Re: [GZG] [OFFICIAL] Change to 15mm Free Trader Crew.....

Good points on the scale jon.

Look hes my quick veiw on this subject very bastardised and no where as
indepth as it could be 
but for a email it will do, you can skip it and go to the end.

Lets look at the last 40 years of toy soldier gaming not Sci fi
wargaming with figures for a moment.
The pinicle of painting and form for a figure in the 60's was the
54mm,1/35th figure the Willie 
Britain, the painting style was simple gloss a childs play thing from
the early 1900's to say 1970's 
as the market for toy soldiers changed to GI Joes/starwars action
figures, became the new market 
and the main stream 54mm,1/35th went from toy shop to hobby shop.

Now lets not forget 1960-70's we also saw the 30mm Spencersmith and
Willies wargameing 
figures, these were not prepaints, these were what Charles Grant , used
in the Wargame{ classic 
wargaming book in the UK} now at this time wargaming is becoming more
hobby mainstream 
because of generic figure availability, and the the emergence of 1/72nd
plastics 
matchbox/airfix.etc in various periods to game with, it is at this piont
where we see the 25mm 
metals make a big appearance and this seems to be the new scale for
wargaming , we see some 
new company's enter the market and be the mainstream for the next 10 to
15 years for this new 
scale.

Now the late 70's early 80's we see the first signs of scale creep in
the true 25mm 1/72nd metal 
figures.
We should also remember that 15mm as a scale is making a big emergence
into the market 
reasons being cost to buy and ease to paint, not to mention better
various print media showing 
15mm product.
The market for toy soldiers during the 1980-90's for wargaming in terms
of scale creep is dictated 
too by the roleplaying firgure manufactuers, also we see the standards
of figure painting modelling 
by gamers make huge leaps forward, because of this the scale creep keeps
on growing.
The days of 400 odd figure armies are replaced by that of 100 figure
armies in the new 28mm 
scale, gamers are useing there figures for fantasy/sci fi, roleplaying
then doing a small battle for 
there campaigns, the issue of space at home  and clubs to game becomes a
issue too.

This is where 1/285th 6mm starts to really come into it's own, for
reasons of cost and space, but 
now people think more smaller figures means i can put on bigger battles
so this defeats the 
purpose of this scale.
Present day, we see that our true 25mm 1/72nd scale figures of 30yrs ago
are now nearly 35mm 
to 40mm { the correct scale for a GW space marine is nearly 54mm in true
scale}

Present day, we now see that our  25mm scale is being made in 1/56th
scale plastics, and our 
market looks to be going back to where it was 35years ago with plastics
being the market dictator.

conclusion do both if you can, 15mm and 25mm dont let other companies or
trends	dictate your 
market. GZG has its own market for people that like the figures you
produce for your games , that 
can be used for other rules and the like.

regards james

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