What scale is Bolt Action? 28mm, and the scales of other WWII wargames

Bolt Action is 28mm: Warlord Games makes the game’s figures at 28mm and its tanks and other vehicles at 1:56. Warlord’s alternate-history game Konflikt ’47 shares the 28mm scale, and some of its tanks are Bolt Action’s 1:56 kits. Flames of War is 15mm: its publisher, Battlefront Miniatures, makes it at 1:100.

What scale is Bolt Action?

Bolt Action is 28mm with 1:56 vehicles. Warlord Games, the game’s publisher, sells the infantry as 28mm figures and the tanks and half-tracks as 1:56 scale kits. The Band of Brothers starter set, for example, holds 24 plastic 28mm figures and two 1:56 half-tracks. Use 1:56 for any vehicle printed for the game.

In 2014 Warlord and the kit maker Italeri announced a joint line of plastic 1:56 vehicles for Bolt Action. The first two were an M4 Sherman and a Panther Ausf. A. Perry Miniatures sells World War II tanks made “to fit in with the 1/56th scale of our miniatures”, so both companies match their figures with 1:56 vehicles.

At 1:56, a 1.73 m man stands 1,730 / 56 = 30.9 mm (1.22 in) to the top of his head, and his 1.61 m eye height scales to 1,610 / 56 = 28.8 mm. “28mm” is a figure height, and Wikipedia notes that some makers measure it to the eyes, which is where 28mm and 1:56 meet. The miniature scale calculator covers the measuring conventions and turns any mm scale into a ratio.

What scale is Flames of War?

Flames of War is 15mm, and Battlefront Miniatures makes its models at 1:100. The New Zealand publisher describes its World War II range as 1:100 (15mm), so tanks, guns and infantry share one ratio. Aircraft are the exception: they are 1:144. At 1:100, a 1.73 m soldier stands 17.3 mm (0.68 in) to the top of the head.

Wikipedia gives 15mm as about 1:100 to 1:120, so Battlefront’s 1:100 is the largest size in that range. A Bolt Action vehicle is 100 / 56 = 1.79 times the length, width and height of the same vehicle in Flames of War.

What scale is Konflikt ’47?

Konflikt ’47 is 28mm, the same scale as Bolt Action. Warlord Games sets the game in an alternate 1947 where World War II never ended and lists its kits at 28mm. Some of its tanks are Bolt Action models with a new turret: the Panther-X with light Schienenkanone box holds a plastic Bolt Action Panther.

Warlord lists that plastic Panther at 28mm and 1/56th, so a 1:56 vehicle file suits both games.

Scales of other WWII wargames

Warlord’s naval and air games use smaller scales: Cruel Seas is 1:300 and Blood Red Skies 1:200.

Game	Publisher	Scale
Bolt Action	Warlord Games	28mm figures, 1:56 vehicles
Konflikt ’47	Warlord Games	28mm figures, 1:56 Bolt Action vehicle kits
Achtung Panzer!	Warlord Games	Bolt Action’s 1:56 vehicles
Flames of War	Battlefront Miniatures	15mm, 1:100; aircraft 1:144
Cruel Seas	Warlord Games	1:300 (6mm)
Blood Red Skies	Warlord Games	1:200 aircraft

Achtung Panzer! is Warlord’s game of close-quarters tank combat. Warlord’s Bolt Action tank pages, such as the plastic Panther’s, say the same model works in both games.

How do you scale a Bolt Action tank to Flames of War size?

Print it at 56%. A file made at 1:56 becomes 1:100 at 56 / 100 = 56%, and a 1:100 file becomes 1:56 at 100 / 56 = 178.57%. Type the percentage into the slicer’s scale box with uniform scaling on. The scale calculator shows where that box is in each slicer.

File is at	Print for	Slicer scale
1:56 (Bolt Action, Konflikt ’47)	1:100 (Flames of War)	56%
1:100 (Flames of War)	1:56 (Bolt Action, Konflikt ’47)	178.57%
1:48 kit file	1:56	85.71%
1:72 kit file	1:56	128.57%
1:35 kit file	1:56	62.5%
1:72 kit file	1:100	72%
Real size (1:1)	1:56	1.79%
Real size (1:1)	1:100	1%

Check the file’s scale before you trust its label. Measure a known length in the slicer:

Real size	At 1:56	At 1:100
Man, 1.73 m, to top of head	30.9 mm (1.22 in)	17.3 mm (0.68 in)
Same man, 1.61 m, to the eyes	28.8 mm (1.13 in)	16.1 mm (0.63 in)
M4 Sherman, 5.84 m long	104.3 mm (4.11 in)	58.4 mm (2.30 in)
M4 Sherman, 6.27 m long	112.0 mm (4.41 in)	62.7 mm (2.47 in)

Wikipedia gives the M4 Sherman’s length as 5.84 to 6.27 m, depending on the variant. If a 5.84 m Sherman measures 81.1 mm (5,840 / 72), the file is 1:72 and needs 128.57% for Bolt Action.

Shrinking to 56% thins every detail by the same factor: a 1 mm antenna becomes 0.56 mm. On a filament (FDM) printer with a 0.4 mm nozzle, PrusaSlicer and OrcaSlicer default to lines 1.125 × the nozzle diameter: 0.45 mm wide. That antenna is barely one line wide, and anything thinner than a line may not print at all. Check the sliced preview, and work out what your nozzle can print with the line width calculator.

Going the other way, a solid part at 178.57% holds 1.7857³ = 5.69 times the plastic. The print weight calculator gives the grams with your walls and infill.