Are you one of those gamers who plays a lot of skirmish games in 28mm and fancy playing some bigger games but don’t have the storage space to house large armies in 28, or the cost of large armies in 28mm is prohibitive. The maybe looking at smaller scales might be the answer.
I myself have decided to go down in scale to larger battle games, but which scale is best or attracts your eye. I’ve looked at several scales from 1/72 or 20mm right down to 6mm, now whilst 6mm is a good scale for mass battles it’s too small for me. So, I’ve opted to go down to 1/72 and 15mm scales. Going down in scale does have its pros and cons, now whilst they will be cheaper to purchase and easier to store, they’re unlikely to be at the same quality of sculpting and casting as 28mm counter parts.
One of the major plus points for smaller scales is money. For example, a pack of 20-30 infantry at smaller scales will cost anywhere from a couple of pounds up to £10 depending on the scale. A box of 1/72 miniatures which will normally have anywhere from 30-48 miniatures for under £10. To purchase that number of 28mm figures will cost you significantly more. You could literally purchase a small army for the cost of 28mm unit from a company such as Games Workshop.
At smaller scales you can field larger armies, if you were to drop down to 6mm you could play games that featured 1000 troops on each size, something could never achieve at 28mm without an extremely large space to play.
A popular scale for fantasy mass battles is 10mm, this was made popular by Games Workshop in the past with the rule system Warmaster. As such it’s still a popular scale amongst fantasy gamers, and it’s been making a resurgence recently with the 3D printing explosion. It’s not hard to find a small 3D printed starting army on eBay or other sites for less than £20. There are also several manufacturers that produce metal fantasy armies in this scale, one of which is Pendraken.
One of the more popular scales for historical gaming is 15mm, there are a plethora of manufacturers producing armies from all periods from literally every corner of the world. One of the more commercially successful games at this scale is Flames of War, a WW2 period setting. Companies such as Xyston cater for the ancients whilst other manufacturers feed the later periods. Sci-fi works well at 15mm in the same way it works for WW2, one popular set of rules for this scale is Hammers Slammers.
15mm isn’t the smallest of scales available you can go all the way down to 2mm. One particular scale that is very popular is 6mm, there is even a convention that caters just for this scale, called Joy of Six held in Sheffield and organized by 6mm miniature manufacturer Baccus. It’s an annual wargame show that devoted to this scale, we can highly recommend this show especially if you’re contemplating this scale. The Napoleonic period is very popular at 6mm as it allows you field large armies which isn’t possible at larger scales.
This is one of the appeals that many switch to smaller scales is the ability to field much larger armies on the same table size as say 28mm. It will allow gamers to play games at a divisional level, fielding more units. One big advantage of playing smaller scales is they’re quicker to get painted, and that means faster on to the gaming table.
Are there barriers to going to smaller scales, yes just like any other wargame and scale. Switching to a smaller scale will mean doing some research for manufacturers and sellers. 28mm is probably considered the mainstream scale, and that’s what most stores will stock on the high street. So, you’ll need to invest some time researching on-line or attending some local gaming shows.
So, have I gone to smaller scales, the short answer is, yes? I’ve already started at 15mm with Flames of War and Team Yankee. I’m now tempted to start playing large scale fantasy games at 10mm, along with playing some games at 15mm and 1/72 scales. I’m planning to start playing Sci-Fi games at 15mm as I like the idea of playing with Mechs and futuristic armoured vehicles. So why not take the plunge to a smaller scale, it may be a great way to save money in these difficult times and play bigger games.
Musket, Sword and Paint 