"Basing for Freikorps 15's SYW" Topic

Hi,

I am just returning to war gaming after a slight hiatus and have decided on the SYW for my first project. I have no lead pile as I sold it all off last year. I have just ordered some 15mm Freikorps Prussians as well as some paints and the usual tools (I am starting from scratch completely).

I was just wondering what do people generally use for base sizes in 15mm for their 15mm miniatures?

I am considering basing in 4's with each base representing a company – is this a good way to go do you think?

Want to be able to play the bigger battles eventually – so big games with lots of figs but also the smaller battles initially.

Any help is much appreciated.

Rhys

It really depends also on the rules you plan on using. Koenig Krieg uses the two up, two back method, being four figures in two ranks on a .75" wide by 1" deep stand. Age of Reason, IIRC, uses a three figure stand, 1" wide by .5" deep. I really like the look of the two up and two back as it gives you a second rank on one stand depth.

Pick your rules, then mount your figures. KoenigKrieg is very popular and a great set of rules. But if you want to play out big historical battles, you want rules pitched at a higher level, like Volley and Bayonet.

I base all my 15s on 20mm wide, 15mm deep steel. That lets me start with units of 12 and build up to 24. Then sheet magenet lets me adjust to any other basing if needed (but as I always build both sides, it never is).

"I am considering basing in 4's with each base representing a company – is this a good way to go do you think?"

Yeah I think it is, I use a 30x30 mil base two up two back it looks good.

I like Piquet's Field of Battle for this period.

We use a base of 6 figures Of 3cm front and 2,5cm deep. We find in 15mm that bases of 4 figures are too small.

All my figures are based on 25mm x 30mm with foot 6 figures per stand (4), light foot 3 figures per stand (4) and horse 2 per stand (4-6). I have a large enough collection that I can play any rule set without worrying about mismatched frontages.

And just to throw in more confusion! I base on 20 mm frontage by 25 mm deep for infantry, two ranks of two figures. I think this gives great flexibility, for example some of my club use Polemis rules and the bases are 69 mm frontage x 30 mm depth, 12 figures to a base- 3 of my bases give the equivalent, and, as I use magnetic basing, I just stick them on a metal movement base. Other rules tend to use 40 mm wide bases, so two of my bases equals 1 base.
Not sure about your " 1 base = a company" though, rather depends on the army. Fine for British, which had a large number of smallish companies, but the Continental powers often had their battalions made up of a smaller number (typically 4) much larger companies.
If you are new to SYW, I recommend this site:

link

Thanks everyone, lots to consider.