Warhammer, Lord of The Rings and Other Miniatures Scale

One of the things that bother me about the rash of miniatures to collect might be bothering others too. When Games Workshop released the Lord of The Rings line of miniatures, way back when, I was thrilled. The sculpts, in my humble opinion, were beautiful. The Fellowship characters, Ring Wraiths and whole range of Rohirim and Gondorian warriors were all crying out “Buy me, Buy me!”
Knowing the figures were 25mm I thought, “How far off can they really be”. I mean what’s 3mm” After getting the first set and realizing the scale was not very compatible with the rest of my Warhammer collection I was greatly saddened. This compounded with the newer Citadel Miniatures from Games Workshop being slightly larger than 28mm, or 28mm “Heroic Proportions”. This may be old news to some, but needless to say I would have purchased additional say Lord of The Rings figures if they were of the same scale as other models in my collection.
Also, when manufacturers say 28mm they could mean to the top of the head or to the eye line. So be careful what you buy and what manufacturer you buy from.

Here’s a sample of what I’m crowing about. Look at these 3 figures. An Uruk-hai warrior at 25mm from Gamesworkshop LOTR line, next is a 28mm Saxon from Gripping Beast and next to him is a 28mm Empire soldier from Gamesworkshop Warhammer line. You can see the difference between the Saxon, scaled proportionally to a normal person, and the Empire soldier who is “thicker” and a bit taller, thus we get "Heroic" proportions.

Now let’s add a newer Empire soldier. A quick comparison is all it takes to see how much larger he is compared to the older Empire troops. This might be old news to gamers who have been around for a while, but for those who are new to the hobby, be cautious of what you mix together.




Another big manufacturer is Reaper miniatures. The make 25mm and 25mm heroic proportion miniatures for their main lines (Warlord and Legends). They also have "Master Series Miniatures" whose scale fluctuates.


So what does all this mean? Well if you and a buddy get together and you've brought some 25mm Vikings and your buddy has 28mm "Heroic" barbarians, your miniatures are going to get scared and run off the table. If you get together with a group who only play one game you shouldn't have any troubles. However if you play with a more diverse group, plan out your purchases and research what you're getting. So as we stated above, just be careful what you buy and from whom you buy it. 


Enough ranting, have a great battle!!
The Old Crow