Scales & terminology

[Kaede45]

I pretty much completed my Inquisitor kill team & I want to show it off, but I also want to do so with some backdrops. I’ll probably buy a landscape display set from Hobby Lobby or something, but I also wanted to get some prop pieces also. I’ve been looking on Etsy & have found some pretty cool set pieces, but I get confused with sizing.

 

I think that 40K minis are somewhere between 28mm & 32mm, though I don’t exactly know how that translates, especially when comparing “regular humans” to Astartes. This also has come up while looking for kit bashing pieces, where I’ll see terms like “prime scale” or “leviathan scale.” Some straight up say “primaris” or “firstborn” size, which I understand, but I get lost easily when other terms are put in.

 

As always, any & all help is greatly appreciated, thank you very much & God bless!

[Firedrake Cordova]

Modern GW models tend to 32mm and older ones tend to 28mm, however, GW tends to use "heroic scale" which means that some things are "chunkier" (heads, hands, and weapons) compared to something that's correctly scaled.

[Grotsmasha]

The internet's consensus seems to be around 1:42., with 1:48 being a little on the small side, and 1:32 being a little on the large side. The 54mm Inquisitor game is 1:32 scale.

[Xenith]

Primaris arms on firstborn bodies can kind of look gorilla like, so there's definite scale change - older models are 28mm heroic scale, with newer models (since 2016?) being 32mm heroic.

[Karhedron]

Smaller pieces like hands are easier to get away with. My Primaris Wolf Lord has Firstborn hands and weapons and I think they look OK.

 

[Kaede45]

19 hours ago, Grotsmasha said:

The internet's consensus seems to be around 1:42., with 1:48 being a little on the small side, and 1:32 being a little on the large side.

So, would that translate to buying set pieces that are 28mm or 32mm?

19 hours ago, Grotsmasha said:

The 54mm Inquisitor game is 1:32 scale.

This brings up another question I was mulling around: I saw some cool upgrade packs for Horus Heresy minis & was looking at minis from other GW games & thus wondered how they all compare with 40K minis. Would the HH or Necromunda pieces be compatible with 40K minis? Would minis from Blackstone Fortress or Inquisitor look out of place among 40K minis?

[Grotsmasha]

3 hours ago, Kaede45 said:

So, would that translate to buying set pieces that are 28mm or 32mm?

Either of these will work for 40k, as the main height difference exists with the Firstborn and Primaris lines, and largely doesn't effect the other races/models.

3 hours ago, Kaede45 said:

Would the HH or Necromunda pieces be compatible with 40K minis? Would minis from Blackstone Fortress or Inquisitor look out of place among 40K minis?

Generally speaking, scale wise, all the SM extremities are compatible between the Firstborn and Primaris kits. Weapons, Heads, Shoulder pads from any GW kit will fit and look fine at a gaming distance.

BSF is in perfect scale with their current equivalent factions, and they fit right in. Necromunda is on its own scale, and the models tent to be on the tall side for humans. IE Primaris size, rather than Guard size.

[Kaede45]

On 3/18/2025 at 5:38 AM, Xenith said:

Primaris arms on firstborn bodies can kind of look gorilla like, so there's definite scale change - older models are 28mm heroic scale, with newer models (since 2016?) being 32mm heroic.

So what do the terms “heroic” & “prime” mean in relation to scale? I see these terms often & have no clue what they mean…

[Firedrake Cordova]

It means that some bits aren't scaled correctly, e.g. the head, hands/feet, and weapons may be over-emphasised.

 

The best example I can think of is comparing the old plastic Cadians to any of the humans in Corvus Belli's Infiniti range.

Edited March 20 by Firedrake Cordova

[DemonGSides]

2 hours ago, Firedrake Cordova said:

It means that some bits aren't scaled correctly, e.g. the head, hands/feet, and weapons may be over-emphasised.

 

The best example I can think of is comparing the old plastic Cadians to any of the humans in Corvus Belli's Infiniti range.

 

Or even just old Cadians to new Cadians. Old Cadians had definitive style but were basically a force of borderline bobbleheads. Current Cadians are way closer to standard scaling. 

[RWJP]

On 3/17/2025 at 5:15 PM, Kaede45 said:

where I’ll see terms like “prime scale” or “leviathan scale.” Some straight up say “primaris” or “firstborn” size, which I understand, but I get lost easily when other terms are put in.

Generally speaking, these terms are commonly used by people when they want to avoid any issues with GW legal... A lot of people are scared of using terms GW uses. As such they use similar terms or generic terms.

"Prime scale" usually means Primaris scale, and "Leviathan scale" is used in relation to the new Terminators that were first introduced in the Leviathan box that are larger than the previous plastic Terminator kits.