You might be skeptical of small scale figures, as I was about a year ago. But since then, I have fallen in love with the smaller breed of toy soldier. While there is a place for larger scale figures, small scale figures can solve quite a few issues for your average wargamer. Now what do I mean by small scale? Usually small scale is considered anything less than 28mm, but for this article we will focus on 10mm and smaller. Not to exclude 15mm, but it seems to be much more widespread than other smaller scales. So let’s give them some love!
The Issues With Large Scale Figures
There are two issues with large scale figures, the practical and the aesthetic. First, we will cover the aesthetic. While they are majestic as individuals, which is great for skirmish, but falls flat for large battles in my opinion. It may vary from person to person, but when people represent a battalion in napoleonics with 12 28mm figures for example, it just doesn’t ‘look right’ to me.
The other problems are just logistical. The footprint of 28mm makes it hard to balance having enough units on the table for a good game, and having any table space left for maneuver. 28mm is also incredibly expensive, with it often being 2$ per figure! A double-sided coin about 28mm is, though they are very pretty, they take a large amount of skill and time to paint, which can cause projects to bog down. I don’t dislike 28mm, I own quite a few figures in that scale, but I do recognize that it is not the best scale and has many limitations.
The Many Great and Wonderful Things About Small Scale Minis
Many will gripe about the woes of small figures, and how little detail they have, and how hard they are to paint, without having ever tried them. Again we will address the aesthetic and practical side of things.
Aesthetically 6-10mm looks like an army, and it’s all about mass effect. They look like an imposing mass of men. Many would be surprised with how detailed small scale miniatures can be, industry leaders such as Baccus 6mm and Pendraken 10mm make incredible miniatures.
On the practical side, small scale gives you a smaller footprint, which allows for larger battles on the same sized table. The cost benefit of 6-10mm is incredible, with a project being a fraction of the price compared to 28mm projects. The terrain is more easily stored and a lot of fun to make. New painters will quickly pick up the methods to paint small scale, which is surprisingly easy and very rewarding. It is very easily to paint up great looking units extremely quickly. What is not to love?
Why You Should Try an Even Smaller Scale
Now let’s take it a step further. What if I told you that you should try something even smaller than 6mm? Well I am, because 2-3mm takes all of the benefits of 6-10mm and stretches them to the extreme. Tiny footprint, super easy logistically, so easy to paint, and incredibly cheap. You can do large battles at a 1 to 1 scale! The only problem is that once you get down to these tiny scales detail does start to become a problem. The nice thing about 2-3mm is the low time/money commitment, and it is a great option to do projects that you keep putting off because they’re not your main focus. It’s very easy to get them on the table, so there’s no excuse for you!
Conclusion
I hope this article helped to persuade you to buy into a smaller scale, or at least just try painting a few figures.
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Until next time- Joshua, The Napoleon of the West
28-32mm is great for skirmish gaming, maybe as many as 20 models a side before it gets really bogged down. But especially for small skirmish games with 4-8 models per side it’s great. Stuff like Relic Blade, Bushido and Carnevale work perfectly at that scale (also because they play on smaller tables).
Smaller scale is great for big battles or stuff with vehicles. Something like Battletech would not work at bigger scales because the mechs and tanks quickly become impractically big. But when you get down to stuff like 10mm a 6×4 table really opens up even at high points values.
And man, a big army of small scale models looks so freaking impressive. It looks like a proper army.
I absolutely agree with you, all scales have their place.