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If so, then a Tau fire warrior is slightly taller than an imperial guard and a space marine is only slightly taller than a fire warrior.

The stuff isn't really scaled right. Really a Space Marine is much much taller than how the models represent them vs other models.

Some folks do 'true scale' conversions though so that their Marines look bigger and scale a little more appropriately to smaller models.

 djphranq wrote:
The stuff isn't really scaled right. Really a Space Marine is much much taller than how the models represent them vs other models.

Some folks do 'true scale' conversions though so that their Marines look bigger and scale a little more appropriately to smaller models.

A fun example is that Ghazghkull is in the region of 15-20 feet tall, but his model is not too much bigger than a 'umie.

Some of the vehicles are tiny (Land Raiders and Rhino come to mind), Space Marines are too short, Eldar are a little too short and the guns are too chunky.

I think the scaling issue may have a lot to do with the chunky Guardsmen, though. If you compare a human from a historical line to a Marine the sizing seems more accurate. The Marine certainly is bulkier by a country mile than the typical hummie.

I remember hearing somewhere that SM are the right size, but when they started to make other minis it was too hard to get them to fit the scale so they decided to just make them all slightly out of scale. (Though this could just be someone at GW trying to cover their mistakes).

 gianlucafiorentini123 wrote:
I remember hearing somewhere that SM are the right size, but when they started to make other minis it was too hard to get them to fit the scale so they decided to just make them all slightly out of scale. (Though this could just be someone at GW trying to cover their mistakes).

Given that minis can range (with good detail) from 6mm to Titan scale, they were probably saying BS.

Completely and utterly screwed up. If the minis were actually the real scale and appearance of everything, W40K would look more like a horror show than it already is, with everything appearing to have been hit with an unhealthy dose of radiation poisoning. Space Marines are too short and don't appear to have a pelvis, Terminators have dislocated shoulders, Guardsmen have fething huge heads, Rhinos already can barely carry/can't carry a full squad of Space Marines, etc.

If GW ever claims their miniatures are to scale, just point and laugh at their pathetic attempt to dodge admitting that they can't scale anything to save their bloody lives.

They are scaled up to certain point: nobz are bigger than boyz, terminator bigger than space marine, etc. Of course vehicules are much smaller and bulky, humans are to big and eldar slightly to heavy. Most of those issues have to do for modeling reasons and capacity transport (its already hard enough to carry 2000 points of minis from a place to another, imagine if rhinos were three times larger). If you wanted really well scalded models, than their would be height and weight difference between members of the same unit (not to mention sex difference when it comes to guardsmen).

epronovost wrote:
They are scaled up to certain point: nobz are bigger than boyz, terminator bigger than space marine, etc. Of course vehicules are much smaller and bulky, humans are to big and eldar slightly to heavy. Most of those issues have to do for modeling reasons and capacity transport (its already hard enough to carry 2000 points of minis from a place to another, imagine if rhinos were three times larger). If you wanted really well scalded models, than their would be height and weight difference between members of the same unit (not to mention sex difference when it comes to guardsmen).

Tbh, it'd be hard to tell a male IG from a female IG at a distance:

Marines look ten times less dumb when sized up a bit. Normally their heads are colossal which is bad.



Here is a good one.

I upscale some of my own as well, I lack the skill to make them big enough to be 'true scale' but they are at least bigger.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Thomas Kysting's Ultramarine Veterans from WH:V #4 are also excellent.

I've tried cramming terminators into a land raider to see how many would fit. My record is 0 because of the bases.

Games Workshop's heroic scale has nothing to do with true proportions or the size of the character the model portrays. Here's an example of a soldier next to a Cadian model.

Compare the size of the feet, oh dear. And the guns!

 Ashiraya wrote:
Compare the size of the feet, oh dear. And the guns!

I'd worry more about the head. That head is fething huge.

You do realize a Cerastus Knight Lancer miniature is taller than a Warhound.
A WARHOUND!

Are Imperial soldiers a good example of 'human' scale? I thought that to some degree that they were bulked up on various steroids/combat drugs and whatnot. That doesn't account for their heads I know but it might blow out their proportions otherwise?
Also I think I remember reading about space marines developing a form of gigantism whereby their heads are huge. Probably an attempt to explain the massive noggins on the early RT space marine models.

Heroic scale exaggerates a lot. It's not supposed to be true scale.

If Jes Godwin is telling the truth, Space Marines are basically the correct size (not proportions, but size). Other lines in the game have crept up larger over the years (compare my poor little weedy Praetorians to those steroidal Cadians).

People make 'Truescale' Marines not because Marines are supposed to be that big based on the scale, but because it's a lot easier to enlarge Marines to the appropriate relative size than it is to whittle down every model in your opponent's army to the right scale.

Now, the vehicles are on a different scale to the infantry,which is weird, but kind of understandable, since you were making a game and didn't want giant models--except now you have all sorts of giant models!


The proportions are a separate issue from size itself (as you could have poorly proportioned models of any scale). I know they are chunky and sort of goofy, but it their defense, look at that scale image of a soldier compared to a IG model. Can you imagine how fiddily it would be to assemble and paint and play with models with guns that thin? I know that military modelers do that sort of stuff all the time, but

1) Most of them don't paint up 100+ troops
2) None of them pack them up each week to take them to a club
3) They definitely don't plonk them down on a table and move them around making pew-pew noises.

The 'heroic' scale isn't GW incompetence, but a nod to GW aesthetics, the look of gaming on a tabletop (making significant parts of the model bigger for emphasis), and the realities of tabletop gaming stresses on models.

GW doesn't know how to scale models very well. If you think 10 Space Marine mini's can fit inside a Rhino ur funny.

 Harriticus wrote:
GW doesn't know how to scale models very well. If you think 10 Space Marine mini's can fit inside a Rhino ur funny.

See if you can fit 5 Ogryns into a Chimera.

In the 4th ed IG codex, only a Commissar could manage that.

I once heard that 40k miniatures are heroic scale, meaning larger/out-of-scale hands and heads. Possibly other bits are not true to scale.

I think, as far as I can tell, Orks are just about the only model that is in proportion with itself. Not accounting for size differences, though.

This question came to mind when I got a new bloodcrushers kit and measured up the sword to a space marine; if a space marine is 7" tall, then the sword must be 13" long!

As an example to models that get it right scale/proportion wise this is a Wargames Factory Apocolypse Survivor (really great models by the way).

Space marine are too short and tiny and tanks like leman Russ is to small to fit a crew of six it wrote in the codex

I find that the scale in the fluff changed and the models never caught up. Through out the years space marines in the fluff got bigger and bigger. At first Space Marines were no taller than any one else then around 2nd edition they made them on average between 6 and 7 feet tall with their armour, the only exception were the Blood Angels that due to a genetic issue they never grew bigger than an average human this lasted a while I think, now Space Marines are what 8 feet to 9 feet tall bigger for characters ,basically the fluff literally out grew the game

 Metaljunx wrote:
Space marine are too short and tiny and tanks like leman Russ is to small to fit a crew of six it wrote in the codex

I accept explanations of:

-Machine spirit
-2 man crew
-Tiny people
-Daemons


But the muhreenz are ridiculous in proportions.

Can't remember where I got it from, but the SM models are supposedly the right height as/is, but that the IG models are gargantuan for reasons of incompetence. I try to imagine the IG being closer to 15mm models.

Da Butcha wrote:
If Jes Godwin is telling the truth, Space Marines are basically the correct size (not proportions, but size). Other lines in the game have crept up larger over the years (compare my poor little weedy Praetorians to those steroidal Cadians).

People make 'Truescale' Marines not because Marines are supposed to be that big based on the scale, but because it's a lot easier to enlarge Marines to the appropriate relative size than it is to whittle down every model in your opponent's army to the right scale.

This is my understanding as well. But, oh good, the proportions. I understand the difficulties of proper proportion sculpted on that scale better than most, but seriously, those guardsmen heads and hands and guns, oh good the guns. Blarge :p

Humans and Tau Fire Warriors are suffering from scale issues. they should be much smaller and thinner proportionally compared to a marine.

I believe Jess Goodwin, when asked about this, said that marines aren't too small. Guardsmen are too big.