Post
by Panzer21 » 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