Epic figures go onto the table

[Redstef]

Great report and nice to see a full deployment.

It seems most people are going for the 2/3/4 base set up and in my opinion its the way to go. You still get the mass effect (even on the 2 base unit) without a large unit footprint.

For my 2 base units, to keep the command in the middle, I cut the command strip and a normal infantry strip in two and moved the flagpole to the left and right of the base. To make this a 4 base unit just add a normal base to either side. Also, as most Confederate units carried a single flag, I put the pole in the middle so I now get 2 units to one command strip with the occasional 2 flag unit using the complete strip.

[Leman]

I agree with the 1/2/3/4 set up (with 1 being tiny) I am using this stuff for my Gettysburg (and afterwards Antietam) games, using the three scenario books by Scott Mingus. As he gives actual unit numbers I have used an arbitrary determinant for bases per unit thus: <100 tiny, 100-299 small, 300-599 regular, >600 large. This is for infantry only. A regular cavalry unit would have 150 plus on two bases. Totally arbitrary but it works for me. Thank goodness Kallistra are a good fit and also, surprisingly, the original Peter Pig ACW, which were often lambasted in the past as being too small for 15mm, but now come into their own if you can find some. Fortunately I have five Confederate artillery crews. One of the odd things about the Warlord range is their choice of the 12lb howitzer as the only gun type. It wasn't even the most common artillery piece seen on the battlefield (although it does look nice painted up, apart from the spoke issue). Often artillery wheels are cast a bit on the small side - photos from the ACW show the top of the wheels reaching a man's shoulders. I like, particularly for their robustness, the current Peter Pig artillery pieces, which are sold without crew.



Current PP gun with old crew figure and unpainted Kallistra figure for comparison.

[Westmarcher]

You're right about the wheel height, Andy. I have a photo somewhere of me leaning against an artillery piece at Gettysburg and the top of the wheels are indeed roughly shoulder height (I'm 5' 8"). *

Until reading your post, I didn't know that there were two versions of the Peter Pig ACW range; an original, smaller stature range and the current range. My collection consists of figures from the current range and these are noticeably larger than the original range figure illustrated above when stood beside a current range PP gun. Also having seen Norm's Battlefields and Warriors blog which compares Epic with current range PP and Kallistra, to my eye, Kallistra is closer to Epic than the current PP range.  It has therefore been a puzzle to me why people keep comparing PP figures to Epic but now that I've seen your photo featuring a figure from PP's original ACW range, it now makes sense. 

* although I would say in your photo that the wheel top is higher than the painted figure's shoulders (but that is presumably because you are comparing an original PP figure with a current range gun?)

[Leman]

Yes. It's a bit of a compromise, but PP do make a really nice 6pdr. I have here another photo comparing a new style PP gun with old style crew with a Warlord gun with the weird spoke arrangement.