A lot of commercially available 28mm buildings (if 'true scale' - for want of a better description) do take up too much table space, unless 1:1 skirmish gaming is the bag you're into. However, like His Highness the Emir, I think employing 15mm buildings with 28mm figures might be a scale drop too far. I have shoehorned a few 15mm structures into my 20mm World War Two scenery collection without much pain, but putting 15mm buildings alongside 28mm figures starts to border on the comical (at least to my eye). A 15mm door next to a 28mm figure makes the building look like a rabbit hutch.
With a relatively recent return to 28mm gaming this is a problem I have been musing over myself, and I've found myself especially drawn to the look of the 'Old School Gaming' buildings of Charles Grant - perpetuated (of course) by C S Grant and the likes of Phil Olley's classic wargames projects.
For some the original Grant approach might be a little too plain in appearance (simple windows / doors painted on etc) or the lift off shell to reveal a 'ruin' underneath not to everyone's requirements, but it's the
proportions of the models that attracted my eye. There's something very pleasing about them even though they are under-scaled for 28mm figures to keep them in line with tabletop 'building regulations'. And for those wishing to construct more elaborate looking models (but based on the same Grant principal) there's nothing to stop you. Check out some of Phil Olly's fine architectural efforts for his Sittingbad recreation here (scroll down to the bottom of the page) -
http://www.classicwargaming.blogspot.co ... fight.html
Or here's an example of Phi's work -
Judging from these pictures and those illustrated in the Grants' writings - single buildings need not have a tabletop footprint of more than 80 to 100mm square and could be as little as 50 to 60mm if you don't plan to put figure bases inside them.
I am currently sketching out a few simple ideas for 'test' buildings along these lines, for construction in both foam core board and cork floor tile to see how they turn out. I'm told (I've not tried this yet...) that the key is to make your ground floor doors and first floor ceiling height at least look as if a 28mm man might be able to walk through them without bending themselves completely double! Apparently so long as the ground floor looks plausible alongside the figures then that will be enough to please the viewer's eye - while any upper storey above this can then be compressed / squashed down quite a lot to keep the overall height reasonable but without distorting the overall appearance of the building too much.
I suppose these are caricature buildings really, but with a bit of effort they can look the part, and three or four of them put together will pass for a good sized village without turning half your wargames table into something resembling the Manhattan skyline!
Well... that's the theory. If I finally take the plunge with this blog of my own I keep tip-toeing around, I might post the results in a few weeks.
Salutations
DPT