"Basing 6mm Minis to Warmaster's 10mm Bases?" Topic

Hi all,

A friend and I are getting into Warmaster, but are interested in a variation we saw mentioned: using 6mm minis on the existing 40mmx20mm bases it uses for its 10mm default size and leaving all the numbers as-is.

If we go that route, do you all have any ideas/suggestions on how to best base and arrange 6mm minis on these size bases?

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Edit: Drat! Typo in my subject – it should read Basing 6mm Minis *to* Warmaster's 10mm Bases?

I play Warmaster Ancients and based my 6mm Baccus Romans as follows –

Legion – 16 to a base (2 ranks of 8)
Spanish infantry allies – 12 to a base (2 ranks of 6)
Skirmishers – 8 to a base (2 ranks of 4)

Similar thing for cavalry – Heavy (5 models), Light (4 models)

Basically if a unit was close formation, stick more models on, and if they were skirmish order, fewer, and spread irregular.

If I get time I'll post some photos on my blog.

I based all of my 6mm medieval figures on warmaster bases. I packed as many on as I could and didn't worry about how many figs were on a base. My Irregular knights are packed together tighter than the Heroics and Ros figures are.

Honestly, my advice is to do a calculation based on the number of figures you have. So for infantry, I'd divide the total number of figs/strips by 3. That's your minimum requirement to make a unit. That may well be less figs per base than looks good, so you adjust upwards. The right look for Warmaster is to minimize any visual gap in the line when bases are placed side by side, and any similar gap when placed in column; the goal is to produce the look of a cohesive unit.

Visually, 2 ranks on a base is probably a minimum. If that looks too loose for a close order unit, add ranks till it looks good.

By the way, in Warmaster, all cavalry is based facing the short edge of the base, but in Warmaster Ancients, light and skirmisher cavalry faces the long edge and only heavy shock cavalry faces the short edge. The reason for this is because short edge basing means that charges by a multiple grouping of cavalry can end up putting more bases in contact with a defending enemy line than the enemy line has, a definite advantage in combat rolling! This makes sense for shock cavalry (and typical fantasy depictions of cavalry) intended to break an enemy line, but not so much for lighter harassing cavalry that appeared in many ancient conflicts.

WA also sometimes has pike units based to the short edge, for similar reasons.

Appreciate the feedback, guys.

My friend and I will be purchasing the minis explicitly for this project, so we're trying to get our math correct from the outset.

Is it possible to get three ranks of 6mm infantry on a 40x20mm base? Or just two?

That may depend on manufacturer. Having just attempted it I have no problem getting three ranks of Baccus figures on a 20mm-depth base. However if figures have much chunkier strips on the bases or are significantly larger than Baccus it could be a squeeze. I believe H&R are generally smaller than Baccus; I don't know about Adler or Irregular.