"Basing/Base Widths/Frontage/Rulesets" Topic

Happy New Year, Gentle Friends.

I have a couple of questions about basing and frontages. I intend to learn a few different 18C/H&M/SYW rulesets this year, namely:

Black Powder
Might and Reason
Volley & Bayonet
King of the Battlefield
Warfare in the Age of Reason

I'm wondering:

1) Which of these (besides MaR) uses Base Widths as measurements in the game?

1a) I plan on using battalion frontage as musket range in general, and will use that as a standard to tweak the rules to my liking. Thoughts?

2) For, say 10mm to about 15mm, is there a standard basing that would work for most, or even all of these rulesets, for "battalions" to "brigades" to engage in large-ish (corps to field army) battles?

3) On the subject of cavalry charging infantry, or vice-versa, what would be the actual frontages of the involved detachments? What formation of cavalry, say, would be used to dislodge a battalion in line, and what would be the frontage and depth of said unit? Two squadrons?

4) Shouldn't three ranks of cavalry, knee-to-knee, be somewhat deeper (say, 1.5X) than three ranks of infantry in close order, shoulder-to-shoulder, or even in firing formation, (kneeling, stooping, and a half-step to the right)?

5) I get the company/battalion/regiment vs. troop/squadron/regiment thing for infantry vs. cavalry. Not as sure about the number of individuals in the cavalry units as I think I am about the infantry units, although I do get the difference between temporary units and administrative units (battalion or brigade as opposed to company or regiment). Squadrons seem to be composed of a smaller number of individuals than battalions. Were cavalry regiments smaller than infantry regiments or composed of a greater number of sub-units? I understand these are generally "ballpark" numbers (500 men to the battalion, 1000 to the regiment, 16 to 18 platoons to the battalion, etc.).

Thanks, as always for any sage advice or wry comments you care to offer. Cheers and Happy Historical Gaming!

P. S. I'm reading lots of books and articles about these subjects, but the questions arise faster than the answers occur.

Find the one with the smallest dimensions and then make sabot bases for the rest

So many questions. I'll try to keep the ball rolling.
1. To my knowledge, only Might & Reason. The same author uses base widths in the 18th Century 2 player rules, Maurice.
1a. Can see why. Good luck.
2. Other than V&B, 4 bases per unit should work fine for 10 to 15mm in two ranks (in M&R, you would twin two bases together to form one M&R base). V&B 18th Century infantry bases are oblong (like smaller scale bases in M&R), cavalry bases square – go to the V&B website to see photos. Sabots are also a good solution for V&B.
3. Someone else can comment here. This is a whole subject on its own and has been discussed at length on numerous occasions on this Board. In real life, no two situations are the same because opposing units will always have different numbers of troops. So, for a war-game, you compromise and assume opposing unit numbers are relatively similar. If the rules don't provide a 'rule of thumb,' make your own mind up how many soldiers each unit should represent.
4. In real life, yes (of course). On the table, however, your infantry bases will be far too deep – can't be helped; that's tabletop wargaming. Base depth then tends to be dictated by the size of the miniature. I have based my troops in different ways over the years. I now find square bases to be the most adaptable to different rule sets.
5. There is no satisfactory answer. Think in terms of frontages (e.g., 4 foot occupy the same frontage as 3 horses, or 3 foot the same as 2 horse, etc). To begin with, I recommend you make your infantry and cavalry units the same frontage (in line) – the number of figures per wargames unit is then up to you. If in future you decide to have larger units, you can paint and base more figures.

Re point 2 in OP post; 40 mm frontages seem to be quite common in 10mm and 15mm. I also use 60mm for my 10mm WSS and LoA armies. If you play in a club you probably need to go with the majority, but if planning solo, I reckon 40mm fronts are a good compromise, with perhaps a few 20mm fronts to give flexibility.
Re point 5; cavalry squadrons typically 100 to 150 at "establishment", but obviously campaign strengths could be lower. I use 6 figures to represent a squadron in my WSS/ LoA. Armies and between 16 and 20 figures to represent a battalion, these are on 60mm frontage, with single rank for cavalry and two ranks for the infantry.

Thanks guys, very useful answers.

Westmarcher, the detailed point-by-point response is greatly appreciated. Cheers.

On item 3, yes the relative frontages would be about equal, but the question itself is an artificial, wargamey one: Actually, one or more brigades of horse would be attacking a part of the enemy line, with this or that squadron eventually getting lucky.

That being said, strangely enough, although regiments were largely administrative entities, when considering only Prussia and Austria they work as game units: Both armies fielded infantry regiments in two battalions, normally drawn up side by side, with a total frontage roughly equivalent to that of their five-squadron cavalry regiments… Doesn't work for French or British though.

Here are some examples of 10mm scale SYW organised in 4 base units. All of the bases are 1inch (25mm) square. Infantry units have the same frontage as cavalry. Figures are a mixture of Old Glory and Pendraken. These are all based in the same way as my own but are better painted and based. All credit to 'Dour Puritan.'

pendrakenforum.co.uk/index.php/topic,11164.0.html

pendrakenforum.co.uk/index.php/topic,10618.0.html

P.S. I subsequently remembered that King of the Battlefield units are on 3 bases (but I imagine would still work with 4 with or without a sabot)

My rules for the 18th century-nappy period allow you to use any basing system you can dream up AND almost any basing system against any other basing system.