Scale Creep

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07-31-2009, 04:04 PM
Drunkencorgimaster

Scale Creep

Hey All,

Emperor knows we should not question the wisdom of GW, but is anyone else out there worried about scale creep? I am a middle-aged geezer so I have watched this trend over the years. My original 1980s GW stuff was about 25mm or less. In the late 1990s size jumped a bit. I talked to a GW rep around 2000 at Glen Burnie who assured me that the 28mm "heroic" scale would be as large as things would get because "now they can do really good detail." Well, here we are about a decade later and look at the size of those new Orks! Orgyn-sized or bigger. The new terminators are at least 30mm sized figures.

Surveys amongst other miniature gamers (Napoleonics, Civil War, WWII, etc.) have suggested that scale creep is the number one pet peeve amongst hobbiests. I for one find this more irritating than price hikes...well I guess it IS a price hike because I always feel I should re-tool my armies upward in size. Furthermore, a once awesome looking model becomes wussier and wussier looking over the years. It makes me sad when I see how tiny my pewter Space Wolf dreadnaught now looks on the battlefield.

What do the rest of youse-all think?
07-31-2009, 04:22 PM
Morat

I'm not really seeing any real upwards trent to be honest. Obviously things did creep up in size to 28mm, but I've not really seen it go beyond that.

Hadn't really noticed any of the new Ork stuff to be that much bigger than the 3rd edition plastics beyond those that are supposed to be in the form of Nobs, Warbosses etc. What figures were you thinking of?

As for Terminators growing, well yes, but they were always supposed to be significantly bulkier and taller than a regular marine, so I'm not sure that would count.

The most notable "recent" case I can think of, is with Fantasy, the last edition box game figures were all a bit too big scale wise. But the Empire/Orc figures that followed immediately after the release didn't follow the trend. Means my Empire army has "giants" operating it's artillery (It's a mans life in the Nuln academy).

I've also noticed the new Cadian command models were a trifle more petite than the regular infantry. Not so much that it's -terribly- noticeable once they're stuck together.

All this makes me think, we're not really looking at creep, more occasional inconsistencies. I for one would welcome a size increase for basic marines though. Poor little fellas don't actually look that imposing next to Catachan Jungle Fighters and the like.
07-31-2009, 07:24 PM
Norseman

Nobody tell him about the rumors about another size increase for terminators.
07-31-2009, 08:47 PM
MrGiggles

Hey, for some things on my Orks, I want size increases. I think the Boyz are well sized right now and the Nobz aren't bad. They do however, literally look like they're trying to escape form their small bases. If they got a little bigger and went to 40's, I'd be happy with it. My Mega-Nobz, Big Meks and Warbosses though, I want them to be literal monsters. My Mega-Nobz, I want to be what they are, big, buff Nobz in klanking, smoke bleching hydraulic armour. The current models are nice, but they're small, bump up their size by 50%. The command units, especially Warbosses and Ghazdgkull they need to be pure big, Orky and scary looking.

In terms of some of the other armies, I'm a little less passionate since I don't play them, but I will say that most of the true scale Marines I've seen look pretty darn good. If GW went that route, I wouldn't complain.
07-31-2009, 09:28 PM
Drunkencorgimaster

Quote:

Originally Posted by Morat

I'm not really seeing any real upwards trent to be honest. Obviously things did creep up in size to 28mm, but I've not really seen it go beyond that.

Hadn't really noticed any of the new Ork stuff to be that much bigger than the 3rd edition plastics beyond those that are supposed to be in the form of Nobs, Warbosses etc. What figures were you thinking of?

It was just a general impression of an army I saw last weekend. The models that really come to mind were some burna boyz. They just seemed enormous somehow.
08-01-2009, 05:38 AM
MrGiggles

Ah, with those particular ones, I think it's largely the pose and the gear. They're arms are a little more muscular than the old Burna Boyz, but the big thing that changes between the old and the new is the amount of real estate they take up. The actual Burna and the fuel tanks are definitely larger on the new models. I've a bit of a soft spot for the old Burnas, but even I'll admit that the new ones are an improvement just on the grounds of having more than two poses to them.
08-01-2009, 07:13 AM
clkeagle

The Rogue Trader Space Marines were horribly underscaled on the one end, and there have been plenty of models (Eldar especially) creeping on the other side. If you have access at your store or collection, stand a Rogue Trader marine next to a modern Howling Banshee. The results are fairly amusing... even if you assume the smallest of the Marine estimates over the years, seven feet fully armored, the Howling Banshee would be around 12' tall.
08-01-2009, 09:24 AM
BuFFo

Quote:

Originally Posted by Drunkencorgimaster

What do the rest of youse-all think?

To anyone who has played the game since the 80's, and/or own older models can plainly see there has been and is a size increase of models.

So yes, there is a size increase of the models.