Lord of the Rings in 10mm

[Chillyray]

I greatly admire the wonderful paint jobs that people are doing on their 28mm Lord of the Rings miniatures, some of the sculpts are so animated and full of character and I know that some people really love the Middle Earth fantasy battle rules. G W`s best rules ever, according to some! However when I see people painting up hundreds of figures, with the intention of playing really big Middle Earth battles, I wonder why they don`t scale things down? At 10 mm you get a better big battle effect. The table does not have to be huge and it will not be so expensive. Some of the new 3D printed miniatures from Forest Dragon and others are the nicest figures that I have seen in any scale! With rules for units rather than single figures I imagine the sweep of the great battles would be more attainable. It annoys me when companies who are selling the miniatures are also producing the rules that demand ever more figures in ever increasing numbers. Rant over, hope I did not cause too much bother with this.

[fred]

I’m a huge fan of 10mm - and have many (many) armies in 10mm. With the gaming group I play with we all have big armies in 10mm, and like to play on a big table - but we have grown these armies over many years. But if you like a small table with small armies then go for it.

As to LoTR as well as the recent 3d sculpts there are also the very nice Copplestone LoTR figures, and the rather less good, but high in volume, GW Battle of the Five armies plastic figures (long OOP)

Rules wise nearly any set of rules works with any scale of figures - especially when the rules are multi-based and work in elements not figure counting.

Go with the figures and rules that you want to use (and try to persuade your gaming friends to join in too).

[Elbows]

I mean, your rant is basically GW's sales model.

Bigger armies = more models = more money.  When that begins to run dry, you simply decrease the table size, make more models 'necessary' for a game, increase the kill speed, and repeat the process.

However...while I enjoy some 15mm stuff, I don't mind games in 28mm.  To me, I struggle to get excited by 10mm or smaller scales, particularly when viewing them on something like Lead Adventure or FB groups, etc.  I'm not personally pressed for space, so I don't need a "small table", and I rarely see impressive painting at the smaller scales.

In something like LOTR where you are 'supposed' to have larger than life heroes and many named characters, it's tough to get excited about a single 10mm painted miniature.  In something more faceless like Napoleonics or the American Civil War, I don't mind so much.  I think the new Warlord 13(?)mm scale is a solid idea for massed army games...as long as you don't want to be able to identify really unique characters.

For me, personally, I rarely see a 10mm project on this forum that wows me...and I think Lead Adventure is probably top of the heap when it comes to model/project quality with painted armies, nice tables, etc.  I think as the scale decreases, terrain becomes infinitely more important.  I think your table needs to sell the scope/grandeur instead of the models.  Sadly most small scale projects I see are just on green felt with a couple copses of trees, etc.

It reminds me of a guy on LA from the WW2 section lamenting that his 1/2400 scale naval game thread had so little traction compared to his other project.  I mentioned that it's tough to get excited about tiny grey slivers on a big blue felt sheet...it doesn't produce any interest in the viewer/consumer.  I think small scale games easily fall into that trap.  While the player may enjoy it, and may enjoy painting it, etc...it rarely delivers on the spectacle side of things.

Regarding price...that depends wholly on the manufacturer of the miniatures.  While smaller scales are easily cheaper...there is a vast gulf between Victrix (60 miniatures for 45 bucks) and something like GW (5-10 miniatures for 60 bucks, etc.). 

[fred]

I’m not sure that picking the game you want to play based on how photogenic it is on the internet is that strong a reason.

But I do get the whole online interaction bit - if photos aren’t engaging then people will scroll past. I think LAF very much has a focus on smaller scale games. And terrain does matter - perhaps a bit more in smaller scale games, but a green felt cloth is still just a green felt cloth whatever scale figures are on it. These days with printed base cloths it is very easy to lift the visual interest of your game.

A few photos of last week’s 10mm game (not LoTR)


Dogs of War arrayed before battle (not my figures)


My Ogres getting in a right mess as they attempt to engage


Hold the wood!


We’re still holding the wood!

[Altius]

I’m actually painting a Rohan army in 10mm at the moment. I’ve had a nearly complete Isengard orc army for years but never really did anything with it, but my son was so impressed with them that I decided I’ve got to finally get them on the table. Mine are almost exclusively Copplestone, still among my favorite figures. I’m going to use them with Warmaster along with a few rules additions from Warmaster Ancients. The LOTR army lists I’m using are homemade, though.

[Frostie]

10mm LotR, a project I have been trying to put off . But my resolve has not been helped by Wakes Emporium 3d Prints of their ranges.....so I have been looking at LotR Kings of War, there are free supplements on the Kings of War Fanatics pages on Failbook.

If I do it I would use full scale, 28mm, bases for the units.  So lots of figures on big bases  

[armchairgeneral]

I am of the Airfix 20mm generation so graduating up to 25/28mm was no problem for my Napoleonic and Lord of the Rings armies. When 15mm came on the scene I didn’t like them despite their obvious advantages given my limited schoolboy budget and slow painting speed.

Then I joined a wargaming club that did large 15mm Napoleonic games and was really impressed by the size of the battles we could do together so that converted me, subsequently building up large Napoleonic and ACW 15mm armies.

Then a friend started enthusing about WAB Dark Ages so I bought some of the 28mm Foundry Vikings. Really impressed with these figures and found myself drawn more and more to games at this scale. I would occasionally get my 15mm out to look at and found myself almost being shocked by how small they were.

I do like big games with lots of figures and as I now only have access to a 6 x 4 foot table 15mm or 10mm are the obvious answer. The Copplestone 10mm fantasy range looks really nice. I have ordered some a couple of times now but when they come I am immediately put off by how small they are. From perusing this forum many gamers don’t seem to have a problem with different scales but for me I have got so attuned to 28mm again I can’t contemplate a smaller scale.

[Inkpaduta]

Fred,

Great stuff. Just looking at it I would not have thought that was 10mm.
15mm or higher scalle.

[fred]

I do like big games with lots of figures and as I now only have access to a 6 x 4 foot table 15mm or 10mm are the obvious answer. The Copplestone 10mm fantasy range looks really nice. I have ordered some a couple of times now but when they come I am immediately put off by how small they are. From perusing this forum many gamers don’t seem to have a problem with different scales but for me I have got so attuned to 28mm again I can’t contemplate a smaller scale.

The Copplestone figures do have a lot of detail to them - but do remember you are painting armies with this size of figures, not individuals. I really like contrast paints on 10mm figures, they work well and are nice and quick.

Fred,
Great stuff. Just looking at it I would not have thought that was 10mm.
15mm or higher scalle.

Thanks - though I must point out the humans aren’t my work!

[AndrewBeasley]

There are two videos on painting 10mm LoTR at https://www.youtube.com/@TheWizardsBrush/videos


For real mass battles head for 2mm https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLyoNqSLlIiwoBTFN2QCObUMytsr7Zdo5z&si=yKmhCoShDRBEj_vY