"Mounting your troops" Topic

I do not understand why it seems that the infantry is mounted with some much spacing between the FIGs in most of the rules?
A constant complaint is not enough table but yet the units are stretch in relation to the number of figs for x-base size.
I see the complaints about single rank (thus looking like a skirmaish line) yet for a more mass look they are mounted 2 deep…but only accomplishing a look that is like a britsh style skirmish/firing line.
Didn't the period have them shoulder to shoulder /elbow to elbow?
It seems GdB battle reports to be the only ones to present units mounted to apporach of that density! Why is that?

As old CLS guy, the figures are pretty close. I think some newer rules space just for looks -- hard to see all the beautiful figures that you have painted! But closer is better. We place, for instance, 6 figures on a 2" by 2" stand. It can be tight.

I've always based my figures much more densly then standard, most base 28mm figures on 20mm frontag, but to me thats way to much, I base mine either 15mm pr figure if If I can squize them close enough 12-13mm

I agree, shoulder to shoulder is how it was and how it should be, not perhaps the 8mm per figure of the old Quarrie rules, which for 25mm is a bit too tight, but 20mm frontage is a bit like open order.

However if you have painted an army, you do not want your figures clashing at the elbows an chipping the paint off each other…

rabbit

I just hate it when i see figures spaced to far apart!!
regards
Russ Dunaway

There is a problem the other way around of course, as rules written for old 25mm with shoulder-to-shoulder frontages can make it impossible to fit big 28mm figures in so closely. A bit of a tightrope to walk for rule writers?

Well for one the base that they are on will not flock it self.

So having that little bit of space in between each figure allows you to put some glue there so that you can flock them.

Plus it is the frontage of the unit that really matters.

I am going to a 6 figures per base in a 3 x 2 formation and at 1:30 ratio a normal battalion will have 24 figures or 4 bases.

I base my infantry relatively tight. They are 1:72 (nominal 20mm) plastics and based in single rows of figures, those historically in 3 ranks at 10mm per figure and those historically in 2 ranks at 15mm per figure. This makes my 3 rank infantry almost shoulder to shoulder, although my 2 rank infantry are a little looser.

Rod

In the old Fire and Steel rules(which I still play) basing frontage, for infantry, was 6mm a figure, with a 12mm depth. You could do that because 15mm figures were smaller 20 years. Heritage/Empire, Custom Cast, Ral Partha, and Minifigs 1st and 2nd gen were no problem to use, because figure size was between 13mm and 15mm.

Nowadays that is very hard to do. 15mm Old Glory, Battle Honors, and Minifigs are bigger now, so it impossible to get them on that size stands. Don't let them be in the firing position, because the whole stand will tip over.

Nasmith and Magistum Militum would fit, but I live in the USA and I know of no US distributor. A good friend of mine is a US distributor for Freikorps, but they no longer carry Napoleonic figures.

So now I have to cheat and make the stands a little bigger. I use Battle Honors figures so its not too bad.

Perhaps this is where the bulk of "modern" or "heroic" style figures comes back to haunt us?
Quite a few manufacturers' 28-32mm infantry would be difficult to squeeze three abreast into the 40mm base frontage that's sort of becoming an unofficial standard, so you end up with 20mm per figure, which I'd agree looks rather too open.
Similarly, 18mm figures as the new standard have outgrown basing rules intended for true 15s. 10mm per figure is almost the minimum, although one could really squeeze them in, spray black and just paint the fronts of the lead rank and the backs of the rear one?
With the more anatomically correct 30mm ones, both old and new, just as with Rod's 20mm plastics this seems to be less of a problem.

Fire and Steel seems ridiculous now. The figures were CRAMMED onto bases.

As close as is physically possible (one rank) with the infantry figures has worked well for me visually and in terms of frontage/ground scale. I like cavalry mounted boot to boot for the heavies, a little more space for the lights.

I am currently diving back into Napoleonics in 25/28mm, using my friends' basing style so that I can participate. They mount 2x2 on a 40mmx40mm stand. I hate it. It looks like open order to me. I played around with 30mmx30mm stands and they look much better with my Foundry figures. But I'm stuck with the bigger stands for compatability reasons. Maybe I should switch to Front Rank figures, as they are so large that four of them would fill a 40x40 stand. But I've already got the Foundry stuff (don't worry, I didn't pay full price for it), and I'm loath to sink more money into repeating what I alreaedy have.

</rant mode>

I like to pack ‘em tight. I put 8 28mm figs on a 60mm x 40mm base, so 15mm frontage each. It does make basing and flocking harder but I reckon it looks good. With 32 figures in a standard battalion and 48 in a large Austrian one, thank goodness for OG army deals.

link

link

link

link