10mm, 15mm or 28mm? How to choose a scale for your wargame

There's no single best scale for wargaming: the right one depends on the game you want. Wargaming scales are named after the height of a man on the table, measured roughly to his eyes. That one number decides almost everything else: how many figures fit on your table, how long each takes to paint, how much detail you'll see and what kind of game you'll play. Here's the same figure in all three of our scales, and what each one is best at.

10mm

Whole armies, mass battles

15mm

Big historical battles

28mm

Skirmish, characters, kits

See them at true size

Our size guide

What do 10mm, 15mm and 28mm mean?

The number is roughly how tall a man stands on the table, usually measured from the soles of his feet to his eyes. So a 28mm figure of a man is about 28 mm to the eyes, and a little over 30 mm to the top of his head. As a ratio, 28mm is roughly 1:56, 15mm roughly 1:100 and 10mm roughly 1:160, though no two makers measure quite the same way.

28mm vs 32mm

Over the years many 28mm ranges have grown, with bigger heads, hands and weapons that read better on the table. This "heroic" style is often sold as 32mm. The figures mix happily with 28mm in most armies, but a slim, true-to-life 28mm figure can look small beside a chunky 32mm one, so it's worth keeping each unit to one range.

The same figure, three ways

Many of our Ten Kingdoms Miniatures figures come in more than one scale. The Georgian Armoured Banner Horse comes in all three, and measured from the base to the tip of the banner pole it stands 31 mm tall in 10mm, 43 mm in 15mm and 67 mm in 28mm. The picture at the top of this article shows the three side by side at their true relative size.

The bigger figure isn't just bigger. It has room for more detail: the rider's face, the stitching on the harness, the boss on the shield. The smaller ones trade that detail for numbers, and numbers are what make a battle look like a battle.

10mm: the whole battle on one table

At 10mm you play with armies, not squads. Units are groups of figures on one stand that move and fight together, and a few hundred figures fit on an ordinary dining table. The lines look like real battle lines, flanks and reserves actually matter, and a cavalry charge sweeps across the table instead of nudging forward a few inches.

Our biggest 10mm range is Wakes Emporium's 10mm fantasy range, War of the Ring: spearmen, knights, rangers, trolls, war elephants and siege engines. Five of its factions come as army bundles for 10% less than their packs bought one by one, and the elf, horse lord and goblin armies come whole; the White Tree Kingdom bundle alone is 13 packs: 340 figures on foot, 14 mounted, plus heroes, command vignettes and war machines. For history, Ten Kingdoms' 10mm historical range covers medieval Georgia and India. See everything in 10mm, or just the 10mm fantasy.

Is 10mm too small to paint?

No: paint the unit, not the figure. Strong, simple colours, a wash and a drybrush do most of the work, because at arm's length nobody sees eyes, they see the colour of a whole regiment. So whole units paint quickly.

Basing 10mm: the figures go onto rectangular stands. Our Movement Plates are 40 mm wide, the frontage most historical rules use at 10mm and 15mm, with a flat top wide enough for Wakes Emporium's 36.5 mm strips. There's little room between the figures, so keep the base simple: fine sand, a broad earth colour, a drybrush and a scatter of flock. Grass tufts and sculpted basing bits are too big at this size and crowd the figures.

15mm: historical armies with room for detail

15mm is the classic scale for historical wargaming. 10mm vs 15mm: both put whole armies on the table, but 15mm figures are half as tall again, so faces, shields and kit read better from arm's length, while 10mm fits more figures in the same space. It still gives you big armies and real battle lines, but each figure is large enough to show its kit: the cut of a coat, a shield design, the difference between a spearman and a sergeant. Units go on stands, like 10mm, usually on the same 40 mm frontages.

We stock 15mm medieval Georgian and Indian armies from Ten Kingdoms and 15mm figures from Reconquer Designs, including their 14th Century Sergeants. Browse everything in the 15mm range.

Painting 15mm: the same speed techniques as 10mm work well, with one extra step where it shows: a highlight on faces, hands and shields.

28mm: characters, kits and skirmish

28mm is the scale you probably picture when you think of miniatures. Each figure is a little character with a face, a pose and room for freehand on its shield, and games tend to be skirmishes of a few dozen figures, where every model has its own base and its own story. It's also the scale for dioramas and display pieces.

Our 28mm range, mostly historical, covers Ten Kingdoms' medieval Georgians and their neighbours, Reconquer Designs' Reconquista knights, crossbowmen and jinetes, and their Medieval Life townsfolk and buildings, from the Medieval Inn to the Medieval Tanners.

Basing 28mm: every figure gets its own base. Our Round Bases come in 25mm, the classic size for 28mm foot figures, 32mm, the usual infantry size in today's fantasy and sci-fi games, and 40mm for heroes. Ten Kingdoms figures stand on small sculpted footplates and Reconquer Designs figures come without bases, so both glue straight on.

Side by side

Terrain and basing bits for each scale

Terrain has to match the scale too. Our texture rollers come in two sizes: the 28mm rollers, and a set made for 10mm and 15mm where the same patterns are smaller and shallower. A cobblestone is about 3 mm across on the 28mm Cobblestones roller and about 2 mm on the 15mm one. Brick, Herringbone and Tread Plate are 28mm only, because at 15mm the bricks would be too small to print cleanly.

All our basing bits are made for 28mm figures, and suit 32mm bases too. At 10mm and 15mm, base with colour and texture instead: sand, a drybrush and flock, and save the sculpted bits for a 28mm army or a scenic objective.

What's the best scale for wargaming, and for beginners?

Start with what you want to see on the table. If it's a whole battle, with lines of spears and a reserve waiting behind, go 10mm or 15mm. If it's a handful of heroes with faces you can paint, go 28mm. Then pick one army and stick to one scale for it, because figures from different scales look odd side by side. Every model we sell, in every scale, is printed in resin, which keeps the detail even at 10mm (why resin, not filament).

Our size guide shows the three scales at true size on your screen. If you'd like a second opinion, ask us: we're happy to help you plan a first army.