WSS Game

[cameronian]

Well for what it's worth I hate big bases. It really pains me to see beautifully painted figures on lovingly crafted scenic bases resting on a village or a road or a wall, at 45degs. It looks awful. Why can't you break the big bases up into smaller units, surely you can consider them as one base for the purposes of your rules but still obtain the aesthetic advantage of using smaller pieces. I play FOB 2 (1866/1870) variant, one base is the equivalent of 3 integrity points, normal bases are substituted for casualty bases, loss of formation integrity will be represented by diminishing the size of band, one figure at a time !!!

[fsn]

I'm accumulating Pendraken Napoleonics at the moment, but I'm planning for a brigade level game with about 60 figures per battalion.  A British bttn would be 10 bases. This will allow me to show line, square and column.

Also looking at the rules to see how long it would take to change formation.

Yes 10 bases in line will be unwieldy.

That's the point. 

[Zippee]

It really pains me to see beautifully painted figures on lovingly crafted scenic bases resting on a village or a road or a wall, at 45degs.

never happens in our games - I suggest people who do this would do it with whatever playing piece you gave them.

...but still obtain the aesthetic advantage of using smaller pieces.

but using smaller bases is an aesthetic disadvantage

The important thing is to do what you think looks though - a broad church (for which we'll need a big base  )

[PERKY]

Hi guys
              We use line on big bases because the line was the formation for fighting . Hippie has put figures on smaller bases for putting in towns ,so we remove a big base when it enters a town and replace it with the smaller bases . If the unit moves through the town the big Base is returned to the table .

[jimduncanuk]

I'm accumulating Pendraken Napoleonics at the moment, but I'm planning for a brigade level game with about 60 figures per battalion.  A British bttn would be 10 bases. This will allow me to show line, square and column.

Also looking at the rules to see how long it would take to change formation.

Yes 10 bases in line will be unwieldy.

That's the point. 

A British battalion, and many other nations will organise a battalion into two wings as tactical sub-units. Companies are administrative groups and nothing to do with actual fighting.

[fsn]

Your point is?

The maths are: assume a 1:10 figure ratio = 60 figures.  Get 6 figures per base. Therefore 10 bases.

The maths don't work out so well with the French.

[Zippee]

A British battalion, and many other nations will organise a battalion into two wings as tactical sub-units. Companies are administrative groups and nothing to do with actual fighting.

but those wings were made up of sub-groups, whether we call them platoons, companies, peletons, divisions, zugs is rather immaterial.

All battalions, in the field, would equalise their sub units each day (or at least before action), so yes the company is 'administrative' but is essentially the same as the tactical sub unit, even if sometimes the name changes.

Austrian fusilier battalion for instance are composed of 6 divisions, 3 grand divisions or 2 wings and could and were parcelled out and detached in those portions. Each division was similarly sub-divided into half-divisions and zugs and what not but not for field operations - they only come into play when skirmishing are foraging really.

I agree that Anglicisation in wargaming has led to the term 'company' being used generically and indiscriminately but that doesn't change the fact that such sub-units existed and were the tactical backbone of the battalion

[Last Hussar]

Just out of interest, how big are those bases.  Sunjester and I use 6 x 20mm per unit.

[Bunny]

A great looking game, I do like the appeal of WSS but as I have a 1800 figure LoA collection and am building up a good 7YW collection I can not really justify building the short middle period as well lol

I really like the look of the single base units and think it looks right and works well for WSS especially when using Black Powder.  the field works are also great look for the heavy batteries, where did you get them from?

Keep up the good work.