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Does anyone know of a good WWII based tabletop game that uses the 28mm scale. I like the idea behind FoW however I really don't want to change all of my terrain down to 15mm. (There is a lot of it)

Bolt Action, check out Warlord Games for all of their different stuff.

Rotgut beat me to it

Yeah Bolt action is 28mm WW2, very fun game

Beasts of War recently did a pair of videos covering a demo game of Bolt Action, with commentary by Alessio Cavatore. It's a long watch (2+ hours, in total), but even watching the intro chat and first turn or two should give you a decent sense of the game, if you want a preview. It looks rather good, to me.

Link?

http://www.beastsofwar.com/warlord-games/bolt-action-battles-demo-game-part-1/

http://www.beastsofwar.com/warlord-games/bolt-action-battles-demo-game-part-2/

Google is a great thing

Rules of Engagement http://www.greatescapegames.co.uk/" target="_new" rel="nofollow"> http://www.greatescapegames.co.uk/

Used to play this one and I am in fact getting back into it shortly. I've not played the Bolt Action, but having played RoE I didn't like what I was reading concerning game play.

Either bolt action or rules of engagement are both very good 28mm ww2 games both games work better at different aspects. Roe is better for a few squads with more rounded rules but tanks and jeeps are a bit adhoc.
Bolt action works better with both but some of the weapons are a bit unbalenced in smaller games.

I would suggest Battle Group Kursk and Overlord for 20-28mm WW2.

It scales well from Platoon to Company and above levels.

No issues with balance, vehicles are not a problem as they can be with BA. It covers Infantry, vehicles, tanks, on and off table Artillery and Air Support with no noticeable problems. There are mini and hardback rule books available.

Take a look at the Historical section on Dakka for some excellent battle reports by Big P.

The WWII community had apparently been exploding in excitement with the upcoming release of Chain of Command, from TwoFatLardies.

There is also Dust, if you are into weird war II.

 notprop wrote:
I would suggest Battle Group Kursk and Overlord for 20-28mm WW2.

It scales well from Platoon to Company and above levels.

No issues with balance, vehicles are not a problem as they can be with BA. It covers Infantry, vehicles, tanks, on and off table Artillery and Air Support with no noticeable problems. There are mini and hardback rule books available.

Take a look at the Historical section on Dakka for some excellent battle reports by Big P.

I would second this really, although i do tend to play larger games it really does scale down well and does not have the same problems with vehicles that BA has.

However for squad level games i would also suggest Operation Squad is worth a look, some really nice mechanics for smaller games

 infinite_array wrote:
The WWII community had apparently been exploding in excitement with the upcoming release of Chain of Command, from TwoFatLardies.

I have a few rulesets from TooFatLardies and they are all solid. Chain of Command looks like it will be no exception.

 spaceelf wrote:
There is also Dust, if you are into weird war II.

And Secrets of the Third Reich.

There are many, many, many WWII in 28mm. Here are some no else has mentioned yet.

Force-on-Force- Works just fine for WWII and has great action/reaction mechanics. Focuses on Troop Quality.

NUTS!- Never played but it has good reviews.

Operation:World War II- Uses random card based activation that can be a nice twist on things.

The Face of Modern War- Never played but it seems to have its fans. Again, a "Modern" game but easily usable for WWII.

I'm not a huge fan of Bolt Action as it seems too gamey to me. However, if that is your thing, go for it. it is a pretty easy transition from GW games.

Think I might be giving the Lardies ago Looks good

Well I don't really care how easy the rules transefer from GW, just the scale.

 frozenwastes wrote:

 infinite_array wrote:
The WWII community had apparently been exploding in excitement with the upcoming release of Chain of Command, from TwoFatLardies.

I have a few rulesets from TooFatLardies and they are all solid. Chain of Command looks like it will be no exception.

Yeah, with all the buzz about the game, I may pick up a couple Perry plastic boxes (their DAK/8th Army boxes look fantastic) and try the rules out.

Well then you are set, most WW2 games do not have a specific scale associated with them. Indeed with the exception of BA and FoW (Is that historical? ) not many games have associated miniature lines so you are free to use what you please.

That said though I would suggest that 20mm is the "traditional" WW2 scale. (in before Big P!)

I'm going with 20mm first this time as they are cheaper and quicker to paint. Will go 28mm later as I like the 28mm models. 20mm I'm okay with dipping... 28mm deserves time and effort

 notprop wrote:
Well then you are set, most WW2 games do not have a specific scale associated with them. Indeed with the exception of BA and FoW (Is that historical? ) not many games have associated miniature lines so you are free to use what you please.

That said though I would suggest that 20mm is the "traditional" WW2 scale. (in before Big P!)

This is true, but most are still written with a certain scale or range of scales in mind. Also different basing conventions favor different scales. This is mostly a factor when using a larger scale than the rules are written for. Playing FoW or Blitzkrieg Commander in 28mm would require a pretty big table!Going the other way is a bit easier. You could easily use Bolt Action for 15mm battles. Maybe go to cm and play on a smaller table.

Luckily for all involved there are a multitude of rulesets for all scales, scopes, and levels of complexity

I would agree that 20mm is a traditional scale. It's a neat scale that is large enough to make use of the new crop of 28mm rules, but can be extremely cheap if you go with the 1/72 scale air fix style figures which come 50 to a box and cost from 5-11 bucks a box.

I went with 15mm as alot of guys already had it and it ment we could play massive tank battles.

Yep, Bolt-action and you can get nice plastic soldiers from wargames factory.

fishy bob wrote:

 spaceelf wrote:
There is also Dust, if you are into weird war II.

And Secrets of the Third Reich.

That would be my recommendation too, though I think a 2nd edition is planned soon - sooner if the INCURSION Kickstarter really knocks it out of the park...

Bolt Action is fun to play.
Another good older ruleset is the Battleground series, which seems to be OOP.

Go with Bolt Action, Warlord is adding more and more plastic infantry boxed sets to the range every year.

It all depends what you want from your WW2 games.

Figures size first, you have the more cartoony 15mm and 28mm compared to the more realistic 20mm.

In 20mm (1/72nd or 1/76th) you will find any vehicle or troop type you need. For instance I have WW2 Royal Thai Army troops... You wont have the same in 15mm or 28mm.

Also you need to look at cost and detail. 20mm will cost a bit more than 15mm but will have far better detail, and is generally better detailed than 28mm as plastic kits, such as Dragon have far more detail. Of course you have PSC for cheaper options.

Id also think what existing terrain you aready have. New scales require new terrain to some degree. Its another ost to consider.

But really it depends what you want from the game.

If you want a GW-esque game, with Army books and related miniature releases that follow it but rather light on period feel, then Bolt Action may work for you. Id suggest a quick look over their forum or on The Miniatures Page to see the issues with the game and the problems it has with recreating WW2.

Chain of Command by TFL sounds interesting, but Im awaiting an independant review first before buying as at £34 for a 100 page book it needs to be a game that I will enjoy and I have never really got on with other TFL games to take the punt until I have seen what others think outside the design and playtest group. To me it seems to be the 'Thinking Mans' version of Bolt Action with an emphasis on period feel. I suspect it will do well as TFL have a large and often vocal fanbase to drive it along. It will also be well supported online by Rich from TFL.

RoE seems to sit in between the two and might be a better option as it has parts of both game styles. Again a look over their forum might give you a feel for it. Its not one I have played much to be honest.

There is also the older Disposable Heroes rules from Iron Ivan Games. Another main rulebook and army books, and very well thought of by some, but never really worked for me. Not really sure why, just not my sort of game I think.

I wont say much with regards the Battlegroup series (Kursk and Overlord with Fall of the Reich coming in November) as I write and develop them with Warwick Kinrade so I will leave it to others to recommend my own game, but yes, you can use it for any scale of figure and it works for small and large games. Its points based with army lists but also good for historical play.

Good luck with whatever you choose,,, and the beauty of historical gaming is that changing rules doesnt mean changing miniatures!