28mm vs 32mm vs 40mm: Choosing the Right Urban Terrain Scale

If you have ever tried to place a 28mm fighter next to a Marvel Crisis Protocol miniature, you already know the problem: scale matters. A door that looks perfect for one figure can swallow another whole, and a city block that hits the sweet spot for Necromunda will dwarf your skirmish heroes if you scale it up wrong. Choosing between 28mm, 32mm, and 40mm urban terrain is the single biggest decision you will make when building a modern, sci-fi, or cyberpunk tabletop, and it shapes everything from board footprint to which game systems you can comfortably play.

This guide breaks down what each scale actually means in practice, which game systems they pair with, and which Northern Foundry kits are sized to match.

What "scale" really means on the tabletop

Most miniature scales are measured eye-height in millimetres. A "28mm" miniature is roughly 28mm from foot to eye, which corresponds to a human of about 5'10" on the tabletop. "32mm" usually means 32mm to the eye in a slightly chunkier "heroic" sculpt, and "40mm" miniatures are heroic-proportioned figures used for superhero and high-fantasy skirmish games. The jump from 28mm to 40mm is not just bigger feet — it changes how doors, windows, vehicles, and street furniture have to be sized so the figures look like they belong in the world.

A practical rule: terrain footprint roughly scales with the cube of the figure scale. Going from 28mm to 40mm does not just make a building 40% bigger — it can nearly triple the table space the same building eats up. That matters when you are picking what to buy.

28mm: the workhorse scale

28mm is the default for the bulk of miniature wargaming. Warhammer 40k, Kill Team, Necromunda, Stargrave, This Is Not A Test, Last Days, The Walking Dead: All Out War, and most indie skirmish games all sit comfortably here. Buildings, vehicles, and scatter feel "right" on a 4x4 or 4x6 table without overwhelming the playing surface.

If you are gaming on a smaller table or want maximum density per square foot of board, 28mm is the safe pick. A 28mm city block leaves room for line-of-sight blockers, alleys, and elevated firing positions without crowding miniatures off the edge. The 28mm Urban Cityscape Terrain set — five multi-level storefronts plus four civilian vehicles — is a great example of a 28mm-native footprint: enough buildings to fill a board, enough alleys to actually maneuver. For grittier sci-fi, the 28mm UnderNidus Sci-Fi Terrain Bundle drops ten habs and shak-stak buildings onto your Necromunda or Kill Team board and instantly creates a tight industrial sprawl.

32mm: the heroic middle ground

32mm is a slightly chunkier "heroic" version of 28mm. Modern Games Workshop primaris-style sculpts are usually pitched at 32mm, and several skirmish systems sit in this zone. Doors and windows need to be a bit taller and wider; footprints are a touch larger than true 28mm but nowhere near a full 40mm board.

32mm is where a lot of players get stuck: their figures look oversized in a 28mm doorway but lost on a 40mm street. The fix is buying terrain that is purpose-cut for 32mm rather than re-using either neighbour. The Modern Retail Store Terrain Set is one of the easiest ways to fill that gap — it ships in true 28mm, 32mm heroic, and 40mm heroic variants of the same three storefronts, so you can match your existing collection without compromise. The Cyberpunk City Terrain Bundle follows the same approach across five neon-lit buildings, three vehicles, and a full scatter set.

40mm Heroic: the superhero scale

40mm heroic is Marvel Crisis Protocol territory, and it is also where you land if you are running larger-than-life pulp or wrestling skirmishes. Figures are noticeably bigger, bases are wider, and a single building takes up a lot more table. You will generally play on a 3x3 area with fewer, denser pieces of terrain rather than a sprawling cityscape.

For Marvel Crisis Protocol specifically, the 40mm Heroic Modern Suburban Terrain bundle — six buildings including two houses and St. Gabriel's Church — sets up a quintessential suburban superhero brawl. For an iconic downtown look, the 40mm variant of the Bleecker Street Urban Terrain drops five multi-level storefronts and nineteen scatter pieces onto your MCP board in a single kit.

How to choose, fast

If you only remember one thing: match your terrain scale to the dominant miniature you already own, and let game-system overlap dictate the rest. A few quick rules of thumb:

If most of your figures are Warhammer 40k, Kill Team, Necromunda, or classic skirmish, buy 28mm. If your collection is built around modern GW primaris, Star Wars Shatterpoint-style heroic sculpts, or you regularly mix systems, buy 32mm. If you are playing Marvel Crisis Protocol or other superhero-scale games, buy 40mm heroic and accept the bigger board commitment.

Bundles vs single buildings is the other lever: a kit like the Modern Retail Store set gives you three contiguous storefronts at one price point, while a big bundle like Bleecker Street or the Cyberpunk City Terrain Bundle gets you to "playable city" in one box at the cost of less flexibility. Both have their place. The trap to avoid is buying terrain at the wrong scale because it was cheaper — the figures never look right, and you end up replacing it anyway.

A note on shipping and assembly

All Northern Foundry terrain ships as a physical, unpainted printed kit. You assemble and paint at home, which means your 28mm board can grow piece-by-piece without committing to a single themed bundle on day one. If you are mixing scales across collections, our 28mm/32mm/40mm sets are the easiest way to keep doors, windows, and vehicle proportions consistent across the board.

Pick the scale that matches your minis. Build to the table size you actually play on. Everything else — theme, density, painting style — is dressing on top of that core decision.