Pendraken Miniatures Forum

Non-Wargaming Discussion => Fun Stuff => Topic started by: Raider4 on 09 March 2021, 08:46:59 PM

Title: Consistency - ever heard of it?
Post by: Raider4 on 09 March 2021, 08:46:59 PM
From a scenario I've just read:

"A river approximately 4" wide runs across the centre of the table from side to side. 12' from each side table edge is a ford 120mm wide."
Title: Re: Consistency - ever heard of it?
Post by: jimduncanuk on 09 March 2021, 08:54:01 PM
Metri-imperial.
Title: Re: Consistency - ever heard of it?
Post by: sultanbev on 09 March 2021, 10:34:56 PM
That's quite normal in my wargaming. I'll mix imperial and metric all the time - tanks have speed in kmh, armour in cm, angles in degrees, guns in mm, penetration in cm, weight in tons, dimensions in feet, aircraft range in miles, firing range in metres.

Shock horror I even use dice with different numbers of sides together  :o

Inches are still good size though, metric missed out there when it didn't make an equivalent unit.

It probably helps I can convert both in my head, eg knowing 15" is 38cm or whatever, or know the conversion ratios off by heart, eg 1.61kmh to 1mph.
:)

Mark
Title: Re: Consistency - ever heard of it?
Post by: Ithoriel on 09 March 2021, 10:55:48 PM
Quote from: Raider4 on 09 March 2021, 08:46:59 PM
From a scenario I've just read:

"A river approximately 4" wide runs across the centre of the table from side to side. 12' from each side table edge is a ford 120mm wide."

Twelve feet from each side table edge!!!!! How big a table are we looking at? Answers in either metric or imperial are fine. Though preferably not in rods/ poles/ perches!! 
Title: Re: Consistency - ever heard of it?
Post by: flamingpig0 on 09 March 2021, 11:28:37 PM
I was taught in metric but know imperial due to wargame rules- using both seems quite natural
Title: Re: Consistency - ever heard of it?
Post by: Orcs on 10 March 2021, 01:33:55 AM
I quite often fnd myself looking for a piece of weed in the garage for a job thats 38" X 20mm.  Its whatever is the nearest on the tape measure
Title: Re: Consistency - ever heard of it?
Post by: Steve J on 10 March 2021, 07:04:14 AM
At school I started in Imperial, then we had to transition to metric (I can still remember the wooden rules we were given with cm's on them to help learn). In my former work everything small was in millimetres (never cm's) yet making furniture or bigger 'things' I still use Imperial.
Title: Re: Consistency - ever heard of it?
Post by: sultanbev on 10 March 2021, 08:36:58 AM
Quote from: Orcs on 10 March 2021, 01:33:55 AM
I quite often fnd myself looking for a piece of weed in the garage for a job thats 38" X 20mm.  Its whatever is the nearest on the tape measure

A piece of weed ?

That's one hella of a spliff! ;D
Title: Re: Consistency - ever heard of it?
Post by: mmcv on 10 March 2021, 08:38:28 AM
Quote from: Ithoriel on 09 March 2021, 10:55:48 PM
Twelve feet from each side table edge!!!!! How big a table are we looking at? Answers in either metric or imperial are fine. Though preferably not in rods/ poles/ perches!! 

This was my thinking,I think the correct measurement for a table of those dimensions is "bloody massive".

I learned metric growing up, while Imperial was only used conversationally for human heights and weights and road distances.

For smaller measurements though it was always metric so wargaming has taught me some useful conversion skills with inches and cm. Though I do mostly use metric for measurements as often gaming in small spaces.
Title: Re: Consistency - ever heard of it?
Post by: Lord Kermit of Birkenhead on 10 March 2021, 08:44:07 AM
WEll I have plaed on tables over 30 ft long, since we had access to the upper floor of an aircraft factory.
Title: Re: Consistency - ever heard of it?
Post by: sunjester on 10 March 2021, 11:53:57 AM
Quote from: sultanbev on 10 March 2021, 08:36:58 AM
A piece of weed ?

That's one hella of a spliff! ;D

Beat me to it, Sir!  ;D
Title: Re: Consistency - ever heard of it?
Post by: Last Hussar on 11 March 2021, 07:27:08 PM
Black Powder has base sizes in mm, and movement in inches. Had to do the maths when I converted them to cm movement.

Also, post lockdown party at the Orcs.
Title: Re: Consistency - ever heard of it?
Post by: Raider4 on 11 March 2021, 07:38:54 PM
Quote from: Last Hussar on 11 March 2021, 07:27:08 PM
Black Powder has base sizes in mm, and movement in inches.

To be fair, an awful lot of games use that convention.

Honourable exceptions are Warmaster, Epic Armageddon and the Commander series, all firmly metric. I'm sure there are plenty of others.
Title: Re: Consistency - ever heard of it?
Post by: Duke Speedy of Leighton on 11 March 2021, 10:56:36 PM
Local DIY store to my mum used metric feet.
Title: Re: Consistency - ever heard of it?
Post by: Heedless Horseman on 12 March 2021, 04:03:32 AM
Was taught 'Feet' and 'Inches' as a kid...BUT, THEN, 'they' went 'Metric', so never have been able to get my head around 'fractions'! :(
So: 'Big' is in 'Yards / Feet / inches', 'Small' in mm!  ;D
Title: Re: Consistency - ever heard of it?
Post by: FierceKitty on 12 March 2021, 04:59:42 AM
I always think in parsecs. Helps to get the Big Picture.
Title: Re: Consistency - ever heard of it?
Post by: Lord Kermit of Birkenhead on 12 March 2021, 07:22:23 AM
But isn't a parsec like a light year, a measure of time ?
Title: Re: Consistency - ever heard of it?
Post by: Techno II on 12 March 2021, 07:38:22 AM
No, Matey.

It's a unit of 'length' equivalent to roughly 19 trillion miles or 31 trillion kilometers.
That nice Han Solo has got a lot to answer for.

You may think it's a long way down the road to the chemist's.....But that's just peanuts to space. ;)

Cheers - Zaphod.  :)

Title: Re: Consistency - ever heard of it?
Post by: goat major on 12 March 2021, 08:12:53 AM
Astronomers were amazed to find out that 1 parsec is also the same as 1 hex in Traveller. What a coincidence
Title: Re: Consistency - ever heard of it?
Post by: Raider4 on 12 March 2021, 08:28:53 AM
Quote from: Heedless Horseman on 12 March 2021, 04:03:32 AM
Was taught 'Feet' and 'Inches' as a kid...BUT, THEN, 'they' went 'Metric', so never have been able to get my head around 'fractions'! :(

I was taught metric only in schools, but grew up around people who only thought imperial. So feet, inches, yards, miles, gallons and pints all ake sense to me.

The thing I never got was fractions of an inch. In understand what 3/16" means - I just can't visualise it.

Quote from: Heedless Horseman on 12 March 2021, 04:03:32 AM
So: 'Big' is in 'Yards / Feet / inches', 'Small' in mm!  ;D

Bit like temperatures - hot is Farenheit, cold is CentigradeCelsius (in the UK at least).

Although when an American says it's 12° outside, don't think "Oh, that's pleasantly mild", okay?
Title: Re: Consistency - ever heard of it?
Post by: Lord Kermit of Birkenhead on 12 March 2021, 08:46:57 AM
Quote from: Raider4 on 12 March 2021, 08:28:53 AM

Although when an American says it's 12° outside, don't think "Oh, that's pleasantly mild", okay?


Although that would be a heat wave for a Canadian.

Blame that nice Mr Barker for the Imperial/Metric mixes, all his ancient rules had metric bases and moves in inches.
Title: Re: Consistency - ever heard of it?
Post by: Scorpio_Rocks on 12 March 2021, 12:17:36 PM
UK building industry has always used both simultaneously - plaster board etc has always been sold as "x mm" thick in "8' x 4'" sheets
Title: Re: Consistency - ever heard of it?
Post by: goat major on 12 March 2021, 02:44:36 PM
And the UK steel industry although notionally metric sells in dimensions that are based on imperial ..... so a 254x146 beam is 10" x 5  3/4 inches
Title: Re: Consistency - ever heard of it?
Post by: Steve J on 12 March 2021, 03:14:58 PM
The same with timber and mdf sheets, which are basically still imperial measurements, but now converted to the nearest equivalent cm.

Title: Re: Consistency - ever heard of it?
Post by: Raider4 on 12 March 2021, 03:40:56 PM
And the 76.2mm gun was popular in WW2.

Why 76.2mm? That's an odd figure. Why pick that? Oh, it's 3 inches . . .
Title: Re: Consistency - ever heard of it?
Post by: Orcs on 12 March 2021, 08:09:21 PM

You have to be careful when quoting calibre when looking at Russian stuff, certainly post ww2.

In Viktor Suvorov's book 'Inside the Soviet Army' he states that even though a weapon may have a calibre in its name,  It does not mean that is actually the calibre of the weapon.

They change the 'official calibre ' to avoid  supplying the incorrect ammunition. I no longer have the book, so cannot mention the specific weapons h quoted.

eg a rocket with a real calibre of 150mm, may be called a 155mm rocket. So when you call through to request additional ammo the person at the end knows its for a rocket launcher and not a 150mm howitzer.

 



Title: Re: Consistency - ever heard of it?
Post by: Raider4 on 12 March 2021, 08:24:40 PM
Yeah . . . I'm pretty sure the ~35k T-34 tanks produced (not using the 85mm gun) and the ~14k SU-76 both had 3"76.2mm guns fitted to them.

And also yeah . . . I'm aware that (e.g.) the Comet tank had what was known as the 77mm gun, just so they could differentiate. But again, it was fitted with a 3"76.2mm.
Title: Re: Consistency - ever heard of it?
Post by: Lord Kermit of Birkenhead on 13 March 2021, 06:58:50 AM
Same applies to some German weapons such as the sK100mm which is actually 105mm.
Title: Re: Consistency - ever heard of it?
Post by: Last Hussar on 13 March 2021, 07:11:36 AM
Wasn't the 17 pdr ammo referred to as 77mm to make sure you didn't get the wrong 76mm?
Title: Re: Consistency - ever heard of it?
Post by: fsn on 13 March 2021, 07:34:38 AM
I thought the 17pdr ammo was 17pdr, but the short 17pdr fitted in the Comet was 77mm.
Title: Re: Consistency - ever heard of it?
Post by: Techno II on 13 March 2021, 07:43:47 AM
I'm glad I never have to make any artilllha artilery big guns or tanks..I get confused, simply making the wee men.

Cheers - Phil :)
Title: Re: Consistency - ever heard of it?
Post by: Lord Kermit of Birkenhead on 13 March 2021, 10:28:44 AM
It does get confusing at times Phil  :(
Title: Re: Consistency - ever heard of it?
Post by: Techno II on 13 March 2021, 01:13:46 PM
Ian, my friend......If YOU get confused.....what chance has an almost complete historical numpty like yours truly have ? :'( :'( :'( :'(

Cheers - Phil. :)



Title: Re: Consistency - ever heard of it?
Post by: Lord Kermit of Birkenhead on 13 March 2021, 01:59:39 PM
Quote from: Techno II on 13 March 2021, 01:13:46 PM
Ian, my friend......If YOU get confused.....what chance has an almost complete historical numpty like yours truly have ? :'( :'( :'( :'(

Cheers - Phil. :)

I am never confused altough Arsins did throw me. Also my 2.1 is in History. Least I dont still measure in leagues....