INQUISITOR Archive
Issue 2 
Open Forum - Scale in Warhammer 40,000

This article follows the basic reasoning Mike and I used to figure out what scale to use for building the resin Titans and has some interesting observations on 40K scale. The heights for various Titans may seem small, but once they are painted and placed on the the gaming table, they look very good!

SO YOU WANT TO BUILD A TITAN: SCALE IN WARHAMMER 40,000

Just suppose we wanted to build a Warlord Titan in full 40K scale instead of Epic scale. How tall would we make it? 10 inches? 15 inches? 20 inches? larger?

The exact scale of both WH 40K and Epic scale figures and equipment is somewhat inconsistant. 40K figures combine 1/35th scale heads and 1/48th scale limbs on 1/60th scale bodies using artistic license to exaggerate for effect, giving us the artfully exaggerated figures we all know and love. The scales in Titanicus run from about 1/250 for vehicles to about 1/350 for Titans giving an average of 1/300, about the same scale as GHQ MicroArmor. 

So what scale shall we make our Titan? The Adeptes Titanicus rulebook says Warlord class Titans stand 60 to 80 feet tall. Where does this 80 feet measure to? top of the carapace? top of the carapace mounted weapons? Assuming that 80 feet is the maximum height we will assume that the 80 feet measures to the top of the carapace mounted weapons. A Warlord measures about 66mm to the top of its carapace mounted weapons. 80 divided by 66 is about 1.2 giving a scale for Epic Titans of 1mm =1.2 feet (Titans only, not vehicles). Now let’s see if we can figure out a scale for a Warlord.

The 40K ground scale of 1”= 2 Meters won’t work because it is much foreshortened to keep the shooting ranges workable on an average tabletop. This scale is a little smaller than HO model railroad scale (1/87), making our 80 foot Titan about 11” tall, obviously much too small.

Next we try the vehicle scale. The Rhino is essentially a modern U.S. M113 armored personnel carrier, running possibly a little larger because of the hull-high track configuration. The Rhino scales out to very close to 1/48 scale (1/4” = 1’-0”), a typical scale for model aircraft and some model vehicles. Our 80 foot Titan in 1/48th scale is 20” tall with a carapace 14” wide--perhaps a little too large. A 6’ human figure in 1 /48th scale would be 1 1/2” high, considerably taller than a Marine figure in Warhammer 40K.

Next we try scaling to a Marine figure. Assuming a Marine to be 6’-3” tall (out of his power armor) we get a scale of 1/60, making our Titan approximately 16 inches tall. This looks pretty good and is my suggestion for a Titan scale. I realize that some of the Titanicus artwork seems to indicate that Titans are much larger than this, appearing in some drawings to be at least 2-300 feet high, but I think that this is artistic license or artists not knowing exactly how big Titans are.

In 1/60th scale, 1 inch equals 5’-0”, giving the following heights for various Titans. To convert Titans from Epic to 40K scale, multiply the Epic measurement times 6.1. For vehicles multiply the Epic measurement by 5.25.
Another way to do this is to measure the Titan part in millimeters, multiply by 1.2 to get the actual measurement in feet, then divide by 5 to get the measurement in inches for 40K. Warlord Top of carapace weapon 16” Carapace 13” Reaver Top of carapace weapon 13” Carapace 11” Warhound Carapace 9 1/8” Eldar Phantom Head 17 1/4” Fins 22 1/4” Eldar Knights Top of head 7 1/2 - 9” (standing) Gargant Top of head 13 1/2” Stomper Top of head 6” Sixteen inches may not seem very big, but check out the picture of Mike Biasi’s 40K scale Reaver, (built to 1/60th scale, 13” overall height) on the cover of Inquisitor #2. There are lots of robot models that can be converted for use in 40K, so get out there and start building or converting.