Gaming table size

[PatG]

I have been using 28mm based on 3/4" OD washers and I'm doing the same for 20mm. This basing gives a spacing of about 6' at the ground scale. In game terms, this is no different from using 15mm figures.

I am curious as to why people feel using 15mm vs 28mm figures on a 4x6 table gives a more expansive game with more room to maneuver. Vehicles and buildings are of course a different story but all other things being equal, the same ground scale should give the same game regardless of figure size.

I'm not criticising the idea, I'm just wonder about how it arose.

[Arlequín]

Oddly 12" to 40 yards is actually about 'true scale' for 15mm figures; the large empty spaces are what you would expect to see in real life. Up to 200-250m was a not unusual platoon frontage, which would be your long table edge at 6'.

If you wanted the same cosy close-together feel of a 28mm game with 15mm, then of course changing inches to cm and a smaller table would do that.

[JOHN BOND 001]

Thanks all for your input
Looks like I'll stick to the 6' x 4' table for normal games

Seret: Good point in regards to the action is usually in the middle,I also noticed while playing on a larger table that my opponent left his tank on the far side of the table and blasted me from there making it harder to get to him with my PIAT team.

Magpie:Good idea in regards to allowing extra space around the table for rule books,minis etc.its always a struggle to find space to store your stuff when gaming.

cheers john

[JimLeCat]

I also noticed while playing on a larger table that my opponent left his tank on the far side of the table and blasted me from there making it harder to get to him with my PIAT team.

Which is how tanks *should* be used! ;^D

A 6' table is only 240 yards at the scale of CoC, which is practically point blank range for a tank firing HE, so there's no need to get any closer than line of sight requires.

Tanks should also have a screen of friendly infantry. From the historical accounts I've read, they much preferred to do it that way, having often learned the hard way that when they didn't things went badly.

Cheers,
Jim

[Arlequín]

Indeed, why would a TC bring his vehicle into infantry AT range if he didn't have to? Creating a situation where he needs to, or rendering his firing position useless by not presenting targets, is his opponent's problem.

[JOHN BOND 001]

Thanks JimLeCat and Arlequín for your help with providing a historical and practical reason for tanks's postioning.

cheers John

[Lightbulb]

Lightbulb - do you use the same ground scale for 28 and 15?

The 28mm ground scale is 'wrong', it's roughly correct for 15mm (but yes I do).

Barrages are also super powerful!

[Lightbulb]

I am curious as to why people feel using 15mm vs 28mm figures on a 4x6 table gives a more expansive game with more room to maneuver.

I guess it isn't so different on reflection.

I guess it's more to do with the density of terrain.

But of course you can have very full 15mm tables and totally open 28mm tables too...

[Archdukek]

I have been using 28mm based on 3/4" OD washers and I'm doing the same for 20mm. This basing gives a spacing of about 6' at the ground scale. In game terms, this is no different from using 15mm figures.

I am curious as to why people feel using 15mm vs 28mm figures on a 4x6 table gives a more expansive game with more room to maneuver. Vehicles and buildings are of course a different story but all other things being equal, the same ground scale should give the same game regardless of figure size.

I'm not criticising the idea, I'm just wonder about how it arose.

Pat,
I think it's mainly the visual impact of the larger figures and vehicles which makes the table look more crowded, compounded by the fact that most gamers I know, including me, base their 28mm figures on 25mm (2p) bases. When I use my 20mm Eastern Front collection on the same size table there just looks to be so much more room.
John

[Arlequín]

The very size difference between 15mm, 20mm and 28mm should speak for themselves. I think we get so used to playing 28mm games with telescoped ground scales, that this becomes the reality of war(gaming), rather than the 'empty battlefield'.

It's less apparent in WWII gaming, but if you ever compare Napoleonic 'big games', 28mm looks incredibly cramped next to a 15mm game.

It could be worse though, at least CoC doesn't require a spotting roll by a figure that is close enough to launch a fairly large rock at who he's trying to spot.