When Rick Conte came out with his "Warlord" and "Zulu" sets back in the early 90s he rocked the 1/32 scale figure collecting world on its heels with his larger "true 1/32" (his words) figures. There was much howling and protest on the part of many of us "boomers" in the US over the fact his figures made dwarves of our cherished toy soldiers from our childhood. By the same token, the new guys weren't 60mm either so you couldn't really mix them well with those guys either.
But they were beautiful sculpts and we snatched them up. In a few years other makers were making their figures compatable with Conte's new scale - a larger 1/32.
With HaT plunging into 1/32 in such a big way I find most of their figures tend to bridge the gap between the "old" 1/32 and the "new" 1/32 quite well. As of now, we haven't seen any of the "new' scale in Napoleonics (except perhaps Conte's Alamo Mexicans and these guys are large even for Conte).
So the question is (yes, there is a question and subject for comment here), how much difference can you tolerate in figures? Do you mix and match varous companies figures in spite of slight differences in size? How about mixing/matching 1/32 scale with 60mm figures?
Or is style of sculpting more important?
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14 comments:
ACW Conte plastics mixed with Conte & Britains metal plus Blackcat Kits...all fit perfect.
(dont like to mix Imex size with this lot)
For Naps its Hat,Airfix,Italeri,ect
Rob C
Bulk is often more important. If the proportions are the same traditional 54mm (2.11") can be mixed with 1/32 (2.25"). Some figures of the same height do not look good together, such as most 54mm makers and the skinny ACTA cavalry.
When the figures get even smaller than 54mm or larger than 1/32 you can have a serious mismatch. Some of the figures in the Italeri early Nap sets are just too big.
The small Accurate English longbow archers do not mix well with the Italeri versions.
I hate to mix scales/sizes but limits in a given range often leave no other choice. As a WWII gamer I can't help but mix TSSD, Marx, Italeri and even Airfix, and Conte although unwillingly.
Close enough is good enough. Not everyone is the same size or build. When I served, we had people anywhere from 5'8" to 6'4". That's a 8 inch difference.
I think that a variety of similar sizes from a variety of makers looks good on my battlefield. Two standing firing guys from two different makers are slightly different in stance and disposition. This provides more variety for me. I like that.
Add to that a few comvertions and I can really swing a large non-robotic looking force.
Checkout Fish's Prussian large mob in attack collumn in ETS. Awsome!
Sscott
I agree with the above that all people are not the same size but I like weapons and equipment to be standard. A Baker Rifle is a Baker Rifle, an M-1 Garand is an M-1 Garand etc.
I think the style of sculpting os the key. I love AIP Colonials, primarily because they are pretty strightforward to paint and give a good general impression of what they are supposed to represent plus I can cut them up and add greenstuff to add personlaities if I want without feeling like I am cutting up a work of art. The other advantage is that no one else has botered to produce figures in that perios so I don't have to mix them with other makers.
Having said that, I wish they were as detailed as the new HAT figures are. I do have dreams of battalions of Hat's Napoleonics on a table.
For me, size consistency within a single figure line is most important. There's always going to be variation in size between manufacturers, but if a line comes out for a period from one manufacturer, all the figures in that line should be the same size.
CtA deviated a lot in their Nap line, with tiny cavalry riders. Conte's figures might be big, but they're all big. As much as I like Hat's Naps, they're changing in size between sets, too. Sure, soldiers are different heights, but are Russian soldiers consistently shorter than French soldiers?
I agree with Scott and ben I can deal with variations in height and bulk so long as there close to normal human differences.
Some variation in size is okay between manufacturers in terms of Line or Light Infantry/Cavalry. But some elite units, like Grenadiers, Cuirassiers, Carabineers, Life Guards, Heavy Dragoons etc., should not be smaller relative to other units, but even if not taller, then bulker, with larger horses. When placing my Italeri French Hussars (and Mamelukes) alongside my ACTA Cuirassiers and Carabineers, the Hussars look to be the heavies! Big proportioned heavy cavalry (with BIG horses) are desperately needed as a manufacturer priority! Italeri don't seem to have any planned. Currently I use the ACTA heavies set at a distance in a diorama to hide their diminutive size, but this is quite restricting, and useless for wargaming. Has HaT got any plans?
Stephen A.
I don't mind to much variation in heights. Certainly if it is for figures in for instance 60mm and these are not available in 54mm.
I agree with Stephen on the ACTA being to small, and the "market" being desperate of good proportioned cavalry.
For WW2 wargames, I prefer to use 1/35 vehicles. Those tanks in 1/32 strangely give the impresion of being to big.
Relative size difference is okay but as someone mentioned, weapons need to be of the same size. Conte's Alamo Mexicans are way out of proportion. Those figures look like they would be the Mexican National Basketball team. Even the Marx Mexicans for the most part were bigger than they should be. Marx Japanese were also out of scale for what they actually should have been.
There were some great Civil War figures in the 60s that didn't match with most others. Timmee and Andy Guard figures, which were very nice, didn't fit anything else. The same with the Auburn figures. I know there can't be a fixed scale, but you would think that companies would try to work on seeing that every figure works with someone else's.
I think it's great that some of the smaller (in terms of size of their operation, not necessarily their output) have been working together to ensure their figures are compatable in both size and even plastic colors in their figures. I really think everyone benefits, the customer because they have figures that match, and the makers because their figures compliment one another rather than clash so I think folks buy more of their product because they are useful.
They see themselves as complimenting one another rather than competing. Again, we all benefit.
Wayne W
RBH Jr said;
The Conte figures are way too big. They are incompatible with Marx and other figures. Similarly the Airfix Napoleonic British infantry are too small (although much less incompatible than the Conte figures so they can still be used in a pinch).
Some variation in size is OK, for instance Hat's Napoleonic Russian infantry and its French light infantry are not exactly the same scale, yet it is not such a difference as to make them completely incompatible. So in short it matters a lot; I would not buy the Conte figures because they are completely incompatible with "normal" sized sets.
The early CONTE figs were ok size wise. The new Scale didnt begin until he did the Alamo Defenders. Since then MOST of his plastic has been BIG. Sadly TSSD followed suit when they started production.
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