A question of scale “True-32”

Indulge me in a slight rant.

Please be aware the new plastic line is 31 mm to the eye of a FULLY ERECT figure, posed, they range from 28-29.75mm to the center of the eye. As the bases are thinner than most, the figures are roughly the same height as most of the major manufacturers.

-Example of scale comp-

The subject of scale is one that many sculptors wrestle with, I am no acceptation. The use of digital technology to sculpt a miniature provides a certain amount of freedom, the miniature looks the same to me at 15mm or 50mm scale, I can make last minute adjustments on the fly and scale the miniature to my heart’s content.

Ultimately, gamers want miniatures that look right with their other minis from manufacturer A, B or C. This is not as easy as it sounds. Place a true scale 28mm mini next to many manufacturers product and it will look small and emaciated by comparison. The whole 28mm scale convention is garbage if you ask me. Scale creep has made it useless and “heroic” scale doubly so.
I like my miniatures to be fairly well proportioned, at least looking like they could actually be humans in armor. With this in mind, I settled on 32mm scale (A man standing upright is 32mm to the eyes). I jokingly called my miniature 3B scale, “3 Bears Scale”, not too large, not too small… just right :) A nod to Goldilockss and the three bears

I call them True-32. This may be a slight misnomer, as some proportions such as shoulder width have been slightly bumped but the vast majority of the figure is a reasonable approximation of true human proportions.

 “WHAT?  32mm scale? But that’s too large to work with my other minis!”

 Yes and no… They are very slightly taller 33.5 total height from foot to top of head, but the proportions work well with most miniature lines and when they are in a pose that is not completely erect; they scale very well by comparison.

Here is one example of a 32mm Strumtruppen next to a “heroic” scale. You can see the arm and leg length look comparable and the body mass works well. Will this be true when compared to true 28mm scale figs? Sadly no… they will be too tall and slightly too thick by comparison.  If I was making miniatures for the historic gamer, I would take a VERY different approach. As many of the Sci-fi games have opted for 32mm true scale or “28 heroic scale, I.e. 32mm with 34mm heads, hands and feet”  I needed to make my decision based on what the customers overwhelmingly demand.  I choose 32mm true scale. It satisfies my need for some sense of proportion while allowing the miniature to be used alongside the vast majority of Sci-fi and Weird Wars games.

New plasic minis!

One moment please…. We are experiencing technical difficulty….

As a Dakkite pointed out, I had the legs on the cannon backwards. I was thinking about the old wheeled gun carriage when I put the single leg to the rear. These are aimed turned by turning the complete carriage.

As this is a pintle mount it would have fallen over when shot with this configuration  :- P It’s always good to have another set of eyes on these things…

Here you can see the revised model and gunner position.

Fleshing out the unit choices

Now that the basic troopers are completed, I will turn to fleshing out the other troop choices.

The basic unit org. will have:
·         Riflemen (done)
·         Support weapons (SAW) (done)
·         Grenadier (done)
·         Weapons specialist (Sniper) (done)
·         Medic
·         Communications
·         Forward observer
·         Command (officers)


Here we have a heavy support AT weapon (PAC38 Short) with a coaxial MG53

Here you can see the mods for Support (SAW) and Grenadier.

Making a good miniature even better

Mark over at Dropship Horizon once said, “To hell with your fluff, tell me a story with your miniature” That stuck with me. Having built my fair share of 1:35 scale dioramas, I completely agree with the statement.

Here we have a Sturmtruppen but how can I tell a story with a miniature?

Options!, lots of poses and accessories to make each miniature unique. Let’s start with how the miniature breaks down. Having separate heads arms and chest will allow you a great deal of freedom when posing each model.

Here are six leg poses, I can mirror many of these and easily come up with ten different leg poses.

Here are some weapon options, some hip fired some shoulder fired and some are both.

 Here is an accessory pack, LOADS of options to customize your unit. Arm raised in halt, throwing a grenade, pointing, double gunning with pistols or SMG’s. Hand replacement options for knife fights, carrying rifles, ammo boxes, etc. Items such as pistol holsters, combat knifes, ammo pouches and med-packs.

All of this will cost a fair amount of cash….I will be going to print with a few samples and starting a Kickstarter project to help funding
Kickstarter is a tool for creative types to get start-up funding; almost like a crowd sourced venture capital system, a great way to get a little cash infusion for a starting venture. You, as a participant will receive a discount on the miniatures, but more importantly, you will be supporting a small indie company to succeed.

When I have a master in hand I will announce the project and provide a link. I hope to see you there and I look forward to your support. When will all this happen? ASAP! I will be sending out to have a single Strumtruppen and Kriegsmarine printed, so that I have something to show you the quality of the actual miniature. Unlike the Leviathan, these will be white metal and should be very quick to turn around from a master model to production metal minis.

All the best!

Mark-

Eisenkern Sturmtruppen

Here are the finals for the Eisenkern Sturmtruppen. Some details added, some changes and proper field grey coloring.



Eisenkern Kriegsmarines

You have seen the earlier version of the Eisenkern Kriegsmarines here, These renders show the models one step closer to completion.

In these renders, the trooper is wearing his drop pack. A device that allows the trooper to jump form a very high altitude, fall at terminal velocity towards its target and stop just before impacting the planet’s surface. This is achieved by creating a micro tear into void space, encapsulating the trooper in what is essentially a bubble of reality that overrides the laws of physics for a brief moment, saving the trooper from a grizzly impact.

The effects to an observer would be a blinding flash; a two-meter ball of energy is created encapsulating the trooper, then a huge energy release that scars the earth at the point of impact. Scrambling from this crater, a Kreigsmarine, his armor popping and pinging as it cools.

I will post some images of the component view a bit later today.

Mechs for the Republic

DreamForge Games has purchased the rights for a wonderful lineup of Elysium Republic light mechs and robots. We will be producing these in 15mm and 28mm scale for table top gaming.

The chunky utilitarian feel fits perfectly with the Republic, who prefers light fast vehicles that are quick to transport and deploy.