Do you worry about varying figure sizes?

[former user]

People with lower aesthetic values, who don't care about (or are unable to achieve) beautifully painted figures or beautiful terrain, will generally care less about the look of things, so won't mind too much about mixing figures of all different shapes, styles and sizes on one tabletop.

and instead make sly condescending remarks? wow, Richard, this is a really new quality in bullying......

[Malamute]

and instead make sly condescending remarks? wow, Richard, this is a really new quality in bullying......

 He has a point though.

[former user]

I am not into escalating here.
from my personal view, I would prefer to state the factual contribution above in this way:

I don’t know if the articles by Tom Meier about sculpting and human anatomy are still available online, but since he has sculpted miniatures since the beginning of time, he might count as a reference to artistic awareness. They are surely worth looking up.

Anyway, from my poor experience, I noticed that often size (scale) issues in miniatures between different ranges are more often a proportion thing, because it has always been an artistic technique to highlight features by size in sculpting. So actually, when we perceive miniatures as incompatible (within the real-life variability of human physique and artifact manufacture of course) it is more about the proportion within the sculpt that is so different to another. We can call this style.

in digressing a bit, these differences are also an instrument of marketing ranges, remember the turmoil when GW released the LotR miniatures?

Now, there are collectors who might be more interested in the artistic quality and style of their miniatures and thus are very aware if such standards are indeed incompatible within ranges.
On the other hand, there are collectors who search the artistic approach by embracing differences in style and artistic expression and want to collect a larger variability of this register.
Or they prefer the choice of quantity or simply accept the real life variability.

I any case, it is up to each and one’s choice

Personally, I am inclined towards the last two approaches

I might have expressed this a bit too sarcastic?

[Captain Blood]

and instead make sly condescending remarks? wow, Richard, this is a really new quality in bullying......

Do you think?

Sorry you choose to take it that way. I'm just stating a fact: Some people care a lot more about achieving a high quality look than others. Some people care nothing for the look - they only care about the game. Some people fall in the middle. They like a game to look reasonable, but aren't too fussed about the niceties.

I repeat my belief - mixing differently sized figures is a matter of preference. The less you care about the look of the game, the more likely you are to be unconcerned about mixing figures of different styles and statures on the tabletop. The more you care about the aesthetics, the more likely you are to want everything to look like it all belongs together. Therefore different sized and shaped figures are likely to bother you. I don't see what's so controversial about that. As usual, it's horses for courses...

I am not saying one approach is right or wrong. I'm saying it's a personal preference, that's all. So why set out to try to prove people's personal preferences wrong?

[Cubs]

and instead make sly condescending remarks? wow, Richard, this is a really new quality in bullying......

Get a grip man.

[Cubs]

If we try to pretend the crazy person trying to pick fights isn't around and carry on as normal, then I'll say this - I try not to put wildly differing sizes of models together if I can help it, because I don't like the look of the thing. Yes, people come in different shapes and sizes, but I don't want my guys to look like a freak show of 7ft dudes next to 4ft dudes. As far as I'm aware, .44 Winchester repeater rifles didn't come in differing lengths for different sized people!

But the proportions are every bit as important as the actual height of the model, at least for myself. I have a SAGA warband in (very slow) development with Redbox Games models (with small, delicate details and extremities) and Gripping Beast models (quite chunky). The heights don't bother me much, but the proportions do grate with me a little.

It's up to you really. As Captain Blood says - quite reasonably - if you're in it for the aesthetic effect then it would probably matter more to you than if you just want to slap some paint on a few models to use as gaming pieces to play the game.

[Silent Invader]

and instead make sly condescending remarks? wow, Richard, this is a really new quality in bullying......

How is what CB wrote a new quality in bullying?  I really would like to know because to me it reads as his personal view - one that he is well known for - not as his imposition on others. 

The remarks don't even read as sly or condescending, which is something you question.  I realise that English is not your first language and that might explain what reads as your seeming misinterpretation and resulting over- reaction but that is not an acceptable excuse in what is an English language forum.

Anyways, back to the subject matter.  I don't like to mix sizes and styles unless it suits the aesthetics to do so.  That includes weapons where I do like the same specific weapons (eg AK47) to be pretty much identical between different minis.

[Digits]

Anyway...it's really rather simple.  No one manufacturer has such a complete range to hold my interest.   I like VARIETY in both style and subject matter and wish to keep expanding my game.   I can paint to a good table top quality and DO care about the overall look of my game and I take lots of time to add detail but I need to mix the manufacturers.  If I worried too much about scale I would end up with the same laser cut buildings as many others opposed to making my own, if considerably BIG buildings which suit my style of play.

In answer to the question, it's what YOU want to do that counts.

[rumacara]

Hello all

Well, in my humble opinion, this is a hobby to make our own pleasure and taste.
Of course when we play with our friends we tend to follow some of their opinions instead of following our heart and mind.
As Digits says very well i think there are no complete ranges in any manufacturer that satisfies me so i also search on severall manufacturers for as many diferent models i can but i also look to the size so i tend to complete what i want with models as much similar (in size and sculp) as i can.
I think with the variety of models available in the market you wont have trouble in making what you want even if you have to search on many manufacturers.
The important thing is to have fun in modelling/sculping/building/painting/wargaming, no matter our skill.

Cheers

Rui

[carlos13th]

I don't think it's quite fair to say people unbothered or less bothered by changes in scale are uncaring or unable to create high quality paint jobs or care less about aesthetics. It may just be that what they beleive to be aesthetically pleasing and what strains their suspension of belief is different to yours.

That said the less one cares about aesthetics of said models the more they would be willing to forgive in terms of scale differences outside of what may bother them if they were painting a diorama for example.

I think the reason cb's comment sounded like bullying to former user is because it can be interpreted like he was saying if you are willing to use different scaled figures you are unlikely to be able to paint well or create an aesthetically pleasing game. I don't think that was the intent but I could see how it could be read that way. I think even if that was CBs intent It still wouldn't be bullying.

To summarise different people will have different thresholds of how different in size models can look before they start to look wrong on the same table. The more you care about how your game looks the more within said threshold you may want to stay. The more you care about gameplay price etc over aesthetics the more you may be willing to shy outside your personal size threshold in order to get a model to represent a certain character or archetype.

[NickNascati]

former user,
             Thanks for that info, yes, different marks and calibers of guns will be different sizes, by a garden variety iconic Winchester would be the same size, whether the user is 6'5" or 5'2".  As others have said, I stand by my choice of manufacturer because I like the size and the style.  Would I like to see more figures in the range?  Of course I would, but I've made the choice and I will live with it.

                                                                                   Nick     

[Legionnaire]

I personally don't pay too much mind to "scale creep". I have Artizan, Foundry (quite a few civilians) and Black Scorpion happily co-existing in my small collection, but I did find Dixon's too small in comparison with them.

To me the main thing is to have fun playing my games and I only give my figures a basic paintjob (glad I discovered Army Painter...). But that said, I strive to paint all my figures as I do not like to see "bare metal" on the table, for God's sake get them at least decently dressed  !!!

[NickNascati]

All,
     Please lets keep in mind that LAF is thankfully the civilized forum, where there is always open and honest sharing of views.  Lets not start acting like that other page.

                                                                                           Nick

[carlos13th]

To me the main thing is to have fun playing my games and I only give my figures a basic paintjob (glad I discovered Army Painter...). But that said, I strive to paint all my figures as I do not like to see "bare metal" on the table, for God's sake get them at least decently dressed  !!!

A painted figure no matter the quality is always preferable to me than an unpainted one.

[styx]

As long as the differences are not very big, I am fine with variation as humans by nature are a variety of sizes and such as mentioned by anatomy discussions.