When I started with miniatures over 50 years ago there was only one main scale 25mm. Nothing has changed over the years except it's now called 28mm and it's been given a huge shot in the arm with plastic figures. The second place scale 15mm/18mm has managed to carve out a big piece of the pie but it is under full attack from 10mm/12mm. Our great 6mm seems to presently hold a distant third place. All the other scales don't register very high in popularity as far as I can tell.

Shortly after switching to 6mm in the 70s I stopped buying all magazines as they rarely contained any 6mm content. Nothing has really changed over the years, 28mm dominates our hobby. So the magazines cater to their bread and butter. What else can they do?

We all know how impractical it is to game with scales larger then 6mm, but the masses are impressed and obessed with their larger figures no matter how impractical they are. They will never change in part because of their huge investment and brain washing.

The only light I do see is 6mm continues to grow for all the practical reasons. While 28mm is kind of frozen in time with fewer new recruits. It's very hard to notice as it's so big. I don't think 28mm sees a new customer every day like Peter does. I don't know how long it will take before the new (6mm) overwhelms the old (28mm), but I'm confident that it will happen some day. As that happens so will the content of the magazines change.

Peter has raised a strong discussion topic. I love 6mm, so why don't others? I've a few answers to contribute:
Never under-estimate the power of sex!  For example, take a look at the Salute painting competition pictures. Yes, there are a few "historicals" there. However, in the main, if they are not scantily clad females, of which there are many, then certainly the majority include bare flesh. The hunky hero can be just as thrilling as the godess. Sadly, such features, even if you wanted them in 6mm, just don't come over with the clarity of 28mm. Publishers need an audience and know what sells.
As a new entrant into the commercial world of wargaming, I'm learning slowly about marketing. We, in the 6mm domain, are pretty bad at it. Take a look at the JoyOf6 website, for example. I'm pretty sure there will be another event next year, but is there a webiste for it?  Maybe just a date?  Even if we are trying to build the conversation with our prospective audience, we are not making it easy for them. [I should take a look at my own websites tomorrow, with the same cricism in mind!]
Content is king. I put on many participation games, traveling to clubs and shows, including some great historical battles fought at JoyOf6 this year. However, writing them up is low on my to-do list, overtaken by my desire to get the next show on the road. (Incidentally, that will be Montecassino 1944 at the Texas Broadsides show, local to where I live in the USA - www.txbroadside.com).
Now, follow the money! If the evil giant of Warhammer had on average one new customer each day, they wouldn't be the giant we know. Peter sounds pleased that Baccus6mm has that running rate. I conclude 6mm is a niche in the market. Ok, let's not forget it.
Many comments in this thead have expressed how little wargamers spend on their hobby, often figuring at less than a hundred (Dollars, Pounds, or Euros) for a project. That wouldn't buy you two tickets to a decent concert or sporting event these days. So what do you think you are buying? A hobby or a pass-time?
The specialist magazines take money for advertising and naturally publish articles to support the adverts. Logically, even if they have "free" content, they will favour content that has advertising money behind it. Don't complain - they have to earn their keep too.
For me, 6mm is the ideal scale for fighting historical battles. My game rules (Brigadier General Commands), including explanations about how to make historical wargames from battle narratives and maps, took far more effort to compile and publish than I had imagined. I have projects to publish the scenarios that I've played at clubs and shows, but wonder if the market would reward my effort. 
I'm not giving up. In deed, Peter's thread encourages me to do a little bit more to push the 6mm agenda.
Daniel T Shaw
www.GamesAtWar.com

In terms of rules the Polemos family have been designed specifically for 6mm, but others come to mind, such as Altar of Freedom (ACW - and their website features only Baccus 6mm), Bruce Weigle's 1870 family of rules (again featuring many photos of 6mm figures fighting across beautifully terrained tables), Bloody Big Battles which work best with 6mm and 10mm figures, the Painting Shed Napoleonic rules, Great War Spearhead, which again look best in 6mm. Doubtless there are others out there, specifically for the post 1920s period (not my kettle of ducks), but many other more generic rules make adjustments for using 6mm figures, such as DBA, Impetus and Warmaster (which look spectacular in 6mm).

Hi all,

I'm Guy Bowers, the editor of Wargames, Soldiers and Strategy. And I care, which is why I'm posting here.

As one of those editors referred to, I thought I'd chip in. Thanks Pete for a very thought-provoking piece and you are right of course. 

As I said on Facebook, my main issue is finding the content for smaller scales - both photographs and modelling articles. In fact, I have one 6mm and one 10mm modelling article commissioned, both of which I have been waiting an inordinate amount of time for. If and when I get them, they'll go into WS&S. Readers of WS&S will know we've had several recent 2mm articles by Mark Backhouse and I plan to have more smaller scale stuff.

There is a reason why 28mm ends up in the magazines, it is easy to come by. If I ask the Perrys or pop into Warlord, I can access vast collections. Frankly, I have to compete with WI. I have struggled from day one with getting any photographs of anything smaller.

I'm going to send Pete an email but I'm also going to lay down a challenge to you all. If you want 6mm in WS&S, I'll need decent high-resolution pictures of decent collections. I can't use out of focus pictures.
 
My email is editor@wssmagazine.com

Please drop me a line if you can help. The ball field can change if you make it change.

Guy

Hello,

As the Sub-Editor at Wargames Illustrated, there's much food for thought here. I've emailed Peter before regarding our lack of 6mm coverage. As a gamer who has collections of 15, 20, 28 and 32mm figures, and having helped to create rules that focus on 20mm as the ideal scale, I tend to agree with many of the comments. We have featured the excellent work of Bruce Wiegle in the magazine in the past and managed to catch up with him at Colours, so another game and rules of his will feature in a future issue.

Our ideal goal is to relfect the whole hobby, on as global a scale as possible. At the recent Colours show, I decided to gather figures for review from manufacturers we haven't featured before in non-28mm. I had intended to visit Heroics and Ros and Baccus but its always tough to grab product from busy traders. However, the fact that the Heroics and Ros stand was pretty much two or three deep with people buying post-1945 tanks and vehicles was hugely noticeable.

Simply put, like Guy, we'd love to feature more articles for a range of scales. Often, wherever possible, we try to talk about miniatures from a range of scales that can be used to game at different levels. But, as Peter stated, it really is difficult to do justice to 6mm in photographs, although not impossible. Also, I for one, as a long time reader of ALL the wargame magazines on the market (yes, I read them all, from White Dwarf to Miniature Wargames, and love the level of work Guy puts into WSS!) would love to feature other scales. A recent article we have from Piers Brand is about the 'Joy of 20mm World War Two', which I have to agree with.

The three main wargames magazines on the market cater for three different demographics, with a lot of crossover. Yes, we 'compete', but often it's more about showing off The Hobby in all its glory, from club nights (BTW, no one has submitted a Club Focus article to us for a while) to a visit to the Perry's. WI is very lucky to be based in Nottingham, which means we have access to some of the best companies in the business, but we can be a little lazy and focus on 28mm, largely because most of the main manufacturers around here do the same. If we're pressed for a deadline, our 'go to' is to grab some miniatures from one of these companies and get some scenic shots done.

Now, if people take the time to write quality articles, and marry these up with great photos or can come and visit us / we visit them for a photoshoot, we're more than happy to feature any scale at all. I'm personally hoping to re-visit the world of 20mm 'Moderns' soon, in conjunction with the rules and setting I had a hand in creating. I'll be gaming the Winter of '79 at my club again, taking photos and writing an article (one of my roles is in-house writer). The theme is 'The Russians are Coming...'.

If any member of the forum, a club, manufacturer or rules author wants to get in touch with me on wayne.bollands@wargamesillustrated.net, that would be great. Equally, Guy is a great, er, guy and John Treadaway at Mini Wargames is a great believer in the overall Hobby. If you would like to see more for the smaller scales in the 'Big Three', then feed us - the world of the media is a hungry beast and always looking for more! Please, spread the word.

Thnaks for reading, and hope to hear from you soon.

Wayne

Thanks to Guy and Wayne for their comments.

Gentlemen, there is the challenge. Feed them. Articles, photos, anything to show just how varied the hobby can be. If we don't provide it, no-one else will.

emails and pics sent! ;) come on chaps lets flood them with beautiful 6mm pics

As to Peter's second point that the style of 28mm games is changing, I fully agree.

I think a number of factors are at play here. Perhaps the few who actually have the resources to fully produce a large scale game are getting too old to bother with it. A big 28mm game requires a lot of work over and above actually having the figures. It also requires a large space and a major commitment from a number of players and helpers. Today people want things now and it's hard to get them to commit to future projects.

The rise in skirmish games is seen everywhere. They are generally pretty easy to learn, fun to play and you can play one in little over an hour. You can also generally vary the number of players. Best of all you only require a few figures and its easy on the terrain budget. Set up, take down time is extremely fast and no problem to transport and can be played on your dining room table. It's a no brainer.

So what is going on here I think is just a natural evolution in our hobby. Those who really enjoy big battles are moving into 6mm, as we all know it's the best scale to do that kind of gaming. Those who enjoy skirmish games are finally putting 28mm and a number of other big scales to good use. Of course you can also do great skirmish games in 6mm. It will just take a few more years for the big boys to figure that one out as well.

I also see a shift of some long time large scale collectors/players into 10mm and 6mm for all the obvious reasons. It's just taken longer for all of the large scale problems to sink in.

Some like Peter saw some of this years ago, and lucky for us he started Baccus. It is interesting to finally see the signs that the shift is actually taking place.

May I point to something completely different directions as well?

1) 30-40 years ago we had a toy shop in my small hometown where I grew up and even this ordinary shop sold the cheap plastic toy soldiers from Airfix. Buying a big Napoleonic army was easy. Walk to the shop next door. Airfix promoted big battles.

Today I live in Amsterdam. The local toy shops sell Pokemon and computer games, but no toy soldiers anymore. No trains either, btw. The modern wargamer doesn't know the aesthetics of a truly massed miniature game anymore. It's unexplored territory. He buys online from companies with a strong web presence and a good marketing department. GW, Mantic, Warlord, Battlefront. Which promote 28mm or 15mm WW2.

2) Besides, good large scale battle rules are often slower and more complex than simple action-packed skirmish rules. Will I quickly attack the flank with my brigade or hold the center and wait for my enemy? Decisions are more important than dice.

The trend however is towards simplicity. Understand the game after two turns or die. "A flank attack? No, I want to throw a fistful of dice and move my miniature towards that house and throw a grenade through the window. Flank attacks are só 20th-century..."

3) Skirmish rules have improved. I played my first game of Chain of Command some weeks ago. Smart game. Challenging. A fictional 1944 28mm skirmish can be just as challenging as a large 15mm of 6mm 'prevent the fall of Bastogne' scenario.

Other trends: massed wargames can be played online, with wonderful visuals 

Can't honestly say I agree with the comment  about complex rules for large games. All the rules I currently favour have very straightforward mechanisms and are easy to learn: Bloody Big Battles, 1871, To the Strongest, Basic Impetus 2, Baroque. Obviously the player has to have a plan but I would imagine that to be the case with skirmish games too. Perhaps it's to do with prospective players not being aware of very playable large battle rules, having been put off them in the 80s and 90s when the emphasis tended to be on complex and/or competition. But I think it more likely that the average gamer is no longer a wargamer but a fantasy gamer. There are many factors that have inspired gamers to take this route - TV, literature, films, advertising and presence (GW shops with over the counter availability of everything the fantasy gamer needs - except a decent mat, which for some bizarre reason they withdrew). There will always be people interested in military history and the research required to get the most out of wargaming but I think they are now the minority of figure gamers.