Who's playing 10mm Fantasy or Warmaster

[fred]

10mm Warhammer sounds an interesting project. Not sure I could be doing with individual figure removal in 10mm (not that keen on it in 28mm!!) but its cool that you can put together new armies.

Yes N Guage is the closest model railway scale to 10mm.

As to figures in strips - for close combat troops the Warmaster and BoFA figures were great - they were clearly designed as strips, rather than just single figures side by side on a large base.  This meant that they were strong, and that they were quick to paint as you pretty much just had the fronts and backs to paint, and very few sides. This did speed up painting time.

But for Archers I prefer single (or paired) figures like Warmaster rather than BoFA strips. I always found the BoFA archers hard to tell apart from the combat troops, as they looked too similar.

Likewise for cavalry I think I prefer single figures - and often cut up WM pairs, as with cavarly they were generally only joined on small parts.

But you are right that having troops cast together does allow a much higher density of troops than trying to fit single based ones together (and is much easier).

This thread does highlight that there is a gap for a good set of 10mm focused mass battle rules (and a similar thread asking about 6mm rules).

[modiphius]

Yes N scale works - there's a bunch of castles but I generally feel they're too big - great set pieces but not practical for a game. I've been looking at a lot of threads recommending using 6mm scale buildings with 10mm figures and they seem to 'feel' right - plus allowing you to have a lot more buildings on the table (oh yeah and cheaper!)

[robh]

I think "strip" figures always look like strips. It is why I really dislike Baccus 6mm stuff....lovely detail but so rigid and artificial.
It is OK for 7yrs War and possibly OK for Napoleonic and WAS/WSS but looks wrong for anything else.

Lines of troops need to be slightly irregular and imperfect. Individual figures, although a right PITA to base initially, always look far superior to strips.

As for rules I think the advantage of smaller scales is to get more battle in the same area (rather than the same battle in a smaller area argument) and tend towards mass battle rules in which players control an army rather than a brigade. Volley and Bayonet for Napoleonics and after, Impetus and Tercios for anything before. Single big bases for the whole unit, no formations (other than those modelled on the bases).

It would be great to see big bases of Orcs with each base an amorphous mix of weapon types and figure styles and sizes, maybe a couple of Trolls in the mix facing off against another big base of Human Sword and Spear men arranged in chevrons with Pavise lines and some supporting rear rank archers.

[Randell]

I've finally got around to getting my GW BoFA figures painted.  Using a painting service though whilst I concentrate on my 28mm backlog.  I was planning to use Copplestone/Pendraken/ magister military to add to my forces. Rules wise I was going to use Sword & Spear Fantasy.

[MattW]

I think "strip" figures always look like strips. It is why I really dislike Baccus 6mm stuff....lovely detail but so rigid and artificial.
It is OK for 7yrs War and possibly OK for Napoleonic and WAS/WSS but looks wrong for anything else.

Lines of troops need to be slightly irregular and imperfect. Individual figures, although a right PITA to base initially, always look far superior to strips.

As for rules I think the advantage of smaller scales is to get more battle in the same area (rather than the same battle in a smaller area argument) and tend towards mass battle rules in which players control an army rather than a brigade. Volley and Bayonet for Napoleonics and after, Impetus and Tercios for anything before. Single big bases for the whole unit, no formations (other than those modelled on the bases).

It would be great to see big bases of Orcs with each base an amorphous mix of weapon types and figure styles and sizes, maybe a couple of Trolls in the mix facing off against another big base of Human Sword and Spear men arranged in chevrons with Pavise lines and some supporting rear rank archers.

I hate the individual basing thing, I gotta say. I do agree with you that they always look like strips, but part of the appeal (to me) of smaller scales is simply getting loads of bodies on the table as quickly as possible. I think that, for example, Polar Fox's goblins maintain a chaotic enough look for hordes while maintaining the convenience of strip basing.

[Warren Abox]

Take a look at Irregular Miniatures' line of 10mm figures as well.  They don't have the level of detail that official GW figures have, but they compare favorably to Pendraken.  They paint up well and look great once you get them on the table.

I just painted up a high elf warband this past weekend.  Will probably use "Song of..." or somesuch with them.

[fred]

As for rules I think the advantage of smaller scales is to get more battle in the same area (rather than the same battle in a smaller area argument) and tend towards mass battle rules in which players control an army rather than a brigade. Volley and Bayonet for Napoleonics and after, Impetus and Tercios for anything before. Single big bases for the whole unit, no formations (other than those modelled on the bases).

It would be great to see big bases of Orcs with each base an amorphous mix of weapon types and figure styles and sizes, maybe a couple of Trolls in the mix facing off against another big base of Human Sword and Spear men arranged in chevrons with Pavise lines and some supporting rear rank archers.

Big single bases can look really good. After years of 40x20mm warmaster bases, starting to use bigger bases is very liberating.

Bigger bases can be seen in some of the Pendraken Warband armies that players have made - and they have made use of the space to create formations and vignettes.

I've seen similar for other rules, Impetus and for Franco-Prussian War as well.

[Randell]

S&S Fantasy can work with either several 40mmx20mm DBA style bases for a single unit or Impetus style big bases.  As Warmaster bases are 40mmxs20mm as well, it all converts rather nicely.

[Warren Abox]

Big single bases can look really good. After years of 40x20mm warmaster bases, starting to use bigger bases is very liberating.

Bigger bases can be seen in some of the Pendraken Warband armies that players have made - and they have made use of the space to create formations and vignettes.

Throwing figures down on bigger bases can also make it a lot easier to identify troop types as well.  A big base with three to five figures on it is a much better approximation of skirmishers than just one or two lone figures out front of a big block, too.  Same thing applies to impetuous warbands versus well ordered close-drill infantry.

[Ethelred the Almost Ready]

How do the different 10mm ranges - Irregular, Pendraken, Copplestone etc compare for size? 

[fred]

Most of the 10mm stuff works together pretty well. The main exception is Kallistra and Pendraken Fantasy (not Pendraken historical) those two ranges are noticeably bigger around 12mm. You wouldn't want to mix Kallistra on the same base as GW, they might be OK in the same army, and they are certainly fine in opposing armies.

Even the GW warmaster range was far from scale consistent across the different armies. The GW cavalry tends to be bigger than most of the other manufacturers (except Kallistra!)

There are some stylistic differences, a lot of Magister Militum stuff is chunkier than most other manufacturers.

Fortunately as its fantasy its much easier to get away with some size differences.

[Oldben1]

I've been doing Heroquest and Crom in 10mm.  The Coppelstone figures are the best, and Pendraken offers some cool scenery as well.  My smallish fantasy village is from Epsilon.  I got it really cheap at my local gaming store.

10mm village by oldben1, on Flickr

Wolves by oldben1, on Flickr

Untitled by oldben1, on Flickr

[fred]

Very nice!

[Warren Abox]

I should be able to get some side by sides up this weekend.  I think the Irregular, Pendraken, and Copplestone figures all work great together.  At that scale things are fiddly enough that a few mm either way doesn't really make that big of a difference.

But then, I also use 6mm hero knights as 10mm halflings, so what do I know!

[modiphius]

Love the pics - I've been thinking about doing some rpg style missions with the 10mm general/heroes - being able to do much more in the play area would be great.

What would you all love to see in 10mm fantasy that's not been done yet, or done properly - a good range of heroes, creatures, more buildings, certain armies, certain stories or IP's?