Saturday, August 9, 2025

How Many Scales are Too Many?

 This week I almost bid on a lot of semi flat ACW figures. As the bids went up, I asked myself did I really need another scale of Civil War figures (they were 45mm)? In the end I didn't get them. But it also raised the question; should I narrow down my collection of Civil War figures? At persent I have figures in at least 8 scales.

An example of the diffent scale Civil war figures, going left to right: 2mm, 10mm, 15mm, 20mm, 30mm, 40mm, 54mm. Missing is 13.5mm of Epic Civil War Battles.

16 comments:

  1. But 6mm is missing. That’s a quite popular scale here in the UK. 😉
    Cheers,
    Geoff

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    1. Many years ago I considered Heroics and Ros figures. At the time the price for them were too much. I did get a lot of Napoleonics, but found with fat fingers they were difficult to paint and handle.

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  2. I suppose it depends on what you want to do with them. My main focus is 54mm wargaming, but I still have my Airfix 20mm figures (that I don't really do anything with). I am more interested in the look of things than having figures small enough to replicate huge battles of history. I like to see figures as individual ones rather than a mass, just a few degrees removed from marker tokens.
    I also sometimes wargame with 40k figures that are 28 or 30mm. That is as small as I go, really.
    I also allow for a small collection of 45m figures mostly for display. James of Quantrill's Toy Soldiers.

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    1. Most of the scales were bought with specific goals in mind, except my Airfix figures, which goes back to my childhood. Of course in the last couple of years I have been going smaller, so I can play quick games in small areas. Of course if I see figures I like, I will buy them, like the Mignot figures.

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  3. Nice lineup of scales!
    Probably you have so many scales already that you can replicate different sizes of fights from skirmishes to full battles.

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    1. That is why I do have so many scales. My newest figures, the 10mm AIM miniatures were bought to fight skirmish games.

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  4. One can never have too many scales…imho.
    Alan Tradgardland

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    1. I do agree with you. That lot I was goingvto bid on just made me question how many different scales I was using for ACW.

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  5. My personal choice - which I would not suggest is right for everyone - has been to stick to 10mm figures for all games, so they can be used in any wargame at any level, from skirmish to army. Nowadays I find 6mm rather too small for my old eyes, whereas the 10mm troops are just large enough to have some 'toy soldier' appeal. I do have a few 54mm vintage Britains and Johilco figures, but they are for display purposes only alongside my 4.7 inch and 6 pounder guns.

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    1. I do have Ol d Glory 10mm ACW figures in strips that I was using which I really liked. I almost went over completely to the Old Glory figures. I used the OG figures with Battle Cry games

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  6. I made a decision a long time ago to never collect any period in more than one scale. So I sold my 15mm napoleonics when I started a 54mm collection.

    I have figures in 6mm, 13.5mm,18mm 20mm, 25mm, 28mm, 40mm and 54mm but not 2 scales in the same period…

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    1. I was going to do the same, going so far as giving away a large part of my Airfix ACW figures, along with other figures. But I also realized that I like collecting the different figures as much as use them for wargames.

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  7. John, if you have the space to store them then you can have what ever scale you like! I would love to play 40mm games but I just don't have the room.

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  8. I do agree with you about if you have the space, which I actually have. I also do have the room for larger games. The problem is making room in the basement. I have cleaned it twice since I retired, but with Queen mandated projects, I use the space to store and work in.

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  9. Each scale even for the same period brings its own possibility or type of game from tiny hair roller armies to proper 54mm toy soldier companies … moving from grand campaign and map based games, zooming back and forth down the scales to a skirmish level scenario within the grand campaign scenario.

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  10. I agree wholeheartedly with your first sentence. For the last couple of years I have been concentrating on small scale skirmish games, using mainly 10mm figures. Most resently my plans have been leaning towards a campaign game using ideas from the Archduke Piccolo blog, using my 2mm armies.

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