"20mm fantasy is what size?" Topic

So just out of curiosity, what size are 20mm fantasy. I see a lot of posts on this section, about 1:72, and I assume 25 mm is lumped in also?

I assume that 1:72 fantasy is 1"(25mm) to top of head of a 6ft person and normal proportion?, and I assume that 25mm is 25mm to eyes? or is 25mm fantasy to top of head.

How are 20mm miniatures measured? or are there really 20mm fantasy?

And just out of curiosity, how do different ranges mix with each other.

For what its worth, this is just my opinion, and your mileage may vary: I would have thought that 20mm was more or less equivalent to 1/72, as well as 1/76, and that 25mm was a larger size, that kind of bled into 28mm (which started out as oversized 25s and only seemed to become its own scale later on due to scale creep).

Most of the 20mm figures that I am familiar with (and I am no expert) are the plastic boxed sets sold by companies like Airfix, or Italeri, or many others. They tend to have more naturalistic proportions than 25mm and 28mm figures which often tend to be a little bit, or sometimes a lot, chunkier with somewhat exaggerated details. Between the height and "weight" differences, the slender 20mm figures look a little bit undersized next to their 25/28mm counterparts. There are undoubtedly many exceptions to all of this--old school Minifig 25s, and Tom Meir-sculpted Ral Partha's were always pretty svelte, for 25s and I am sure there are chunkier metal 20mm figures around too.

Really it gets down to what looks good on your table. Also, when you are mixing non-human fantasy species, the differences become blurrier. For example big, nasty 20mm orcs might work perfectly as slightly runty 25/28mm goblins.

There are lots of companies making 20mm fantasy figures. A partial list is on this guys blog
You may be able to get more info at Benno's Figures Forum, which kind of specializes in 20mm. One guy over there is kitbashing a 20mm Kislevite army(AKA Warhammer Fantasy Muscovites) out of fantasy and historical models.

While a 1/72 box may say 25mm on it, gamers do not consider them to be 25mm figures. 1/72 is frequently used with 20mm, while 25mm are closer to 1/56.

20mm, 1/76, 1/72 are all roughly the same when it comes to figure sizes, and have been ever since I started this lark in the early 70s. For plastics at any rate.

Kids at the school Wargames club would turn up with the odd 25mm figure, and they were huge compared to the Airfix stuff everyone else had.

Modern 1/72 figures are 22-25mm tall – some of them are bigger than old minifigs for example… If you buy 20mm metal figures they tend to be too small to match in well with plastic figures (they sort of work at a push if you squint and are careful how you use them) – I have never seen or used 1/72 fantasy figures but I suspect they would match in with old Ral Partha and that kind of thing (I have old 'Dungeon Dwellers that I think are now owned by Alternative Armies and they go well with Atlantic and larger 1/72 ancients & medievals)

There is no "standard", no ruling body which governs/enforces scales or sizes for commercially produced mini's. They are all over the board, no matter what the maker claims for size/scale.

Best thing to do is first to determine what physical size you want your Human figures to be, and what height they represent. I use 6-feet as the Human height standard. Whether you call that 20mm, 25mm, 28mm or 32mm, is up to you. I use 25mm as my base for making calculations -- see next paragraph.

Next, choose your size standards for non-Human races. Are your Dwarves 3-feet, 4-feet, or some other size? How tall are your Gnomes to be: 2 feet, 3-feet? How tall will your Goblins be? How tall are your Orcs? Your Elves?

Basically, once you figure out how tall you want each race to be, you can then search the Internet for figures which match your desired physical heights (not Scale…), and racial sculpting types. Remember: at arm's length, pointy Elven ears will be nearly impossible to see at these physical figure sizes, so Elf figures need not have Vulcan ears!

I am using the classic, 1977 1e AD&D Monster Manual for racial sizes. I calculated out a millimeter scale corresponding to a foot scale. This table demonstrated that Hill Giants, for example, would need to be 54mm tall Cave Men figures (sourced a bucket of plastic toy figures at Wal-Mart, 10+ years ago); Frost Giants should be 60mm tall figures (plenty of injection molded Viking figures available, in 60mm sizes, as well as metal figures!). I use Caesar fantasy figures, as well as Red Box's Alliance figures. The Alliance Warg Riders are labeled as Orcs, but I paint them to match my other Goblin figures. The Wargs are on the smallish side, but I use them anyway. I have Prince August 25mm Wolves (molded from the Goblin Wolf Rider mold) with Caesar plastic, 1/72 Goblin riders (removed from their bases) -- Light Cavalry; I use the Alliance Warg Riders as Medium Cavalry (irregular formation only, no stirrup-to-stirrup riding for Wargs!).

I use both Caesar, and Alliance Dwarves: Caesar are shorter, so they serve as Hill Dwarves -- 3-feet tall; the Alliance Dwarves are taller, so they serve as Mountain Dwarves -- 4-feet tall. I use 1/72 Caesar Elves as Drow: shorter than 25mm-28mm Humans, so they represent Elves who are 4-1/2 to 5 feet tall.

Bottom line: it is up to you to decide. It is fantasy, after all. There is no absolute for anything. Build your armies according to your specifications. Have fun with it! Cheers!

I dont have any "20mm" fantasy but I do have a few Ceasar 1:72. I am heavily invested in 15mm but actually like the larger 18mm sized "15mm". Im still confused though, as everyone on the 20mm boards seem to only talk about 1/72 mostly. I actually quite like the 1:72 and if there wasnt such a great selection of 15mm fantasy, including 15mm historical, I would maybe have gone the 1:72 route though.

Are there any actually 20mm fantasy miniatures though, that are 20mm head to toe for a 6' person (or monster)? and if so, would any of those manufacturers products blend in with the larger 15mm stuff? as most of the 1:72 is too large.

Like everone else though… Scratches head… why cant there be any uniformity in scale sizes and on, and on.