"Seeking comment on options for rebasing AWI 15mm troops" Topic

Hello Gentlemen,

I have bought from multiple sources a little over 1000 painted and based 15mm scale AWI troops. Most of them are Old Glory 15s, but maybe 100 or so are smaller figures such as Minifigs.

I have not settled on a Ruleset so far, but lean Blackpowder at the Moment. I also have a number of other rule sets such as British Grenadier, Maurice, and Normal Warfare. The reality is that I will generally be playing with people that will need resolution in 2-3 hours so I will need to use a stream-lined, fast and easy rule set.

Most of my infantry are based single rank 3 to a stand 1 inch wide and 3/4 inch deep. These men appear as if they are in classic close order ranks.

Another large contingent is based single rank 2 to a stand 1 inch wide and 1/2 inch deep. These troops appear to be in open order and frankly more realistic for most of the fighting during the war.

I have decided that for full strength regiments I like the look of 10-12 stands per regiments. I am not keen on rebasing any of the above mentioned troops. Ten stands of the open order troops (20 figures) formed in 2 ranks have the same frontage as 10 stands of the close order troops (30 figures) and I am okay with the irregularity. Black Powder is pretty forgiving and I am not up to rebasing any of these troops yet. They are based better than I could base them and are on metal bases.

The challenge is that I have a large contingent of rebels based 12 to a stand. These will need to be rebased, as well as some Hessians and future reinforcments. I need to make a decision on how to base these troops.

One thought I have had is to base these in open order, 4 to a stand in 2 ranks of 2 on bases one inch square. These would match up quite nicely with the troops mounted in pairs already. At some point I could even connect the troops based in pairs by gluing a sheet of paper underneath so they are all mounted 4 to a one inch square also.

I have some concerns and reservations though:

1. Should I really be looking at something more like 6 to a stand so units can be moved faster?

2. The nice thing about the current mounting is that I can form single row battle lines pretty easily, I will lose that with figures mounted in double rows. Also many of my 24 figure plus regiments are created by combining two twelve figure regiments with the same facings. For a truly massive battle I could divide these regiments again with one regiment getting the King's Colours and the other the Regimental flag. In such a situation the regiments would end up being one row units, so if I start producing regiments with double rows that would make the "double the army" option a bad one. To put things in perspective I have 14 British line regiments and 14 rebel line regiments at present (excluding Hessians, grenadiers and lights) so I won't be needing to double the army that often, but it might be nice to do the Battle of Long Island someday.

So far my only large battles have been with 10mm Gordon and Hague troops (someone posted here that G&H would get new people into the hobby and at least in my case that person was right) and I can appreciate the time savings of only having to move 5 bases to move 30 troops. I imagine it is going to be a pain having to move 12 stands just to move a regiment or maybe it isn't a big deal?

Thank you for the patience in reading all of this information. Any thoughts on any of these issues would be appreciated.

Sincerely,

Redcoat 55

I'd divide them in half and put two on a base and three on other bases. Then you have them about the same as the other figures.

If you want to move them faster just put them on movement trays. If you are using Black Powder you won't be changing formations that often anyway. If you need to just use a couple of movement trays per unit.

I like 20mm Square stands. Deeper if you need it, say up to 30mm with 2X2 figures per stand. This allows you to put stands together for 40mm frontage games as well. So not much different than what you propose above. 1 inch wide stands will work too. Many an ACW rules set has this size, even though I know you aren't doing ACW.

Maurice and Might and Reason both use the 40mm wide stands convention. Again, I like the square stands as they tend to be more flexible. 20mm wide stands with 2X2 figures "look" right to me as far as density goes.

I use 40x20mm stands, three figures in a single rank (two if they were in extended order). At 15mm scale (or larger), double-ranked figures look way out of scale to me.

All my troops in 15mm in all periods now get based on 30mm frontage bases. Its much easier fudging the rules than bothering with constant rebasing- life's far too short for that. Black Powder/Hail Caesar and Pike and Shotte are a winner with their easy going attitude to basing, it's amazing nobody thought of their attitudes earlier.

Bruntonboy,

Is there some particular advantage about 30mm frontage for multiple rule sets?