"TYW 6mm Basing" Topic
9 Posts
All members in good standing are free to post here. Opinions expressed here are solely those of the posters, and have not been cleared with nor are they endorsed by The Miniatures Page.
Remember that you can Stifle members so that you don't have to read their posts.
For more information, see the TMP FAQ.
Back to the Historical Wargaming in General Message Board Back to the Renaissance Discussion Message Board
Areas of InterestGeneral Renaissance
Featured Hobby News Article
Featured Link
Featured Profile ArticleThe Editor is invited to tour the factory of Simtac, a U.S. manufacturer of figures in nearly all periods, scales, and genres.
|
Mollinary | 11 May 2017 1:04 p.m. PST |
Hi Guys, I have just bought a load of the beautiful new 6mm sculpts from Baccus, and am wondering how to base them. I think I would like to start with the Swedes, and would probably aim to base the pike and shot on separate 25mm square bases, with the aim being to provide sabots which might combine two or three bases to make a 'squadron'. These are not rules specific, nor do I need to base to suit others. This is the start of an attempt to start a TYW set of rules from scratch. Any suggestions as to how many ranks I should use (I think four is the maximum I could fit on a base) and how many files would be welcomed. In addition, and this is the million dollar question (!) if the Swedes are based in this fashion, how do you base Imperialists, Spanish, Dutch? Cavalry questions to follow! Suggestions gratefully received. Mollinary |
DGT123 | 12 May 2017 5:11 a.m. PST |
Good questions! IMHO I would base the Imperialist and Spanish in deeper more narrow formations. Dutch is close to Sweedes. |
mumbasa | 14 May 2017 8:45 p.m. PST |
Hi Andrew, This sounds exciting to me. I have a friend who talks about his interest in the TYW. We have a playtesting group in Denver, Colorado, that I think can help when you need some blind testing. I am always up for a playtest of a new set of rules. Here is my email address: mumbasa@q.com As far as basing goes, I think it is easier on the gamers if the bases are the same for both sides. It would be easier when ordering bases, too. John |
Glenn Pearce | 20 May 2017 6:59 a.m. PST |
Hello Mollinary! I think Baccus has pretty much established that for 6mm your best basing scheme is 60mm x 30mm unless your doing modern or custom basing to match a specific rule set. The standard Polemos basing system allows you to configure your figures in any way you want. So you can create whatever pattern you like for each country on the same bases. You can of course also create mini dioramas that simply embellish the look of those beautiful figures that you just obtained. Packing 6mm figures on small fiddly 25mm square bases augmented with sabots simply won't maximize the impact that you can make in 6mm. Sooner or later a TYW rule set for 6mm will appear using 60x30 bases. They might even be yours. If so designing a rule set around a single base of 60x30 is a lot easier than trying to do one covering multiple basing schemes. Should you decide to follow up on any of this than you should also talk to Peter at Baccus as I think he is interested in expanding his Polemos rule system into the TYW at some point in time. Best regards, Glenn |
Mollinary | 20 May 2017 8:01 a.m. PST |
Hi Glenn, Thanks for those thoughts. As it happens, I am already talking to Peter! I hear what you say about the bases, and I have not made a final decision. But Peter will have to convince me that 60 by 30 is the right way to go. I am also thinkIng of 30mm squares, and 1 1/2" squares (the latter being what I use for my 10mm ECW armies. What I will be looking for, however, is a method that allows me to fight a battle like Breitenfeld (which is sort of where I want to start (blame Daniel S for that!) on a table of somewhere between 8ft and 12ft long. Where there are different tactical styles, I would like to base figures so that these are apparent. In particular, I would like to be able to represent a three squadron Swedish Brigade. Really looking forward to this, both from the figure painting and rule writing perspective. Mollinary |
Glenn Pearce | 21 May 2017 7:19 a.m. PST |
Hello Mollinary! Talking/listening to Peter is great. He didn't settle on 60x30 by chance. He was one of the first to realize that it's a perfect mate for 6mm figures. I certainly wouldn't use anything smaller than your 30x30 or 1.5x1.5. Using small bases comes with a host of problems. The first is generally all the problems associated with formation changes. This alone can bog down a game. The other main one is just the logistics of having so many little bases in play. Gamers want to move all their bases every turn. When we changed over to single base units our game turns improved by at least 33%. I recall seeing an American game of Breitenfeld last year and also in 2015 I think, using 6mm figures. They used basing very similar to what Peter is suggesting. All cavalry and most infantry units were on what appears to be 60x30. Infantry units that had pikes in the center and muskets on the corners used 60x60 bases. Artillery and commanders on 30x30. They played on a 5x12 table with plenty of units in play. They used "Repent or Die" as a bases for their rules. If you want more feedback on the benefits of 60x30 let me know. Otherwise looking forward to hearing more about your project. Best regards, Glenn |
Mollinary | 21 May 2017 11:29 a.m. PST |
Hi Glenn, Thanks for taking the interest in this project. I am certainly a convert to the single base unit, and in my 10mm armies, which fought out Edgehill twice at today's Partizan in Newark (one each to King and Parliament!) are all mounted on unit sized sabot bases, with much info easily accessible for players on the rear edge of the sabot. So for the Royalist army at Edgehill I have 20 foot bases, 12 horse bases, 3 Dragoon bases, and 3 artillery bases, but over 1,000 figures. Each unit base is 5" wide. So I may go for this size of unit in 6mm. I will be at Joy of Six in July, with 6mm ECW armies using our variant of To the Strongest rules, for a game with a total of over 30 units, on 60x30 bases, on a 3ft. By2ft table. Should be fun! Mollinary/Andrew |
Marc the plastics fan | 22 May 2017 3:28 a.m. PST |
I like the sound of 5" bases – if you have any pictures I would appreciate seeing those. |
Mollinary | 22 May 2017 7:12 a.m. PST |
Hi Marc, The 5" bases are my sabots from Warbases. Their internal dimension is just over 4 1/2" so accommodates three of my 1 1/2" square bases. So a standard battalia contains 40 figures, 16 pike, 2 Ensigns, 20 musketeers, a sergeant/officer and a drummer. If you go over to Simon Miller's Bigredbat. blogspot, you can see a number of these units set out in the Edgehill scenario we put on at Partizan yesterday. Mollinary |
|