Terrain scales?

[Rainsford]

Hi all, I have been working on developing a narrative T&T campaign for my game group to play once the pandemic is over, and am wondering about others thoughts on terrain scale. I know from browsing the forum that a smaller scale than the planes tends to be the preference to create some forced perspective, but the tripods being ground vehicles makes me wonder...

One of the scenarios I am including will be a scramble to defend the players’ Aerodrome from a tripod raid, and I am thinking of utilizing N scale (1:160) buildings and trees to create obstacles that have to be avoided for such a low-altitude scenario. The climax of the campaign will be a defense of central London, and for that I am going to shrink the scale somewhat so Big Ben is a manageable size, and I can construct other landmarks that rise above the “rooftops” level of the map using cardstock models.

Has anyone else built terrain the same scale as the planes? Are the tripods 1:144 or are they smaller?

Thoughts appreciated, ultimately I am going to be building each scenario to whatever scale fits the “theatrical intent,” and I have quite a few months still to do it, so combined with my model railroad collection it shouldn’t be too onerous. The real stumper is how I am going to handle the Dover cliffs for the scenario where the tripods are wading ashore from France, HMS Thunder Child blazing away at them from the Channel.

[OldGuy59]

The ground scale (distance over the ground based on two seconds per phase) is approximately 1/900 for WGF, and about 1/2250-ish for WGS. The planes were scaled for visual appeal (and, I suspect, to fit in a certain sized box). This makes WGF planes 144th scale and WGS planes 200 scale.

For me, I go with targets of the same scale for each game, which is why I put a 1/200 scale aircraft carrier on the table in WGS games. Absolutely impossible to miss with bombs.

The Tripods are supposed to be approximately 10 meters high, IIRC. They are supposed to be able to step over small houses. Try to pick terrain that makes the small buildings about knee high on a Locust Mk I, is my suggestion, if you want to keep to 'scale'?

[flash]

...The real stumper is how I am going to handle the Dover cliffs for the scenario where the tripods are wading ashore from France, HMS Thunder Child blazing away at them from the Channel.

Cuttlefish about 46 feet tall.... White cliffs of Dover 350 feet... I suggest it lands at the port of Dover Ian !

[Diamondback]

Yeah, I don't think Wells meant a tripod with each leg being longer than a WWII destroyer... IIRC, late-war Fletchers/Sumners and the Japanese Shimakaze were almost 400' from bow tip to stern, and to clear a 350' cliff you'd need enough taller for the knee to lift the lower-leg and plant foot above that.

[Rainsford]

Oh, I definitely didn’t intend them to climb the cliffs. Just thinking through what size/scale I make any cliff terrain in relation to them.

There is apparently a reference in the novel to an “inaccurate article” that describes the tripods as 100’ tall, but I really need to dig out the book and reread it to see if there are any other size references.

A 1/900 ground scale would make the central London scenario manageable. Big Ben would be about 4 or 5” high. Dover cliffs would come out about the same height as well.


Mike, is the 1/200 carrier 4’ long, then?

[OldGuy59]

It is big. I wanted something for convention tables, that would draw the eye. This thing did that in spades!

The creation of the ship:
HMS Glorious in 1/200 Scale

One of many Convention appearances:
BottosCon 2015