"Scale Creep Sux" Topic

Saxondog once wrote:

Figures are growing and it sux. I won't buy if they won't fit with what I have unless it is a new genre.

Do you agree?

I disagree. Mark is a fine person.

I think Mark should get royalties for these threads at the very least.

I agree and it's a double edged sword for the vendors that do it. They lock in their audience of people new to the genre but they alienate all of the existing gamers with collections that would have bought some of their products.

For instance I already had a substantial 15mm WWII collection when Battlefront upsized their figures. I haven't bought a single thing from them since and I have probably spent at least 5 figures on WWII stuff in that time period.

I'm surprised Mark hasn't been sued by GW. After all they invented scale creep didn't they?

Minifigs did the creep long before GW.

But the sculpting on their 2nd gen Nappies was outstanding and that tipped me into buying them.

For poll option: I will only rarely buy into creep on a period I already have.

Getting back to the point I THINK you were trying to make, those circumstances are very rare. For me at any rate. Galloping Major are just too darn large for me to yse with my FIW gaming. Fine figures but they just don't fit in with my collection. For me that's an odd thing to say, since I once counted 21+ different ranges on my table for an FIW skirmish game.

I have no idea if I speak for anyone but myself here. I am already established in my favorite ranges with large armies. I don't know if any AWI range that can legitimately call itself "complete". A brand new company has a tiny chance if any of ever attaining completion. So, when "Wyoming Massacre Miniatures" pops on the scene with a range of Butler's Rangers, Green's Royal Johnsons (private joke) or Queen Esther, they better not be in 35mm scale. I'm flexible regarding scale but not that flexible. Others are very strict. It puzzles me why anyone would deliberately put out figures not in the mainstream. You're losing business.

Until wargames figures are made to an actual scale rather than a size which really means very little, this will always be an issue. I don't worry too much unless the difference is massive, after all people are different sizes. Some ranges I have mixed, others don't fit with the majority of my figures so either don't buy them, or base them separately from the rest.

What bothers me is when the companies can't be honest enough to say a figure is 25mm or 28mm instead of 25-28mm, 15mm or 18mm insteadof 15-18mm. You start to wonder if the figures increase in size based on the temperature/humidty/etc. If your figures are sized to 14mm/15mm/16mm/17mm/18mm/19mm/25mm/26mm/28mm/30mm etc, you ought to have the integrity to say so.

Yes, I agree. There has been a more than ample variety of figure scales available for any purpose since the 1980's, and there is absolutely no excuse for introducing any new scales. Since I already have a large investment of time and money in 15mm and 25mm, I am not about to reward the ****heads who started up the 18mm and 28mm scales, regardless of how good their products are alleged to be.

I agree, and hate it.

I agree and will not buy the new larger stuff even though it might be a new period for me.

This is just another wargaming realism problem. My figures are growing vertically, whereas I know from personal experience that people actually grow horizontally over time.

I am a person, and I resemble that remark. Thank you.

How about scale shrinkage?

I was very disappointed when I bought an Army Box of Plastic Warlord Zulus, and found that they were too small to mix on the same base with my Black Tree Zulus.

I will happily mix 15 & 18, or 25 & 28, just not in the same army.

Agree with Attila, Beowulf and Allen. I don't buy the newer, oversized figures. They just don't look right with my existing armies.

Stick totally to my old sizes. Will not buy larger creep figs!

I agree as well with Winston. My FIW /AWI figs are Conquest and Perry and I don't think they'll look good with Galloping Major. The size difference made the decision for me even though the Galloping Major figs look good.

Ragbones +1

Oops, I thought this thread was about the retailer Scale Creep, not the figure enlargement phenomenon called scale creep.

Bill really needs to use clearer subject titles

To answer the scale creep question, no, I don't think larger sized figures are a problem. In fact, I'm a fan of the larger sized 15mm (which are really closer to 17mm or 18mm), as they are easier to paint for my 55-year old eyes. Further, when placed on the table alongside the 'smaller' 15mm figures, it is not that noticeable.

Should figures be advertised as '17mm' or '18mm' rather than '15mm?' It would be closer to the ideal of truth in advertising, but it's really up to the individual buyer to make their own choices. My suggestion … buy a few sample figures from several manufacturers, and use your own judgement.

I acquired a sample of some AB figs to see if they would fit in with my old school actual 15mm Freikorps figs. As expected they don't even close. They are much closer to my old school 20mm figs.

I hate these odd sizes and refuse to buy them.