Peninsular war british basing

Started by DecemDave, 11 May 2020, 11:29:12 AM

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fred.

I've seen a few displays at museums which attempt to do a battalion (or similar formation) at 1:1 model ratio, and presumably at the correct ground scale, and they are always very very wide, and pretty shallow.

I think a wargames unit being a little deeper is fine, as there would be officers etc deployed behind the main firing line - and battalions wouldn't be deployed that close to each other. But the sheer length is significant - the unit is probably as wide as a musket shot!

Big effort to switch armies that size to a new scale - but you hardly need telling how good Pendraken is!
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Last Hussar

Its generally accepted base depths bear no relation to actual unit depths, because its a gaming piece. On the measurements you gave a unit of 12 40mm bases would be 9mm deep.

What the deep base does is force gamers to do something they wouldn't voluntarily, that is space their lines. There could be 100-400 paces between lines. You can think of the back ¾ of the base as the bit the following colonel knows not to get into.
I have neither the time or the crayons to explain why you are wrong.

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MartinKnight1333

my 6mm are two ranks of six on 30x25mm i can use them as a regiment, a two stand a compnay regiment, add a extra command and i then say 10 stands are a brigade.

DecemDave

many thanks for all your thoughts.  After that and perusing endless numbers of rulesets, I have decided (well maybe) to go with 4 40*20 bases to a standard battalion with an additional base for the light company out skirmishing. 5 figs on a base single rank with command figures+scenics/casualties bulking out the rear.  So its somewhere in the 1:20-1:30 range. 2 figs/company.   It will play any "4 base unit" or "fixed frontage" rules and could be easily faked into 40*30s for rulesets that insist on depth. There shouldnt be any overhanging muskets or bayonets to get in the way.  (Yes I did make that mistake with some older figures) .   I can add one or two further bases either for large battalions or any rules where a brit battalion in line simply must be 50% longer than a French one of the same strength.  Two bases could be removed for the 1:50 upwards brigade level games as they often seem to have a 3" frontage so you would end up with a typical 6 base (3 battalions each 2 bases) brigade. I am loosely aiming at an Albuera army so if I start by building only the first battalion in each brigade as 5 base +command base+skirmish as a standard , I can get playing either battalion (4 or 6 base) or brigade level (6 base) games fairly quickly. (just have to avoid those of you who can spot different facing colours from 3 ft away),

4 base standard will look something like the attached pic. 
So roll on Christmas!
Dave
Now I have to plan the Spanish!

monkeynut

Great looking units Sultanbev. 10mm big battalions always look impressive!

🐵

DecemDave

I agree. Sadly at 1:10 I would need to paint and base about 5,000 figures and move somewhere I could fit a 12ft table!   Although that would help the social distancing!

monkeynut


Lord Kermit of Birkenhead

Hi DEcemDave - warning - ignore FSN and be rude to Techno !  :d
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howayman

The old W.R.G rules took that into account in their basing.
A line was a single row of figures.

Dragoon

The Mark Bevis who wrote the book on painting ancient armies?

I've been playing Age of Eagles for a while, in 18mm AB figures. The bases being 20mm wide X 25mm deep. What base size are you usino

However I've going to play solo War of Austrian Succession / Seve Years War.
WRG book quotes 21" per file shoulder to shoulder. For 15mm. 12mm. or 9mm. figures the recommended base size is for figures in close order. 4 figures on a 30mm X 10mm base or 7.5mm. per figure frontage.

Dave Browns General d'Armee' uses different scales. 20 : 1 for a division size game or 40 : 1 for corps or army level.

I'm tempted to play imagination a la Charles Grant and Peter Young and for that I favour Peter Young's Charge! Rules.
Very difficult with 10mm figures
If I use 20mm x 25mm depth the extr depth could be used  for sergeants, lieutenants for each company in the end I'm going to have to use thin card to see what will fit and what it will look like.
Then I could end up with custom made bases.
If I do go for imaginations then another option is " Maurice " rules from Sam Mustafa which play well an the cards will add to a campaign.
Regards

Mike L

sultanbev

"The Mark Bevis who wrote the book on painting ancient armies?"

Not me, I did the book on Napoleonic Arabs called Tangier to Tehran, still available to purchase.
If I wrote a book on painting ancients it would be one side of A4, on account of in my experience of painting ancients for customers, most of it is made up, we've little idea what colour clothing most soldiers and conscripted civilians wore 2000 years ago. Even less troop types were uniformed, so each figure should probably be a different colour.

For 15mm Napoleonics I used the 4 figures on a 30mm frontage, 1/2" deep bases, in a single row. Which ties in with the rules ground scale we use. The reason I'm selling up 15mm and going to 10mm is that the newer 18mm figures don't match my existing 15mm, and donton't fit very well on the same bases. That was 1:20 ratio (eg a 500 man battalion was 24 figures). With 10mm I can use twice as many figures on the same frontages, looks kinda awesome, with the added bonus I do not need to alter the rules in any way. We could actually commit heresy and fight my 10mms against colleagues' 15mm  :o

Mark

Last Hussar

Use 10mm terrain, and say he can't use cover because his men are too big to hide.
I have neither the time or the crayons to explain why you are wrong.

GNU PTerry