On scale and bases

I've rambled on, previously, about both the wide variety in scale within the Heroics band, and the glories of modern bases, but, today the effect of these combined struck me.

I'm currently working on some pieces that were designed to work with models from Warhammer 40,000, Void 1.1, and Mutant Chronicles: Warzone, all of which are fairly similar in scale, but far from uniform. The pieces aren't specifically for those systems, they're based on fortifications from the 1940s, those systems were just the games for which i had miniatures in easy reach while working on them. One thing that all 3 ranges share, though is that they all use bases for infantry that are 3mm tall.

3mm adds somewhere in the region of 18cm to the height of the models.

As I've mentioned, Warlord Games' bases are only 1mm thick, although the older models have a 1-2mm thick integrated base that acts as a junction with the base. Since I had my Bolt Action Wehrmacht closest to hand today, i tried them in the pieces. Between their being a stricter 1:58, and their thinner bases,they sat entirely differently in the terrain. Where squatting snipers and heavy weapons teams from the trio I'd already tested could see over the parapets, while those standing upright would often, especially with the larger models, be exposed from the chest up, the standing 1:58s, on their 1mm bases, boosted a mere 6cm, are, as intended, having to shoulder their rifles to fire.

It's a seemingly tiny difference, until you actually see it, but so significant in its way.

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