Is 6mm Fantasy doable or should I go up to 10mm?

[Bellerophon]

My entire collection (ancients and medieval) is in 6mm. In trying to start a new project for my students, I want to create a bunch of fantasy armies. My instinct is to have them compatible with my ancients, but I'm wondering if there just aren't enough sources of 6mm fantasy minis out there and I should just suck it up and go with 10 or even 15mm?

Thoughts?

[jon_1066]

Why not add fantastical elements to your existing armies - so a dragon, a giant, monsters, wizard with a summoning circle, that kind of thing.  That way you don't need all new or can add other troop types as you go.

Baccus do a few 6 mm fantasy. Perfect Six have quite a good range including things like steam tanks and dragons.  Microworld Games has a good selection.  Irregular has an extensive range as well.

[spacecowsmith]

Irregular does a massive selection of 6mm fantasy and while they may not be everyones cup of tea, I've enjoyed painting up a few:

[Inkpaduta]

I was going to recommend Irregular 6mm fantasy as well.

[Kelly_]

I would second the Microworld suggestion; their Lizardmen range really stands out in 6mm, and they have a dozen other fantasy races as well.

[fred]

Some very good suggestions above.

The microworld games figures are very nice.

Even though I’m very much a 10mm gamer, as you already have 6mm armies (and presumably terrain) I’d stick with 6mm. As suggested above adding a few fantasy elements to historical armies is a great way to start - as it will be quick, and you can build on literature sources (ancient Greeks) as well as gaming sources (GW Empire and Bretonians) . Then you can start to build up some pure fantasy armies too.

[Hummster]

Rapier Miniatures do a few 6mm fantasy and Greek Myth together with a Glorantha range.

[Inkpaduta]

Yes, Microworld 6mm are excellent. They are a pleasure to paint.
Highly recommend them.

[Khusru2]

Yes, definitely do-able. As others have pointed out, Irregular have a lot of fantasy. You may look on Etsy to.

[DivisMal]

I also recommend Microworld and etsy. Nowadays with 3D printing (nearly) anything can be turned into a 6mm model!

[Robosmith]

I also recommend Microworld and etsy. Nowadays with 3D printing (nearly) anything can be turned into a 6mm model!

Resin is quite fragile, smaller models need weapons and arms rescaling to prevent them snapping. It's easy to resize but difficult to make them not turn into dust when you pick them up.

My first thought would be : What is the purpose of making the armies? If it's something they asked to try then 6mm is fine. But as a casual audience you're going to want something bigger and more visually interesting. Everyone can look at a 28mm figure and say hey that's cool. How many will say the same at 6mm? 10mm you can sort of get away with if it's rank and file but you really want at minimum 15mm to catch a casual audience's attention.

[pancakeonions]

You should probably stick with 6mm.  I have had a bunch of Microworld, and like them just fine.

But I'm finding that 10mm are fantastic.  They look magnificent on the battlefield, you can really tell cavalry from infantry from siege engines from centerpiece monsters and such.  Making scenery is a breeze.  6mm just looked the same out on the tabletop and the visual appeal wasn't there for me (full disclosure: I am old, and don't have great vision any more!)

I found that 15mm was too similar to 28-30mm.  Painting up a 15mm that was nearly as detailed as my "normal" scale didn't save me any time, and really doesn't save that much space on the battlefield.  So 10mm (with the fantastic range of choices out there now - go look at Forest Dragon, for example) was the scale I ultimately settled on.

But if you're already heavily committed to 6mm, you should probably stick with it!

[Hobgoblin]

I'd definitely stick with 6mm. If you already have a lot of armies done, it'd be a huge undertaking to match that and then add fantastical elements. As jon_1066 says, adding a few fantastic elements to ancient or medieval armies is surely the way to go.

Spacecowsmith's Irregulars look fantastic, and they are nice miniatures. The Irregular dark elf lizard chariots also look very tempting.

One point I'd make is that fantasy allows you to play around with scales a lot. If you've got individually based 10mm orcs (like some Magister Militum and Chariot stuff), you've got yourself some 6mm ogres. And 15mm and20mm figures provide you with giants - and so on. You could even use individual 28mm figures as titans, demons and gods.

[jon_1066]

Resin is quite fragile, smaller models need weapons and arms rescaling to prevent them snapping. It's easy to resize but difficult to make them not turn into dust when you pick them up.

My first thought would be : What is the purpose of making the armies? If it's something they asked to try then 6mm is fine. But as a casual audience you're going to want something bigger and more visually interesting. Everyone can look at a 28mm figure and say hey that's cool. How many will say the same at 6mm? 10mm you can sort of get away with if it's rank and file but you really want at minimum 15mm to catch a casual audience's attention.

You need to think differently with 6 mm.  You can’t just paint them up like a small 28 mm and expect visual impact.  You need to treat each base as a single figure.  So you put effort into the base, the formation, the whole look of a unit and how the terrain looks.  You can’t beat 6mm for massed ranks.  So don’t spread them out, go big, get that pike block massive, be creative.  If you have a character then make a vignette for them.  If it’s a wizard give him a pentangle, a familiar, a sacrificial alter. 

[eilif]

I'm a die hard 28mm player and I really like the detail in 10mm for sci Fi gaming.

However, if you're already in 6mm, then I'd stick with that. There are plenty of good choices. Plus, as has been said, with just a few additional fantasy elements, your ancient and medieval aimed are already on the verge of being flavorful fantasy armies.