Terrain Scale

[Rob1981]

What's a reasonable height for a two-storey building? I'm an architect and took one from one of my drawings and scaled it accordingly- it felt a bit too big. Some suggestions would be great

[jmp_mydog]

I usually build everything in 3" increments, it makes it easier to calculate falling damage and allows for consistency across the board. (plus most GW premade kits used that scale)

[LoboStele]

Somebody in our group suggested that 1" was equal to about 4' in height. So, something about 3" would be equal to 12', which is about average for most things. The theater I am building is 4" for each floor (it's 2 stories), but that's mostly to provide some space for things like Chompy.

[the imp]

I'm working off 6mm:1ft. The "scale" of gaming miniatures is far from precise and it's measured to the eye, not the top of the head, so whatever you feel is appropriate should be fine.

[Yazza]

i usually go for around 1/65 as 28mm scale

[AvatarForm]

'O' Scale is most appropriate for Malifaux and other 28-30mm models.

if 1" = 4', you are assuming that most minis are only 5' tall... which is ridiculous when you compare Space Marines to your assumption as they usually stand 7-8' as opposed to the average male who is 5'10".

Just go with your Architectural instincts. Using the universal factor of 1.6-1.7 x ht for doorways and then scale from those. Afterall, once you have the doorframe and window heights, the rest of the design grows from those.

[tenabrae]

Most good gaming buildings are in a compressed scale to 'look' right on the table, generally a fairly realistic height but a reduced footprint.

For realistic scale large buildings like an Inn or theatre you might make the whole table a building (or large portion with some surrounding bits)

[Bexley]

'O' Scale is most appropriate for Malifaux and other 28-30mm models.

if 1" = 4', you are assuming that most minis are only 5' tall... which is ridiculous

Uh... 1"= 4' (1"= 48") is O scale. Unless you're in England, where it's 1/43.

That said, O scale typically looks best- while it's true that it would actually be a little big, it tends to look right because minis usually have a different scale for girth than the commonly used height.

For example: I am 5'10" tall. If I were accurately reproduced in 28mm, assuming 28mm=6' (and that's a whole separate argument, so just assume it for this example) I would be 27.2mm tall, or 1.070 inches. Of course, Malifaux is 32mm, in which case I would be 31.11mm, or 1.224 inches tall. My wrist measures 2.420 inches wide and 1.740 inches thick. The 32mm version of me would have a wrist 1.07mm (.042") wide and .77mm (.030") thick. Which, especially if I were holding a weapon, would almost certainly snap off during shipping. In reality, miniatures have to be made a little more substantial. Not much; I have an Anima Tactics figure handy, which has a wrist of .055" x .041". It's a woman, though, and would likely have more slender wrists than I do, making those numbers even further apart. And while they are only slightly different, remember that using those figures, .44mm/.017" is one inch at full size, which would make that woman rather ham-fisted if she were accurately scaled.

The point being, even though 1/48 is a little large (using 32mm = 6', 32mm would be about 1/57, so we can at least agree that 32mm ranges from about 1/54 to 1/65 , depending on whether you measure to the eyes or to the top of the head, and whether you assume that 6' is an average height, or 5'9", or whatever) due to the exaggerated girth of figures, it looks about right. It also helps that figures are usually on bases, so having the doors a little taller than they should be still makes them appear to be the right height. Better still, if you're scratch building (and using proper inches rather than the commie metric system) 1/48 makes the math a million times easier, since a quarter inch equals a foot.

[Yazza]

Ah thats were the 1/48 scale came from

Selling modelkits for 2years now and wondered where that odd scale had its origins

You silly inch users

[AvatarForm]

Uh... 1"= 4' (1"= 48") is O scale. Unless you're in England, where it's 1/43.

Way to take only part of what I said and comment upon it. Try your arguement in full context. With references to Space Marines, etc. 28mm scaled minis.

[Lord Shaper]

Is it just me or is it hard to find good 1/48 scale around? Every place I look at doesn't have it as they go for smaller scale.

[LoboStele]

Way to take only part of what I said and comment upon it. Try your arguement in full context. With references to Space Marines, etc. 28mm scaled minis.

What do Space Maraines have to do with it? Are we not talking about Malifaux here? Seems like most of my human-based Mali figs are somewhere between 1.25" to 1.75", depending on the base, hats, etc. Which puts them all in the 5' to 7' range. Going with a general 1"=4' system has worked pretty well so far with the terrain I've been building.

[Breten]

And Space Marines aren't true 28mm scaled miniatures. They have Heroic proportions ad fit between 28mm and 32mm scales.

[tenabrae]

In general minis are around 1:58-1:62 scale depending on manufacturer and model proportion (e.g. 'heroic' or 'true' scale)

[Bexley]

Don't take it personally. My "argument" and the quote were mostly unrelated. I just found it funny that you went, in one sentence, from "O scale looks best" to "O scale is ridiculous." Then I went on to answer the original question.

[hippieshopper]

I'd go with the 3" part, it seems to fit well with Malifaux rules.

Most of our buildings are 4" a foot but I think they were made for some other game.

1" = 4' doesn't make too much sense to me, I always thought it was 3'...that would make most masters 8 feet tall. I know they are great but this is silly.

[LoboStele]

Well, just because it says "Ht 2" on the cards, doesn't mean that the character is actually 2" tall. For instance, my Colette model seems more like 1.6" tall for the model itself.

I've always thought of Ht 2 as being anything between 1" and 2". Then Ht 3 would be anything larger than 2", but no more than 3", etc.

[tadaka]

Any one able to tell me if N scale works decent for malifaux or is the size way off?

[The Madman]

Any one able to tell me if N scale works decent for malifaux or is the size way off?

NO!

N scale is smaller than 15mm historicals

it's the usable scale for Battle Tech

[shadowbeast]

NO!

N scale is smaller than 15mm historicals

it's the usable scale for Battle Tech

Hey it might work- one or more of your crew might be model engineers...

O scale might seem too big at first but remember you're trying to make terrain that accommodates those thrice-cursed lipped bases.

[shadowbeast]

I finally did it- I compared the sizes of trains and a Malifaux figure.

http://s85.photobucket.com/albums/k56/thoughtengine/?action=view&current=SDC10713.jpg

http://s85.photobucket.com/albums/k56/thoughtengine/?action=view&current=SDC10712.jpg

links altered.

Edited November 8, 2010 by shadowbeast

[the imp]

Yes, but you didn't label them for the non-train people. I'm guessing that the big one is O gauge?

[nilus]

Yes, but you didn't label them for the non-train people. I'm guessing that the big one is O gauge?

Yeah that looks like O scale.

[Shinigami]

thats nice,

but what we really want to see is Malifaux figs next to O-scale SCENERY

now hop to it!

k thanks

[shadowbeast]

Yes, but you didn't label them for the non-train people. I'm guessing that the big one is O gauge?

Edited to show the tagged version of the imgs.

http://s85.photobucket.com/albums/k56/thoughtengine/?action=view&current=SDC10714.jpg&newest=1

http://s85.photobucket.com/albums/k56/thoughtengine/?action=view&current=SDC10715.jpg&newest=1

Edited November 8, 2010 by shadowbeast