Scale Rambles Part 2

I posted my thoughts on an article in the Wargame Bloggers Quarterly which you can find here. I felt the need to speak more about scale in or more accurately lack of scale in wargaming. I spent years reading magazines like the one pictured above but I never got really bogged done on scale. That being said creating a 28mm figure collection can be a nightmare, 25mm, 28mm 30mm and 32mm what's a person to do? If mismatched sizes really bother you its very hard to collect figures from more than one company because far too many companies these days produce figures in wildly different heights & thicknesses. Now I'm bothered by this to a degree. Now I like to collect a base line of a particular size then add a few other sizes to that group to add variety.

My Victorian/Gothic Horror collection has true 28mm as the base line size being primarily made up of Westwind and warlord figures. I've added a few large Reaper and Horror Clix figures and some smaller Hasselfree figures.

My Modern Horror collection is now based on 32mm being made up of Zombicide, Hero/Horror Clix & Reaper along with some smaller old Ral Partha and Westwind figures.


I actually promised Millsy an article for WBQ on size diversity in skirmish games I am working (well thinking about it).  Once I finish painting and photographing them they will look fantastic but the rub (as everyone knows) is finding figures of different scales true, heroic, etc.. even from different manufactures that look good together.

Scale Rambles

I just read Mr. Nigel Higgins' rant regarding the "scale" of 28mm in Wargames Bloggers Quarterly and that got me thinking about the size or more accurately the sizes of "28mm", heroic, super heroic et all. Mr. Higgins like many people is rather put out by these bedeviling issues and rightly pointed out that there is no such thing as a "28mm scale". Now this was an enjoyable read and he knows the proper way to scale up or down objects mathematically but I don't see the point if its inclusion to this issue scale modeling has nothing to do with wargaming. Before you protest get your favorite wargames building and a standing 28mm figure, the Facade (front) of the building looks proportionally correct. Now lay the model down along the side of the building most likely the building's side wall is 1 1/2 model lengths long. Now think about the house you live how many person lengths is the side of that house? Wait?! Yes dear readers all wargames building as severally foreshortened. If you used the scale modeling approach to construct a wargames building (and I have) it will not look right. The objects on the wargames table are not scale representations but artistic approximations. Scale modeling math has its uses in wargaming but wargaming is not scale modeling.

I use the foot to eye measuring system to tell how "large" a "28mm" figure really is as the Legatus correctly pointed out toy soldiers "wear hats" and this is the only reliable measurement possible for figures. This is an issue that has plagued us wargamers for some time now I've recently decided to add the foot to eye measurements of every figure I post on the blog from now on. See this post for details on how I list the measurements. I have lots to say about this issue but I've run out of time until see you Wed.