Switching from 15mm to 10mm - Should I???

[sultanbev]

Hi all, suppose this isn't the right place to ask, I suspect there will be a certain level of bias but am seriously thinking of replacing all my 15mm and 6mm with 10mm. That's WW2, moderns and Napoleonics.
Given the size of my current armies, this would be a massive undertaking, apart from ebaying 20,000x 15mm figures. I want to downsize anyway, as there aren't enough years left of my life to play with them all. Having loads of different armies just doesn't work in the end, other than providing storage box manufacturers with a steady income.

One of the reasons is that 15mm just looks wrong for WW2, the vehicles are too big for the ground scale and the Team Yankee games I see at the club are just shocking! Even 10mm WW2 looks a bit too big for late WW2, but 6mm infantry are a but meh somehow. So 10mm is a middle ground I'm thinking. Have one lot of terrain would be nice too. Plus I'm toying with the idea of 1956 Cold War and you can get a Conway in 10mm

I do already have some 10mm French for a hypothetical 1938 interventionist force in SCW, for which one of our group has a massive collection.
I've just bought some 10mm Napoleonics to test out some basing ideas, perhaps 1:15 instead of 1:20 we currently use, would make an impressive number of figures per unit.

The other thing that is pissing me off with 15mm is the newer ones are 18mm, eg Lancs Games stuff, and look ridiculously large alongside their older 15mm scuplts. I get the impression that with 10mm there is more consistency between manufacturers, for infantry at least. A rough count up suggests using 60 figures for an Austrian 800 man battalion would cost me £10 in 10mm, but 40 figures in 15mm would be £23 for Minifigs (6 figures in a command pack means I have to buy too many figures) or £15-ish from Lancashire Games. For tanks there however doesn't seem to be much difference between 10mm and 15mm tanks from Zvezda/Butler 3D/PSC, so there isn't a great saving there.

This does mean there will be a demand for 10mm Ottoman Turks, Arabs & Persians for Napoleonics, and some War of 1812 would be nice. And a Valentine IX for the WW2, which I'm sure will be easier to get seen in production.

Thoughts anyone?

Mark

[Duke Speedy of Leighton]

Pick one period, start there, does it look and feel right?
Then, enjoy.


Otherwise, yes!

[paulr]

Seconded

[Leman]

I would also agree with that. So much unpainted lead, so much closer the guy with the scythe.

[Steve J]

Sticking to one size certainly makes all of the terrain easier. I also agree with Will, pick a period/conflict you fancy, then really see if it floats your boat. If not at least you know then whether to keep the 6mm or 15mm armies that you currently have.

[Shedman]

I have large ACW armies in 15mm. I look at the Pendraken ACW and would love to go down that route but it would be, as you say, a major undertaking

The deciding factor on scale for me now-a-days is terrain as it's probably more of a cost and storage issue than the figures

I agree with you about the scale creep from 15mm to 18mm - 3mm makes a quite difference as someone's wife once said to me

However 10mm suffers the same problem - I always use Pendraken as the benchmark for 10mm figures

Pendraken vs Old Glory is  ok size wise but I don't like that OG have most troops joined at the hip and shoulder or just dull

Pendraken vs Kalistra - there is quite a difference in size - the later are almost 12mm

Pendraken vs Little Wars Minatures - because the later do ranges that Pendraken don't

Here's a comparison of Pendraken, Little Wars Minatures and Old Glory ( and an excuse to show them off!)

[sultanbev]

What about the 10mm Perrin range from Magister Militum? I see they even do Ottoman Turk Napoleonics (although not all of them, and some aren't correct).

Mark

[FierceKitty]

I think 10mm is an excellent scale for horse-and-musket; you can get in enough little details (and see them in the final figures) not to mistake French for Austrians, but the effect of massed units is very much there. 

[FierceKitty]

I have large ACW armies in 15mm. I look at the Pendraken ACW and would love to go down that route but it would be, as you say, a major undertaking

The deciding factor on scale for me now-a-days is terrain as it's probably more of a cost and storage issue than the figures

I agree with you about the scale creep from 15mm to 18mm - 3mm makes a quite difference as someone's wife once said to me

However 10mm suffers the same problem - I always use Pendraken as the benchmark for 10mm figures

Pendraken vs Old Glory is  ok size wise but I don't like that OG have most troops joined at the hip and shoulder or just dull

Pendraken vs Kalistra - there is quite a difference in size - the later are almost 12mm

Pendraken vs Little Wars Minatures - because the later do ranges that Pendraken don't

Here's a comparison of Pendraken, Little Wars Minatures and Old Glory ( and an excuse to show them off!)





Pendraken vs Magister Militum - compatible, though MM are chunkier (I'm chunkier than a Prussian visitor we're hosting right now, mind you, and my Chinese wife towers over his petite German mate like a 15mm to 10mm, so don't sweat slight differences; and, yes, I know Asians are meant to be smaller than Aryans).

Pendraken vs Newlines - very close size match, though Pendraken have a far greater range, especially if ancients aren't to your taste.

[Chad]

Other things to take into account are what periods are available in 10mm and most importantly how complete are they and if not complete, when are they going to be complete. 15mm have been around a lot longer than 10mm and it is easier to find complete ranges.

[sultanbev]

Well I've learned about two suppliers I never knew of, Newline and Little Wars. Those Tueregs can do as many Napoleonic arabs (although most should have spear), and Newline do Napoleonic naval guns, so that's cool.

By the sounds of it though, I should stick to one period and convert that first. As my WW2 is the smaller of my collection, and 15mm has some resale value, it makes more sense to start there.
But when did sense come into it? 

Mark

[paulr]

Here's a comparison of Pendraken, Little Wars Minatures and Old Glory ( and an excuse to show them off!)

Those are well worth showing off

[John Cook]

Go for it.  10mm is, I think, the perfect compromise. I switched to 10mm in the 1980s when all there was to be had were 10 High ACW.  My last 15mm went about 20 years ago.  I do everything in 10mm now from 11th Century to 19th Century, via 12th, 17th and 18th at a ratio of 1:10 as the principal point to 10mm is the increased number of figures and the appearance they give of 'proper' battalions and regiments.   
I agree entirely about modern.  I do modern (WW1 and WW2) with 10mm but at 1:1 and no bigger than company level on a 10' x 5' table.  The size of the modern battlefield simply precludes anything else, in my view, and if you try to represent anything larger it just doesn't look right.  The table just becomes far to crowded.

[fsn]

I echo completely what Mr Cook said.

10mm also works pre-C11.

I do WWII at a 1:1 platoon/company level and it works very well. 

[jaztez]

All my new projects are in 10mm.

Pendraken have transformed my gaming.  My table now seems HUGE.

I would not advise selling off stuff you can still use until it's been replaced.  Been there, regreted that.

But yes, 10mm is a fantastic, affordable scale, and the Pendraken ranges are getting larger and better sculpted all the time.