Last year I posted a piece comparing the size of Dream Pod 9 Gears/Mechs against a scale real world vehicle. And then another piece looking at the size of the Visigoth tank next to an Abrams.
This time I'm comparing a RAFM era 1/87th scale Hunter Command with a 1/144th scale Hunter conversion next to 15mm–1/100th scale–Abrams and a 1/144th scale Abrams with a Clear Horizon Epsilon 15mm miniature and a MechWarrior Dark Age 10mm Grey Death Legion power armour figure.
What does this mean?
I've been bitten by the accidental purchase of six RAFM era Gears. I say accidental because I put a low bid on them not expecting to win, but I did: hence accidental. Now I have the urge to acquire more RAFM Gears because they're lovely and shiny, must catch them all...
Realistically, if I can get hold of a couple of Southern Gears then I'll probably be satisfied as it will allow me to have heroic scale stand-in models of my character's mechs from my novels. OTOH though, the temptation to go full-on 15mm for my Bad Dog verse project is strong because it's so much easier to get figures in different poses.
What you're hearing is the sound of the wargamers lament.
Yeah, I wish they had kept the 1/87 Gears in production. I bought all I could find back then.
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure if they'd make money (or enough money more accurately) making an incompatible scale of HG again... and I say that as a fan of the old RAFM gears as you already know. I just don't think HG is popular enough to support that... and boutique current scale metals... and mass market plastics. Congrats on the purchase though! Which ones did you get?
ReplyDeleteWell, the easy way to test that is run a KickStarter. I would've thought Arkrite who want to do the RPG would like RPG scale mecha to go with the game, but this is all about capitalization.
DeleteOver here, someone like GZG would produce these at the drop of a hat.
While the idea of a kickstarter is a good point, I could see reason in them thinking that the sales would cannabilize from sales of other lines with higher profit margins due to sunk costs already... well... sunk. If you're keen on the idea, PM brandonKF on the official forums or dakka or the HG facebook group (same guy) as he freelances for Arkite now. I *think* I remember a mention of larger scale "character" gears being mentioned during the first few weeks/months post announcement of the arkite HG RPG license. I frankly haven't kept up with the project at all in the years since so I don't know if that was just a throwaway comment or possibly if I'm even remembering it correctly. Which Rafm scale gears did you end up getting btw?
DeleteI'm in contact with Brandon as I'm a member of the FaceBook page he started.
DeleteMy next post will have all the details about the models I bought and the work I'm doing to fix the miscast of the ammo box on the rear of the bazooka.
Sorry to hear about the miscast. Hopefully you didn't also get mispacks as well like I did every third blister.
DeleteThe way I see it, no doubt Robert and Dave and Dream Pod 9 will beg to differ, is that they could produce resin and pewter Gears for using in RPG scenarios and for small unit actions: squad a side games. It expands there product line, mollifies the old guard, and should make them money, because choice is what expands market share.
DeleteHere's a link:
http://www.ted.com/talks/malcolm_gladwell_on_spaghetti_sauce
You can never have enough big stompy mecha
ReplyDeleteAmen to that.
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