Guide to tabletop gaming scale 

In this guide we’re going to go over some of the basics of scale in gaming miniatures. This will be geared more towards the beginner, but there should be something in here for just about every experience level. Hopefully it clears up some misconceptions for you guys! 

Ways to refer to scale 

There are a number of ways to refer to and define scale. In dioramas, scale modeling and sometimes model railroading and historical recreation genres, they usually use the ratio system. Something will be stated as being 1:54 or similar. So if the thing being modeled is 54inches, the scaled version is 1inch. We don’t typically use this system in table top gaming, but the rough equivalent would be 28mm is around 1:50, depending how the 28mm scale is calculated. More on that in the following section. 

You will also see things like “HO Scale” or “N Scale”, especially looking at terrain pieces and buildings, because this is the most common scale used for model trains and railroads, and so is out of the scope of this guide. 

On the table top, we usually use the height of.a human, but even though there is a common method, it is not strict. Nor do all designers stick to what they call their models. So buckle up and let’s get into the nitty gritty! 

How scale is defined - TLDR: It’s all up basically up to the designer, and kinda “wibbly wobbly”. 

On the tabletop you’ll see 28mm and 32mm most commonly. You may see the word “heroic” attached. Honestly, I feel that a lot of models in the 3D printed space are sized more in the heroic realm, and we’ll touch on that in this section.

  The most common definition of 28mm (or any size), is the distance from the sole of the feet to the eyes of an adult human standing straight up. Which is kind of wonky, honestly. And it makes the sizes of nonhumans a little hard to figure out for online shoppers, so for monstrous creatures and terrain pieces I’ll generally put the dimensions in the listing. Elves will typically be around the same size or close to that of humans. Less common, but sometimes used, is to define the scale by the human’s total height. Sole of the feet to top of the head, but I haven’t seen this much for a while because it ends up in a smaller model, and no one wants to have smaller models than the other guy!  

Heroic variants of these scales are even less well defined in any meaningful way, and change per designer. Typically it is a slightly larger model, and historically would involve slightly out of proportion features. Big heavy jaws, large mouths, overly muscle bound. Every member of the squad looked like Rambo. Think Arnold Schwarzenegger or Brock Lesnar next to Tom Cruise. This is also a common feature in Games Workshop miniatures. Heroic scaled minis just look bigger and badder and less scrawny. 

Lately, especially in the 3D printed world and models being designed, I’ve seen models slightly larger than the scale they are billed for, but proportioned properly. So a product line billed by the designer as 32mm might actually be 35mm to the eyes. When I see this in a line we carry, I’ll try and make mention of it in the description, but I have to call it the same as the designer, and produce it the same, because if someone bought a model from one of those lines somewhere else, and mine doesn’t match, that’d be a problem.  

  To differentiate between Heroic and not heroic, you might see the term “True”. So a “True 28mm” will be 28mm to the eyes, normally proportioned. Again, if the designer just calls it 28mm, that’s what I have to put on the listings title.  

The Hold My Dwarf line that we carry is kind of a different animal. It’s all Dwarves, but they are 32mm to the eyes and billed as 32mm scale by the designer. They are also quite bulky compared to most other lines, even for the hardy Dwarves! In most game systems, Dwarves are about 75% of a human. So if a “Human size” is defined as 6ft tall, the Dwarves should be around 4.5 ft tall. I like the models, but they are what I would call out of scale, even for Heroic.  

As you can see, scale in models is a complex, varied, and sometimes frustrating thing. But, some variance can be acceptable, or even desirable! Humans do vary. Both Arnold Schwarzenegger and Tom Cruise are real live people, and they don’t even fully represent the variety of heights, proportions, and sizes that humanity is capable of. 

Scale and bases 

This is where it can get even more confusing for beginners. Using a unit of distance to define scale, when we’d also use it to define the length or height of something in real terms is confusing for a lot of people. Such as bases. A 28mm SCALE model, uses a 25mm DIAMETER base. See what I mean? 32mm scale models are also supplied with 25mm diameter bases in all of the product lines I have that supply a base of any kind. The rest recommend 25mm. 25mm is about 1 inch. Large creatures tend to use 50mm bases, and the really big ones call for around 75mm. 2 and 3 inches respectively. All of that being said, if the game system or group you’re playing with is good with it you can use larger bases if you’d like. Just bear in mind that most systems that use maps with square grids use 1 inch squares, and the bases are meant to fit in those.    

Some game systems define creatures as Small, Medium (humans, elves, dwarves), Large, etc. Generally, small and medium will go on a 25mm, large on a 50mm, etc.  

Scale creep

Scale creep kind of refers to the models being a little bigger than advertised, but it’s generally a little more specific and typically refers to commercially available manufacturers. In this case if a design company has been around for a long time, sometimes they don’t change what they advertise the models as being, but they incrementally get a hair bigger. This is almost certainly to stand out from the competition, and once the competition makes the same increase, you have to do it again. Another reason could be to make the newer models they produce seem like an upgrade to last edition, so even though you have a Space Elf Widget Master already, you really “need” the new one!    

Something else to keep in mind, some commercial manufacturers just don’t always use the same scale. If they have different model lines, like Reaper, each line may have it’s own scale. For them it’s 25mm heroic to 35mm.  

What to do if you are unsure of a model’s size  

ASK US! We don’t bite, and I’ll send you a screenshot of a True scaled human standing next to the model you’re asking about from the slicer software so you can be sure. There’s always time to do it right the first time. 

The other thing you can do is be philosophical about it and choose the minis because they are cool, even if not exactly in scale. Treat them as decorative place holders more than perfectly sized. It can make line of sight judgements more difficult, but it can also make life easier. This works better with RPG style games than war games or skirmish games where you’d really want a whole squad or army to be the same. In RPG games, different races and classes can get away with more variance. 

Our product lines (as of this writing) Epic Miniatures - True 28mm EC3D - True 32mm DM Stash - Large 32mm, normally proportioned Gamescape3D - Large 32mm, normally proportioned Asgard Rising - Large 32mm, normally proportioned Flesh of Gods/Dungeons and Terrors II - Large 32mm, normally proportioned Kraken Studios/Apocalypse Dawn - True 32mm VaultZ - True 32mm Lambda5 - True 32mm Hold My Dwarf - Dwarves at 32mm to the eyes