Terrain from Trash has been one of Basementmini Mike and I's main focus for a while now. It is eco-friendly, custom built, crafty, cheap and clever. The terrain I build has to look good on the battlefield and tie together well. This can be challenging, but what in this hobby isn't a challenge?
Researching trees landed me almost immediately into the problem of Scale. Scale in wargaming is imperative as it can make or break a piece. Terrain should compliment the table and create a subtle immersion effect to your gaming experience. Terrain that is too small or large in scale looks silly and out of place on a game board. Let's take a closer look at Scale.
Warhammer 40K and Malifaux is in Heroic Scale, respectively, 28mm and 32mm. Heroic differs from Historical by how the models are measured. Historical models are used in model railroading, dioramas and other army wargaming. Most Historical models are measured from the foot of the model to the eye line. Warhammer and other Heroic miniatures are measured by their bases as these miniatures may have super-human musculature, fantastical features like wings, power armor, a weapon or banner which make measuring any other way nearly impossible to standardize. But it just looks great to have that epic flair.
Vehicles are a little more difficult to match scale. I found this perfect forum post on scale for vehicle Historical vs Warhammer. http://www.dakkadakka.com/wiki/en/Scale_Model_Kits_for_40K Please check out this great link. What it boils down to is that most infantry models look great next to vehicle models that are 1:35. So if you like modifying vehicles for warhammer or other wargaming use, check out 1:35 scale.
I suspected some trees I already had in my terrain box were for model train displays or dioramas. Let's break down the sizes for the standard model train scales. I found a great little chart on a wikipedia page that makes a quick reference for this part of the blog: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miniature_wargaming. It shows that 28mm is 1:64, N scale is 1:160, HO is 1:87 and O is 1:48. Now that we can compare these ratios, let's take a look at some pictures I took of some trees that I already have.
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| The smallest trees I have to work with measure approximately 1 1/2." This size tree is labeled for use with N and Z gauge model RR. |
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| I have an assortment of trees that are measuring approximately 3." This size is suitable for N and HO gauge. |
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| This coniferous tree is measuring almost 7." The package of these trees specify to use with HO and O gauge. |
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| Check out how this Monstrous Creature looks compared to these trees. Emerging from any of these trees on the battlefield would strike terror in his foes. |
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| Here's a Land Raider Looted Wagon. A very large vehicle. |
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| In my opinion, when we start hitting the Dreadnought size down to an infantry-sized model, I believe scale becomes an issue. The smallest trees start to look a bit more like brush to me. If I could pass them for smaller trees, then I would want the foliage to express a younger-looking tree and not have it look so full. I think the largest tree on the far right is maybe too big as well. So maybe making some trees in the 3-5" and 5-6" height range would be the best for an all-around even scale.
To summarize, it looks like 1:35 ratio is the scale I want to focus on and that converts to O. 1:35/O scale will look the best with my infantry, walkers and vehicles on the battlefield. I hope this helps answer some questions about scale! My next posts will walk you through my first attempts at making trees.
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