Stop the Madness – Heroically over-sized Miniatures.

I prefer metal figures to be honest.  But even Warlord’s metals are beefy.  Often they are more deatiled than other manufacturers, but definitely of larger girth.

But any Warlord figure looks gigantic compared to tank crews.

Which new plastics do you feel are particularly bad?

It looks like WL are going more towards the gaming than the modelling side of the hobby.  Where you want to be able to see what something is from across a 4′ table with terrrain on.

Tank crews are additions to a vehicle so not important, where as seeing a model (and what its eqipped with) easily is for game play…. As more of a gamer than a modelist (I hate painting! and find converting hard to do for co-ordination reasons) I dont mind the ‘over-sized minis’ so long as they do end up the size of a certain SF GM’d faction!

This coupled with cost of design and manufactoring implications …. and scale creep will always happen when you design something from scratch and dont compare it in the flesh, fully painted on a table :p

I know what you mean, but there are several reasons why figures are sculpted this way:

(1) easier to sculpt  (but advances in the digital process  should really have kicked more though…)

(2) figures are more robust. They are game pieces.

(3) not all humans are lithe Olympic runners. You could just as well ask where are the oversight, short, or lanky ones in more historical ranges.

(4) bit easier to identify at table ranges

(5) bit easier to make more unique figures/personalities

(6) bit easier to paint. Don’t underestimate this for some people.

(7) possibly a deliberate attempt from moving them away from the grim reality into “it’s a game”.

But I agree, their earlier plastics and modern plastics do vary a little – they should not!!

Nice looking figures , though the poses IMO , are rather blah . I’m more for the action style pose of some of the BA plastics  , and  while it looks good in a squad madly dashing across a field under fire , does look out of place having every 5th or 6th figure posed off balance on one foot in a trench or behind a hedge . The scale creep we see in BA’s line of both metal and plastic figures is because of the variety of sculptors and when it was mastered . IRC , Warlord took over a few small  companies ranges to bolster their then new BA game . They then subbed out development of new metals & plastics  to add to their line , and again each sculptor designed the figures in their own style . Some still look good today , while others , not so much , or have been retired and new sets added . The old Brit plastics really don’t hold a candle detail wise  to the new Airborne for example , while on the downside ( for some ) the Paras are the larger plastic style .  I’ve seen a comparison chart somewhere of a variety of brands figures that gives  you a visual example of how the figures stack up next to each other . Of course to it was on a neutral gamer’s  site as I don’t think any companies want their product dissected up close to another’s on their home site . It would be nice though if Warlord could show us their figures in that light , I’m sure there are BA blister packs that I’ve overlooked because I’ve been burned by others , that would fit with the style / size figures I like . It’s easy to compare when you can hold the pack in your hand at a store , a little more a roll of the dice when ordering on line . I’m sure we’ve all got a few ( a lot even ) of figures we’ve received that don’t meet our standards , into the parts box with you ! I’ve noticed some new sets by North Star and Atlantic ( WW1 Germans ! ) have human figures of all the same size and girth , of course being new and probably designed in CAD it would be easy to get every figure looking the same unlike sculpting masters by hand like the old days . Not a fan of their molded on bases though ……

Over size or real world?