"Are Impetus-Style Bases the Future?" Topic

Would you like to see future Ancients rulesets adopt the larger style bases as used in the Impetus gaming system?

No, they are not.

No, not really.

At first I thought so. But in the end they are not as flexible, in terms of other rules being flexible in using larger bases, nor in gaming in smaller spaces.

Not in my house.

No.

I like Impetus bases for a certain scale/type of gaming, but as Dale Hurtt already said, Impetus bases aren't very flexible.

- Ix

No.

No. I would just go the "DBA Squared" route.

No.

No, but the punters like making their figs as presentable as possible and larger bases can help with this, however you can do a lot with smaller bases and some imagination.

DB

Yes. The Impetus bases are easy to set up and pack up and store. The dioramic effect is spectacular. Far superior to DBX basing or single figure basing to my eyes. The bases look like units.

Double plus ungood No.

No. Fine if you like them; I much prefer the flexibility of element bases.

I doubt any type of basing is "the future" as getting wargamers to agree on a standard of basing is like herding cats.

That said, all my ancients are impetus basing. If I want to play DBA, I use 12 impetus bases. If I want to play impetus, well… easy. If I want to play some other game? I'll be providing both armies, so no problem.

But if I ever start basing 4 figures on a stand and call it a pike phalanx: shoot me. Just seems silly to me.

No.

Yes. 1 Base = 1 unit. Works fine for me.

I have a large number of single-based minis, but those are for skirmish-type games. All my current and future minis are headed for Impetus-type bases.

Scale wise for a mass battles game even DBX style bases are over-depth when troops should only occupy the front few mm of a given base. An Impetus base will scale to a hundred meter depth? Sure they look good…

Nope. I sort of relate that form of miniature gaming with miniatures on cardboard markers…. boardgames with larger sized counters.

But…. for larger format actions, I can see the usefulness of that method of basing and miniature presentation. And the ability to make small "diorama" like basing is an appeal to the format.

I am in the process from moving from DBx to Basic Impetus 2 basing for my 15mm collection. I can because I do not play tournaments and I can provide both armies.

I think Basic Impetus 2 is a great Line-of-Battle ruleset and probably will make a good scenario based big skirmish ruleset also a la Lion Rampant. Cannot beat it for $6.00 USD on Wargame Vault.

My 28mm Dux Britanniarum collection is single based but I have Impetus sabot stands from Warbases so I can also use them for Basic Impetus 2. Got Romano-Brit, Saxon and Irish armies.

Yes for Impetus and its family of games

I am leaning towards this and have started basing my ancients in this way.

The single based units are far easier to make up and store.

They are also economical on figures as its not so much about the number of figures but the footprint of the unit.

As for game play they are usable in many rules systems Hail Caesar, Sword and Spear, To The Strongest as well as Impetus basically an system that does need element removal for casualties.

personally I like it!

Not for me. Others are entitled to differing preferences, though.

Yes, I think increasingly more people are leaning toward the larger Impetus-style bases.

IMO the 80mm base for 28mm figures is the best compromise between Impetus-style look and working with other systems.

Related thread here: TMP link

Cheers

I think so, though all my current figures are dbx sized, of course as four of them make an impetus base its not really an issue.

Having just started my first Ancients project (Arthurian extending backwards towards Late Rome), I was torn between my usual more flexible approach (smaller bases with magnetized sabots) and the diorama style bases. I ended up going with 12 figures packed on a 60mm frontage, which does look grand, and they are easy to move around the battlefield. I do have to use markers for some games, but so far it has worked out. I wouldn't do it for H&M periods though. By the way, this had nothing to do with Impetus, as I don't play them.

I like the fact that a base is a unit, and that the base is large enough that I can turn it into mini-diorama.

That said, I only use Impetus for 15mm scale and retain more traditional basing for my Hail Caesar 28mils.

my experience with 28mm plastics is that small scale basing (1 fig on 2x2cm, 2 figs on 4x2cm, 4 figs on 4x4cm) leads to frequent snapping of spears, plumes, horns etc…

so I started using the larger 12cm bases
for depth i take 6cm even for 2 rank heavy foot (12 figs), leaves some safe space for hoplite spears sticking out front (and back)

Alex

ps and setup/range is so much easier and faster

Yes – definitely. Look better, less fiddly.

Well since I use DBA for ancients I'd say No.

When Brexit goes through I imagine the British government will move quickly to ban the import of European rules and their "dodgy" basing practices and enforce a proper imperial basing standard of 3 and 5/32 inch squares* (plus or minus 40 thou).

*luckily those wargamers currently using 80mm square bases will be well within tolerable limits!

Yes, I hope. Far superior.

No, definitely not. For one thing, I much prefer Ancients rules in which units are comprised of multiple bases.

I like how they look, but they don't translate as easily into other rules so I doubt they'll become "universal".

No.

I prefer larger diorama bases personally, especially for rulesets that are element/unit based without figure removal and don't have formation rules. If I can get away with larger, united based, diorama style basing I do it. For instance, Dux Bellorum is a perfect set for the Impetus style basing. I'd be less likely to do it for 18th century linear combat or Napoleonics where march order, line and column come into play.

The better your terrain, the more problems you get with these big bases.

I am basing this way as well. Have been doing ancients and will be rebasing my ECW for Baroque. May even do TYW in the future. I love the basing, it looks great and gives the feel of units. I think the DBx basing, particularly for ancients gives too much flexibility.

I do not think it is the wave of the future though.

No. As Decebalus writes.

It is tempting. But I have refrained so far.

Funny, I was just trying to figure out if I could do Bloody Big Battles with 2 3x1.5" bases per Brigade.

I am no fan of 4 or 5 or more bases for a Brigade in a Corp+ level game. Makes no sense to me. I also thought the spectacle would look nice. Doesn't seem like I can do it. So, I may just need to tack a Warmaster style CnC rule onto VnB or modify something else.

Thanks.

Can someone post a link to Impetus bases? I have no idea what those look like.

Easy enough to find. Just do a google search, "Impetus bases". The picture below is two Impetus bases back to back and probably represents a "large unit."

As an aside, I think the first rules set to go with the big bases was Vis Bellica. In Armati a unit is 4 DBx bases or one Impetus base. So lots of rules can easily use this basing.

My friends and I are going with the Impetus basing style. All of us like the look and with a common frontage, we can make what game rules used "work".

No.

Nice painting on the pic from Marcus though odd group of crusaders and Arabs together led by a lute player. Surely they should all be trying to kill the guy with the lute?

Those look like Andalusians to me so a mix of Western and Muslim styles.

OT: I will probably build an army with Impetus style basing as I like the look but I don't see it becoming dominant.

My personal view is that the bigger ones armies get the bigger bases one needs- otherwise the time to get the minis out of storage and onto the table means that they will see relatively little action. One to four minis on a base is excellent if one uses a smaller army, for skirmish or DBA, but as the number of available minis in one's army increases, base size needs to increase in proportion.

My latest army (Numidians, some shown above) are mostly on 19cm-wide bases- a bit like Impetus bases but with fuzzy edges. These bases aren't flocked, yet- when they are they should match the cloth (which I had designed to match my basing colours, I call it "sagebrush steppe"). These minis started out on 6cm wide bases for DBA, were re-based onto 12cm bases in 2010 and again, recently, onto 19cm bases. Where will it end? ;-)

It will end when you glue all the figures to the table and call it a diorama base. :)

Cheers

Will they become so? Possibly.

Will they take over completely? No.

Individual basing to multiple figure stands is well established though not universal even for big games. That is where most people are at at present and unless rules change (from representing formation of individual units on the table) there is no chance of the 'unit base' becoming standard at present.

Mostly, I think this is because many gamers have units more than a foot wide with over 30 figures. One base wide works for units, let's say less than 6" wide, but not for people who want units more than that because they think bigger.

In the future, with the popularity of skirmish games, will bigger battles be fought with smallish single stand units? I guess they might. Will they compare with the big battles of the past where thousands of toy soldiers took the field – surely not. Once at that point, the singly based units, by virtue of scale,must be linked together and at that point the circle is closed with nothing gained.

The smaller the base the better. For 28mm, a 2cm base is best as you can use the figure for skirmish games, siege missions, massed battles, ect. If you need to move a group of them, get a movement tray.

For 15mm, no I don't see this becoming a thing. the 40mm frontage is too common to do away with. I will admit, the look is nice and the ease of movement is convient, but again I'll just keep my 40mm base and get a movment tray that fits 3 of them across

No, flexibility means a lot to me, but its a personal view that suits me. I am not dogmatic about it.

As someone who doesn't have a lot of table space for gaming, I am not in favor of such large bases. They do look really nice though.