David Reasoner wrote: ↑10 Feb 2018, 16:53
We once did quite a bit of 6mm Cold War gaming using the old GDW Combined Arms rules, but that died out shortly after the Cold War did.
I also ran a 1980's "banana republic" sort of imagi-nations campaign in 20mm that lasted off and on from 1989 until 2004 before finally dying off. Still have the miniatures from it (along with the 1/700 scale navies that went with it) in storage. The initial inspiration was the old board game "Junta" in a pseudo South American setting, but the player countries and their miniature armed forces quickly outgrew the original concept.
David
Junta??? Well that brought back some memories, the most Machiavellian game I have ever played, and such fun! You are even encouraged to cheat, it said so in the rule book.....
I got hooked with the stuff published for Twilight 2000, in particular the U.S. and Soviet vehicle guides; the former included Frank Chadwick's 1/87 conversions. I remember being particularly taken with the idea of combined Mexican and Soviet invasion of Texas (Division Cuba v 49th National Guard).
At that time, unless you went for micro armour, you were very limited for larger scales. However, Roco Minitanks were undergoing a bit of a renaissance, producing lots of what was then cutting edge (M1 Abrahms and M2 Bradley) equipment. It was readily available, relatively cheap and superbly detailed (I'm still impressed by the fact you can raise and lower the missile launcher on the Bradley). So that decided things. Around the same time, GDW released Combined Arms, with pictures of Frank Chadwick's 1/87 kit used with "20 mm" figures. That determined my collecting from then onwards.
I've thought about changing scales, but have a nostalgic connection to my Roco stuff, so stayed with it.
I've managed to add all sorts of stuff, including Soviet, over the years. Recently I have revisited it with a view to using it for "operational" level games (such as Megablitz). Being a butterfly, I have branched out all over the place. No longer just US v USSR, but also other NATO, such as Germans and Danish. Also Iran / Iraq, fictional South America and ex-Soviet states and more recently, Arab-Israeli (converting / scratch building almost all the IDF - much like the real thing!) and along cherished dream of Lebanon in the 1980s (managed to find some 3D printed 1/87 Merkava I). I still get excited by this scale; in need of AMX13s, I managed to find some crude plastic models from Italy (made in France!) and was able to scratch a couple more using them as templates.
I use 20mm figures, which may offend some people's sensibilities, but frankly don't care. Two or three figures on a stand aren't exactly an accurate representation of either a platoon or a battalion, depending on the rules you use, so the fact that they don't exactly match the vehicle scale is neither here nor there IMHO.
Neil
CarlL wrote: ↑07 Feb 2018, 20:45
I forgot playing AK47 too in Africa somewhere in 20mm but thats ages ago too.............. memories!
CarlL with Goldfish memory
Panzer21 wrote: ↑11 Feb 2018, 16:45
I got hooked with the stuff published for Twilight 2000, in particular the U.S. and Soviet vehicle guides; the former included Frank Chadwick's 1/87 conversions. I remember being particularly taken with the idea of combined Mexican and Soviet invasion of Texas (Division Cuba v 49th National Guard).
At that time, unless you went for micro armour, you were very limited for larger scales. However, Roco Minitanks were undergoing a bit of a renaissance, producing lots of what was then cutting edge (M1 Abrahms and M2 Bradley) equipment. It was readily available, relatively cheap and superbly detailed (I'm still impressed by the fact you can raise and lower the missile launcher on the Bradley). So that decided things. Around the same time, GDW released Combined Arms, with pictures of Frank Chadwick's 1/87 kit used with "20 mm" figures. That determined my collecting from then onwards.
I've thought about changing scales, but have a nostalgic connection to my Roco stuff, so stayed with it.
I've managed to add all sorts of stuff, including Soviet, over the years. Recently I have revisited it with a view to using it for "operational" level games (such as Megablitz). Being a butterfly, I have branched out all over the place. No longer just US v USSR, but also other NATO, such as Germans and Danish. Also Iran / Iraq, fictional South America and ex-Soviet states and more recently, Arab-Israeli (converting / scratch building almost all the IDF - much like the real thing!) and along cherished dream of Lebanon in the 1980s (managed to find some 3D printed 1/87 Merkava I). I still get excited by this scale; in need of AMX13s, I managed to find some crude plastic models from Italy (made in France!) and was able to scratch a couple more using them as templates.
I use 20mm figures, which may offend some people's sensibilities, but frankly don't care. Two or three figures on a stand aren't exactly an accurate representation of either a platoon or a battalion, depending on the rules you use, so the fact that they don't exactly match the vehicle scale is neither here nor there IMHO.
Neil
Interesting insights......my first ever AFV, was given to me by my maternal grandma, long before I encountered wargaming or even kits iirc, a Roco Minitanks Kingtiger... maybe that’s where it all started. Years later she also gave me some money one Xmas which I spent on a book called Battle, Practical Wargaming, and the rest as they say, is history. Ta Grandma!
Operation Warboard was the first published ruleset I ever encountered as well, a copy borrowed from our local library, circa 1978-79.
Roco Minitanks were a major part of the mix as well, my Roco Cromwells looking quite tiny next to the Matchbox Comets and ESCI Shermans, etc. Although I weeded out most of the 1/87 scale stuff from my WW2 collection ages ago, a great deal of Roco stuff lingers on in the 1980's imagi-nations armies mentioned earlier, for lack of proper 20mm alternatives at the time.
I used to do a lot of 6mm moderns under the old WRG rules (shudder). These days most of my modern gaming is 28mm skirmish using Black Ops. I wouldn't mind getting back into 6mm moderns, but IMO there's a lack of good rulesets around for battalion and up in the modern period.
We like the Cold War Commander game. It plays well and seems to give a satisfactory game and period feel. Might not be perfect, but it's very playable.
maybe that’s where it all started. Years later she also gave me some money one Xmas which I spent on a book called Battle, Practical Wargaming, and the rest as they say, is history. Ta Grandma!