.

I started wargaming in 20mm. I think that is true for most of us who grew up in the 70s and early 80s in the UK. It is almost impossible to explain just how limited your options were as a wargamer in those days. Initially it was just one word. Airfix

I know there were other manufacturers out there making metal models, but if you were like me a young lad the chance of ever discovering them was slim, and even if you were aware you still needed to write and send a self addressed envelope (and possibly a postal order) to get a typed and un-illustrated catalogue. Luckily we had Airfix, and it was available in just about every newsagent and toy shop in the country.

Airfix were the main supporter of my wargaming from the start. That meant for most "periods" their soft plastic 20mm (1:76) figures or polystyrene kits, supported by their rule books initially loaned from the library and illicitly photocopied.

WW2 was the big interest for me. After all the war ended only 30 years before and we all had family members who had taken part. It was possible to play other periods of course, and the idea of fighting Agincourt using just the figures available in the two "Robin Hood" boxes must have occurred,  but the main arena was WW2. Choice was, well, limited. Airfix had a vast breadth of range, but it did lack depth. Germans could happily fill their order of battle with Panzer IVs, Panthers and Tigers, and the ubiquitous German Recce set provided a Kubel and 222, but that was about it. Similarly the Brits could get their hands on a Churchill, Sherman, Crusader and Matilda. This made for exciting times if you were so inclined, trying to convert a passable Cromwell out of plasticard and the wheels from a Crusader etc. Later, Matchbox joined the fray, adding such much needed kits as a Panzer II and III, and a Sherman Firefly. All of this was in what we now call 20mm, and as a WW2 wargamer there was nothing to compete.

But today 20mm is rapidly shrinking into the shadows. Initially 15mm, then more recently 28mm have dominated WW2 gaming. 20mm still survives, but it is no longer the first choice for me and many others, so why is that?

Firstly I should say in many ways it IS the logical scale of choice for some games. Availability of cheap plastic kits in an amazing variety, some, such as those by Dragon are available painted to a standard most of us could only dream of. Figures have also come a long way, and figures by companies such as AB are frankly streets ahead of most of their 28mm rivals in terms of detail and animation. Range is also very comprehensive. In 28mm I only know of one manufacturer makes Belgian infantry, not so in 20mm. Try finding a Sdkfz 132 Marder II in 28mm, no problem in 20mm. Price is also VERY alluring - 20mm kits being equivalently priced to 15mm ones, and usually a fraction of a 28mm one.

The problem is the tyranny of the masses. 15mm has blossomed with popular rules like Flames of War rapidly dominating the market at the "Company" level of gaming. 28mm has followed suit at "Platoon" level even if Bolt Action has a very suspect concept of what a Platoon actually was. What that means is that if you want to play a WW2 game, those scales are where you will have the best chance of finding an opponent. And that, sadly, is a fairly huge factor. OK if your club or group want to either stick with 20mm or start afresh, but once you are in, you are committing to a very fixed group, and if, as often happens, you fall out or move on, then you may end up trying to play solo.

I would also add I like 28mm as a scale to paint. As I grow older I can no longer conceive of painting some of the smaller scales to a standard I would be happy with. That may not include 20mm yet, but it is getting there. And then there is the spectacle. a Tiger in 28mm is quite a lump of eye candy in a way 20mm cant quite manage.

And of course, once you commit to 28mm, it makes little sense to play other scales for similar projects. I'm excited at the soon to be released Chain of Command Fall of France expansion. If I were starting from scratch I may conciser 20mm, (edit - I originally typed 28mm instead of 20mm) but I'm not. I already have quite a bit of 28mm kit that will port over, and a group who prefer to play in 28mm (and another local group who would look puzzled at the thought of playing in 20mm).

So that is why, with some sadness, I wont be starting 20mm again. Sorry Mark, it just does not make sense to me, but I understand why you make the suggestion.

Comments please - let's try and discuss

Taking the CoC Challenge

Richard Clarke of Two Fat Lardie fame has issued a challenge to non CoC players to try out CoC. Clearly this rules me out as I already play, but my mate Andy doesn't, so I casually asked if he fancied trying them out - Gotcha :-)

Of course now I need something to generate a scenario. The game was to be played at Asgard Games in Middlesbrough using their terrain, but the toys will be down to me and my Minion Paul, so Brits vs Germans is a good idea.

So now for a scenario. The game was going to play Wednesday evening, 9th September, so on a whim I thought I would look at what was happening in 1944, and struck it lucky. Not only is there a viable scenario, it involves Andy's old Regiment, Alexandra, Princess of Wales Own Yorkshire Regiment, or as they are more commonly known, The Green Howards.

In September 44 6&7 Bttn were part of 69 Brigade 50th Infantry Division, along with their neighbours 6 DLI, On the night of the 7/8th September 1944 they paddled across the Albert Canal and started towards the town of Gheel next morning - so a perfect opportunity for a scenario if I could get a bit more details. Not a problem as someone else has done the donkey work - in this case a Gent by the name of Ulf Norman who posted some details on a project he had been working on for the computer game Combat Mission which he posted up here . A little bit of Google Earth plus some searching for on line maps and I was all set...

to be continued

Six years old again

I was "working" the Battleground show in Stockton this weekend doing a demo on the Hawk Wargames stand. Just after arriving I took a stroll around and there, looking up at me from a box of plastic kits, was a bit of my childhood.

It was an Airfix 1:72 Scale Series 5 Handley Page 0-400. This always held a special place in my heart. I think the kit was released somewhere in the late 1960s. When I was a young boy my grandfather would walk me to the newsagents on a Sunday morning and buy me an Airfix kit, which we would solemnly assemble that afternoon. I must have gone through hundreds of kits, but two always stick in my mind, the Sunderland and the HP 0-400. The reason for this is that these two were both on the top shelf behind the counter, and importantly in the section of the shop that doubled as a Post Office. Post Offices were shut on Sundays, so even if I got the chance at a Series 5 (not that it happened often, I was usually restricted to Series 1&2) we couldn't buy it because the Post Office was locked up.

I must have spent months staring up at the box, which showed the HP being attacked by a number of red Fokker Triplanes. The box was enormous, and being out of reach made it even more special. I could go to the shop through the week, but only on Sunday with Grandad, so I never managed to get one...sob!

The kit was re-released in the 1980s in a lacklustre red stripe box. Sadly at this time I was doing the sixth form \ university thing and my mind was elsewhere. It was released again in 2012 but the box was wrong, I needed the original or nothing at all. On occasion I have seen them on ebay bit they go for silly prices.

Anyway, a small amount of haggling later and I was the proud owner of my very own HP 0-400!!! The chap said he thought it was complete bit couldn't guarantee it, but at that point I couldn't care less, it was mine.

So I have it in front of me now.

I can say I feel pretty happy when I look at it. Its great to finally get hold of something you dreamed of as a child, and it brings back some lovely warm memories of my halcyon days with my Grandad. I also have to say the box must have shrunk, because it used to look huge to my childs eyes.

I've opened it, and yes, I think it looks complete, and looking at the number of parts (167!) this is no easy build kit - I shudder to think what me and Grandad would have made of it back then if we ever had managed to get it out of the Post Office.

The thing is, should I try building it, or is it better to leave it as it is as a memento? I'm tempted to do the latter. Sometimes it is good to have unfulfilled dreams, and it wont be the same without Grandad

Chain of Command Supports (2) Ready to Roll \ Rapid Fire

Not the Dinky Diecast Daimler Dingo's (DDDD or 4D?) I should add.

These are a pair of Bren Carriers and a Humber MkIV from Rapid Fire \ Ready to Roll range, pic also shows the "de-crewed" Valiant 6Pdr. They were bought because they are supposed to be closest to Valiant Miniatures in size \ scale. The static grass is still loose btw and needs work, and there is a fair amount of decalling and detailing to be done if I can be arsed. I think the Carriers are OK but the Humber is still too small for my liking. I'll still use them though.

I would add the Ready to Roll stuff is OK. Less work required than to build a plastic kit, but at the expense of detail and the fact they have a solid resin base. I think they are a stepping stone between the old metal wargaming products (Hinchcliffe \ Skytrex etc) and the new plastic stuff (PSC). They come ready with stowage so all you need do is paint them.

The whole scale \ size thing drives me to distraction. While I appreciate that the height of a man may vary from person to person, the length of a Lee Enfield, or a Bren Carrier on the whole does not. You would therefore assume that getting a suitable scale model would not be too much of a challenge. The problem is we have become used to accepting "20mm" and "25mm" as a scale, which they are not. Valiant are the worse culprits, being too big for "20mm", too small for "25mm" and certainly not 1:72 scale, which is what they say on the box. I should follow that up with some more on Valiant as I have a love\hate relationship with them that is probably worth a few lines and even if not helpful or enlightening to the reader it will probably be cathartic for me :-)

Ongoing Projects

I have a series of ongoing projects which I will detail here, mainly to provide comfort to similar souls who have too much unpainted toy soldiers and not enough time, so here in no particular order..............

Battlefront WW2 (Fire & Fury) in 15mm
Still the best Battalion level WW2 game out there, and much beloved here in the Kommisar House. I have a number of 15mm projects either stalled or making slow progress. I'm building up a couple of Manoeuvre Elements (ME's in BFSpeak, or Companies in English) using the rather nice Zvezda 1:100 Art of Tactic plastic models for the Blitzkrieg period, with the aim of doing a Panzer Battalion for France 1940 that can also double up with some replacements to be used in Russia in 1941. Then there is the much delayed Cromwell Squadron, and the other "Funnies" to finish the Breaching Team, and the Recce Squadron.....

.....and the Katyusha Battery (more Zvezda, with some Peter Pig crew). This one is pretty much 95% done, but has been for over a year.

Moving away from the figures and stuff, I have two outstanding scenarios to finish, Operation Clipper, which is a full on Regimental attack scenario, and The White House, a follow up to a scenario I wrote re the assault on the Administrative Building at Stalingrad

Phew this is cathartic :-)

Then I have some stuff to paint for Chain of Command. I have to finish up some British support options - mainly a 6Pdr and crew from Valiant Miniatures and some Rapid Fire \ Ready to Roll Universal Carriers. Then I have a platoon or so of German infantry, and then a US Platoon, and finally a platoon of Finns from the Baker Company Winter War Kickstarter. I'm sure more of that will come later.

Dropzone Commander
My current priority is to get some more games of DZC played and finish painting my Scourge Army. My UCM Army is about done, at least until the next new toys arrive...

I really like DZC. The pace and urban setting are so unlike other games, and the models are very nice

Impetus - 28mm Ancients
Not a lot to do here ;0) Finish my Hussites - these need another 4 war wagons painting, and some crew (memo to self get some female Hussites from Kingmaker Miniatures). Then the Thracians. These started out well just after Christmas and I got 31 of the target 100 painted, but then distraction has set in. We have a tournament in November that these guys are entering so I may have to revive that particular production line. Then finish my War of the Roses "Uncle Dicky" army - basically add another 100 points or so

7TV
We like the lunacy that 7TV creates. My cast is based around the bad guys from Big Trouble in Little China. Currently got enough basic Wing Kong thugs painted, plus a version of David LoPan as my villain. I have another Avatar of LoPan to paint, plus some serious Martial Arts guys. Then I need to build the warehouse that acts as a cover for their underground secret lair.............

So as you can see I'm pretty busy, or rather I have a lot of plans. Just about all the lead needed for everything mentioned is bought and currently resting gently. If I can complete a couple of these projects by the year end I think I will be content.

Unless of course something else grabs the attention of my butterfly like mind..............

Cheers