Pico Armor Shows Us Big Releases In Tiny 6mm Scale
November 5, 2015 by stvitusdancern
Pico Armor who specialize in 1/600 scale miniatures have some new releases available especially for modern and Cold War aficionados.
There is the iconic F-106 Delta Dart with its unique wing design for the time it came out.
There are also several German vehicles to include the Biber AVLB (mobile bridging system), Pionierpanzer Dachs & Bergepanzer (German engineer and ACRV vehicles), and the Marder Roland (SAM system).
They have also included the Tigre HAP French support helicopter. To round out the releases for this tiny scale is the JH-7A Chinese two-seat fighter-bomber.
The miniatures would be perfect for that massive battle of hordes of tanks and other vehicles swarming over the hills to overrun a territory only to be met by a stalwart defender. I have always been curious about this scale and Pico Armor, but have always worried about the amount of detail at such a small size.
I just don't want lumps of white metal with a dash of colour sitting on a game table. I might just have to order some examples and see for myself. So I must ask, @Oriskany would these tiny combatants represent a more realistic ranges of fire?
What is the smallest scale you have played?
"The miniatures would be perfect for that massive battle of hordes of tanks..."
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To answer @stvitusdancern ‘s question . . . 🙂 I have actually played 1/285 (6mm) in GHQ’s classic Microarmour series, a looong time ago.
I presume it’s the same with most scales – how much detail is on the miniature often depends on the quality of the manufacture and the skill / patience of the painter. I can honestly say I’ve seen photos of 6mm minis I could have sworn were 15mm.
6mm is a scale largely for vehicles, at least in modern settings. The exception would be big blocks of infantry with some people use for really big Napoleonic or “Pike and Shotte” era games (English Civil War). But small teams of infantry in a CWGH / World War III scenario, hidden in foliage, would be tough to see.
Definitely, the engagement ranges would be . . . well, at least CLOSER to realistic. You can get a real MBT’s range of 3000m on a 35-foot board in 6mm . . . instead of a 180+ foot board in a 28mm game like Bolt Action.
Many 6mm games, however, are “representational.” A tank piece on the table represents a platoon of tanks, with something like one inch = 100 meters or some such.
The only issue here is that the models and the terrain are not to scale with each other. So more concrete LOS rules are needed because you can no longer just put your eye to the shooting model and see if he has LOS or not. 🙂
Then again, this is how a big part of the hobby is done. Panzer Leader cold be measured as having a scale of 1/6000. World War 2.5 has a “scale” of 1/800,000, a 5/8″ hex = 7 miles. If you want bigger and bigger battles, considerations have to be made on how to properly represent them. Honestly, for Cold War Gone Hot, I think making a switch to 6mm is a great first step. After all, GHQ has been doing it since the late 60s. 😀
You don’t really need to change anything about ranges to make it look more accurate… we’ve played a lot of FoW in 6mm using the standard ranges etc, but it does look a whole lot better on the table (no tank car parks 🙂 )
These are (roughly) 3mm scale produced by Oddzial Osmy
Oh hell,. @guppysparks – you’re right. I just re-read the article and saw the 1/600. Okay, everyone, ignore what I said about 6mm. Pretend I typed 3mm. 😀
This will be my chance to jump in and ask anyone that is interested to come nd join the 3mm yahoo group
https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/3mm_miniatures/info
The 3mm tanks infantry and terrain that is eing produced at the moment is excellent quality.
In fairness to the sculptors I should point point that picoarmor is just a reseller as is Fighting15’s in the UK
the sculptor is a chap called Marcin and some of his friends in Poland
At £3 for 15 tanks they are good value
Well I suppose us 3mm scale enthusiasts should be glad for the exposure given to this scale, even if it is completely botched. 2mm scale is tiny, 3mm is small, 6mm is mid-range and 15mm is large scale. IMHO those who still play 28mm are stuck in the eighties. The newest crop of games like Dropzone Commander and Firestorm Planetfall shows that for a very long list of reasons, miniatures games are getting smaller scale wise, and because of this, better.
I’ve just been looking at some 6mm Napoleonics and I think they’re totally awesome!
I might be coming round to this whole small scale thing after all