Category Archives: Vehicles

Future, Rules

Car Wars

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From Steve Jackson still focusing on less complex rules came this game featuring cars and trucks battling each other on miniature highways, 1” = 15 feet. Later supplements introduced additional vehicles and terrain, boats, helicopters, shopping malls, as well as additional weapons. Though 40 years old, the game and its supplements are still available at Warehouse 23.

Car Wars used card cutouts moved along a square grid at a scale of 1:180, smaller than the more common 1:160 N scale (what else is new?). According to the Stuff of Legends website, a company called T-Rex produced the first miniatures, though molds and masters were soon picked up by Grenadier Miniatures who added a package of trucks.

Left to right, N-scale Classics Metalworks, unknown manufacture purchased in Taiwan, and Car Wars scale miniature.
Some of the vehicles for Car Wars. Notice that they recreate the box art.
Wrecks and highway debris.
Trucks and motorcycles. The trucks suggest these were Grenadier castings.

Currently, miniatures made specifically for Car Wars Are no longer available though with the fifth edition the scale has been modified to accommodate larger scale vehicles. Irregular Miniatures has in the past offered these sort of cars in 6mm though it is not clear if these are still available.




Future, Vehicles

Ogre

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The Steve Jackson game, Ogre, always seemed to lend itself to miniatures wargaming.  The rules were simple, clean, and precise and the number of miniatures needed was minimal.  The original game offered pretty simple terrain.  The follow-up, GEV, improved on that.

The license for manufacture has been held by Martian Metals and Ral Partha.  Currently, the license appears to be held by Steve Jackson Games and can be purchased from Warehouse 23.

The original miniatures were based on the counter silhouettes created by Winchell Chung.  Over the years, other vehicles have been added but the original designs still remain relatively consistent.

The Martian Metals pieces had thin barrels for tank guns.  Howitzers were little more than a rod attached to a base and had a tendency to break.  Ral Partha strengthened the gun barrels and added more detail to the howitzers.  The incarnation of the Ogre miniatures now features plastic Ogres to replace the earlier pewter pieces.  Below, an example of the plastic Mk III Ogre alongside an earlier Ral Partha version of the same piece.  The main differences I noticed were less detail in the treads with no detail on the interior side and the rear and forward portions of the Ogre attached.

Other smaller pieces are still cast in metal.  They are attractively sculpted.  The pieces are a little too small to work well with the massive Battletech pieces even though the scale is supposed to be the same.  I have found that the infantry figures for Battletech appear to me to be a little bit larger.

Older metal Ogres alongside the plastic Ogres. The plastic Ogres are in red. The tan Mk V Ogre has not yet had its armament added. On the left, are two Battletech pieces, an unpainted Demolisher II and a Big Demolisher.

For fans of Ogre miniatures, these are the natural choice.  The Mega Force toys by Kenner also mix well with these.  With dedicated miniatures support, Ogre provides a nice alternative to Battletech.

Past, Vehicles

Valiant 16th Century Ships

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Valiant had during the 70s focused on naval vessels including a range of space ships for wargaming.  This is a selection of 1/1200 ships from their Spanish Main range.  The ships are highly detailed as one would expect for this scale.  Ships appeared to be either British or Spanish with some generic vessels and a galleass with either square or lanteen rigged sails.  The galleys available appear to have been part of the smaller scale Napoleonic range and sadly did not match the ornate galleass.

Though quite old, it appears that the Valiant molds are still in use and these ships can usually be found on E-Bay.  The ships are sturdy and put up with a reasonable amount of abuse except for the foremasts which have a tendency to topple with the slightest pressure.  These are good for Armada  games, piracy on the Spanish Main and similar things.

Past, Vehicles

Thoroughbred Figures 1/600 ACW Vessels

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The USS Roanoke triple turret monitor alongside a Union tin clad gunboat. The models dwell in that limbo between the more common 1/1200 scale for naval models and 1/300 as a lower limit on ground forces.
The USS Roanoke triple turret monitor alongside a Union tin clad gunboat. The models dwell in that limbo between the more common 1/1200 scale for naval models and 1/300 as a lower limit on ground forces.

Two Confederate ironclads. Top is the CSS Charleston. The lower ship is listed as CSS Columbia/Texas.

Thoroughbred miniatures ACW vessels are just a bit on the large size for gaming but I doubt that will stop anyone from using these, especially if they have enough space.  The range is extensive and the models well-detailed with many small pieces for some ships like the Hartford making these more of a project than most.

I first encountered these when with nothing to do on a weekend in Columbia, SC, I wandered into a toy soldier convention.  It was a small but interesting gathering.  The Thoroughbred display drew my attention more than any other.  I have been slowly gathering them since then.  ‘Then’ was likely about 12 years ago.

There are a reasonable number of rule sets available for ACW ironclads.  One likely candidate is the Ironclads games originally offered by Yaquinto.   The size of the larger ships, though, make these unlikely candidates for hexagons on all but the largest game mats.

Of course, the charm of these miniatures is the careful attention to detail.  These miniatures straddle the line between display and gaming.  Since the reality of gaming is that most gamers select a scale based on space available and cost of the miniatures, that most of these battles involved small numbers of ships and occurred in a limited area, the large size will not seem out of place.

 

Future, Vehicles

Battletech Mechs

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Ral Partha picked up the license to produce Battletech figures for FASA’s boardgame. For those unfamiliar with it, giant robots piloted by humans fight with a range of weaponry while trying to avoid heat overload. Each robot had a rather elaborate chart associated with it to track weapons available and expended, heat build-up and physical damage similar to charts used in many naval games.

Battletech vehicles
Battletech vehicles including Demolisher tanks, Rhino tanks and Pegasus hover tanks.

A problem apparent in the original figures is that they all tend to look like robots from Japanese cartoons of the time. In fact, many could be purchased as kits or figures from other manufacturers. This eventually led to the discontinuation of a number of figures which are now characterized as “unseen” and remain fairly hard to get.
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Some less finished pieces from the lazy painter, he has a bunch of mechs drifting about unpainted or partially painted. These include some resin cast pieces purchased from the Ral Partha booth at a HMGS convention back in the early 90s. The figures are popular enough that they are still in production though Ral Partha has ceased to exist.
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Even if the figures did cease production, it is likely that there would still be compatible figures produced in Japan which has never lost its taste for giant robots from such early favorites as Gigantor to the later more sophisticated Mobile Suit Gundam and Macross. Above, a figure from the Bandai Gundam collection alongside one of the Battletech mechs. Additionally, ranges of similar giant robots not carrying the Battletech license also exist and are readily adaptable.

Ogre, a game also about future warfare, has some similarities to Battletech in that the eponymous cyber-tanks must also have available weapons systems and movements factors recorded and charted as the ogres are exposed to battlefield damage.  Smaller vehicles are not so lucky.

Past, Vehicles

GHQ WWII German Armor

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A selection of GHQ armor in the odd 1/285 scale. One artillery piece and all of the figures are by Heroics & Ros. The attention to detail on the vehicle castings is apparent. There is a precision in modeling that works well when modeling machines. Earlier castings including those from GHQ showed a free form sculpting which was not as effective.

German armor in western Europe in the later years of WWII used a 3-color camouflage paint scheme that can be a little tricky to make look good. Still, at such a small scale and with appropriate wet and dry brushing, some lapses can be readily forgiven especially since the original vehicles were often painted under some bad conditions. Most of these models were spray painted, masked and sprayed again, finally getting a wash of black and some drybrushed highlights. Details such as wheels, tires, tracks and cables were picked out with a brush.

Some of the vehicles shown here include the dreaded Tiger tank, the King Tiger, Panzer V and IV, and the Jagdpanzer IV. GHQ has a commitment to improving and expanding its range. This can be seen if one looks closely at the Opel Blitz trucks. An earlier multi-part casting is in the back. Newer Blitz show off the fine detail that GHQ excels at.
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Future, Vehicles

Laserburn

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Vehicles from the still available Laserburn 15mm SF series. Here the top portion of the vehicle is the same while a separate bottom piece is used to generate wheeled or ant-grav propulsion.
Vehicles from the still available Laserburn 15mm SF series. Here the top portion of the vehicle is the same while a separate bottom piece is used to generate wheeled or ant-grav propulsion.

Laserburn was a set of rules and miniatures for science fiction figures in 15mm. The rules were written by Bryan Ansell and figures apparently sculpted by him as well and sold under Tabletop Games banner. The vehicle range is limited but reasonable. The vehicles have a comic book flavor to them and are still available online. These do not have the fine machined surfaces of vehicles like the GHQ line but work well with Traveller which also initially used 15mm figures.

Future, Vehicles

Megaforce

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Mega Force vehicles by Kenner. Numerous and cheap.

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Mega Force vehicles by Kenner. These are part of a larger series of vehicles for two opposing armies. Small vehicles are metal with plastic detail. Larger vehicles were plastic. These can still be found for sale at nominal prices.

On some occasions, a toy company produces something unique and Kenner’s Megaforce toy series certainly qualifies. Two countries, V-Rocs and Triax are represented by equivalent ranges of vehicles (alas, no infantry) from tanks and helicopters to enormous command bases and flying platforms. Series 1 was released in 1989 and another series was meant to follow but the line languished and ended up on the racks of Kaybee Toys and Hobbies where old toys went to die.

The smaller vehcles are diecast metal, larger are plastic. All were packaged with some sort of bonus piece. The vehicles seem to mesh well with 6mm figures though I have yet to do much with them. Vehicles can still be found for sale at nominal prices even in the original packaging. For someone looking for a quick inexpensive armor force, these are ideal. All are prepainted and marked. It is one of those nice instances where wargamers can make ready use of off-the-shelf toys.

Past, Vehicles

WWI Fleet

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Figurehead WWI ships 1/6000
Figurehead WWI ships 1/6000

These tiny slightly out of focus ships are as small a scale as I have encountered for gaming so of course it was immediate unconditional adoration. They do not have the level of detail one could hope for in this computer age but the scale makes them just right for some of the Clash of Arms games where counters show vessels at 1/6000.

The small scale also allows their use in older games like Jutland or Battlewagon. It would even be possible to incorporate them in something like SPI’s The Solomons Campaign. At a scale this small, there are a lot of possibilities. Just do not try it on a thick carpet.

Figurehead Miniatures has had a number of distributors in this country so it is a good idea to check The Miniatures Page for whoever is selling them at the moment. Prices for these tend to fluctuate with some people selling them as if they were cast in gold so it is a good idea to purchase through the distributor.