Saturday, August 27, 2011

Picoarmor or not to Picoarmor

A couple of weeks ago I ordered a sample pack of 3mm (that's 1/600 scale) desert war stuff for a project on Operation Battleaxe that I have wanted to do for some time. I am just not sure of the scale- 20mm is skirmish for me, 10mm I like a lot, but have contemplated 6mm and 3mm to get more models on the table and better represent the tank battles of the western desert at a battalion level scale.

I can't decide which scale to go with. In 3mm I can go with 3 models per base for about 1/2 the cost of microarmour, which is about 1/2 the cost of 10mm. I like the model density at 3mm, and the models are really quite good, but is it too small? You can only really drybrush and wash at this scale, the infantry are the size of a rice grain. I dunno, here are some pics:

PzIIIs
trucks, Sdkfz 221s, PzIIIs:
same:
British infantry:
2pdr AT:
trucks:

Crusaders:
Brits:

Any thoughts? I'm leaning towards microarmour because it is so nice to paint, this pico stuff is great but really small. 10mm would perhaps be my first choice but the cost might be more than I want to drop on a new project, and minifigs are no more. Picoarmor had awesome service by the way, I like the company.
Posted by at
Labels: ,

5 comments:

  1. Scott MAugust 27, 2011 at 9:07 PM

    Hmm, tough call there. Cost wise, the 3mm wins out. But how about variety of units/minis? Are the vehicles/troops you're looking for available in all 3 scales? Also does the ruleset you're going to use work better with either of the 3 scales? For painting it seems the 3mm/6mm stuff is easier and faster to paint. Incidentally your basing looks really good.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Bob BarnetsonAugust 27, 2011 at 10:46 PM

    An advantage of 3mm is that it clearly shows one base represents more than one tank (i.e., a unit) where microarmour (unless you multiple base) still tends to look like single vehicles. Some gamers have a problem grasping unit-based mechanics when the unit is represented by a single vehicle. I like 3mm. But I'm weird that way.

    ReplyDelete
  3. DaveAugust 28, 2011 at 12:04 AM

    Scott, the picoarmor range is amazing, no problem there, even for Italians and other minor nations. I was unsure of the colour for the basing scheme so thanks for the kind words.

    Bob, totally agree with you about representation, that and cost are the clear advantages. Plus these are really outstanding sculpts for their size. I'm pretty blown away by them actually.

    ReplyDelete
  4. AndyrooAugust 28, 2011 at 5:21 PM

    I would go for the 3mm but then I am biased :-)

    Andrew
    2mm.blogspot.com

    ReplyDelete
  5. DaveAugust 28, 2011 at 6:37 PM

    You guys convinced me, I just ordered about $150 worth for my 1941 desert war campaign, Picoarmor here we come!

    ReplyDelete

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)