Size Is Important...

Picture shows (from left to right): a 15mm 'not-Firefly' character from Ground Zero Games, a 20mm 'not-Stargate' miniature from a long-vanished range, and an "oversized 28mm" figure from Killer B's GAFDOZ selection.

In the past couple of weeks I've had one of those mental aberrations that I am prone to, induced by current tight financial situations, that maybe the solution to my cash crisis would be switching my chosen gaming scale from 28mm down to 15mm.

The logic being that smaller must equal cheaper, and it does (both in the purchase of the miniatures and getting them professionally painted).

Nick also pointed out that 15mm was the scale-of-choice for the original Traveller miniatures skirmish system, Striker.

As I had, of late, been investigating Traveller as a possible fallback system for the Tuesday Knights next year if the Doctor Who: Adventures In Time And Space RPG doesn't turn out to be the "saviour of RPG systems" that I'm hoping it is, then this all seemed a perfect fit.

However, what I failed to take into account was simply how small a 15mm figure actually is. Coming from a role-playing point of view, rather than a wargaming one, I've long had a problem in visualising figure sizes - without the miniatures in hand - and judging what figures can work with what terrain or scenery.

It wasn't until my first packs of 15mm figures turned up in the week that it finally dawned on me that 99 per cent of the terrain I had was simply too large to work with these tiny dudes. Even 20mm - of which I have a handful of "not-really-Stargate" miniatures from a line that disappeared almost as suddenly as it appeared - works with the majority of my tabletop props.

And that simple revelation took the wind out of my sails. It actually didn't make any financial sense to have to start a new scale of gaming for both figures and terrain.

I could have opted for 20mm, but there simply isn't the variety of miniatures out there (in the science-fiction genre) for my taste.

So while 15mm science-fiction is very well represented, in the end I realised I should stick to what I've already got and already know; my growing collection of gorgeous retro science-fiction miniatures - led by Killer B's GAFDOZ range - which would work wonderfully for both skirmish wargames and roleplaying games (either Traveller or Doctor Who).

Having made the earth-shattering decision to stick with what I was already doing, I'll be talking more about happenings with the Galactic Adventures in the Fourth Dimension of the Forbidden Zone (GAFDOZ) range, and fellow retro sci-fi miniatures, tomorrow.