Gartenzwerg

Popularized in Germany during the 19th century, the garden gnome has become a common fixture in many gardens around the world. The gnomish lifestyle was revealed in Wil Huygen's 1977 New York Times bestseller Gnomes, while gnomish travelling habits were briefly touched upon in the 2001 movie Amélie. The garden gnome should not be confused with the typical D&D variety of gnome, who is more of a smaller (sometimes beardless) dwarf.

There are a handful of garden gnomes in various scales, but I get the feeling that most of them are too big for use in 1/72 fantasy. This leaves us with 15mm miniatures, and two companies make garden gnomes in this size - Peter Pig, and Splintered Light Miniatures.

Below is a comparison of 15mm gnomes. The first two gnomes are from the SLM Gnome Snail Battle Wagon set (GNOM06), while the next six are from the Peter Pig War in the Age of Magic line (Range 19). From left to right they are are a Gnome with Fishing Rod (WAM56), a Gnome Throwing a Rock (WAM57), and four figures from the Gnome Command set (WAM58). The final figure is a Gnome Baby from Lance & Laser (00156) now available from Armorcast.


The SLM gnomes are slightly taller than the Peter Pig gnomes, but they still match up very nicely. The gnome baby is about half the size of the other gnomes, and sits between two mushrooms (one with a frog perched on top). All of the gnomes will have to be glued onto washers, as the bases are rather small.