"10mm vs 1/285" Topic

I'm sure I'm just being dense, but how much difference, if any, is there between 10mm and 1/285 scale figures?

I'm certainly no expert but I thought 1/285 was roughly equivalent to 6mm figures (1/300 roughly equivalent to 5mm).

I've seen them referred to that way pretty frequently.

So, a bit over half the size of a 10mm figure. maybe someone has a comparison photo they could link to?

Enough to be able to paint and ID the infantry. If they had been around in the 1980s when I wrote Fire! Freur! Ogon!, I would have designed them in 12mm rather than 6mm.

A fellow recently showed me his rules for WW2 and I recommended that he write the base rules for 10/12mm and have a 6mm conversion in the appendix.

Of course ground scale can be adapted to the point that no conversion is needed.

About 4mm.

Most 10mm figures are somewhere in the range of 1:160-1:140. More of less, allowing for windage.

Hi Tim,

Due to scale creep, the differences can be large although techncially, they is only about 4mm in difference between 6mm and 10mm. However, 10mm is often really 12mm to 14mm or larger so the differences can often be more pronounced than the 4mm you would expect.

10mm is the smallest scale I would use for individual skirmish despite having a buddy or two who use 6mm for skirmish.

I use 10mm for sci-fi although it also a popular scale for ancients, Napoleonics, and WWII.

Shalom,
Maksim-Smelchak.
6mm-minis.blogspot.com

The length of my 1/285th WWII vehicles is generally the width of my corresponding WWII vehicles.

And regardless of scale creep, you could never mix 6mm and 10mm on the same table and look anything but silly.

"I'm sure I'm just being dense, but how much difference, if any, is there between 10mm and 1/285 scale figures?"

See recent numerous threads re scale vs size.

1/285th is what it says, something 285" long IRL will be 1" long in 1/285th.

'10mm' is pretty well any old scale the manufacturer decides it is, although around 1/160th is a reasonable approximation. ie vastly bigger than 1/285th, a much larger proportional difference than between 1/100th and 1/72nd (or '15mm' and '20mm').

Just to complicate things, Skytrex have a 1/200 range that is often called 10mm -- though 1/200 would be more like 8mm.

Pendraken is often described as 10mm, but is probably closer to 12mm (certainly for infantry).

1/200 vehicule can sometime be used alongside with 6mm figs
and 1/200 figs could stand for ( 2m meter talls 6mm or 1.56 m tall 10mm ) …
6mm also come in 1/300 scale and 1/250 but they mix easily all toghether ( but side by side a 1/300 with a 1/200 or a 1/285 fig next somewhat look like a child )
main diferences 10mm vs 6mm :
size , space needed to play/store , price , number of poses aviable, details on the figs , painting time , number of manufacturers and compatibility .

For me, the difference between the 2 scales became more significant once I hit the middle age and my eyesight got poorer.

Let me take a different approach to answering this, and focus on the use of the two scales rather than on how different they are in size.

I really like 6mm (1/285) and I do most of my WWII gaming in that scale. My games tend to be very armor centric, with lots of tanks on the board. If you prefer infantry oriented games, with only a few AFV's on the table, then I'd avoid 6mm.

That being said, you should know that there is a big difference in the size of the typical German tank used in 1939-41 and those used 1944-5. Micro armor turrets on the late war tanks can usually be left unglued and easly rotated during the game, but for most early war tanks they are just too small. Now that I'm getting older I've decided to use 6mm for 1943-45 and move up to a larger scale for the early war.

and focus on the use of the two scales rather than on how different they are in size

Good point. I am more interested in the use of infantry, with armour being important but secondary.

10mm is actually one of the oldest scales, 1/178 used by Lt.Siborn in the Borodino and later Waterloo displays.

However it does not match any other standard scales, closest being the 11 mm 1/160 N scale used in railway models.

The 1/285 and 1/300 are both military scales, one being the US Army the other NATO. That's how they both started, with companies supplying the military needs in the late 60s and early 70s.
There is of course some argument over the correct size for the scales. In no large part this is due to the confusion over average hight of the male, and where the sculptor measures to.
The average height of a male in Europe c.1810 was 1.66m, which by the way meant that Napoleon was above average in height at 1.68m height. However during the 1980s the average height in Europe was 1.72m.
This means that the Napoleonic figure can be about 5.5mm, and the more modern WW2/CW figure a marginally taller 5.7mm.

Most sculptors that are not self-thought sculpt from sole to head and then 'clothe' the model to get proportions right. This means they measure from base to top of head. Only their customers are forced to measure to the eye level if the face is not visible below the excessively large headgear.

The answer to the question is therefore between 4 and 4.5mm difference between 1/300 and 1/178 scale, and 4mm between 1/285 and 1/178.

There is also Bacus figures which are about 7.5mm, so very close to the Z scale (1/220) with only 2.5mm difference. However most 10mm figs are lanky and would not mix well with these somewhat 'tubby' figs. Some Adler figs are close to this scale also.

Of course individuals as short as 5' served in various armies at various times, so 1/300 figs can go as low as 5mm in height. The upward height distribution is far more limited in populations. We have a record of this from the Napoleon's reaction to inspecting the Russian Guard grenadiers ;-)

Phil Barker's Horse Foot & Guns rules gives a standard base and therefore ground scale to model larger scale battles, the scale of the figures give a different visual effect.
You can get a lot of 2mm figures on a standard base which reflects the formations quite well, less for 6mm and even less for 10/12mm; its all a question of taste. Personally I prefer 6mm which is no big deal as long as the opposing armies have the same basing regime. As I build my armies in pairs, this is not a problem.