I am getting sucked into this the same way many of you probably were. First, I played a game that went real well using similar figures, then someone offered up a painted and mounted batch for sale. I already have micro armor for the Western Front and the Eastern Front, but my first love has always been the desert war, and with its somewhat different set of equipment and very different paint, it is almost a world apart from the other fronts. So, I can do it in another scale!
This scale seems to have taken off originally due to the WarMaster fantasy battle game. Many fantasy games are essentially skirmish rules, even when large numbers of figures are involved. Warmaster is truly a battle-level set of rules, similar to DBM. The game comes with some 10mm figures, and pretty much is always played at that scale. Some people have adapted it for historical games. Since then, 10mm has spread to other periods, including ACW, FPW, and WWII.
Why 10mm? Compared to micro armor, you can see more detail, including what type of weapons the infantry are holding, and there is more of a model to grab hold of and pick up. For many people micro scale drops below the size which causes a thrill when you see a battle set up on a table. Compared to 15mm, 10mm tanks certainly have less detail, but they only cost $1.50 each, whereas Battleground and Command Decision vehicles are $6 each.
Who makes 10mm? Perrin. Pendraken. Warrior. Chariot. Are these names unfamiliar? That is the explanation for what drives these new scales. If allows new, small companies to get into the miniatures business without competing directly against a large, established company. Since so many of us don't hesitate to try new scales, even though it means we have to buy both sides and give demo games, the small companies are usually sustained in this new scale.
What is available is not completely clear cut. Outside of the explicitly 10mm figures is the 12mm MiniFigs line and the 1/200th scale Skytrex line. Both have WWII listings that are much more complete than all of the true 10 makers combined.
Supposedly 1/200 scale is the scale favored for classes at European military academies. Much of the Skytrex line is from older Austrian, German, and English lines. If we do the math, we find that 1/200 is 9mm, which should be pretty close and compatible: 6mm 1/300th - 6.1 mm 1/285th - 6.4 mm 1/200 - 9.1 mm 10mm 1/160 = 11.4 mm (included because some people say 10mm is this) 12mm 1/144 - 12.7 mm 15mm 20mm 1/87 - 21 mm 1/76 - 25 mm 1/72 - 25.4 mm 25mm
However, people I have talked to feel that the MiniFigs 12mm is not close enough to 10mm to fit in, nor is it close enough to 15mm to match. Some players have a higher tolerance for scale mismatch, putting MiniFig, Hinchliffe, Essex, Old Glory, and Ral Partha figures into the same army. (If they threw in Elite, Redoubt, and Connisseur, they are just plain crazy.) So people investing in MiniFigs 12s are on they own for WWII, but supposedly the line is so complete you should never have to contact another manufacturer.
10mm Sources:
Here are the web sites for the 10mm companies.
Pendraken Miniatures http://www.thegamershaven.co.uk/pen/10mm.htm
Warrior Miniatures http://www.warrioronline.demon.co.uk/10mm/lOwwii.htm
Perrin Miniatures http://www.perrinminis.com/wwii.htm
WFC has a sort-of "one stop shopping" page for 20th C 10mm figures, including Chariot miniatures, and a more complete listing of Pendraken 20th C. figures than are on the Pendraken site!
Wargames Figure Company http://www.wargamesfiqures.com/shop/figmanf/pendrak.htm http://www.wargamesfiqures.com/shop/figmanf/chariot.htm
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© Copyright 2004 Hal Thinglum
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