What scale should we game in?

I have been in various discussions regarding historical wargaming miniature scales and why gamers choose certain scales.  We should choose the scale we want to.  We all have our reasons for picking a certain scale whether it is for land, air, or naval battles.  I've ended up with all sorts of scale miniatures.

Here are my reasons for picking my scales in order of decision making:

1. I have a battle in mind that I want to wargame.  Do I have some of the miniatures in a scale already?
2. What rules will I use?  Sometimes rules are designed to use a range of scales.
3. Is there a company which supplies all the needed miniatures for the battle.  If only one company has the needed miniatures, then I am stuck with that scale.  If this scale results in too many miniatures to paint or too few, then I probably will not do the battle (examples: Jutland or Gettysburg).
4. What is the size of the battle?  To cover the whole battle maybe painting up 6mm or 15mm will work.  If it is a small battle, maybe 28mm as a skirmish battle will work.  28mm could also work for a big battle, but do a portion of the main battle.
5. Based on the figure count, will it cost too much or result in me painting for years?  If so, then don't move forward with this possible project.

This is my current scale variety in my collection:

Naval

• 1:600 - ACW
• 1:1000 - Russo-Japanese War
• 1:1200 - Age of Sail (2 ships), War of the Triple Alliance
• 1:2400 - WWI, WWII

Air

• 1:144 - WWII, Korean War, Vietnam
• 1:600 - WWII
• 1:1200 - WWII
• 1:2400 - WWII

Land

• 28mm - War of 1812, Philippine-American War, Rebellions of 1837-1838
• 25mm - Aztec-Conquistador
• 15mm - Boer War, Crimean War, Battle of Flodden, War of 1812, Italian War of 1859
• 10/12mm - Vietnam, WWI, WWII, Korean War
• 3mm - Guns for War of the Triple Alliance (1 stand)

I have others unpainted periods that will expand this list.  In the future I can see myself adding 6mm.

I used to have 1:72 / 20mm WWII which I used with Rapid Fire, but decided to bail on that for something smaller (10mm) with Blitzkrieg Commander ruleset.  I found it looked better for the battles I wanted to do.  Also, so much easier to store these miniatures.

What scales would I recommend staying clear of? I think scales smaller than 6mm (land) and smaller than 1:1200 (air).  Naval wise, I think all the scales are fine.  My struggle is when the ship models get large and lack the maneuver room on the table (i.e. 1:1000 Russo-Japanese capital ships).  I guess I struggle getting excited about miniatures I can't tell what they are.

What is your oldest paint?

What is your oldest still workable paint in your collection?  I wondered what mine is.

This has come up in discussion with fellow painters a bunch of times.  I finally decided to check my Humbrol enamel tin collection.  My initial guess was from the 1980s, since that was when I switched from the cheap small glass Testor pots to Humbrol enamel tins.  This was before the historical miniature wargaming hobby when I was just painting up plastic model kits.

Well...after checking, I have two tins from the 1970s.  I must have bought them in the 1980s from stock that was still on the shelf.  Maybe even into the early 1990s.  These have English and French languages because I bought these in Canada.

Here is my earlier post on my Humbrol paints: LINK

Hexacon 2020

So how was Hexacon 2020 this year?

It was okay.  It wasn't great nor was it bad.  It continues to have potential.

360° Photo Link (Miniatures Room)

The convention was in a new location this year, but at an old gaming location that has seen Genghis Con and Tacticon conventions in the past.  Having been to this location many times, it was no surprise to me and a good gauge to see how attendance was.  Hexacon has been a smaller convention compared to Genghis Con and Tacticon, and this year was no different.

The Vendor room had a good variety of gaming stuff.  Certainly lots of space to get around each of the vendors.  I didn't buy anything, but I'm sure others did.

Boardgame room

The boardgaming room was certainly hopping on Saturday.  The room looked a bit crowded with how the tables were spaced out and the room continues to need more light.  Also, ya, the room could use more ventilation and some air fresheners.  Glad I didn't play in any boardgames there.

Not sure what game this was.

My main focus was the miniatures room.  There was a good variety of games going on.  I saw Fallout, Gaslands, Space Hulk, Star Wars Legion, and others (most don't know the names).  Our club ran a few historical miniature games.  The room had lots of room for more games (unlike Tacticon a few years back).  I am glad there were no tournaments using up all the space in the room (i.e. 40k).

Battle of Moscow

My Battle of Moscow 1941 game went better than I had hoped.  Unfortunately we were unable to come to a conclusion and ended up in a tie.  The scenario had German Panzer division units attempting to breakthrough a Soviet Tank Brigade.  Rules were Blitzkrieg Commander IV.  I do like the new Recce rules.  Next time I will make up my own quick reference sheets which would speed up play.  I'm not sure what my next WWII game will be...maybe something later in the war on the Eastern Front.

Overall I prefer a convention space that is brighter (my photos have been brightened).  This location is way too dark.  The miniature room is off the beaten path, so not many gamers saw the games.  This is probably due to the layout of the hotel, not a convention issue.  The convention price makes a lot of sense for gamers and variety of games is good.  I continue to recommend this convention and look forward to running another game next year.  A big thank you to Dustin (Convention Chair) for what looked like another successful Hexacon and his support for the Colorado Military Historians.

Gaslands

Here are my thoughts from Hexacon 2019: LINK

Photos below are from Great Canoe race.

Share your hobby on the web

I have been pondering what is the best way for us to share information about our hobby online.  Some options I have seen are:

• Videos (Recorded or Live)
• YouTube, Twitch, Bit Chute, Facebook
• Blogs
• Blogger, WordPress
• Web Sites
• The Miniature Page, Your own site
• Forums
• Groups.IO, Yahoo Groups, Manufacturers forums
• Newsletters
• Club produced
• Podcasts
• SoundCloud
• Other Social Media
• Twitter, Instagram, Facebook

As you can see there are lots of options and I am involved in all of them (except podcasts).  Should we focus on one or multiple?  Is there really just one?

The reason I am pondering this question is I feel I am spread all over the place and would like to simplify where to post hobby information.

Videos

This can be an interesting outlet.  You can share gameplays, conventions, painting sessions, rules reviews, club action, historic sites, museums, etc.  This can be fairly straightforward to make or more complex.  I just use my camera, do some simple editing, and post to YouTube.  I also try some video from my 360° camera.

Blogs

This allows you to share hobby information as a combination of text and photos.  There are options to link to other sites or videos.  I like blogs for the ability to combine a variety media sources (text, photos and videos) into each blog post.  I enjoy coming up with a draft topic and adding my initial thoughts, then coming back a few times to make revisions, and then publishing the topic.

Web Sites

Visiting a website like The Miniatures Page is an option to share your opinions or information, but this is limited by what the site has to offer.

A personal web site is typically a static set of pages where you control the layout and content.  This is a good option if you want to have complete control over the whole framework of your content.  But on the other hand avoid this option if you want something simple.  A personal web sites is good when you want to centralize all your content into a single location; You can host all your files together rather than spread out on various sites.  You are not as limited by the rules other sites have about content.

Forums

This is a good option for very specific topics, such as a certain miniature scale or wargame ruleset.  A good place to get an answer for a question or share information.  Usually there are multiple forums that you will browse.

Newsletter

A newsletter is a snapshot in time summarizing what has happened since the last newsletter and what is upcoming.  Other content can be included photos, book reviews, historic site visits, or all sorts of historic topics.  I like it for recording news in the hobby for historic purposes.  The newsletters can be read years later to read what was happening back in the day.  I guess this is like a magazine.

Podcasts

I have tried listening to gaming podcasts in the past and could not get into them.  I think our hobby is very visual and just listening to a discussion doesn't grab me like Facebook groups or YouTube.  Maybe a one off focused Podcast about a topic about the hobby that interests me would be more interesting.  I remember listening to a Podcast interview with Sam Mustafa that was interesting.  The general gaming Podcasts are just too general.

Other Social Media

Some other Social Media platforms like Instagram or Twitter just don't interest me.  They lack any real content apart from a few photos or links to the real content.  I'd argue they are a waste of time.  Facebook on the other hand has many good Groups to join and share information.


For me, I have found Facebook groups the best resource.  All sorts of wargaming groups to join and gain all sorts of insight in each group.  What you share will be appreciated.  You will get to hear from all sorts of well known wargamers as well.

As a "Content Creator" which option is the best to focus on to get your wargaming content out to the wargaming community?  I wish there was a single option, but I don't think there is.  For example, if you focus on Facebook, you are missing a large percentage of wargamers who are not on Facebook.  To really hit wargamers I guess you have to be everywhere, which means you will be spending more time posting content.  As part of the hobby, if you enjoy the various options go for it, otherwise I recommend focusing on either a blog or YouTube.