What base

[Danyo]

Hello,

May seem a silly question but what bases is the most commonly used for a line of infantry?

As I said in my intro, I'm new to 10mm models!

Any help would be lovely!

Cheers

[Leon]

Generally 40x20mm is the best size if using WM or any of it's variants, but there are a lot of people going with 30x30's and 30x20's depending on the various rulesets out there.  If you're going with the Zulu period mentioned in your opening post, maybe smaller bases would be the way to go.

I'm sure the other members will have some good advice as well.

[barbarian]

Depends of the rules...
BUT : 40 x 20 mm is common. (DBA, Warmaster...)
For my WWII, I use 50x25mm.
I know some people here use 60x30 for Impetus I guess, but they'll confirm it themselves.

[Ithoriel]

In my experience it depends on the period and the ruleset.

I use mainly 40mm x 20mm because much of what I'm painting is for Warmaster or rules derived from it and that uses 40 x 20 bases.

Another set of rules I have uses 50mm x 30mm  while a third uses 60mm x 30mm with the option to field two as a 60mm x 60mm base.

So it's a bit of a "length of a piece of string" question

[Danyo]

Thanks for the quick replies everyone! Found a set of rules on the downloadable rules section, a few years since it was updated but for infantry it's a depth of 20mm. So looks like it's going to be 40x20mm.

Once again thanks!

[Ace of Spades]

Howdy Danyo,

It depends on the rules indeed; I use 'Battles for Empire' for my Boer War and planned NWF campaigns and they work mainly with square bases as does 'Black Powder'. I use square 2 x 2 cm bases with 4 figures for my infantry in close order and 4 figures on 3 x 3cm bases for infantry in open order.
For me it's always a question of esthetics vs requirements (rules)...

Cheers,
Rob

[Zippee]

Welcome

Basing has to be relevant to the rules you intend to use (or quite likely the rules your local club/group use) - it's also rather dependant on period, single basing may be appropriate for WWII platoon actions but hardly right for corps level Napoleonic battles. . .

FWIW I use 20mm square bases for my 'generic fit as many rules as possible' troops, that said my Napoleonics are on 40x30 for Lasalle as that works for other rules as well and is less fiddly. My ancients (what very few 10mm I have - far too many 15mm to consider a serious change) are on 60mm bases for Impetus although my fantasy (mostly BoFA stuff) are on 40x20 as per Warmaster (as that is what BoFA is based on).

So not such an easy question - I think if I had no further info I'd go with 20x20, that will work for most 'blackpowder' era rules and for ancients/fantasy it would also work for most rules from HC through WM to Impetus and WRG. If only because it's a lot easier to push a couple of smaller bases together to replicate a larger one than it is to cut larger bases apart. . .

[Lord Kermit of Birkenhead]

For most rules 40mm frontage is best (although my 6mm ancients, Napys, and Fanatasy are on 60x30, and modern Inf is on 30x20) . I do have 10mm cav on 20x20, but that is to use them as shock in Warmaster, otherwise the formation is far too deep for most rules.

IanS