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A good majority of the time if theres a non GW miniature being shown, quite a lot of people would be interested in integrating it within their GW games but sometimes they can get disappointed if the miniatures in question do not scale well to warhammer's. This got me thinking, would it be more beneficial to create miniatures to be compatible with warhammer, thus possible tap into a larger audience, or should companies do what they want?

Note that this mainly applies to miniatures that could fit in to warhammer games more easily like if a company was making plastic Medieval Knights, doesnt really matter if the miniatures are like super sci fi like Infinity since most people wouldnt have them for 40k or something else.

Lots of companies do, like Wargames Factory.

I have a hard time answering this because I personally resent that idea that GW gets to pick the scale miniatures should be in. At the same time, I guess they do do quite a good bit of business so why not get a piece of the action?

I love Perry Miniatures, particularly the samurai and 100 years war, but they don't scale well at all with GW figs. The trick with historical miniatures is. rather than making sure to scale with others, make sure you release and entire line that doesn't need stuff from other ranges.

In a business sense the standardization is a good idea. I use miniatures from Artizan, Crusader, and Black Tree Designs for my ww2 stuff. I DONT use much Bolt Action stuff, even though I love it because it is too small.

So I guess my answer is an unenthusiastic 'yeah'.

Dont you get it. GW is purposely being the only major miniature company to manufacture models that is incompatible with other miniature companys models! More $$ this way.

Jokes aside What GW produces are heroic scale miniatures from my understanding, and most other miniature companys produce models for their own range/games, such as historicals and the like. If you take a look at GW's LOTR range, they're also on a more 'realistic' scale, compared to WFB and 40k's heroic scale. So no, other miniatures companies SHOULDNT have to match GW's range, just for compatibility sakes, even if it is annoying trying to find proxies for models GW has yet to release.

That being said, you get a few miniature companies that go out and produce models fit for the purpose of WFB/40K. I mean, look at Chapterhouse debacle, and the Avatars of War range is absolutely perfect for our own heroes/lords in WFB.

Yes they should especially if they are small or new company.
It opens a larger customer base thats for sure.

As much as I hate to say it, many companies probably should. There simply aren't any other companies out there that are big enough to support a 3rd party bitz market like GW does. If you're making heads or weapons or the like, definitely go with "heroic scale." On the other hand, minis designed for their own systems, or historical figures, should feel no obligation to cater to GW scale. It isn't the only game, or scale, in town.

An empahtic no from me.

There are thousands of games out there, and whilst GW possibly has the most popular/well known game systems I don't want to see scale a like minis, especailly since heroic scale can often be grotesquely mis-proportioned.

Mini manufacturers can gain a buck from tailoring their ranges to GW scale or 'look' but the trade off is that other buyers may be put off by the same thing.

I don't play warhammer and more and I have little interest in most of GW's model range (with a few exceptions). GW's heroic proportions annoy me. I much prefer the styles used by companies like Hasslefree or Reaper, so I'm gonna vote no.

I like the 25-32mm scale, and that's why I think companies should stick to that range. Whether it matches GW or not is irrelevant.

GW probably thinks this violates their IP somehow.

My opinion is that it completely depends on the application the miniatures are being designed for, and the intent of the company having them manufactured. However, it does make busine$$ $ense to scale Sci-Fi and Fantasy within the standard that has been set by the industry leader. There are countless examples just on Dakka where some (or even all) of a GW army has been created from proxy miniatures.

Yes: it broadens the target audience and most are familiar with 28mm for modelling and painting so no unknowns.

No: not all miniature games need to be the same size.

I would like to see skirmish games being a bit bigger like 35-54mm so there's more detail and lets use kingdom death as an example.

Follow GW's lead?

Frak no.

Just because GW chose to fly the flag solo, doesn't mean we all have to salute it.

SM look better with 25mm scale heads in them. Makes them look more "true" scale next to 25mm infantry.

chromedog wrote:Follow GW's lead?

Frak no.

Just because GW chose to fly the flag solo, doesn't mean we all have to salute it.

SM look better with 25mm scale heads in them. Makes them look more "true" scale next to 25mm infantry.

I agree with a 'Hell no' the more I look at the mis-mash of scales GW uses the more I don't like them.

I love 20mm scale more and more everyday.