MINI WARGAMING: Gunbird's Excellent 6mm Irregular Autos!

.TOP: Some of Gunbird's excellent 6mm Irregular autos!

Hi All,

I posted a few photos awhile back with some 6mm automobiles from my collection and that of my friend, L-4, which stirred up quite a bit of interest. A short while later, my friend, Robin AKA In Repose, posted some photos of his 6mm autos on his blog (link on right sidebar) and eventually several other folks have as well. One of the latest folks to have posted photos of his 6mm autos is Johan AKA "Gunbird," who has graciously allowed me to re-post his photos here.

However, before I share the rest of his photos, I thought I'd type out a few quick lines about scale and 6mm miniatures.

First of all, there is no real standard among miniature manufacturers. The 6mm designation, which means that an average man is roughly 6mm in height... tends to be more of a "convention" or "suggestion" than an actual standard. So, some manufacturers tend to make "6mm" figures that actually measure around 5mm, while others make giant fellows that measure closer to 8mm! And then there's body girth, some H&R / Navwar figs look positively child-like and waif'ish, while some larger Scotia figures look like they might have packed in a few extra meals to get their portly girth. And in the end, whether a miniatures gamer likes the figures is primarily a matter of taste.

Personally, I like them all! And I never let a little scale difference bother me.

Too see a graphic example of the differences in scale with 6mm miniatures, please check out this photo by my friend Bob Mackenzie from his excellent gaming site:

From left to right: New H&R (far left), Old H&R, GHQ, CinC, Small Scotia,

...Adler, Large Scotia, Irregular and Main Force (far right).

It's not hard to see the gambit of differences from the smallest 5mm (1/300) figures (the old UK microarmor standard) from H&R / Navwar to the largest 6mm (1/285) (the new US microarmor standard) from GHQ and Mainforce, which are, in reality, much closer to 8mm or about 1/250 to 1/220 (Z-scale RR-size) in size.

To see my friend Bob Mackenzie's great site, please follow this link:
http://homepage.ntlworld.com/bob_mackenzie/index.html

Having said that, the Irregular 6mm automobiles packs are very large for 6mm minis, and I'd call them a better fit for 8mm or about (1/220) or ("Z" RR scale).

TOP: An Irregular "6mm" car next to a smaller 5mm H&R T-34 WWII Soviet tank.

Here's what Gunbird has to say about the 6mm automobiles that Irregular puts out:

I've taken the liberty to finally (had 'em for two years now) paint up a few and do a short comparison. My end conclusion is, which is probably shared by most of the folks who have also purchased the 6mm Irregular automobiles, is that they are almost useless for 6mm.

They do fit in neatly with Battletech though, or in a 1/200 scale miniatures game. And I really wish one of the big producers of 6mm would get their heads out of their proverbial black holes and produce some properly scaled 6mm cars. I'm aware of the GHQ Technical and the H&R Landrovers, etc., but I want civilian cars. Blast it to oblivion!

Though I know from a purist wargamer's standpoint, cars are just fluff, I want to make my battlefield look a like more real, not a sterilized grass mat environment that looks as if some giant took a big broom and swept off all traces of civilian life bar the houses…

Here's a description of the pack:
For four Pounds Sterling you get a pack of modern 6mm vehicles. Not a shabby deal, if I say so myself, as it has a motorcycle with sidecar, several cars, a van and a truck, and they paint up **nicely**. Anyway, as I'm doing loads of 6mm at the moment, I thought, why not, so painted up a few. None too shabby if I do say/paint them myself, but... are these really 6mm?

It was a bit of a bummer though, to see that they are very big minis for 6mm. And unfortunately, this confirms that there are no useful civilian vehicles on the market (...discounting stuff like Battlecars for which E-bay seems to be the only option) and you would think, that by now, at least one of the 6mm manufacturers would have stepped in to do at least a few generic civilian vehicles? I guess they deem the market for them to be too small.

So, are they bad? Not really, yes, they look a bit shoddy, have big mold lines and flash to get rid of, and the wheels look wonky, but I'm used to that from Irregular. After all, what's in a name? I'll be buying some more of the packs, but to make wrecks (you could have seen that coming a mile away ) to scatter on my Battletech board for after my mechs play soccer with a few cars.

Hope at least one person found this useful, and do take note, all of this is my opinion, that of Johan!

My 2 cents,
Johan AKA "Gunbird,"
Netherlands, Noord-Brabant.

TOP: The "6mm" Irregular auto looks fine next to larger "6mm" Battletech minis!

To see the rest of my 6mm auto collection and that of my friend L-4, please follow this link:
http://6mm-minis.blogspot.com/2007/06/mini-wargaming-mad-maks-6mm-auto.html

You can find Robin AKA In Repose's photos here at his blog:
http://www.rottenlead.com/wordpress/2007/05/15/battlecars-by-gamesworkshop/#comments

To see some other great ideas for 6mm autos, please follow this link to Simon's site, Fort Wargame:
http://warweb.homelinux.net/Models/civvehicles.html

To see a photo of Barry from Timecast's excellent 6mm Irregular autos, please follow this link:
http://www.timecastmodels.co.uk/rail_timecast/6mm_5.jpg

Have a great Thursday!

Shalom,
Maksim-Smelchak.

Notes regarding photos / pictures / videos: These are not all my images and videos. I am using various images and videos from around the web, mostly from public sources and/or private sources used with permission. I have tried to include only images and videos under public domain, creative commons, or fair use. If I have inadvertently violated any copyrights, please inform me and I will remove your image/s (if it is indeed an infringement).