This looks interesting. Modern small-unit tactical minis set in the Pacific.
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/535186969/empress-miniatures-devil-dogs-and-dragons-28mm-fig?ref=category
Not my cup of tea genre wise but they are some cool looking minis.
Watching this with interest having just ordered "Force on Force" and so still looking for a set of modern mini's at a reasonable cost-
Quote from: GJK on June 18, 2013, 09:02:38 PM
Watching this with interest having just ordered "Force on Force"
?
Quote from: Toonces on June 18, 2013, 11:10:29 PM
Quote from: GJK on June 18, 2013, 09:02:38 PM
Watching this with interest having just ordered "Force on Force"
?
?? - Those are mini's that would work perfectly with FoF. I need to decide if my son and I are going to get into FoF enough to spend the $100+ on these (or other) mini's. Little plastic army men may do us just fine for now. That's what I meant.
GJK, your other option might be Micro Armor. It's quite cheap. The scale would be way off, but other than that it should be fairly workable.
I actually picked up a few sets of these:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00BHO9AG8/ref=oh_details_o00_s00_i00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00BHO9AG8/ref=oh_details_o00_s00_i00?ie=UTF8&psc=1)
What I'll do is make bases for the units but what I want to do is make a base with a pair of nails (or brass braids actually) that stick up. I will drill small holes through the feet of the figures and this way they can "stand" on the bases and also can be easily removed for when there are casualties or one foot could go on the braid and the figure could be put in a kneeling position. I may have to take pictures of it once I have put some together to better explain.
The scale is obviously larger than the 28mm the is most commonly used with FonF, but that system doesn't have any scale restrictions (range isn't really used) so they should work ok. I just need to find some figures of roughly the same scale for the "irregulars".
The biggest issue with changing the scale is a lot of games use literal LOS for targeting. That is, if you can see the mini, you have LOS. using 3" minis can cause some breaks in that "realism" but honestly, I don't have a lot of issue with it so long as you incorporate common sense.
I have some friends who play a lot of Command Decision and they use Flames of War scale minis for the infantry but 1:72 scale tanks. Why? They like tanks and enjoy showing off their painting skills. And they look awfully cool on a colossal map.
Ok - so I was reading the FonF forums and it seems that most people recommend 1:72 (20mm) scale because of the vast availability of models and it's cheap. So sure enough, I found a site that has plastic 1:72 modern figures and got packs of 40+ figures each of USMC, Special Forces and Taliban fighters for about $10 ea. I'll just have lots of painting to do, which I will enjoy. I had a blast painting the figures for my copy of Blood Bowl recently.
In that scale, I should be able to pick up helo's, tanks, APC's or whatever very easily. Buildings and terrain should be easy too because from what I understand, 1:72 is fairly close to HO scale.
Oh, and to stay on the topic of these USMC mini's - those look really nice but I'm just not sure I'd want to spend $100+ bucks for a set of them. I'll have to study the kickstarter project though; if you get 50+ mini's if many/most of the stretch goals are reached, then that would be something to really look at I suppose. I think that I'll be happy with the plastic mini's however (which are really more in theme for FonF anyways).
Quote from: GJK on June 19, 2013, 01:01:00 PMBuildings and terrain should be easy too because from what I understand, 1:72 is fairly close to HO scale.
You can use HO and 1:72 and 1:76 pretty much interchangeably.
1:72 is one of the most popular model scales out there, and I've got a metric monkey-load of figures in that scale from when I was growing up.
I just walked out of my local Hobby Lobby. Picked up a roll of "desert sand" vinyl mat and a few other desert terrain items. Almost picked up an Apache 64 at 1:72nd scale for $15 but I can probably pick it up for less if I shop around. I should be able to build some little shanty town buildings out of foamboard I'm thinking. My son has been talking about how cool it would be to get into miniatures for playing and he LOVES modern era stuff (Enduring Freedom, etc) so he's going to sh#t when he comes home from his summer vacation to see the downstairs tables all set up for play. Can't wait! :)
Gary - you gotta come to Southern Front this year: http://www.trianglesimsociety.org/?page_id=6
Two-cents, the first:
Empress Miniatures make some beautiful stuff. I was tempted to buy some of their Zulu war stuff just so I could build a "Thin Red Line" vignette.
Two-cents, the second:
As much as I love 28mm, 1/72 seems the way to go with modern stuff. It's a shame more companies aren't making more hard-plastic ranges, but perhaps that will eventually emerge. In the meantime, if you want to incorporate more than 1 or 2 modern vehicles into your FoF games, I think you pretty much need to go 1/72. Although having said THAT...I have played a couple of "all infantry" games of FoF and it is a great game system for modern skirmish actions.
Two cents, the third:
I don't want to sound hyper-cheap...but a one nice and affordable way to build out your FoF buildings and even vehicles is by using paper models. Lots of stuff available for free or cheap on-line.
regards,
Jack Nastyface
Quote from: bayonetbrant on June 19, 2013, 03:42:38 PM
Gary - you gotta come to Southern Front this year: http://www.trianglesimsociety.org/?page_id=6 (http://www.trianglesimsociety.org/?page_id=6)
Oh wow, that looks like it will be an awesome time! And I was just in NC as you know. I do have some vacation time acrued....hell, let me see what I can do. I'll keep you posted!
Quote from: Jack Nastyface on June 19, 2013, 04:35:53 PM
Two-cents, the first:
Empress Miniatures make some beautiful stuff. I was tempted to buy some of their Zulu war stuff just so I could build a "Thin Red Line" vignette.
Two-cents, the second:
As much as I love 28mm, 1/72 seems the way to go with modern stuff. It's a shame more companies aren't making more hard-plastic ranges, but perhaps that will eventually emerge. In the meantime, if you want to incorporate more than 1 or 2 modern vehicles into your FoF games, I think you pretty much need to go 1/72. Although having said THAT...I have played a couple of "all infantry" games of FoF and it is a great game system for modern skirmish actions.
Two cents, the third:
I don't want to sound hyper-cheap...but a one nice and affordable way to build out your FoF buildings and even vehicles is by using paper models. Lots of stuff available for free or cheap on-line.
regards,
Jack Nastyface
Good stuff - thanks for this info. I spoke to my son on the phone tonight and told him about FonF and what I've gotten so far and he's super excited to give it a spin (as am I). I agree, it seems that 1:72 is the super easy way to go. Maybe a little small for my tastes, but it will work out ok. I'm already thinking of a way to make fireteam bases that will easily allow the removal of individual men for casualties while being "sturdy" enough to move as a whole unit and not have them fall off.
I'll begin my Google search after I send this for paper buildings. I've done quite a bit of research on FonF scenarios and have seen some great pictures of mini's here on this forum (AAR section) and this one as well: http://wargamesandrailroads.blogspot.com/2012/07/force-on-force-us-army-vs-taliban.html
Those buildings look easy enough to construct.
Ok so I stumbled onto Force on Force on Amazon today, so I know what you're talking about.
Where did you get the plastic 1/72 figures? From the little I read it seems that 20mm is popular for FoF and 28mm is popular for Bolt Action which I was also looking at. 28mm seems to correspond to plastic army man size, and I was looking for some rules to goof off with those. I have a bucket of about 200 of them in my son's room.
28mm is interchangeable w/ 1:72
Ok, found this discussion on 20mm vs 28mm: http://theminiaturespage.com/boards/msg.mv?id=56892
Seems that 20mm is their choice as well.
If 28mm is Army men size, then there's no way it's compatible with 20mm/1:72. I may be misreading you here Brant-
A 20mm figure is just about an inch in size or maybe just under actually.
Toonces: I found several boxes of figures at Hobbylinc.com. Here's one of ones that I ordered for example:
http://www.hobbylinc.com/htm/cmf/cmf58.htm
I also got the Afghan Mujihadeen fighters:
http://www.hobbylinc.com/htm/maf/maf72002.htm
And another "US Elite Force".
just saying that when you're pressed for figures to play a game, you can mix and match 28mm and 1:72 to get your dice on.
I wouldn't mix them if I was making a museum-quality diorama, but to sling dice over a firefight on a Saturday afternoon? No prob.
Oh LORD no! If I lacquer and clip my counters, laminate the charts and maps for my boardgames, then there's just no way that I'm mixing 20mm with 28mm when playing with mini's!! :)
I'd personally rather paint and play with 28mm but if you price metal 28mm figures and compare that to what you can get in plastic 20mm, there's just no comparison unless money is not an issue.
Quote from: GJK on June 20, 2013, 08:30:09 AM
Oh LORD no! If I lacquer and clip my counters, laminate the charts and maps for my boardgames, then there's just no way that I'm mixing 20mm with 28mm when playing with mini's!! :)
Gary doesn't suffer from OCD.
He has CDO, which has the letters in alphabetical order, like they should be.
Yes, true. Everything else is in complete turmoil and disorganized save for my wargame collection which I pamper to no end. Go figure. :D
And go check out this table....I would LOVE to have something that looks half that good. Hell, a quarter of that even! Looks like a lot of fun too.
http://boardgamegeek.com/image/1588299/force-on-force?size=original
I was wrong, plastic army men are 54mm not 28mm. Not sure how I made that mistake. :o
If I have time I'm going to head to the LFS and see what he has WRT rules and figures. I'm certain this guy has to have 1:72 modern minis somewhere.
Quote from: Toonces on June 20, 2013, 08:30:43 PMNot sure how I made that mistake.
you're in Hawaii and had your mind on other things?
I picked up an M1A2 Abrams today at my FLGS. It's from the "Forces of Valor" line and is at 1:72. Cost $9.
LOTS of WW2 stuff at 1:72 as you would expect but the only scale that really covered modern stuff was 1:35th scale. I could of gone crazy at that scale. I'll have to keep looking online for cheap 1:72 stuff (I need some HMMWV's and probably some Bradley's eventually. The important thing is I have the squads/fireteams covered for both the US and insurgents.
Also picked up a "desert terrain" play mat (yesterday actually) and some telephone poles (they were $4 and will add to the aesthetics). I think that I'll get some balsa wood to construct the buildings.
HO scale palm trees were $21 for three trees. Crazy. I'll have to shop for some of those but if not, no biggie.
Check model stores for HO scale models. They'll also have a ton of model railroad terrain that can be used, too.
you might also find this one useful: http://www.plasticsoldierreview.com/Index.aspx
You have, of course, been checking out Nevermore's excellent pics of the modern war stuff they are doing at Grimsby? It's in the boardgame AAR forum.
Oh yes - that's what got me all into this new kick!
I was hoping that the rulebook/scenario book would arrive yesterday but they did not. Probably tomorrow. It's ok though, I was a bad boy and poked around and found a pdf of the rules so I've been "pre-reading" them. A simple game for sure. If it were a mapboard and counters, I don't think that it would be popular at all but as a set of miniature rules (along with the mini's) it looks like it'll be quite fun.
I was looking for the right color paint for my M1A2 that I need to build and was surprised that it was hard to find the right color "desert sand". I did some Googling and found the right number for the paint so I'll go back to my hobby store and pick that up this week.
The figures should be in this week as well and that will be lot's of painting and mounting on stands. Not bad - it gives me something to do while my son is away on summer vacation. :)
There were a variety of Forces of Valor figs sold through Target a few years ago with a bunch of modern (Gulf II) vehicles/figs at both 1:35 and 1:72 scale, but with a limited number of figs in the vehicle packs, and so a limited number of poses.
Not sure where to find them now that Target's not carrying them anymore, though.
Yup - it was a Force of Valor M1A2 that I found at my hobby shop for $10 but that's all that they had. Already checked my local target and unless they're not in the toys section, there was nothing related to models or model making there. I did find some online that I may order but with shipping it's a bit more than I wanted to pay.
Quote from: GJK on June 23, 2013, 01:44:38 PM
Yup - it was a Force of Valor M1A2 that I found at my hobby shop for $10 but that's all that they had. Already checked my local target and unless they're not in the toys section, there was nothing related to models or model making there. I did find some online that I may order but with shipping it's a bit more than I wanted to pay.
I've got a Forces of Valor Jagdpanzer and AH-64, both new in box. Afraid I plan on keeping them, though...
Quote from: LongBlade on June 23, 2013, 04:25:04 PM
Quote from: GJK on June 23, 2013, 01:44:38 PM
Yup - it was a Force of Valor M1A2 that I found at my hobby shop for $10 but that's all that they had. Already checked my local target and unless they're not in the toys section, there was nothing related to models or model making there. I did find some online that I may order but with shipping it's a bit more than I wanted to pay.
I've got a Forces of Valor Jagdpanzer and AH-64, both new in box. Afraid I plan on keeping them, though...
Well that was a tease!
I've found an acceptable AH-64. It's at 1:60 scale I believe so a little off and even though I'm anal about things like that I may be forced to use whatever I can find. I'm really in the market for some 1:72 HMMWV's which I'm having problems locating online even at a decent price (I'm not paying $30 for a little plastic car, sorry!).
Terrain I'm picking up a little bit at a time. I've found some video's on making buildings out of foamboard/styrofoam so those will be some upcoming weekend projects.
Also thinking of making a custom pitch for my Blood Bowl game - but that's a whole 'nother topic....
I'll take a look for the Humvees the next time I'm at the LGS; shipping would probably make it cost prohibitive to pick them up here and mail to you, but I'll look anyway and we can go from there if you're interested.
What kind of price range are you looking at?
Quote from: GJK on June 23, 2013, 07:52:50 PMI'm really in the market for some 1:72 HMMWV's which I'm having problems locating online even at a decent price (I'm not paying $30 for a little plastic car, sorry!).
see if this gets you anywhere
http://www.dragonmodelsusa.com/dmlusa/prodd.asp?pid=DRA7297
http://www.dragonmodelsusa.com/dmlusa/prodd.asp?pid=CON7513
Those would be perfect brant. The "store locator" shows that the Killeen store that I've visited before has them so next time that I'm up that way I'll go have a look. No prices listed so no idea what they're going for. What would I pay? If it's of the same quality as this Abrams that I bought (plastic model, no frills) then about the same -$10 for a single hummer. That twin pack looks good - I assume that they are plastic. I would guess about $15-$17 for that one. I'll find out.
I think I've seen the Dragon twin pack for about $15 Cdn. You might be able to find it for less on line somewhere. Here's a good review of the kit:
http://www.armorama.com/modules.php?op=modload&name=Reviews&file=index&req=showcontent&id=1125
IMHO...probably the BEST on line resource for 1/72 modelling is at "on the way". Nice gallery, good tutorials and forum....http://www.onthewaymodels.com/
Check out their LINKS page...there are a plethora of links to good 1/72 model enthusiast sites. I believe that http://1-72miniatures.com/about/ even has a tutorial on building "arab" houses and palm trees.
Oh man, those are some great links- those tutorials on http://1-72miniatures.com/ are awesome! I think that I mentioned upstream but HO palm trees were $20 for four cheap looking plastic figs. The tutorial on that site is perfect. The buildings will work too. Good stuff, thanks for digging that up for me!