Stop the Madness – Heroically over-sized Miniatures.

[Kar98k]

Does anyone else know about Kromlech miniatures? I just learned about them.

 

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[Jim Ripley]

They are out of Poland . They make a lot of not “40K” Marine & Orc parts ( arms , legs ,heads , personal  weapons , artillery  etc ) as well as scenic bases for figures . I’m not a 40K guy but my buddies teenage boys are , and they love their bits for conversions . The pieces I’ve seen are well detailed and crisply molded resin .  The WW2 figures and vehicles look good and are on my to buy list . Where did you find the German figure ? The web site that I have bookmarked only shows WW2 Polish troops / vehicles

• This reply was modified 3 years, 9 months ago by Jim Ripley.

[Kar98k]

If I recall, it was an ad in one of the hobby mags.

• This reply was modified 3 years, 8 months ago by Kar98k.

[Kar98k]

I finally got a chance to see the brand new plastic German Veteran and US Airborne figures from Warlord Games. I have to say, they do look nice…

…but… well, talk about heroic scaling. Is this getting a bit out of hand? They are even more heroic scaled than the figures that started this post, so I can’t help thinking “Stay Puft Marshmallow Man”. For those that might not know what this is, have a look here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stay_Puft_Marshmallow_Man

But why is this a problem? Well, it is because there are a number of visual and physical reasons. For one, these sets have even more heroic scaling to them, and this makes then less compatible for kit-bashing with the previous plastic boxed sets, and pretty much impossible for the older plastic boxed sets. Also, because the new figures look even more heroically different, they do not look right mixed in with the older plastic figures Warlord Games originally produced; either in the same unit, different units in the same army, or even worse, against another player’s Warlord Games army collection.

As mentioned before, Warlord Games can learn something from Perry Miniatures. The Perry brothers are talented artist that mix in a good blend of anatomically correctness with some exaggerated detail to produce some “award winning” tabletop gaming figures.

That being said, we historical tabletop miniature gamers have it much easier than before – when was the last time you modified an Airfix figure? That is, there is so much more available to us than before. However, we are seeing fewer and fewer new players as the younger generation seem to get distracted by other things, or simply not interested.

[Jim Ripley]

I’ve noticed the MP 38 in the Afrika Korp plastics is smaller than the one on the new Veterans sprue. And yet the Veterans MG 34 drum magazine carrier is smaller than the one in the Winter German sprue.  No more just grabbing bits from the parts box without checking . Reminds me of 1/35 scale modelling back in the late 70s , lots of variation in size between Tamiya , Italeri , Heller & Dragon .  People vary in size , personal equipment shouldn’t .  I’m lucky enough to have a fairly deep spares box of weapons , equipment, heads and arms ,  oh so many arms .  It’s not too hard to shorten a plastic arm or lengthen one by adding a sliver of plastic so the figure looks right . Remembering to use arms with the same cuff on the sleave is another story .

[Kar98k]

Has anyone else seen the new new 28mm WW2 Late War German Infantry & Heavy Weapons (1944-1945) by Victrix? They are looking really good, and blend in so well with Perry figures that maybe they were planned that way. Anyway, I sure hope they consider making some early to late war German Infantry.

German Infantry & Heavy Weapons

These figures do not have that Stay Puft Marshmallow Man look (overdone heroic scaling), so some artists out there continue to keep one foot in reality.

[Kar98k]

For those that might be interested in some details about The Problem of Miniature Scales (not a long read, and some very good examples):

https://zandoriastudios.com/tag/heroic-scale/

[Kar98k]

I found this interesting and informative…

https://boardgamegeek.com/thread/3521779/why-28mm-figures-with-156-models

[Mike]

Perhaps a different perspective from someone who has been gaming and painting miniatures for over 50 years.  When I started gaming, figures were 1:72 scale (around 20mm tall and skinny), which is a bit short, since it translates to a human being under 5 ft tall.  Later, models bulked up to 25mm and this scale dominated in the 70s and 80s.  Then 28mm came along followed by 3o-32 mm.  Along the way, 6mm, 10mm, 12mm, 15mm, and 18mm also made appearances and most of them still exist.  Some gamers have moved to 54mm scale.  So, what does it really come down to?

For me bigger and bulkier miniatures are more fun to paint.  So, I gravitate to as big a scale as I can and still deploy a reasonable number of miniatures on the table.  Many of my newer painting techniques from dry brushing to inks to shading, and lining are simply easier when the miniature is bigger, bulkier, with more definition.  I game around 4-8 hours a month, but I paint around 30 hours a month.  So, for me, it is about painting more than gaming.

I used to prefer metal over plastic or resin, but the new plastics are fun because you can generate far more poses than you typically can buy with precast metal castings and gluing metal is a pain compared to plastic.  Now 3D printing is changing the hobby again.  Things keep changing, but for now I see 3D printing capturing a major share of the market.  Plastic models will need to find a way to compete with them.  I think metal will eventually disappear.

[Kar98k]

My friend recently got the new Soviet Army starter set with the new plastic Soviet Infantry. I offered to assemble a few for him, so he gave me a couple of sprues. What this means is that I finally got a good look at the new Soviet Infantry sprue shown below.

Even before assembling, the first thing I notice is how much more “Heroic Scaling” (puffy-beefy) these figures are. Is Warlord Games going to turn Bolt Action into Warhammer 1940? Or is it simply because of Konflikt’47?

While assembling, yes, you will quickly discover they have a lot more heroic scaling to them, and you will quickly discover that the parts of these new plastic Soviet Infantry figures and the parts of the previous plastic Soviet Infantry figures (shown below) are not at all compatible.

The previous plastic infantry also had separate weapons, which was very good for lots of options and variety, but not all gamers like building models.

So mixing of parts from the new and the old for more options is out of the question, which is a shame really. Anyway, if you find “Heroic Scaling” of historical figures a bit comical, then I recommend you stock up on the older plastic Soviet Infantry while you can, which look better because they are more anatomically correct, and also because of the separate arms and weapons it gives you a lot more options.

[Jim Ripley]

I  built   a box a couple weeks ago , and I like the 2 older Russian sets ( Summer & Winter ) better . While the separate rain capes are a nice touch ( not really a fan of those molded on ones , and the backpacks ) the size differences of various parts is annoying . Example ,the heads are larger as is  the PTRD anti-tank rifle than the one in the original set , but the DP-28 ammo box is smaller . As well the gasmask bag , bread bags & DP-28 drum bag are noticeably smaller than  on the weapons  sprue. I also found some of the arm variations to be silly , who needs 5 arms holding a chicken or a mega phone ?   I did use some of the new  arm pair with weapon parts on the older bodies but I had to use putty as the new figure’s shoulders are wider than the old box resulting in a gap . I’m sure if these were the 1st box of Russians I bought , they would be fine , but I’ve built more than 6 of the older boxes and really like the kit bashing potential of having separate arms and weapons . I also got the new Katyusha , and the 2 ground troops with rockets are smaller than than either box’s figures .  This makes me wonder how the new Japanese box will compare with the older set ……..I’m not going to pre order these , I’ll wait to see an on-line review from my fav hobby dude on youtube.

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