Interested in Moving Away from 28mm

[eilif]

If you can afford it I'd go with 15mm for everything.  I'm almost exclusively a 28mm guy (except 10mm sci-fi), but 15mm is a lovely compromise for detail within size restrictions.

I'm personally not a fan of 6mm figures at all, but i you're really attracted to the massed forces of 6mm, I'd say go 10mm. There's a huge bump in detail over 6mm, but as pictures above show, you can still fast-paint for a nice effect.

[Vermis]

I'd argue for 15mm.

Although there are some very nice minis in 10mm, you will have a nasty shock when you realise just how sporadic scale wise these ranges are.

Some are more 12mm, some are even borderline traditional 15mm its best to to some hard research into the scales, and you may be forced to prioritize a single range.

I know what you mean. I got some Copplestone 10mm orcs to supplement my GW BoFA minis (what they were ostensibly made to do) and was a bit disappointed that they were huge compared to the plastic elves. More like Warhammer orcs than M-E guys.

But on the other hand, I've also read that a lot of 15mm ranges are more like 18mm, too. What's sauce for the goose etc. etc.

[Conquistador]

For fantasy I used legacy 25/28mm, and am painting 15/6mm stuff and it depends a lot of what you want on the table, how you want to paint the figures (trying for 28mm look on the smaller scales will kill you - I learned that with my 3mm historical/proxy for Science Fiction stuff and my earlier 6mm Science fiction stuff - and mostly what sources are convenient to buy where you live.

While I have 6mm stuff for specific scenarios in skirmish it is easier if you are familiar with the figures/units on the table than it is for new players unused to the figures.  Too small to id who has the SAW has more to do with how the stands are marked with terrain bit "keys" than actual appearance in my mind.  Two small stones on a single figure stand is a SAW, one a rifle/AR, one tuft a commander, etc., but for section or squad stands it is less of a problem since rules for that are more mass/unit oriented.  

How does this relate to Fantasy?  You set up your "unit" stands in ways that identify race or status.  It does depend on how your rules work: something like bows, crossbows, hand weapons, spears, pike plus some aspect to mark race traits like dwarf/elf/human/goblin/Orc etc., would assist a lot in knowing what stand is what in some rules.

Heavy or light armor versus "standard" could be shown in the same way as the SAW example above.  A lot depends on how the rules work and how much imagination you use in your stands to key players to information important to the rules.  If what kind of sword is important in the rules (thinking OD&D mass battles) then it is much harder at smaller sizes but not impossible though inconvenient for some player styles is a factor each player/group can only decide for him/her own games.  Sometimes too much inconvenience can truly kill the fun for players and it is a legitimate factor to consider.

Rather than get into specifics on how I do it, I think you need to assess what you want to see on the table/stand with your rules that will be used.  Mass battles work in all scales, perhaps not with all rules, but only if the players are comfortable with both rules and figure size.

[Conquistador]

I know what you mean. I got some Copplestone 10mm orcs to supplement my GW BoFA minis (what they were ostensibly made to do) and was a bit disappointed that they were huge compared to the plastic elves. More like Warhammer orcs than M-E guys.

But on the other hand, I've also read that a lot of 15mm ranges are more like 18mm, too. What's sauce for the goose etc. etc.

Scale creep is everywhere.  Look at "25mm" - heroic and otherwise - or "28mm" figures and you see it.  Check out the Baccus site for his discussion about how one 6mm figure line compares to another and you see the same kind of discussion.

[fred]

I'd go with 10mm - I have many huge 10mm armies, and what I like is that they look like armies on the table, not a couple of platoons. Also monsters can be really big, without being stupidly expensive.

With regard to the plastic BoFA figures, it is these that are very small, rather than the Copplestone figures being large.

Generally Pendraken Historical, GW Warmaster, Magister Militium, Old Glory, Copplestone and Eureka 10mm are all pretty compatible size wise.

Pendraken Fantasy and Kallistra are rather larger and should be considered 12mm, they can work on the same table as the 10mm ranges, but probably not in the same army.

A couple of big game photos




For something a bit different, this is my Forces of Nature army


Dwarves (Kallistra) and Araby (GW Warmaster) defend a hill

[Chico]

I love 10mm gaming (Warmaster) but I find it a rather expensive scale with around 30 Infantry or 12 Cav costing from £6-9 which adds up pretty fast when you realise just how much your'll need even for a small/med battle.

Warband ruleset does look quite good though and maybe cheaper to game with then Warmaster or Kallistras Hordes & Heroes Rules.

Now 15mm lends itself well to skirmish games and tends to be less of a strain on your wallet but If I'm honest I have only ever done Sci Fi in 15mm.

[eilif]

Fred,
Those pics are great!  May I ask what games are being played in the bottom two pics?

[fred]

I quite liked Warband - its very different to Warmaster in both feel and number of figures. But the advantage is that the same figures and basing can be used for both games, with the use of Pendraken's very nice sabot bases.

Fred,
Those pics are great!  May I ask what games are being played in the bottom two pics?

Thanks, eilif. The bottom picture is a Warmaster game (these are my gaming buddies figures, not mine). This is actually the far flank of the same game in the second photo.

The Forces of Nature, were originally built for Kings of War, which we played a lot of in 10mm. They have now been ported over to our home brew rules. The photo is a line up of the army, not in game. This army is predominately Pendraken, but has a number of manufacturers including notionally 6mm and 15mm ranges.

For completeness, the top game is Kings of War - using 28mm ranges and unit sizes, but with 10mm figures.

[eilif]

Thanks! Those are some big KoW armies.

[Oldben1]

I have a ton of 10mm pendragon stuff, as well as Coppelstone.  The Coppelstone miniatures are awesome, full of character and strong looking.  Most of the pendragon stuff is good, although some of the minis are soft in detail.  I use them for skirmish, but mass battles would work well with Coppelstone.

[grant]

Although my main love is 6mm (for WW2 and moderns), for my fantasy kick I have recently picked up Warmaster again. Dwarfs I was lucky enough to find new old stock GW at reasonable prices at my local shop, and I pretty much cleared them out. I did buy one blister at stupid prices on eBay for the last Warriors pack I needed today. That's to take my army to 2000pts. The only thing I don't have are Rangers now. For them I might go with another manufacturer as they can be unique on the table anyway.

I also have some AB Naps (quite a bit actually), so for my Napoleonics I go with 15mm. (or 18mmish). I don't care about the price of them as they are quite frankly stunning miniatures. I was super lucky that after coveting them for many years, a friend gave me some for Xmas, and I was supplemented by more Xmas gifts.

So my recommendation: 10mm for Fantasy.

[ZeroTwentythree]

I had debated going back to a small scale project a while ago. I ended up sticking with the big guys, but when I weighed the pros & cons of 6mm, 10mm, and 15mm, it seemed to me that 10mm didn't offer much over the other two. 6mm figures paint up quick, look good en masse, and are cheap. 15mm have more detail but still create a massed battle appearance. 10mm seemed to cost just as much as 15mm (sometimes more,) there was less of a selection available (at that time -- that may have changed now.) Detail looked to be somewhere between the other two, as well, which (to me) put it in an uncomfortable zone where they might not paint up as quickly as 6mm, but still not be as detailed as 15mm.

At least that was my evaluation. But I do confess that while I've seen & gamed with 10mm figures, I've never personally owned nor painted any up -- but I have owned & painted both 6mm & 15mm. In fact, long ago when Warmaster first came out my friends and I stuck with 15s (many of us already had 15s) for that and never got into 10s.

[Brummie]

I know what you mean. I got some Copplestone 10mm orcs to supplement my GW BoFA minis (what they were ostensibly made to do) and was a bit disappointed that they were huge compared to the plastic elves. More like Warhammer orcs than M-E guys.

But on the other hand, I've also read that a lot of 15mm ranges are more like 18mm, too. What's sauce for the goose etc. etc.

They are more towards 18mm, but at least the ranges available are pretty consistent in this regards. My only word of warning, is that Eureka '18mm' stuff and some of the '15mm' range held by Magister Militum, especially the dwarves, is basically 20mm.

I had debated going back to a small scale project a while ago. I ended up sticking with the big guys, but when I weighed the pros & cons of 6mm, 10mm, and 15mm, it seemed to me that 10mm didn't offer much over the other two. 6mm figures paint up quick, look good en masse, and are cheap. 15mm have more detail but still create a massed battle appearance. 10mm seemed to cost just as much as 15mm (sometimes more,) there was less of a selection available (at that time -- that may have changed now.) Detail looked to be somewhere between the other two, as well, which (to me) put it in an uncomfortable zone where they might not paint up as quickly as 6mm, but still not be as detailed as 15mm.

At least that was my evaluation. But I do confess that while I've seen & gamed with 10mm figures, I've never personally owned nor painted any up -- but I have owned & painted both 6mm & 15mm. In fact, long ago when Warmaster first came out my friends and I stuck with 15s (many of us already had 15s) for that and never got into 10s.

I came to a similar conclusion, some 10mm stuff can be so expensive to the extent its off putting when compared to 6mm-15mm. 6mm was effectively non-existant until Microworld appeared and produced a brilliant range of figs. 15mm was a bit here and there too, but its starting to get really interesting in terms of what is available and where it could end up going.

[Luddite]

Warband is focussed on 10mm and particularly Pendraken's excellent new Fantasy ranges, but is flexible so that it can be used with any scale miniatures.

Some examples:

My Warband tidbits
http://luddite1811.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/Warband

And at the 10mm scale you can make some jolly nice looking units.  



Warband at Pendraken: http://www.pendraken.co.uk/Warband-Fantasy-NEW-c36/
Warband at Wargames Vault: http://www.wargamevault.com/product_info.php?products_id=144517&site=&currency=GBP&products_id=144517

Warband review by Dan Mersey: http://s1096.photobucket.com/user/MattofMunslow/media/warband%20review_zpswhic8hzn.jpeg.html

Recent Warband tournament in 28mm figures: http://stenicplus.blogspot.co.uk/2016/02/paw-2016-warband-tournament.html

[fred]

I had debated going back to a small scale project a while ago. I ended up sticking with the big guys, but when I weighed the pros & cons of 6mm, 10mm, and 15mm, it seemed to me that 10mm didn't offer much over the other two. 6mm figures paint up quick, look good en masse, and are cheap. 15mm have more detail but still create a massed battle appearance. 10mm seemed to cost just as much as 15mm (sometimes more,) there was less of a selection available (at that time -- that may have changed now.) Detail looked to be somewhere between the other two, as well, which (to me) put it in an uncomfortable zone where they might not paint up as quickly as 6mm, but still not be as detailed as 15mm.

At least that was my evaluation. But I do confess that while I've seen & gamed with 10mm figures, I've never personally owned nor painted any up -- but I have owned & painted both 6mm & 15mm. In fact, long ago when Warmaster first came out my friends and I stuck with 15s (many of us already had 15s) for that and never got into 10s.

I'm not sure how you are comparing prices - perhaps on a unit basis - which is hard for me to compare, as I don't have any 15mm stuff. But on straight costs 15mm figures seem to cost 2 or 3 times as much as 10mm figures.

Pendraken is £4.95 for 30, (and Kallistra and Magister Militium are similar) looking at Ral Patha and 15mm.co.uk you can get 10 figures for £4.50. Obviously for a given base size you will need slightly fewer 15mm figures to fill it than 10mm.

To me 6mm is a good scale for tanks and the like, but much less good for infantry.