"Colours per base" Topic

This is a question of aesthetics. Let us take a base (3" x 3"),that represents a French reg't. of three bns., pre 1804. The 1st & 3rd bns. carry the national colours, the 2nd bn. carries the regimental colour. You are using 1/72, 20mm scale figs., and you have decided on three ranks of figures, 6 abreast. The colours, drummers are mixed with the front rank.

Would you have a single colour on the base or all three for each bn.? If you go with one would you use the regimental colour, which are very cool, and unique, or the national? Just curious on players preference.

I'd use one colour per base (three flags for 18 figures feels excessive). Assuming that I was building an army I'd probably have two third of the bases with national colours and the remaining third with regimental colours (assuming that it was no great effort to find the regimental colours free on the Internet).

I have already printed them out, I just have to mount them

I plan on doing the same but using 28mm. 2 ranks of 5-6 figures per rank. I'd probably do 1/2 the stands in national flags, 1/4 stands in regimental flags, and 1/4 stands with NO flags – instead there will be the drummer (if the stand has a flag then there will be no musician – with only 12 figures representing the brigade\large regiment, I only want 2 command figures present (officer plus either flag or drummer)

From the aesthetic side the national colour on every base will look the best. IMO the 1815 flag is also the one that has the most impact visually.

Have you seen the pre 1804 models? Some of them are pretty wild.

A 600 man battalion would have 1 color per 200 files. Not 1 color per 6 files.

Also, the drummers were in back of the line of battle, where they could be heard and where the commanding officer could give them orders to drum out orders.

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and yea, I have drummers in the front line, right next to the colors…..

It may be useful to use the flags to distinguish between the bases – so you one senior and one junior unit. The senior can have the national and the junior the regimental. Two flags in one unit is fine in cases like British or Russian units where the two flags are side by side. – but not here. You might get away with one flag in the front rank and one in the second.

I put the drummers in the rear rank these days, one either on the left or right end. Officers usually in the front at one of the ends. The flags can have an escort if that reflects historical practice – figures on one or both sides – but not officers or drummers.