"What is the source of your scale prejudice?" Topic

I don''t understand the Editor sometimes: what was wrong with this thread being in "Wargaming in General"? I almost lost it, since it no longer showed up on the Home page (I don't have "Scale" selected)….

I started with the Airfix plastics, then did 15mm ACW en masse – loved it and still have them – did WWII in 6mm and also liked it

Then the painting bug lite and I started painting 25/28mm – liked it and have mostly painted them since

Have moved into 6mm for Napoleonics because I like the feel of very big battles and do not have the space/time/patience to do them in 28mm

I started with 28 via GW in the 90's. Nearly all the fantasy and sci-fi figs that I saw in Games Paradise stores (remember those…) were 25/28. Reaper, Warzone, GW, Ral Partha, etc…

I dabble a bit in 10mm for mass sci-fi, but I never saw an upside to most smaller scales. By the time 15mm was big enough to catch my interest 3 things (besides haveing a collection of 25/28 figs and terrain) kept me from going that way. I'd finally developed speed painting/dipping skills that made me really appreciate the detail of 25/28, and made painting them not a chore. Being a bargain-fan, the wealth of 25/28's on the second hand market makes it extremely affordable. Lastly, most sci-fi gamers around here, especially my gaming club are 25/28 guys. It just makes sense to stick with what we know and enjoy.

Now if the predominant scale for fantasy and sci-fi in the early 90's was 15mm, I and most everyone I game with would probably be playing 15mm, but it wasn't and we aren't.

Started with 15mm Heritage back in the late '70's maybe when I went to the Tin Soldier on Salem Ave in Dayton. Saw 15mm ACW and WW2 still have and game with some of those same first figures. They are still some of the best looking figs that I've ever seen.

6mm is too small for me to paint. Otherwise, 15mm and up is good for me.

I dislike 12mm because it's a bastard scale. So much cool stuff in it but not enough of it scales okay to 15mm!

My scale prejudice is limited by my eye sight..I'm 51, failing eyes, and need Walmart readers when I paint. I would love to do small (< 15 mm) stuff but have to stick to 28mm or larger just to get decent results.

Although I'd been messing around with 1/72 plastics from early childhood, I didn't really become aware of miniature wargaming as a hobby until around 1978. By that time there were lots available in both 15mm and 25mm, but I had a preference early on for the smaller guys. Probably had a lot to do with cost. I think the first metal miniatures I bought with my own money were probably 1:300 microarmor, probably around 1982. A couple of years later I started painting up 15mm ACW armies. I had a strong prejudice for both of these scales for years but lately have branched out to more scales than I care to list.

Quality of what was around – started with 25/28mm, but am increasingly getting into 15mm as the quality improves (especially for sci fi).

Whatever works best with the ground scale I am gaming. I do 6mm to 15mm. I will play bigger for skirmish games, but when someone is playing the entire Battle of Gettysburg with 54mm and one figure represents a division, I'll go watch the movie. Go Joshua!

Interesting topic.

When I started out we played with what was available (Airfix), then cost was an over-riding consideration as an impoverished schoolboy in the 1970s so 6mm for WW2 and Napoloenics, along with a brief diversion into 54mm skirmish which fitted in with my 1/35th scale AFV modelling hobby.

Having got 20m and 6mm, then it seemed logical to just go on buying more and more over the decades.

15mm was more of a late 90s thing, interesting compromise between cost, looks and storeage requirements, Got a ton of that.

The main consideraton for current projects is how much storage space is this going to take, so I tend to towards smaller scales for newer or niche projects. Hence a move to 2mm for some projects in recent years, particularly as my games room has filled up more.

A recent diversion into 54mm plastic soldiers hasn't helped much.

So, essentially I am a magpie with far too much stuff.

99% of our groups gaming is done in 15mm. We have some ECW and medieval 25mm which occasionally get used.

As for why 15mm? We play historical battles not skirmish scenarios so we generally need a lot more figures, so cost is a factor! We have a large table, normally 6' x 20' and using the smaller figures gives a more realistic layout as it gives a much better groundscale. We used to have ww2 and some other periods in 20mm plastic, as that was what was available at the time.
We like to use the right troops if possible, but when you play every period you cant afford to be precious about it and so troops from the 'wrong armies/periods/ get pressed into service to bulk out units or represent nations in small wars.
We used to play on peoples kitchen tables so the 15mm gave a better game as you could have flanks etc.
Minifigs were the predominant force at the time and gave a petty huge range of 15mm.

I don't have a prejudice against any scale. I try to limit myself to 10mm and 28mm as they are convenient for most of my gaming needs.

Not so much prejudice, but preference and economics.

WW2= 20MM, because of Airfix roots, and while I no longer have any plastics, a number of vehicles from those distant times are still with me, and to change to 15mm or 28mm would require a complete re-boot of everything including buildings. I do have a few 28mm, but wonder why, when my 20mm AB are ae well detailed as many larger figures. The cost of 28mm vehicles is terrifying, so why bother when I have boxes full of 20mm?

Most of my other collections over the last couple of decades have been 28mm skirmish, with some overlap of scenic items, so again it would be a huge step to start over, and I would also have to forego specific 28mm ranges for Doctor Who and Middle Earth.

I did do 15mm ECW a long time ago, primarily for cost, as there were no 1/72 plastics, and there was no way I could do a full size army consisting purely of 25/28mm metals…and I still can't!

15mm mostly seemed unsatisfying to me as I didn't want it for skirmishes, and was happy to have 6mm for bigger battles.

I own 6mm to 28mm so no real bias now. When I started it had to be Airfix Napleonics for my "starving student" mode at the time. That lead to some Jack Scruby "25mm" figs since they matched fairly well. Then I went 25mm for Ancients from the junk bin at the local hobby store. Next I discovered the relatively affordable 15mm and went wild. Now I have figures in two scales for most everything I game.

I lived close to Navwar, so I started out with 6mm. I have branched out, fairly recently, into 3mm. I tend to think smaller the better. Athough I now have a 10mm project on the go.

I don't have any real scale/size bias.

When I was first gaming as a teenager it was mainly Airfix/Matchbox plastics for wargaming for reasons of cost and availability. for RPGing, mostly 25mm Citadel metals for fantasy and 15mm RAFM/Citadel Traveller range for SF.

Having returned to gaming last year, I've ended up going to a mix of scales from 6mm up to 25/28mm. It's very much a case of horses for courses and following what other gamers at the club I go to are using – whilst I would love to paint up an army for Ancients in 25/28mm, it wouldn't get much use as all the other gamers are using 15mm.

Airfix, then Minifigs, Hinchliffe, Lamming, Garrison were what was available (from what I saw in the 70's). Paint fell off Airfix and I had to convert everything…so 25 metals for the ECW and Ancients.

Looked at Laing, not enough detail…but took the 15mm plunge in the very early 80's (after losing my shirt in the business…) for new periods. Why? Cost and easier to paint quickly, moved a few times and sold off most 25's. Did not finish the 25's bought before then until last year (and now the last-of-the-first 25's need repaints and rebasing…) Now moving to plastics and metals in 25/28 again.

Tried 6's and 10's…but the impact never got me and now I can't see to paint them. 15 "painting program" should be finished in 1-2 years, then everything more will be in 25/28's or 40's. When I really can't see or my hands start to shake too much, maybe I'll switch to 54mm+ toy soldiers!

No predjudice, John…cost and the ability to paint, plus the effects of what others are painting around me. It is, after all – all good!

Depends.

I usually prefer 28s as the figures on the market are generally pretty nice.

I'll do 15s if the lads are but I generally don't like them so I 'll try and find a way to do it in 28s.

6mm when the formation makes a difference (Renaissance, WSS etc.) as there are some periods where you can tell a lot of information by the layout of the figures

I don't have any; well, with the exception of 40 and 54mm figs. They are just wrong. :)

Much like the John the OFM, there seemed to be only one scale when I started. This was synchronous with the rise of D&D, and the scale was 25mm. Of course there were those old small figures -- I had a few -- and that was 20mm though I didn't realize that for about 10 years.

And like just visiting, I hated the scale creep that produced "heroic" 25mm and then 28mm then heroic 28mm and now 30mm.

That's the majority of what I have.

In hindsight, obviously T Meier had it right. Gaming with figures compatible with other figures and models? What a concept!

Gaming with figures compatible with other figures and models? What a concept!

Which makes me wonder about the manufacturers who proudly make figures that are incompatible with anyone else.
you had BETTER be complete! Which they are not.

Personally I will use whatever scale looks good for what I am trying to achieve. Larger models tending to skirmish level games and smaller scales for large battle games.

28's are great for skirmish and for painting up for pure enjoyment. Got a large WoR collection along with a couple of fantasy armies.
15's are a starting point for Sci-Fi skirmish (Grunts), and in my opinion where battlefield units start looking like units. I don't think I would go larger for massed battle games. My Athenians are still reeling from their poor performance at the Impetus competition at triples.
10's for my warmaster (largely fantasy but a couple of historical armies thrown in for good measure)
6's is my main passion for massed battle games – ancients through to Napoleionic, and then the inevitable Sci-fi in this scale.
Below 6's I can see for micro-armour games, fleet games and such but my wargaming projects have yet to draw me that way.

Not sure I entirely agree with the recurrent comments that 'can't paint anything less than 15mm'. I initially though one of my friends who is a 74 year old diabetic with a tremor could not paint in 6mm. With the right techniques he has been quite prolific in his 6mm painting. A common misconception of the scale is to approach it like you would a 25mm or even 15mm figure. Once you have adjusted your painting barometer to one of painting for effect these can be painted in a timely fashion to look good on the wargames table (which will not need to be the size of a garrage either).

Well like a lot of others I started out with 20mm OO/HO whatever the hell scale Airfix were. I liked the fact that I could buy a box for a reasonable price but i didn't like the variations in pose that meant it was hard to get a unit all in one poise. Plus the Humbrol enamel paint flaked off the rifles and swords and they were difficult to glue together. Still all my early WW2 gaming was done with Airfix. Basically because it was there and it was cheap.

When I first got into ancients I switched to Hinchcliffe 25mm mainly because it was close to the Airfix scale and meant the techniques of painting I used on the Airfix figures could carry over and I had a local stockist. I used 25mm for a long time but storage was a pain and on the typical tables used back in the day games became a line em up and let er rip slug fest. So I went smaller.

I haven't bought anything bigger than 6mm for a long time now. I like the ease of starage and the ability to deploy either a big army on the table or a smaller army with manouvere room around it. I am currently playing with 2mm to explore a scale with a true (well as close as I can get it) 1:1 relationship in figure size to ground scale.

For painting purpose it helps that I have become long sighted as I grow older. As a result what ever I paint needs me to wear glasses and use a magnifying glass so small scale doesn't mean squinting any more than a large scale does. That said I am flexible and will always consider a small investment in what ever scale my oppponent favours.

In hindsight…

Except it wasn't exactly hindsight. This was 1973 when '25mm' was rising to dominance.

you had BETTER be complete! Which they are not.

Which is exactly what I thought when I spoke to Dick Higgs of MiniFigs in about 1978 as he cheerfully explained to me how 25mm was perfect because it didn't match 'HO' or 'OO' or 'S' or anything else really, "So they have to buy everything from us". So you guys are going to make terrain and buildings, vehicles & etc.?

You have to make compromises to have a viable business model but it seemed to me this was just absurdly shortsighted.

And so 25mm begat 28mm, and 28mm begat Heroic 28mm and Heroic 28mm begat Whatever-30-something-we're-still-calling-28mm-now and nearly all of them had pumpkin heads and there was much redundancy. Amen.

I don't hate 'em but 2mm-3mm-6mm are too small for me to see well enough to paint. Heck, 15mm is pushing it.