"What size are GW figures? 32mm?" Topic

What size are GW figures? 32mm?

25 – 28mm but the size differs quite a bit from thier older (1980's – 1990's) ranges to the present day plastics. 28mm being standard human size.

A bit vague but hope this helps.

Regards

Chris

Worth noting that the LOTR ranges are smaller than the WFB/40K ranges.

In theory 28mm

In fact often larger

With – as noted – the exception of LOTR, which are about 25mm

It's not necessarily the height of the figures – it's the proportions that make them a difficult match up with the "true 28" size.

i doubt any of the human figures from current gw 40k and whfb are less than 35mm…

i've just measured some empire and cadians and theyre between 33-35 mm and many of them aren't fully upright.

In a recent WD article one of the GW sculptors commented on why he liked sculpting their "32mm figures" – so I guess 32 is currently 'official'. But I bought a Commissar figure a few weeks back which was 36mm tall….

Black makes them look taller!

The LOTR range is "real" 28mm. The rest is 30mm+.

No single scale within 40k. Most of the armies are sculpted at 30-32mm, while the Marines are still being sculpted at true 25mm. They end up the same size as the rest of the armies, but *they aren't supposed to*.

My Tau are about 29mm to eye level – with their legs it's hard to judge what is standing height. It's all about sculpting to fit a sprue, and still big enough for a ham-fisted 12 year old to get gluing and painting. I don't know, I managed 6mm Space Marines just fine when *I* was a kid, grumble grumble.

It's important to remember that although gaining 3mm is only a 10% increase on 28mm, it's a 33% increase in plastic or metal volume. Add to that all the skulls, incense burners, recipe books and lampshades that Humanity's Finest equip themselves with and you're talking a LOT of raw material.

And here i thought GW said the LotR ranges was true 25mm and had to be that to acquire the license to produce the line.

Grimm

The LotR line started smaller than it is now. The Last Alliance Men and Elves are rather small compared to later metals in more than a few cases.

What the LotR line remains is better proportioned compared to real people than the fatties of Warhammer.

There may be a change in the offing though.
The new Skaven are much finer with smaller hands and feet.
If you look at the pole holding the banner on the new doomwheel that's also much thinner than they would have made such things a year or two back.

Improved design processm, apparently.

gw originally starting making 28mm models in order to make competitor models too small but they did this for the first time in about 1985 this bigger scale became known as "CSS" ie "citadel standard scale" origionaly but the name changed to "herioc scale" now with the release of the previous warhammer edition they decided to up the scale to 32mm officaly which is why they are know bigger

incidentally the lord of the rings range is true 25mm(ish) because when the first contracts were worked out with newline/saul zentz were worked out they needed to be differentially scaled (so you couldnt mix and match parts between normal GW kits and the LoTR stuff)
GWs battery of lawyers qiute giuckly got around the contractual obligations which is why they have been creeping up in size slightly

Elton speaking with 24 years of watching GW empty my pocket

magog001 is right.

GW made it's miniatures "a different size" to differentiate "their" miniatures from "the others", but the new 28mm scale appealed to lots of people and then pretty much everybody started doing bigger 25mm miniatures to reach that "heroic" size.

But the scale creep has reached unbeliebale levels in recent times! Look for example GW's plastic Chaos knights and, if they where standing, easily will be 33 or 34mm TO THE EYES, no to say to the top of the head + horns.

LoTR miniatures has been growing and growing, so now, they are compatible with WHFB "previous edition" miniatures.

And each time I see this scale creep, I wonder: How bigger can a model be and still rank an file with a GW 20mm base?

Best wishes.

"How big can a model be and still rank-and-file with a GW 20mm base?"

Depends on proportions and pose. The just replaced Skaven were too big for 20mm bases if you let them be, while the current Empire State Troops strain the base standing still. Chaos is on 25mm basing, and regularly slops over the edges, and GW hasn't made cavalry that actually fit inside the cav base in years.

My old plastic War of the Rings minis (from the first production runs) are about 28mm to the eyes, but they're realistically proportioned (I've used some of their parts in conversions of Infinity minis, which are 33-35mm to the eyes, and it looks fine).

GW Chaos Warriors haven't fit on a 25mm square base in two generations of the minis, and there are several others that are problematic.

What size? Too big, if you ask me. If GW want to save some serious money and 'differentiate' again they could change their scale back to 25mm and re-release all their old sculpts…

"change their scale back to 25mm and re-release all their old sculpts"

40k and WFB have never been 25mm except by the conventions of Marketing Fiction, so none of the old sculpts would work except for Marines, who have never been in scale with the rest of the line.

I have a ruler and a box of GW minis circa 1988 here. I beg to differ, Farstar.