Miniature: Difference between revisions
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==What does the scale mean?== | ==What does the scale mean?== | ||
When the scale is in millimeters, it's generally referring to millimeters in reference to an average height man. Basically, a six foot tall warrior (or 185cm tall if you don't know what feet are) is the baseline. If your model of that warrior is 28mm tall, congrats, you have a 28mm scale figure. It's a little over 4.1mm to the scale foot. Same goes for all the other scales in miniatures, they're all based on that 'average man' baseline. They all fluctuate some, but the convention has held for a number of years. | When the scale is in millimeters, it's generally referring to millimeters in reference to an average height man. Basically, a six foot tall warrior (or 185cm tall if you don't know what feet are) is the baseline. If your model of that warrior is 28mm tall, congrats, you have a 28mm scale figure. It's a little over 4.1mm to the scale foot. Same goes for all the other scales in miniatures, they're all based on that 'average man' baseline. They all fluctuate some (the chances of any any fictional vehicles being physically large enough to contain the models they are supposed to for example is very common), but the convention has held for a number of years. | ||
==Metal or Plastic== | ==Metal or Plastic== | ||
Revision as of 05:04, 16 February 2012
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Miniatures, or minis, refer to small scale figurines used to represent characters or units relative positions, mostly in gaming. Early miniatures were made of cheap plastic and lead. After a while, somebody decided that lead was bad, and manufacturers began switching to a low-lead pewter, and finally "Rallidium", a lead free pewter substitute. The plastic ones wouldn't get you sick if you ate them, so the materials weren't changed much there although there are polyethylene, polystyrene and polyurethane resin figures from various manufacturers.
Most miniatures are on a 25-28mm scale -which is 1/76, or 00 gauge (4mm to the scale foot)- but they come in many other scales as well.
Minis in RPGs
The mini shows your relative position with regards to the other player characters, and potentially monsters. The main use for minis is to avoid arguments when someone sets off a trap and the DM says "Now who was in front?" with the minis, marching order was provable, and many a dickish player finally fell into the spiky pits they so richly deserved. RPG scales are usually kept in the 25-28mm range. Except in the Dark Dungeons tract, where the figures are of fucking epic proportions, similar to the Mazes and Monsters movie figures.
Minis in Wargames
Minis here are used in a similar fashion, showing a unit's relative position to other units, only there tend to be a fuckton more figures on the table. Where minis aren't required in RPGs to play (unless you play 4e where many powers are movement based) in wargames they are a must. Determining line of sight, squad size, and movement patterns is essential to the typical wargame, and so too are the figures. Wargames use a number of different scales depending on the system. For instance, Warhammer uses 28mm, and most historical wargames use a 15 or 20 millimeter scale. They can be as small as 2mm.
What does the scale mean?
When the scale is in millimeters, it's generally referring to millimeters in reference to an average height man. Basically, a six foot tall warrior (or 185cm tall if you don't know what feet are) is the baseline. If your model of that warrior is 28mm tall, congrats, you have a 28mm scale figure. It's a little over 4.1mm to the scale foot. Same goes for all the other scales in miniatures, they're all based on that 'average man' baseline. They all fluctuate some (the chances of any any fictional vehicles being physically large enough to contain the models they are supposed to for example is very common), but the convention has held for a number of years.
Metal or Plastic
Some people have a difficult time deciding what kind of minis to buy based on material. Well, pick one. The differences today are negligible for the player himself. Neither one is more sturdy than the other, it's a matter of taste unless you're a hobbyist. If you're buying prepainted figures then get whichever ones look better to you. Unless you're a Warmachinefag. Although if you have any interest in any kind of modification to the models, then you are going to have balls-huge problems doing it with metal minis.
A Figurine Hobbyist?
Yup. Some people (especially on /tg/) get a massive erection from customizing scale figurines. They often mix and match parts from various models and sometimes mold and make their own. It's not uncommon for a hobbyist to have a few thousand dollars in material from saws, brushes, paints, magnifying glasses on positionable frames, etc. Some people take that shit seriously, making sure that every bit of detail is 110% perfect at all times. To be fair, 80% of the time the figures look REALLY good, and the other 20% of the time you get to laugh at the asshole who wasted the time, money and effort to build his model that he should have probably sticked to buying ones that are already done for him. So in the 4chan universe, it's all good.
Miniature manufacturing
Many companies make figures for gaming. Here is a short list:
- Citadel Miniatures (Games Workshop) - figures for Warhammer Fantasy Battle, Warhammer 40,000, Battlefleet Gothic, Epic 40K, War of the Ring, and a bunch of other stuff that lays in a comatose fanbase.
- Forge World (also Games Workshop) - figures for Fantasy, 40K, Aeronautica Imperialis, and Apocalypse
- Mithril Miniatures (Lord of the Rings minis)
- Privateer Press - figures for Warmachine, Hordes and Iron Kingdoms
- Wizkids (Heroclix and metal figures for RPGs)
- Wizards of the Coast (Dungeons & Dragons Miniatures Game)