10mm or 15mm?

[cudders]

Hi all,

Well I've decided to get rid of all my 6mm figures.   

The big decision is whether to go for 10mm or 15mm. 28mm is a definite no-no.

So I'll be heading to the Sheffield Triples show with cash in hand and make my final choice there. 

My  chosen periods are WOTR, ECW and Naps. The only thing missing on Pendraken is the limited Naps range. I could of course start with the other periods and wait for the Naps to expand.

Cudders

[petercooman]

10mm means more miniatures for that cash in your hand 

[fsn]

You've come to the wrong place for a reasoned argument. 

[cudders]

You've come to the wrong place for a reasoned argument. 

[getagrip]

You've come to the wrong place for a reasoned argument. 

On anything

But as for minis; smaller the better: ranges make more sense; tabletop makes more sense; scale makes more sense; visually more impressive; and finally, if you can't work out what you're painting, paint it black; at 10mm no-one can bloody tell anyway!

10mm: the lead-aholics choice

[cbr3d.com]

Pendraken is expanding their Napoleonics range, a quick couple of links here:

http://www.pendrakenforum.co.uk/index.php/topic,10941.0.html

http://www.pendrakenforum.co.uk/index.php/topic,11762.0.html

http://www.pendrakenforum.co.uk/index.php/topic,9483.0.html

The reason I would go for 10mm over 15mm is as follows.

- With 15mm you have to keep diving in and out of different manufacturers, this may sound OK but you can end up with with figures ranging from 12mm - 18mm, some are stocky and thick set and some are lean and like beanpoles, it is just difficult to find manufacturers whose ranges constantly gel together (IMO).  There is of course a caveat to this, AB miniatures for example are glorious figures - but I hope you have finished paying off your mortgage.  

- 10mm produces the larger figure units, most probably you liked 6mm because you could produce a block of figures that actually looked like a unit, something that diminishes with increased size.  Well 10mm is the inbetween, you can ratio the number of figures so that they actually look more like massed units far more than 15mm does (and of course far better than 28mm does).

- Affordability.  This to many is not a good reason to choose a scale, but I personally think it is one of the most important and especially if you plan to cover several periods and a wide range of forces within those periods.  Here 10mm Pendraken by far exceeds the lower end of the 15mm priced ranges in quality.

- Growing ranges.  Pendraken 10mm is expanding its ranges, what is more is that they seem to be following a policy of resculpting old ranges.

- Of course if you are wargaming then table size for battles also comes in to play, 10mm requires a smaller table size than a corresponding 15mm battle does.

Just a few thoughts that led me to Pendraken at the beginning of this year, and I have not been disappointed at all.  

Of course we all look on things differently and none of us are either right or wrong in our own preferences compared to other peoples, but I like the detail of Pendraken, the community on here is superb (now watch everyone take the fun out of me for saying that   ), and of course the service provided is second to none IMO (now I will really get ribbed    ).  

 

[toxicpixie]

10mm with 15mm base sizes, more figures per, looks cracking AND you can really go heavy on "diorama" unit bases if you want so there's real character that is often lacking with bigger scales where you're cramming too many too large figures on the base to leave room to make them looking anything interesting

Also, 10mm works nicely for skirmish giving a nice figure to ground scale but being big enough to make out who is who...

[paulr]

Well said Fig.ht, all very good points

Having recently stepped up from 6mm I can endorse all of the above

The detail on the figures is stunning and a joy to paint   Have a look at the painting competition threads http://www.pendrakenforum.co.uk/index.php/board,86.0.html if you haven't already to see what can be done

The service from Pendraken is truely fanasitic which is particularly important for me as I am ordering from NZ

If you speak nicely to the kind Mr Leon part packs or odd combinations (e.g. Guns from one range with crews from another) are easily arranged

[FierceKitty]

Start with ECW anyway. Everyone knows that the Napoleonic era has been quarried out.

[getagrip]

You simply cannot beat Pendraken customer service and I mean with any company ; not just wargaming ones.

They are exceptional!

[Leon]

So I'll be heading to the Sheffield Triples show with cash in hand and make my final choice there. 

My  chosen periods are WOTR, ECW and Naps. The only thing missing on Pendraken is the limited Naps range. I could of course start with the other periods and wait for the Naps to expand.

Naturally, I'll push you in the direction of 10mm... As others have said above, the Naps are expanding this year, with the Brits and Prussians in the near future, plus more French and some Dutch-Belgians as well.  It's always going to be a long-term project, but we're putting a lot of resources into it.

We've also got extensive WOTR and ECW ranges, the latter has had some recent revamps to the cavalry, plus some additional codes of foot and generals.  I've also got some casualty markers here to be released in the next few weeks.

If you'd like any samples sending out, just drop me an email, and we'll hopefully see you at Triples for a chat.

...and of course the service provided is second to none IMO. 

The service from Pendraken is truely fantastic which is particularly important for me as I am ordering from NZ.

You simply cannot beat Pendraken customer service and I mean with any company ; not just wargaming ones.

They are exceptional!

... I'll get the bribes figures in the post to all of you... 

[Steeleye]

I had to make the same decision some years ago due to general space and financial constraints...10 or 15mm?

I went for 10mm and Pendraken is the 'one stop shop' for 10mm figures.

Nuff said!

[GordonY]

Horses for courses, depends entirely what your doing, 10mm is not neccessarily the cheaper option, currently I'm painting for DBN (DBA with Nappys) so its all on 40 x 20 bases (for infantry) now in 10mm I'd be shoving 8 or 10 figures on a base in 15mm its 4. 30 Infantry from Pendraken is gonna cost me £4.50 and will fill 3 bases, 12 infantry from Warrior is gonna cost me £2.50 and fill 3 bases. Given the state of my eyesight and a not too steady hand its much quicker for me to paint 4 15mm than to paint 10 10mm (to the same crappy standard). So you pays your money and makes your choice, depends also on the ruleset that your using for DBN I dont require all the bells and whistles of cassoins and limbers, etc, as long as I've got all the major stuff of Guard Infantry/Ordinary Infantry/Militia Infantry/Heavy Cavalry/Light Cavalry/Guns then I'm golden.

That said the new ranges in Pendraken would shame some 28mm manufacturers, some of the old ones not so much, if your used to painting 6s then these will be a dream to paint, as with all minis I'd advise a sample pack of whatever is tickling your fancy 1st before diving in head first and buying a couple of thousand.

[fsn]

In the dim mists of time, the spirit of the Dark Lord moved me, and I awoke. He did not lead me straight to him, but bade me cast around to see the state of the world. I did so, and long time sat in thought. I determined to start again, to wash away all that had gone before and stand unshackled by the past. I made myself a set of guidelines. Firstly, I would use one scale for all periods. Secondly, I would try and satisfy all my needs from one source. Thirdly, that source would be either one I could shop buy or be a quick turnaround. Fourthly, there shouldn't be too much wastage - buy a box of 20mm plastics WWII and you'll find far too many MGs and SMGs.  

Then I made a list of the armies I wanted. They stretched from the Trojan Wars to SF. (I don't use commercial rule sets, so am not shackled by base or unit sizes.) I wanted all my pre 1900 armies to be uniform in pose - being heavily influenced by Charles Grant's Hilton Hunt figures.

To scale. I discarded 25mm immediately. The only thing I've ever used 25mm for to my absolute satisfaction is a Wild West skirmish. Micro was too small. My eyes aren't what they used to be and the thought of painting 6mm kilts had me lying in a darkened room for two days. 20mm was my first love, and like all first loves, will retain a place in my heart, but I was looking to the big battalions, and the manufacturers I looked at had too many poses in their pre-1900 ranges, besides, a Panther and a Firefy need some room to manoeuver. 15mm was the choice of my middling years. I had amassed a huge number and range of Peter Laing figures, but these now looked crude compared to more recent sculpts. There are some lovely 15mm figures out there, some fine manufacturers. I was greatly tempted.      

Then there was 10mm. I'd never gamed in 10mm before, never bought any 10mm figures, so I set about a sampling exercise. I looked around at 10mm manufacturers and settled on three to sample: Magister Militum, Pithead (for my massive WWII fetish) and Pendraken. I bought a Churchill tank and some WWII infantry from each manufacturer on the same day.

When they arrived I was blown away by the look and feel. The quality of all three offerings were amazing. 15mm immediately went away as an option. 10mm was going to be the scale for me.

Of the three manufacturers, I decided upon Pendraken as my main (and hopefully only) supplier. This was a decision based upon price, service and because the Pendraken Churchill looked the best. It was blocky, stocky and menacing. The Pithead Churchill was equally brutish, but (as a personal opinion) the Magister Militum Churchill seemed a little too elegant.

That was the day that the Dark Lord claimed my soul, and has brought peace and contentment to it. He led me to the one true scale, and with my eyes brimming with tears (the bone works in Widnes was being particularly pungent that day) he whispered in my ear that there were additional benefits. 10mm fits neatly with railway N gauge, and 1:144 aircraft.

Praise to the Dark Lord for his wisdom.    

[Duke Speedy of Leighton]

I bought in because of the extensive FPW range.
Then Leon suggested the forum (when it was new).
After that, it has been 'ohh shiny' since!