Tabletop Game Scale Guide

BattleTech is a tactical wargame where players control giant robotic war machines called BattleMechs. Miniatures are 6mm scale (approximately 1:285), with 'mechs ranging from 30mm to 55mm tall depending on weight class. The game uses hex-movement rather than measuring tapes.

Legions Imperialis is Games Workshop's return to epic-scale warfare, covering the Horus Heresy with hundreds of miniatures on a single table. At 8mm, individual Space Marines are tiny but recognizable, and Titans loom over entire formations.

Dropzone Commander is a 10mm sci-fi wargame depicting massive 27th-century battles with infantry, tanks, and dropships. The small scale allows entire companies with transport vehicles to be fielded in a single game, emphasizing combined-arms tactics over individual heroics.

Flames of War is the leading 15mm WWII wargame, covering company-level engagements across all major theaters. Miniatures are 1:100 scale, allowing entire companies with supporting armor to fit on a standard gaming table. Team Yankee extends the system to Cold War-era conflicts.

The Old World revives the classic Warhammer Fantasy setting with ranked regiments, tile-based movement, and the Old World map. It uses the legacy 28mm fantasy scale, making it compatible with decades of classic Citadel miniatures alongside new releases.

Based on The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit films, MESBG is a skirmish-focused wargame where individual heroes matter as much as armies. The range spans from 25mm (older metal sculpts from the early 2000s) to modern 28mm plastic kits, all designed to match the film actors' proportions.

Bolt Action is the most popular WWII tabletop wargame, covering platoon-level engagements from 1939-1945. Infantry are 28mm true scale (1:56), and vehicle kits from Warlord and other manufacturers follow the same ratio, making 1:35 model kit vehicles usable after slight downsizing.

Dungeons & Dragons is the original tabletop roleplaying game, where players create characters and embark on collaborative storytelling adventures. Miniatures are optional but widely used for combat encounters, with a Medium creature (human-sized) typically measuring 28mm to eye level on a 175cm baseline.

Infinity is a Japanese-anime-influenced sci-fi skirmish game set in a far-future human sphere. Corvus Belli's metal miniatures are renowned for their dynamic poses and intricate detail, with slimmer proportions than heroic-scale games despite the 28mm designation.

Frostgrave is a fantasy skirmish game about wizards exploring a frozen ruined city, while Stargrave applies the same system to a sci-fi setting. Both are miniature-agnostic — you can use any 28mm fantasy or sci-fi figures, making them ideal for 3D printing custom warbands.

Kings of War is Mantic Games' rank-and-flank fantasy wargame, designed as an alternative to Warhammer Fantasy with streamlined rules and regiment-based play. The entire range is 28mm scale, and the game actively encourages using miniatures from any fantasy range.

Warmachine and its companion game Hordes pit steam-powered warjacks and magical beasts against each other in a fantasy world of industrial warfare. Originally labelled 28mm, Privateer Press shifted to calling the scale 30mm as the range evolved through scale creep.

Warhammer 40,000 is the dominant sci-fi tabletop wargame, pitting Space Marines, Chaos forces, Orks, Eldar, and dozens of other factions against each other in the 41st millennium. Modern kits since 2017 (Primaris range) sit squarely at 32mm heroic scale, while older Firstborn models measure closer to 28mm true scale.

Age of Sigmar replaced Warhammer Fantasy Battle in 2015, shifting from ranked infantry blocks to hero-focused skirmish and mass battle in a high-fantasy setting. The miniature scale matches modern Warhammer 40k — all new GW fantasy releases since 2015 are 32mm heroic.

Malifaux is a card-driven skirmish game set in a gothic steampunk alternate Earth where magic and technology collide. Miniatures are 32mm heroic scale, produced in high-quality plastic since the 4th Edition relaunch, with a distinctive artistic style that blends horror, western, and Victorian aesthetics.

Grimdark Future is One Page Rules' free, miniature-agnostic sci-fi wargame — a streamlined alternative to Warhammer 40k that works with any 28-32mm miniatures. The rules fit on a single page, and the game explicitly encourages using 3D printed, proxy, or converted models.

Fallout: Wasteland Warfare brings the Fallout video game universe to the tabletop with 32mm miniatures covering factions like the Brotherhood of Steel, NCR, Raiders, and Super Mutants. The game supports both PvP and solo/cooperative play against AI-driven encounters.

Star Wars: Legion is a rank-and-file mass battle game set in the Star Wars universe, covering the Original Trilogy and beyond. Miniatures are measured at 35mm eye level (1:47 scale), making them noticeably larger than Warhammer 40k but smaller than Shatterpoint.

Marvel: Crisis Protocol pits Marvel superheroes and villains against each other in cinematic tabletop battles. The game uses 35mm true scale with realistic proportions — no heroic exaggeration — making the miniatures notably larger and more detailed than Warhammer-scale equivalents.

Shatterpoint is a squad-based skirmish game where each player commands a small team of named Star Wars characters. The 40mm scale was chosen specifically to capture high-resolution detail while providing large, smooth surfaces ideal for painters practicing blending techniques.

Gaslands is a post-apocalyptic vehicular combat game that uses modified Hot Wheels and Matchbox cars as miniatures. At 1:56 scale, these die-cast cars are compatible with 28mm infantry, making it easy to add foot soldiers, terrain, and custom 3D printed accessories.