Base sizes 10mm?

[Inactive]

I use square stands for HQ's and the CO, but round ones for the FAO, FAC nad Infantry Recce. Easy to differentiate when on the table.

Infantry Recce,  now there's one I'd not considered.  Do they have any shooting capability and if so are they 360º arc?  Normally I'd look it up but the book is in shipping container somewhere at the moment.

[Ithoriel]

That's a lovely looking army.

Thank you, kind sir. A poor thing but mine own

There's plenty better looking out there but I'm happy with my efforts. Which is the most important thing, IMHO.

Kind words from others are much appreciated, nonetheless!

[fred.]

Link to some older photos of my BKC stuff - this has largely worked as is for O Group

http://www.kerynne.com/games/BritishParas.html 

But lots of other pages with other forces on

[Inactive]

@Ithoriel:  Really nice looking army and I like the standardisation of the basing as you said.

@fred.: That is an absolutely awesome site!!  An absolute wealth of information on many different formations together with info on Orbats, markings, organisation, painting and basing.  I have a load of books and sites marked but sometimes it's an effort to get them all out and sift for the information.  Going through the site will be my job for today!! 

It's funny, I'm pondering splitting my 10mm purchases between Victrix and Pendraken with the bulk going to Pendraken.  I quite like the Victrix infantry packs given the sheer amount you get for the price, I do prefer the Pendraken figures though.  The Victrix Army Bundles at first appealed less as I thought that for BKC  there's just no way I'll need 6 Shermans and 6 Cromwells for the British, O-Group maybe as it's 1 tank = 1 section, not a platoon.  The German Bundle is better as I will most definitely need 6+ half tracks and with the Pz IV being the backbone of most German panzer units, 6 of those won't go amiss. 

My main concern on the over-supply armour is that I don't want to end up with boxes of stuff vehicles which will still take time to paint and base and yet might never see the table.  I mostly prefer combined arms games so am unlikely to do any entire armour engagements like Bluecoat etc which would need a lot of vehicles.  As such I'd got it into my head that I'll be looking at 2 - 4 max of any particular vehicle type.  Maybe I'll take a look again at the Victrix bundles and ponder whether I will actually get table use out of the 6 Shermans / 6 Cromwells.  That said, what I definitely don't want to do is talk myself into buying things I don't need simply because other people have and use them.  I plan to play ONLY BKC and O-Group.  6 Shermans could be used in O-Group quite easily as a full company (each tank being a section but would need additional Fireflies), in BKC 3-4 would be a regiment.  One possible use of a round base here being for the Commander of a tank regiment so it's not mistaken for a combat unit (though again the 40 x 40 or 50 x 50 square base might suffice. 

I see the HW teams are mostly based on regular infantry stands with 2 weapons, I've pondered that but I think for O-Group they will be better on smaller stands, I can always place two together for BKC if I feel I'm giving them to much survivability (possible small size avoiding artillery templates etc.) given that they are a platoon in BKC vs a section / single weapon in O-Group.

The Pendraken orders are almost ready 

[Inactive]

Missed it from the above, I'm definitely not interested in replicating multiple regiments on a 1:4 ratio etc, I'm interested only in what I'm likely to use in 'normal' sized games of either O-Group or BKC.  Not really been able to dig up many example BKC lists but, in O-Group for instance, most scenarios will feature 2-6 vehicles and 1-2 AT guns at most, often less so I'm still somewhat on edge about vehicles in multiples of 6. In O-Group those vehicles represent a section each in a battalion level game, in BKC they would scale up accordingly.

[fred.]

Glad you found my site useful - its been ages since I updated it - I pulled a lot of the info together to just have it in one place, rather than having to dig through a number of books. 

We've played quite a few games of O Group recently - and most feature 0 to 2 tanks per side. At most we have got to about 6 tanks on 1 side - of mixed types. For AT guns it is similar 0-2 light AT guns per side. O Group is basically an infantry game - you need lots of stands of infantry. 

For BKC I would say 6 tanks is the least we have ever fielded per side, and 12 may be more typical. And then there will be combined arms to accompany them, AT guns, artillery, soft skins, armoured cars etc. And infantry - probably a bit less infantry than for O Group - as I needed to add German infantry to my forces for O Group. And used both Battalions worth of BKC french for O group. 

Most of my WWII forces are too big to use in a single game - probably my DAK force is the one that I would use as a good indicator of a BKC sized force http://www.kerynne.com/games/DAK.html and it looks pretty similar to what Ithoriel posted. It has a core of Pz IIs and IIIs and has a few later tanks to allow it to be used over a wider time period. It probably needs a few more light AT guns and a bit more infantry - but not loads (and I'm pretty sure I have those sitting waiting to be painted).

[Inactive]

That's not too bad then, put my mind more at ease with "shock, 6 tanks!!" in the bundle packs from Victrix (further incentivised by them being 20% cheaper than pack prices).

I'm pretty familiar with O-Group, it was the game that made me decide finally that Battlegroup (AKA Battlegroup) wasn't for me.  Good enough game but too many crunchy platoon level mechanics in it IMO for a company level game.  Funnily enough, 10 years ago, I erred away from BKC I in favour of that lower level detail (even if a lot of it was FOW) whereas now, it's the other way round.  BKC IV is the newcomer to me, I understand it's a lot 'better' than BKC I and if there is more likelihood of using a larger number of vehicles then those packs of 6 will likely get eaten up, Shermans and Cromwells in this case, particularly as you are likely to be taking one out as a command.  If the tank commands don't have a combat role (e.g. firing etc) on the table top I may contemplate basing them on round bases after all, just so I don't get confused, a 40 x 40 with the tank angled differently, or maybe with a dispatch rider or whatever might serve just as well, and no round bases in a sea of squares LOL.

[Inactive]

FWIW, in case anyone has similar questions and comes across the thread in the future.  Basing I haven't decided on fully yet but I THINK I will go for:

Army Command / HQ: 50 x 50
Other Command Units: 40 x 40 mm

Infantry: 40 x 25 mm (4-6 figures / I might even vary it by having different figure counts for different infantry types, assault / engineers etc)
HW Teams / FO / FAO etc.: 25 x 25 mm

Tanks and large vehicles: 40 x 25 (with an option of 50 x 30 if essential for very large vehicles)
Small vehicles: 25 x 25
Guns up to 105mm: 40 x 25 mm
Guns over 105mm: 50 x 30 or whatever needed to fit

If I find that too many vehicles are tight on a 25mm base width I'll raise all the 25mm measurements to 30mm so HW teams would be on 30 x 30, infantry 40 x 30 and tanks 40 or 50 x 30.

Figures wise I plan to go pretty much exclusively with Pendraken.  I MIGHT, once the book arrives, decide to go for a few vehicle packs from Victrix but I would need to be sure I DO need six of one type of tank.  I know @fred mentioned he rarely fields less than 6 tanks, the question for me though will be is that 6 of the same type of tanks?  If not, I'll be better buying in the multiples I need from Pendraken.  I looked at the army bundles packs from Victrix but, in addition to the 6 packs of vehicles, the infantry army packs from Pendraken are IMO far better suited to BKC / O-Group I think.  Better ratio of officers and NCOs, units that aren't needed are not included (e.g. 2" mortars), there isn't a massive excess of rifle armed figures, plus Pendraken include Assault Rifles (STG44) in the German packs.  I also like the sculpts and detail more.  I've always liked Pendraken too so good to support the company     

[Raider4]

. . . I do quite like the rounded corners of FOW bases.

Not noticed it before really, but now you've mentioned it, yes, they do look good. As per Ithoriels photo above.

Hmm, something to think about there.