Painting in smaller scales

Those of you who've looked at my first post will have seen the slipshod work that was my first attempt to paint in 15mm.  Well that dates from last year and I haven't tried anything in that size since, despite the face I've got a load of Eureka and Rebel Minis figures sitting in one of my top drawers just waiting for a lick of paint.

However my desire to paint some of the great collection of metal I've acumulated has yet to extend to anything smaller than the 28mm figures I'm used to working with.  However yesterday, after seeing a freind, I walked into my local WH Smith's knowing I would spend money I don't have.  Which I duly did, buying the latest copy of Wargames Soldiers & Strategy.  In amongst the various articles was the first part of a guide/propaganda exercise in how to paint 10mm figures.

Now I don't have any 10mm figures and I'm not likely to buy any in the next few years, but the piece looked interesting so I read it anyway.  As I expected the author, James White, started off by dealing with the charge that often seems to be made against the smaller scales; namely that they are too small for a good painter to work with.  In a clever move, he turned that accusation on its head by arguing that since a lot of the details you'd find on larger models, were missing by neccessity at this scale, you didn't need to be a good painter to end up with good models.

Mr White went on to point out that if you're basing a lot of models together, you can get away with not putting highlights on certain areas of the rear mounted models, since no one will see them.  Now I struggle with highlighting models as it is, so I'm not going to worry about that yet.  As for the first point, I have little doubt that will be debated endlessly by everyone who's read the article when they get on to their favourite forums.

Personally, I struggle to seperate areas on 28mm models (and as a result have been tempted by 40mm and 54mm models), so I now it would be a little harder for me where the smaller scales are concerned.  That said though, I've seen enough models in 10 and 15mm, or 6mm for that matter, to know that you can paint well enough if you're willing to put the time (a key failing of mine is that I'm usually not prepared to do that).

Furthermore, echoing a point that plenty of people have made about using smaller scales, not only can you have larger battles on the same size of table you're using, but it's a lot cheaper to buy smaller figures.  I'd bought mine for use in figuring out the dynamics of battles for a sci-fi novel I'm trying to draft, though work on that, like the models, is so infrequent that I'm a little ashamed when I tell people about it.

All points about me aside though, I can see the main advantages of smaller scales clearly enough to make them worth reiterating:  First is the cost with your money getting a lot more figures the smaller in scale you go.  Second, individual models don't take anywhere near as long to paint; a definite bonus for those of us who aren't professional painters.  Third, you can wage much larger battles on the same surfaces.

Indeed, with that last point, there are some gamers whho use different scales for different battles.  Larger scales for smaller actions such as skirmishes with smaller scales for all out slogfests.  A win win for companies but nevertheless appealing to many gamers.