"1:160 vs 1:100 ACW armature..with a ?" Topic

Hi Gents,

We had a somewhat recent posting regarding sizing comparisons of 10mm figures and such TMP link , and I had a mini-rant of sorts regarding standardizing equipment and weapons scaling, etc..

The last decade or so I've been pretty focused on sculpting a variety of wee scale 1:350, 1:500 (and recently 1:1000) figures, but since that posting I've been fiddling with a few armatures in both 1:160 and 1:100 scales,(roughly 10mm and 15mm respectively) and finding it enjoyable.

I'd like to start focusing on one of these sizes and start a run of figures based around these armatures with the goal being a large number of 'variations on a common pose' figures, but also a number of 'vignette' type sculpts to display shaken and broken troops, wounded, runners, prone, etc.. The driving economic goal being casting multiple copies of the jointed armature as a master, decking it out with standardized gear, weapons, etc.. and posing it as needed prior to casting, rather than doing the standard old 'dolly' method (a body with legs only, no arms or head) and having a limited variety of poses. I want them to look as much like individuals as I can, basically.

The thing is the smaller armature is very very fiddly and difficult to pose, and would require a lot more planning to really do it right, while the larger armature is quite a bit easier and allows for even greater pose variations.

However, is there a market out there for 15-ish mm figures still, or is 10-ish mm the way to go? I personally lean towards 10mm given my background in micro-sculpting, but I'm wondering if a nicely done ACW line (going for an AB sort of level if I can) in 15mm is viable? I seems to me that things are going 10mm or 28mm, with 15mm falling by the wayside in the coming years, but that's from my very limited view of the hobby.

May I ask for your thoughts on this, as I have the weekend off and am hankering for some time with my tools! :)

Thank you very much,
Bob

I game pretty much exclusively in 15mm. 28mm is hard to game with at anything other than 1 to 1 scale unless you want a board filled end to end with units. I see plenty of people gaming with 28s but to me they just don't capture the right look and feel of Civil War era combat. They often look more toy like than anything. The level of detailing needed to pass muster (in my book) is also pretty high and therefore time intensive or very expensive. Smaller than 15mm is great for economy of scale and depicting larger battles in a smaller space, but as you drop down from 15mm the amount of detail possible begins to get so minor as to make using the miniatures almost a moot point and leads me to just use a standard board wargame instead. Therefore 15mm is a perfect sweet spot between economy, scale, size, and level of detail. That's why I have something like 6000+ painted 15mm ACW figs in my collection.

My sculptor gets a great deal of detail on my 10mm figures.

crackerlineminis.com

So does your painter Bill. I'm sold on 10mm ACW to the extent I am setting aside a perfectly good collection of 6mm to redo them in 10mm. The 10mm have mass PLUS character. ACW is a relatively sober, even drab period. The sculpts need to compensate for the lack of color.

Everyone has their druthers, but the 10mm sculpts now are better than the 15mm sculpts of even a few years ago.

THAT said – - – 15mm is here to stay. There are too many magnificent collections out there for it to be otherwise. 15mm will continue to dominate ancients IMO. For periods where uniforms were -designed- to disappear, 20th century on, etc., or where middle aged eyes like mine can still appreciate a shield pattern, I think 15mm will still be the scale of choice for most gamers.

Thanks for the kind words. Like you, I very much admire the AB 18mm stuff. I just happen to enjoy the spacial relationship that 10mm provides. As far as the figures on my site and shown here, I am the painter so thats very much for the compliment.

I'd be interested in 15mm. However, that's because I game almost exclusively in 15mm.