I'm having some issues in Japan with teaching people to play the game in inches, and wonder if people have anything constructive to say about this. In short, Imperial units are alien and although it's not impossible, it's uncommon to find measures marked in inches. I recently visited a DIY warehouse with hundreds of measuring devices, but none were in inches! The main issue is not so much with obtaining measuring tools though as the people's unfamiliarity with the unit. I might as well be saying "4 Finger Joints" as "4 inches" for all the resonance the word 'inch' has. So I experimented with printing army lists in centimeters, and everything got a whole bunch easier, with far less difficulty in early games. But then playing in Spain, a notably long-standing decimal country, everyone was using inches, and I'm aware that the English rules does does state "Distances in the game table are measured in inches, using a tape measure or ruler." N3 PDF p20 Any comments?
As long as you all play in the same numerical unit and not convert from one unit to the other it is fine, if you use metric you should use the distances described on the Spanish rulebook/ army list/ scenarios.
Pretty sure I was told that Interplanetario was played in cm, and so were some other events in Spain. Just last week I was told an anecdote about one of these events when someone messed up his rangeband just enough to be okay in inches, but failing in cm. They had to check tournament reglament to determine the outcome. Anyway, the game supports both, although "4 inches = 10 cm" Infinity postulates is wrong. If your group prefers cm, just roll with it.
Thanks @psychoticstorm - can I take that as a formal assurance? I've actually found that the metrics range distances felt easier to remember and play with personally, and we've been doing that for about 9 months now. Then I recently played in an ITS tournament in the UK and really struggled to make the adjustment. Since the cm and inch ranges aren't quite the same distances, I played it that I stuck to cm the whole way through the tournament. That was fair enough, but unnecessarily difficult for both players because we had to obtain two sets of measurements. What do we know about players in other metric countries, and any comment about such international ITS?
Yeah, the Interplanetary was officially played in cm. I can't remember if that was in the printed player pack or announced at the start of the event. Also the players' army lists were printed in cm. Although games where both layers were used to playing in inches tended to be played in inches anyway.
Depends where you play. I always played cm since my version of the book and rules are printed in cm. (And I don't have inches tape measure) But in tournament the issue should be addressed beforehand cause it could matter at long range. Like the hmg 80cm should be 32 inches but it's more like 31inches.
I didn't notice that at all, but am personally pleased to hear it; the ranges seem to fall together nicely in cm, and it plays well out here. So I'm safe to stay with cm if that's working?
I've always been of the opinion that the English rules only default to inches because of a certain former colony's refusal to embrace the metric system which makes finding a tape measure in mm/cm on the wrong side of the Atlantic annoyingly hard. The Army builder is easy to switch between cm and archaic, as long as both players are using the same you can use whichever you prefer.
Well, the CB calculation error is only 1.6% any range measurement, which hardly makes any statistical differents in the use of range bands. As for movements i´d say it´s much more important to place the model on the correct position, which - personal opinion - would be estimated as ~5% positioning margin. (bla bla bla bla bla physics bla bla) Basically: Take your pick. It´s not important at all. It´s a game after all edit: <bashing imperial units> I only use the imperial system for infinity. Thats what it´s made for after all. Games, right?
I guess that for many of us (that is, most people outside UK), centimeters are just easier, since it is what we use on a daily basis. My friends and I were used to play other games in inches because of Games Workshop (we used to mentally convert inches in cm since we rarely had inches rulers), but now we can play in cm, and it's so easier for us :)
So interestingly I purchased a 4ft by 4ft mat to play on stupidly expecting it to fit on my 120cm x 120cm table. Obviouslly It did not so the extra inch has been snipped off the sides with a craft knife. So now when we play casually round my house we play with inches on a 120cm table :O Heresy!
Ye sit is safe, just use the cm, just don't try to convert inches to CM, use the official ranges issued by CB, you can find them in all PDF that are not English, and as an option to the army builder.
I was just a spectator at the Interplanetario last year - I didn't play; but I also didn't notice that the competitors using cm, and I recall the discussions I did have using inches. ... Then again, I spent the entire weekend more excited than a seven-year old on a diet of icing sugar and Red Bull, so my judgement probably wasn't at its best! Thanks for your confirmation also, @Abrilete. Do we know if the Polish guys are all generally playing in centimeters too, then?
The rough and ready conversion has always been 1" = 2.5cm, its technically inaccurate, but its close enough that you only notice on really big measurements, and if both players are using the same units its not an issue. Plus 10cm sounds a lot more impressive than 4 inches even though it's less...