Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you: No adverts like this in the forums anymore. Times and dates in your local timezone. Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance. Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely. Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net. If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

Just got the rules, and while alot seem to use the old Mechwarrior toys, how big/uselful are the Ironwind Metal battletech stuff for 15mm with Armorgrid: Mech Attack? Especially in scale up against things like Gruntz infantry and mech and other 15mm stuff like that?

The regular Iron WInd mechs are 6mm (1/285) scale, which makes them about 1/2 the size of 15mm mechs. I dont see why you cant use them with the Mech Attack rules, but they wont work with other minis or terrain scaled for 15mm.

Iron Wind makes "museum scale" mechs that are about 15mm scale, but they are $49.95 each.

If you really want 15mm mechs, do a search for 15mm mechs and you will find a bunch. Also, a bit of an insider tip...if you want 15mm Battletech mechs...search for N scale Battletech. There are a bunch of resin garage (home made) kits on the market. You can google search, or check out The Miniatures page (theminiaturespage.com) and search around a bit.

The BT units are 6mm. They are going to seem quite small next to 15mm units of any kind.

The Mechwarrior clix figs are 10mm (aka "N", 1:44 or 1/60) The Mechs look good next to 15mm but everything else looks quite small. N Scale Battletech "garage" kits fall into this catagory. Technically smaller than 15mm, but look good anyway.

Mech Attack, is playable really in any scale, but as for which minatures to use, I recommend picking one scale and sticking with it.

My club chose 10mm using the Mechwarrior Clix figures because they are the cheapest option, cover every possible MA unit and still fairly easy to acquire lots of as long as you're not set on owning certain units. Unfortunately there are only a few other manufacturers/games in 10mm sci-fi (Reaper CAV, Dropzone Commander and a couple others)
Some of our 10mm sci-fi adventures here: http://chicagoskirmish.blogspot.com/search?q=Mech+Attack

That said, 6mm is a pretty neat scale also. It's reasonably inexpensive, and there is a huge variety of miniatures available. The cheap plastic EM4 mechs are in this scale as are many other lines. You might want to shorten the ranges with 6mm though. I have a batch of Battletech mechs that I plan to paint up some day and play on hex grids to make a portable Mech Attack Game.

15mm is probably the best looking scale for playing MA on a standard board with standard measurements. The cost of Mechs can add up but they sure look pretty.

Lastly, you can go really crazy and play it in 28mm like we're doing for a convention this month, but you need alot of space. That way lies maddness....
http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/509520.page

I had thought the EM4 mecha were 10mm, but I guess not. Still I guess I could go for 10mm, Ideally id like this to be something I can put together enough that I can include my none wargamer friends in on. Does 10mm require much in the way of scale changes for measurments?

Also are there any homerules around for MA for things like Vtols?

 doc1234 wrote:
I had thought the EM4 mecha were 10mm, but I guess not. Still I guess I could go for 10mm, Ideally id like this to be something I can put together enough that I can include my none wargamer friends in on. Does 10mm require much in the way of scale changes for measurments?

Also are there any homerules around for MA for things like Vtols?

The EM4 mechs are definitely 6mm. They are kind of designed as BT stand in models and match up similarly in style and size. You could probably use them as very light mechs in 10mm if you wanted.

At 10mm we keep all the measurements the same. Don't count out 6mm entirely. The battletech boxed set can get you a whole bunch of mechs to start with and there's lots of affordable options for vehicles and troops.


I haven't seen anything for VTOLs, but there are some house rules for other things at their forums. http://armorgridgames.proboards.com/

I agree...dont dismiss 6mm...just remember to make sure all your buildings and such are 6mm scale as well.

Ok, just I guess 6mm seems a bit small for things like combined arms? Though I guess halving (???) the measurements and tablesize could make up for it (that and 10mm infantry seems sort of limited outside of DZC). 10mm would be nice just for size on the table, but then I suppose a few of the CAV 10mm could work well as Heavy 6mm.

 doc1234 wrote:
Ok, just I guess 6mm seems a bit small for things like combined arms? Though I guess halving (???) the measurements and tablesize could make up for it (that and 10mm infantry seems sort of limited outside of DZC). 10mm would be nice just for size on the table, but then I suppose a few of the CAV 10mm could work well as Heavy 6mm.

6mm or 10mm are fine for combined arms. Either will work fine on a standard sized table. 6mm allows you to switch out inches for mm if space is an issue.

10mm is difficult for infantry and vehicles outside of DZC, Reaper CAV and Mechwarrior clix, but it is doable.

For 6mm you could use CAV 10mm for heavy 6mm, but there's really no reason to do so. There's plenty of 6mm figures available for half the price of 10mm figs, and CAV 10mm figs will look big alongside 6mm stuff.
Googling "6mm Sci-Fi" will bring a wealth of options to your desktop.

One other thing to note: Though they have been folded in with the 10mm CAV line, the CAV mechs sculpted by Chris Lewis were originally "Rogue Talon" miniatures intended for 6mm.
http://www.reapermini.com/Miniatures/Chris%20Lewis

Ah thanks for the info! I had had a bit of ttrouble looking for good looking 10mm infantry and stuff outside DZC. Was going to take a look around on GZG store


Automatically Appended Next Post:
How would people recomend basing 6mm for mech attack? The Mechs should fit ok on the normal coin method, but what sizes have people found best for the Infantry?

Eilif wrote:

 doc1234 wrote:
Ok, just I guess 6mm seems a bit small for things like combined arms? Though I guess halving (???) the measurements and tablesize could make up for it (that and 10mm infantry seems sort of limited outside of DZC). 10mm would be nice just for size on the table, but then I suppose a few of the CAV 10mm could work well as Heavy 6mm.

6mm or 10mm are fine for combined arms. Either will work fine on a standard sized table. 6mm allows you to switch out inches for mm if space is an issue.

10mm is difficult for infantry and vehicles outside of DZC, Reaper CAV and Mechwarrior clix, but it is doable.

For 6mm you could use CAV 10mm for heavy 6mm, but there's really no reason to do so. There's plenty of 6mm figures available for half the price of 10mm figs, and CAV 10mm figs will look big alongside 6mm stuff.
Googling "6mm Sci-Fi" will bring a wealth of options to your desktop.

One other thing to note: Though they have been folded in with the 10mm CAV line, the CAV mechs sculpted by Chris Lewis were originally "Rogue Talon" miniatures intended for 6mm.
http://www.reapermini.com/Miniatures/Chris%20Lewis

OP, he makes a good point on scale. If it is important to you then you want to try to keep everything in the same scale.

10mm is around 50% bigger than 6mm, 15mm is around 50% bigger than 10mm, or around double the size of 6mm.

 Mad4Minis wrote:

Eilif wrote:

 doc1234 wrote:
Ok, just I guess 6mm seems a bit small for things like combined arms? Though I guess halving (???) the measurements and tablesize could make up for it (that and 10mm infantry seems sort of limited outside of DZC). 10mm would be nice just for size on the table, but then I suppose a few of the CAV 10mm could work well as Heavy 6mm.

6mm or 10mm are fine for combined arms. Either will work fine on a standard sized table. 6mm allows you to switch out inches for mm if space is an issue.

10mm is difficult for infantry and vehicles outside of DZC, Reaper CAV and Mechwarrior clix, but it is doable.

For 6mm you could use CAV 10mm for heavy 6mm, but there's really no reason to do so. There's plenty of 6mm figures available for half the price of 10mm figs, and CAV 10mm figs will look big alongside 6mm stuff.
Googling "6mm Sci-Fi" will bring a wealth of options to your desktop.

One other thing to note: Though they have been folded in with the 10mm CAV line, the CAV mechs sculpted by Chris Lewis were originally "Rogue Talon" miniatures intended for 6mm.
http://www.reapermini.com/Miniatures/Chris%20Lewis

OP, he makes a good point on scale. If it is important to you then you want to try to keep everything in the same scale.

10mm is around 50% bigger than 6mm, 15mm is around 50% bigger than 10mm, or around double the size of 6mm.

I see the point, put an order in for some 6mm infantry and vehicles from the 6mmdirtside range, and for some of their 6mm Hound Dogs(simply because of the VOTOMs style look). Thinking theywould work wellas light mechs, and size things up in extremes or something, with maybe one 10mmscale one that isn't too obvious as a kind of titanscale thing. If that makes sense. Will take a look around though, if i recall the EM4 ones are around space marine sized, soif thats the standard 6mm mech size maybe I should use those hound dogs as heavyinfantry instead? The look to be about 10-20mm tall each, not sure yet

The various mechs, and even some power armor swaps well between the scales. 15mm mechs make titan sized mechs in 6mm. 28mm power armor makes good small mechs or large robots in all 3 scales. Its mostly the infantry and things like buildings that need to be very scale conscious.

Mad4Minis speaks the truth.

Doc1234, if there's any way you could take a few pictures of the not-votoms with miniatures or a ruler I'd really appreciate it. I'm very curious to see how they size out.

Ok thanks I will bare this in mind. I plan on just coin mounting the votoms and putting the Infantry 5 or so to a hexbase. And i'll get some pics on, whatever can be said for GZG having pics for their stuff isn't a strong point of theirs.

 doc1234 wrote:
Ok thanks I will bare this in mind. I plan on just coin mounting the votoms and putting the Infantry 5 or so to a hexbase. And i'll get some pics on, whatever can be said for GZG having pics for their stuff isn't a strong point of theirs.

Sounds like a plan. EM4 sells plastic hexes in 25mm and 30mm for ridiculously cheap. I based all my infantry on 25mm.

Eilif wrote:

 doc1234 wrote:
Ok thanks I will bare this in mind. I plan on just coin mounting the votoms and putting the Infantry 5 or so to a hexbase. And i'll get some pics on, whatever can be said for GZG having pics for their stuff isn't a strong point of theirs.

Sounds like a plan. EM4 sells plastic hexes in 25mm and 30mm for ridiculously cheap. I based all my infantry on 25mm.

I spotted, but in an order for 20 of the 25mm ones and the mechas they do as medium-large mechs. Two sides worth of easy stuff for less than £20, nothing wrong with being a cheapskate haha

Some people the 1/144 scale gundams and other models for gaming.

 doc1234 wrote:

Eilif wrote:

 doc1234 wrote:
Ok thanks I will bare this in mind. I plan on just coin mounting the votoms and putting the Infantry 5 or so to a hexbase. And i'll get some pics on, whatever can be said for GZG having pics for their stuff isn't a strong point of theirs.

Sounds like a plan. EM4 sells plastic hexes in 25mm and 30mm for ridiculously cheap. I based all my infantry on 25mm.

I spotted, but in an order for 20 of the 25mm ones and the mechas they do as medium-large mechs. Two sides worth of easy stuff for less than £20, nothing wrong with being a cheapskate haha

Nice...nothing wrong with going cheap.