"Bases for 28mm Napoleonics" Topic

Hi All..

I'm fraserk – Long time FOW baser first time Napoleonic basererer..

Anyhoo Ive recently given in and bought some 28mm nappies (Brits) and the Black Powder rule set.

Im stuck now thinking about base sizes.. my first plan was to use the (IMO) excellent LOTR warhammer bases for my new dudes. I love the way the fit into the movement trays, and the individual bases would allow me to pull them out if needs be for skirmish rules etc..

But, I just discovered that the Perry's sell bases, and so wondered if i should go that way..

In my club they have Black Powder and use GW Waterloo sometimes too.

Any advice for an obviously uncreative non thinking wargaming baser who is used to being told what to do?

Ask the folks in your club! There are so many different standards for basing it's hard to keep up. Black powder is very flexible in its basing requirements, but still best if your troops match what the others in your club are doing.

I think one good way of doing them is metal bases from Wargames Accesssories. Depending on what you are planning on doing individually based figs can be a real pita.

I like Litko bases. They are nice and simple, they fit together nicely, and you can get them in any size you want.

Based on pictures I have seen around the web, a lot of gamers use bases that are really too big for their figures. With Napoleonics, as in other horse and musket periods, the figures should be elbow to elbow. 1.5" (40mm) squares for 4 figures in two ranks seems to be standard, so 20mm frontage per figure. I prefer to base my troops on 30mm frontage by 40mm depth, four figures per base in two ranks, so 15mm frontage per figure. It gives an impression of density that the looser formations lack.

I have gone for 40x40 mm bases for infantry. Four figures per base for close order infantry and 2 figures per base for skirmishers.

For cavalry I have gone with 40mm frontage, 50 mm depth bases for heavy cavalry and 50x50mm bases for light cavalry.

Artillery bases are about 50x70mm depending on the piece.

MDF laser cut bases from 2mm or 3mm thick board are the way to go imho. Perfect corners, and proper 90 degree angles. Ebay has several suppliers, or East Riding Minis supplied my last lot.

Much cheaper than plastics, and they dont slide around.

THanks for the comments.

There is no consistent basing in my club.. they use either Waterloo or Black Powder rules however the guys involved have based differently.

Scomac-those figures are stunning

If you read the Black Powder rules you will see they recommend either 20 or 15mm frontage, depending on the size of units you want to have. 24-30 figure units should be on 20mm frontage, larger 32-36 figure units on 15mm frontage, to allow both 'normal size' units to have roughly the same frontage.

BTW, if you adopt a 15mm frontage by basing 6 figures in two ranks of 3 on on the 45mm wide by 40mm deep bases supllied by the Perrys, you will not only be basing the same as the Perrys, but also suitably for General de Brigade and ITGM rules….

If you live in Australia I'd recommend BACK2BASIX.
back2base-ix.com
Very good service, excellent products.
I get almost all my bases from them now.
I play FoG:N and Lasalle for Naps, and MAURICE for Lace wars.
Most of my bases are 40mm wide by 30mm or 40mm deep.
That said, PERRY BASES are fine and it would be a shame to waste the ones you get with the miniatures.
Cheers
trailape.blogspot.com.au

wow again some great comments thanks!

I just noticed that the square warhammer bases are 20 x 20, so thats added something else to consider…

Then i could base individually and use movement trays to combine them into 6's or 4's.

Sparker – Im unfamiliar with Generale de Brigade, and whats ITGM?

Trailape – Lasalle I have heard of – whats the basing confimity for that?

My 28mm Brits are individually based on warhammer bases.

I prefer the 15mm frontage for my infantry, even if only 16 or 24 figures in a unit. 20mm frontage makes them look too spread out, more like loose order than close order troops. Also takes up less frontage so you can pack more units in on a smaller table,

ITGM = In The Grand Manner

An old set of rules used by Peter Gilder at his Wargames Holiday Centre.

They were updated by the UK's Reigate Wargames Club, which encouraged sales significantly but still needed streamlining imho.

General de Brigade has a similar feel, but is (imho) a much better set of rules, very streamlined and well playtested. The latest edition has plenty of eye candy too.

These are both very well established and successful rulesets, but today out of the two sets you are more likely by far to get a 28mm Nap game to Gen de Brig than ITGM…….

Google for reviews of both.

The Lasalle basing comes in two flavors to cover most existing basing systems. For 15mm figures, which of course are not using, you have either a 20mm wide by 30mm deep or the near equivalent for Shako/Napoleon's Battles/etc. or you have the 40mm wide stands that you find with other rules systems. With either of the basing schemes, you can match up with an opponent as the narrow stands are doubled up width wise to equal the 40mm wide frontages.

You could use Empire basing standards though if both sides have the same basing scheme. The rules work on movement distances that are full stands widths wide, so in the above example, 40mm movement units and multiples thereof.

For 28mm as Trailape has mentioned, 40mm is a good width and double this if you want more figures a stand. Having said this, I do see some people using 30mm and 60mm wide stands respectively. As Scomac illustrates above, however, you might want to consider packing your figures in a more dense formation. Some of the pictures in the Lasalle rulebook shows some stands with quite a few figures per base. They really do look the part as far as modeling troop density. Having said this, unless you change ground scale, there aren't many rules that have the "proper" number of figures per stand as to modeling troops per the scale of distance/troop occupation area.

For 15mm, I am thinking more to the Shako/Napoleon's Battles standard as I can readily push two stands together for 40mm wide compliance if needed. Sorry, but I don't know the standard for 25/28mm figures. I know with WRG, you would have 60mm wide stands with 3 or 4 figures abreast. 4 Figures abreast would have a great density and visual appeal which I believe is what Scomac is illustrating with his wonderful example :-)

For LaSalle in 28mm I work on 50mm Squares with either a 6 infantry in two ranks of 3

or with two Cavalry per base.

For Artillery I work on 50mm wide by 100mm deep, (as a battery would have a 'Park' to the rear and would take up a lot of real estate)

That said, 40mm square with 4 miniatures 2 x 2 is also fine, (though rather cramped for two cavalry).
For 15 / 18mm I use 40mm wide by 30mm deep for Infantry and cavalry and 40mm squares for Guns.

LaSalle really doesn't specify any base size. As long as both armies / combatants are based similarly then the rules work fine. No base removal. Either a unit is there on the battlefield or it's gone, (routed to the four winds).
Cheers
trailape.blogspot.com.au

Gentlemen, I really appreciate the comments.

I will definately check out ITGM and LaSalle.

I think i have decided to go 2 x 2 figures on 40mm squares. I am going to use the square warhammer bases and mount the figures individually, then incorporate them into movement trays.. well thats the theory anyway.

Its probably worth pointing out that this is to attempt to make them usable across games – I have been dragged kicking and screamining into 28mm from 15mm so I dont want to duplicate too much, and would like to use a minimum of figures.

That's what I do. Individual bases then movement trays.

Well. I haven't finished the movement trays yet.