Late last year I got a hefty order from the beautiful Pendraken Aztec range.
I've now got a unit mostly painted up (baring some touch-ups) so been experimenting with basing. When I carefully planned out the order the idea was to base 5 figures to a 25 or 30mm base with 6-8 bases making up a unit.
But no plan survives contact with the enemy and on doing so I'm not convinced by it.
(https://i.imgur.com/Se5Z7bg.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/jAcuIQl.jpg)
So after leaving it to sit for a couple of weeks while on other things, I've come back to revising the basing to look at possibly just going with everything based on a single base.
(https://i.imgur.com/wBDigqt.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/zfgSyxQ.jpg)
I'm even considering using the baggage bearers on 10 or 15mm squares as removable casualty markers at the back. Using 10mm squares at the back of a 100mm frontage base would allow up to 10 markers, or less markers and a label.
(https://i.imgur.com/dnmJzW8.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/8vX16jS.jpg)
This would suit most ancients rulesets I tend to play, plus give me options for some Mesoamerican specific rules adjustments I'm considering around capturing sacrificial victims.
Going with a single base does reduce flexibility of formations, but to be honest, my understanding of the warfare of the era is that most combat was a loose line with the tactical flexibility being more around feigned retreats and ambushes than variable formations, and most rulesets tend to reflect this. I've no real issue using some form of marker if I ever do need to represent a column.
Of course I could just end up going with the 40*40mm basing I've mostly used elsewhere, and keep the individual basing for casualty markers and use magnetic paper sabots to keep everything together. Though that will require a bit of a figure number rearrangement.
(https://i.imgur.com/07TozQG.jpg)
Sometimes deciding basing is the hardest part of any new project!
What the Hell, at least we're seeing some of the most attractive American army (and annoying Ian, better still).
These are representing a unit of Meshica Priests, I'm doing most of my units "mixed" in that there'll be the core elite elements in the front two rows with some commoners mixed through the back. So in this case it's Priests, for the Capulli it'll be Eagles and Jaguars as the elites with veterans and commoners mixed in. The Otomi and Shorn ones will be non mixed though to represent their special status. Then of course there'll be ranged units comprised of slingers and archers mixed together. I'm also planning some units of mixed archers and melee, to represent the more archer focused fighting of the Tarascans. All in all I should have enough to represent the Tenochtitlan, Tepanac, Tlaxcalan, Texcoco, etc in various scenarios. As well as some stand ins for the Tarascans (with a bit if creative license given they tended to have shaved heads and used some copper metalworking).
Those look spectacular, especially in a good light.
I tend to make my basing assessments on the back of the proverbial envelope.
You've gone a lot further than that already.
Excellent work.
Hard to beat for a colourful and spectacular army 8).
VERY nice, indeed, M !! :-bd
Cheers - Phil
Thanks for the comments, I'll be sure to take some proper photos once they're all based up and good to go. They're really great figures, beautifully sculpted and a joy to paint. It's nice to be able to use such a variety of colours on an army!
I probably do overthink basing a bit, but it's nice to get it right first time. While I enjoy basing General style elements where you can have a bit if fun with them, basing standard troops can be a bit tedious and often end up with bits of flock stuck to figures, frustrating! With my first big project I made some basing choices that didn't quite work for some units and because I'd used milliput on the bases they've been a bit of a pain to rebase, with a few casualties along the way.
So still trying to decide on what the ideal base size for me is. Especially for ancients. Once you get into 18th century and beyond, the case for multiple smaller bases gets much stronger as formations play a stronger role, but in ancients being able to have a block of troops on a single base is handy.
:-bd =D> :-bd
Looking forward to seeing these once you have decided how to base them :)
The trouble is that both basing approaches have different pros & cons :-\
Quote from: paulr on 08 March 2020, 06:18:42 PM
:-bd =D> :-bd
Looking forward to seeing these once you have decided how to base them :)
The trouble is that both basing approaches have different pros & cons :-
Yeah! I've some other bits up on my painting queue next anyway so will have to ponder some more until I get back to them.
Nice looking figures
Big bases are good for arranging figures in mini diaoramas and for speed of movement. The downside is that they loose flexibility for different rule sets.
I'm a fan of 40x40mm squares, as they are a good balance between a decent size to arrange the figures and flexibility for rules.