Scale of 15mms topic (once again)

[Smokeyrone]

The average of my 15mms , from head to toe, are 17 to   19 mm tall.

That is very close to three quarters of an inch tall, which would, in my estimation, make them 1/88 scale (I always consider my minis as six foot tall, maybe because it's easier to assess scale, or because I am   6'-3").

1/88 scale is 1/4 inch equals two feet, a VERY nice little factor, as it makes it much easier to scale things.

And it just hit me, 1/88 is, for all intents and purposes, HO (1/87) scale.  So, I need to look at some HO train stuff, and compare, right?   I mean, HO brick work styrene sheets, and such would be GREAT is they are compatable.

Well, today I find that HO cars look great witrh 15s (except the fact they are Fuzzies and Colonial Brits standing next to a Shelby Mustang, LOL!)


My newly scratchbuilt  buildings are scaled for 1" = eight feet, but of course, my buildings are small for gaming purposes (1.5"- 2.5" for average hovels and such, means 12 to  20 foot long homes and shops(the size of real life wood sheds )

My newest buildings are bigger, two story stuff. 


Question:  What do you think?  I know most use a "scale" of like 1/100 to 1/108, but if my figures look good with stuff I build at  1/88 scale, is it OK?  Opinions, please (I know it's "OK" because it's my gaming, but I want general thoughts on the issue.

Brings up another issue.  maybe some HO plastics would look good as civilians? 

And HO barrels, crates and details must be good.  I will check some of my HO scale train details I used on other projects (I have a Zombie Plague House I built with HO kitchen, bathroom and bedroom stuff so 28mm figures would have more room in the house to move around)

General thoughgts, please (I appreciate   and value the opinions and wisdom on this board, really good gamers/builders/posters here!)

Note, I do have some shorter, fatter, stubby sci fi figs (space marines by GZG I think), but on their base, and a washer base, they don't look too short.

[Red Orc]

Scale is one of those things that gets me going.

'15mm' means whatever the manufacturers want it to mean.

I think it means 15mm represents a 6' human figure. If your '15mm' models are 17-19mm tall, that would suggest to me that they represent people about 7'6". At this size then, 2' (about 600mm) is represented by 5mm. This would make the scale around 1:120.

But that I'm sure is not the case, because '15mm' doesn't have any standard definition. I think your way of deciding is the only practical one; decide how tall you think the character is, measure the mini, and divide the one by the other. And if things look right, use them. Good luck with the HO stuff!

By the way, 1/4" = 2' isn't 1:88, it's 1:96 (4x2x12), but never mind, if it looks right, do it I say.

[Smokeyrone]

D'oh!  It is 1/96.  My brain is gonna get a talkin' too!   

No matter, the buildings are built to my figure size,   not to HO, which was an (erronous) afterthought. 

Hey, that means all those 1/96 Revell and Heller sailing ship, boat and ship models will work great?    

Heck, I have an unbuilt 1/96 scale U-boat, a cross section  hull model that has the full interior, bulkheads, hatches and all.  Pulp in 15mm, anyone?

Yes, but when 15mm means "ground to eye" (which many claim is their standard, even though that doesn't explain "15mm" figs to eye that are 19mm tall), then the scale is bigger than 1/120.

Thanks.


I sure like "scale" better than "Milimeters" as a standard, but with all the companies, industrial sized, medium sized and cottage, and sculptors, it was unlikely to happen.

I have some "28mm" figs that are 1/48, and others that are 1/64, and a bunch in between. So I build my terrain to 1/56 (or something, it's all on this special, three sided scale ruler I use so I don't ever have to calculate. 

Maybe because I was brought up on painting/diaramas of Esci 1/72 figs, and plastic models, that made me like scales better than figure height estimates.

[matakishi]

Really the only answer is 'if it looks ok to you...'

Wargames figures don't have scales because none of them would fit, they're all out of proportion with big hands and heads and barrel bodies. personally I like this, it makes them easy to identify and paint as far as I'm concerned.

However, do you measure their 'scale' to their height? 'My figures are all 30mm tall so I will scale everything to 1/60' doesn't always work because the figures turn out to be 1/60 tall but 1/48 wide and doors are too thin etc.

Everyone is obsessed with finding a scale based on the height of the figure presumably assuming the other two dimensions will fall into place but they don't. Once you start playing you realise that the height is the one dimension you don't see properly because you're above the table most of the time so your 1/43 cars that just about looked ok heightwise if you squinted now look 30ft wide and maybe the 1/64 would have been better after all...

So, if you like it, go with it. If it's any help I 'scale' my buildings off the doors and go from there. They're all undersize to fit on a table anyway with preposterously small footprints but ground scale doesn't equal figure scale and wargaming is about visual compromises as much as anything else.

If the bits that interact with humans (doors, steps etc) look ok this is all anybody will see and their brain will happily accept that the rest of the building is correct too. it's what we do, visual shorthand

[Smokeyrone]

LOL Matakishi!   I noticed that when I placed unbased figures next to my stuff.  Looked wrong, then a based figure and I felt better as it looked good.

Since my buildings are designed for interior action, my 28 and 15mm builds are a bit bigger than some stuff I've seen.

I did love my 1/72 plastics because of better scaling.  But I have retired them (they are "Diorama" supply now, and I gave much of my 1/72 Sudan builds to some children who I introduced to gaming).

I'm gonna go with the 1/96 "scale", I guess.

[Smokeyrone]

 

This came up in a "similar topics" list below a thread.  8 years old.  The things I used to worry about....................

And that was BEFORE I got into Blue Moon!   

Scale?  LOL!  I cut out doors and windows without thinking nowadays, usually cutting with one hand, and posting with the other. 

Actually had to concentrate, 'cause too many of my Boxer buildings had identical measurements, even though I was free hand marking and sketching the lines on  foamboard without even a ruler.  :O     

Figures?  I'm looking at some beloved Peter Pig units, which seem half the size of Blue Moon.  Probably not good to have both in one unit, but 2 inches away from eachother, I see nothing wrong.  (PAINTING, and good looking bases, are a force multiplier when dealing with scale creep. 


Anyway.....


Y'all should have seen my FIRST post ever on a site (TMP).   Had been playing with plastic 1/72 figs since the 80's.  So anal, we literally had 5+ poses for EACH figure (loading, walking, shooting, melee, etc).  THATS how we knew what our units were doing.   Introduced to actual rules, I was like "Its ridiculous!  My guys are supposed to be reloading yet they are in a advancing pose?"  We played with units of like ten figs (so, fifty+ in all their poses) and couldnt accept anything but 1"=6 feet, thus my little troops were shooting at my cousins from across the living room.    We did a WWII game using Airfix 1/32 plastics, model tanks and in a rare nod to scale, 1/48 model aircraft.   In the driveway (big ass driveway of pebbles and sand), with my cousin Stu on a step ladder, moving the aircraft!   And my Uncle Lefty (he was Uncle Ernie before the battle of Aachen) as the GM, always screwing the 8th Army (who he hated) "They missed" and helping the Germans (who shot him up in real life.  weird). 

Newbies........................

[Leigh Metford]

Working from the assumption that a figure represents a six foot tall man seems to be the standard. Six feet equates to 180 centimetres, so an 18mm tall figure is 1/100 scale - which explains why, when manufacturers of 15mm wargame models (tanks, planes etc.) nominate a scale, rather than a size from 15 -18mm (and as we know, most nominally 15mm ranges actually exceed that size), it's invariably 1/100.     

[emosbur]

1/100 is the way to go.

[Harry Faversham]

The way to go is to stop buggering about measuring things...
and get down to actually playing with yer toys!

 

[FifteensAway]

Older 15 mm ranges did roughly equal to the 1/120 'scale', more 'modern' larger ranges are closer to 1/100 so 1/96 isn't too far off the mark.  HO human figures don't 'scale' in with 15 mm at all in my experience.  However, many animals can work.  Now, as to detail items like barrels, crates, boxes, etc., there are lots and lots of options from the HO world that will work, though it can vary with manufacturers.  Even HO isn't always a precise scale.

And, yes, I too mix Peter Pig with Blue Moon in the same collection - though not the same unit.  And, of course, playing with them is the whole point.  But we do need to get all the stuff together somewhere along the way to make that game look top notch (at least for us who like that sort of thing - masking tape roads are such a 1980's thing).

[Smokeyrone]

Older 15 mm ranges did roughly equal to the 1/120 'scale', more 'modern' larger ranges are closer to 1/100 so 1/96 isn't too far off the mark.  HO human figures don't 'scale' in with 15 mm at all in my experience.  However, many animals can work.  Now, as to detail items like barrels, crates, boxes, etc., there are lots and lots of options from the HO world that will work, though it can vary with manufacturers.  Even HO isn't always a precise scale.

And, yes, I too mix Peter Pig with Blue Moon in the same collection - though not the same unit.  And, of course, playing with them is the whole point.  But we do need to get all the stuff together somewhere along the way to make that game look top notch (at least for us who like that sort of thing - masking tape roads are such a 1980's thing).

And green  felt shapes for "rough terrain"