"Basing 1/72 Napoleonics?" Topic

I picked up a whole load 1/72 Airfix Napoleonics and wanted to go down wargame memory lane and base them up and paint them.

What size bases do people use for infantry and cavalry – I think I want to use bases of 4 figures (2x2), or perhaps 6 (2x3).

Any help, much appreciated :)

Al

What rules do you anticipate using ?

Basing depends more on the rules than the size of the figures. Systems like Volley & Bayonet/Grand Armee use single-base dioramas, old-school 1:20 or 1:33 systems specify a frontage per figure, more abstract systems like Black Powder and Lasalle specify using the same size bases for both sides but leave the base frontage and number of figures up to the player. Some games just have unique basing schemes (like triangular artillery bases in Empire or the interesting adaptations for Napoleon's Battles). There is no such thing as a common basing standard for Napoleonics.

Troops in line should theoretically be at 8mm per figure, so 3 per inch. Many Airfix poses make this impossible, so you may have to go with less density than that.

If I have to make a recommendation, I would say to do whatever Mateus does, because it looks amazing.

- Ix

How far down Memory Lane are you going? But six infantry on a 1 1/5" square stand fit nicely, and is big enough that you can put two cavalry or a gun and crew on the same size stand, which has advantages in some rules sets. The Yellow Admiral is right about the "book" frontage--two scale feet or thereabouts--but you only see wargame figures packed that tight when they're cast as a block, and not always then.

Figure individual infantry at 15mmX15mm, cavalry at 20mmX40mm, and if anything go up a little from there.

I would also recommend using something heavy for a base since the figures themselves are so light. Also thick so it is easy to move them by the base. My suggestions are either get some 2" wide by 1/4" thick bass wood from you local craft shop or 2"x2" ceramic tiles from you local home labyrinth. They come in sheets and you can usually find a few sheets that have a single cracked tile and get them to discount the entire sheet.

I personally have gone to using three 2"x2" squares for each unit. This works well with several rule sets I use including Shako II and Carnage & Glory. A 6" unit frontage works well with a 50 pace per inch ground scale.

Esthetically you could base your British four figures wide and two deep per base and the French 3 x 3. Gives 24 figures for British units and 27 for the French. Of course that depends on if you want to base the mounted officer with each unit or use them as a brigade/divisional officer. Also the annoying fact that the Airfix British don't come with any ensigns and you need two for each battalion. If you don't mind conversions you could always use the color sergeants.

Good luck! Sounds like fun!

I use 1x1 inch with 2 infantry per base, 6 bases to an infantry unit for 12 figs to a unit. Lets me form march column (1 bases wide x 6 bases deep, attack column (2 bases wide by 3 bases deep), line (3 bases wide x 2 bases deep) and square (turn half the bases back to back) while keep the unit footprint to modest size. Cav is 2 figures on a 1.5x1.5 base, 4 bases to a unit. Cav in line is 2x2 bases, cav in march column is 1x4. Arty is one gun per 3x3in base.

3 inches seems to be a common unit footprint for many Napoleonic rules, whether one unit represents a battalion or a brigade. If I want to play Age of Eagles I count each figure as a base. Works for me. This is the most rules flexible basing method I could think up for my 1/72 scale napoleons.

One thing that I think gets overlooked in basing figures is how many bases represent a unit. The more bases needed to represent a unit, whatever your scale or whatever each unit represents, the longer it takes a player to move each unit. I have played games where most of our time was spent moving stands and not rolling dice.

Good luck with the journey--keep us appraised of your progress!

I base them in 8's on a 60x40mm -(cav in 3's) Usually I have two bases to a 'unit' whatever that may be… whatever suits your gaming…

What ever you like that makes them look good.
Especially if you do not plan to play or supply both forces.

for example
I have 15s on 27 by 15 and 27 by 19. With that I use them with Age of Eagles, Empire ( all), Carnage and Glory and Over the Hills.
It may require home ground QRS for the specific rule- easy to do.

Strict adherence is only need if to join existing players who have mounted for a specific rule system!

Good Luck
MG

Thanks guys, very helpful comments.

I don't have any particular rules in mind, just wanting them to look good and I'll play whatever I want ;)

No one else among my friends plays this scale so I can do what I like!

Find a ruleset you enjoy.
Base according to that.

I was planning on basing my 20mm nappies individually and using magnetic sabot bases so they can be attached to the sabots for rules that require non-individual figures.

I use 2mm mdf from Warbases. I base them on teh old Peter Gilder (among others) standard of 15mm frontage per infantry figure, 20mm deep per rank. Cavalry use 20mm frontage and 40 mm depth

My standard French bases (6 figures – 6 bases) are 45mm wide by 40mm deep, to allow 3 figures per rank.

My standard allied/cavalry is 60mm wide, 40mm deep. This allows 8 infantry, so four bases makes a unit of 32. 5 bases makes a British 40 figure unit.

As an added twist, I tend to mount the skirmishers on half sized bases (ie for French, 45mm by 20). So when they skirmish, I can split them up and put them in front of the unit.

Similarly, for Brits, I do a half base, so 30mm by 40mm, with 4 figures on – being 1/10 of the unit so the elite company. Again, this is split in half for the light company

For some time, I had mine organized and based primarily for small-tactical games (battalions at 1:30, typical field strength 18 to 20 figures). I put 3 (or 2 for two-rank Brits, etc.) on 3cm frontage, regardless of number of real-life companies or platoons.

Cavalry was based singly on 25mm frontage (40" files). When I went to 3cm (with a 1:40 basis and 36" files for bigger regiments), I spread them out or put them on sabots.

Base depth was very shallow, just enough to accommodate the cast-on bases (sometimes with a bit of trimming): 15mm for infantry, 30mm for cavalry.

Lately, I've decided that I want to invest in smaller figures for tactical games, and put the 1/72 permanently on wider and deeper bases with an eye to big-battle games in the style of De Bellis Napoleonicis, Horse, Foot and Guns and Grande Armee.

Square bases are convenient for that. They also work with regiment-unit games, as I can do without the symbolic formation into literal columns and squares (a distortion of footprint that seems too much like "bath-tubbing").

Even with the occasional going down to battalions of several stands as units, a lot of rules sets nowadays are okay with bases square or even deeper than wide (a la Napoleon's Battles). With 3-4 wide when deployed, I figure on two wide for a battlefield column or a single base for a square.

I'm going with 4cm X 4cm, with 4 infantry or 2 cavalry per base. That's right back to how I originally started, with Joseph Morschauser's simple rules as my starting point!

That still leaves galloping horses sticking out, so I might put cavalry on deeper bases. I could double the number of infantry per base (using two ranks of figures), but I wanted to get more deep bases from the same collection.

Two staggered ranks of 2 gives a different look than all 4 in one line. The figures in either case are to the rear of the base.

With artillery, the frontage is extreme with the GA assumption of a base per battery (as opposed to 12-24 cannon). If I go down to that precision, and the wider deployment proves a problem in how the game works, then I can limit arc of fire to just part of the base.

I'm all the more committed to this, as I've put in the extra work of using modeling paste to turn the figures' integral bases from several ‘hills' into one.

That's a lot more fuss and muss than my super quick approach of simply sticking them on top of a base textured with application of 3M Safety-Walk slip resistant tape.

Theoretically, I could later add another rank, but that would probably entail cutting away some of the modeling compound.

By the way, my basic recipe for home-made modeling compound is:
6 parts baking soda
2 parts PVA glue (Elmer's Glue-All)
3 parts acrylic paint

For gluing polyethylene parts together, Loctite Plastics Bonding System is excellent. Tip: Be sure to clean the glue tube so the cap doesn't bind itself shut! With a real war interfering with supply from Russia and Ukraine, one might be doing more conversions than would otherwise be the case.

I used to brush on Elmer's as both a ‘primer' and a ‘varnish' to sandwich the paint.

Nowadays — after washing the figures to remove mold-release residue — I spray them with Rust-Oleum 2x Ultra Cover Paint + Primer.

I follow the advice on the label, that on plastic maximum paint adhesion and durability is achieved in 5-7 days. So, I prime a large enough batch to keep up with my painting schedule while giving the primer a week to cure.

I varnish with a spray of Krylon Matte Finish.

There are other products that might be more advantageous, but I haven't tried those. These are readily available at my neighborhood hardware store, and seem to do a decent job.

My big bases so far are mat board, the sort used in framing pictures, of which I had plenty on hand. I'll probably later put those on top of wood about 1/8" or 3mm thick. I'm thinking also of putting little steel washers on the bottoms, for attachment to magnetic strips in boxes. (As an extra touch, the washers could be recessed so they are flush with the bottom of the wood.)

(Other products, especially advertised for use on plastic, might be better, but I haven't tried them.)

Yellow Admiral wrote, "Troops in line should theoretically be at 8mm per figure, so 3 per inch. Many Airfix poses make this impossible, so you may have to go with less density than that."

Most figures require trimming their cast-on bases to fit three to the inch (24" files in actual 1/72 scale). A lot more than just Airfix boxes come with traditional advancing poses that look awkward this way, the men looking to their right while perhaps not even stepping to the front!

For decades, it's been common with smaller 15mm (ca. 1/108) figures to use 1cm per figure; even the old Empire 3/8" standard is a bit more than 9.5mm. (In my experience, that quickly displaced the older WRG standard of 7.5 mm.)

In 1/72 figure scale, 1cm is 28.34" — just slightly more than the assumption in Empire (and many other sets) that at ground scale and figure ratio we have 27" files.

It's mainly 15mm rules for later periods, not needing to differentiate the greater density of 3-rank formations from 2-rank, that go to inch-wide three-figure elements (or even base 2-rank on 3/8" instead of 1/2" per figure).

Again in the Empire tradition, the assumption is that while 3-rank infantry are 4 per yard, 2-rank are 3 per yard and cavalry (in 2 ranks) are two per yard.

If your basing puts so many on a 40mm frontage, then you're in line with common 15mm assumptions. Going up to 60mm (15mm per figure) puts you in line with 25-30mm assumptions, at least in the Wargames Research Group lineage.

(Some others would have a smaller 4 on 2-inch or 50mm basis, whereas the prevailing standard with 28s today is 3/4" or 20mm per figure — an 80mm equivalent.)

My own former basing used slightly different assumptions (3-rank infantry also having files only 24" wide).

Newline designs has a sale going on, so I bought alot of 20mm
Austrians. Hopeing to base them the same as 15mm, we will see if they fit. Thinking of Black powder rules. Any body have any other suggestion or better ideas!

From what I've seen of games using 28s with Black Powder (and other rules sets) today, the fashion is to deploy infantry figures in two actual ranks on the table, but cavalry in one rank.

That further exaggerates depth of battlefield columns, and probably also dimensions of squares for defense against cavalry. Many people seem not to be bothered by this, placing more importance on preferring the look over single-deep lines.

The very common basing appears to be squares 4cm wide for infantry (2 figures wide and 2 deep), 5cm for cavalry (2 figures wide and one deep).

That said, the trend seems to be toward deployed unit frontage — within a "close enough" tolerance (perhaps about +/- 10% from a benchmark) — being all the rules really care about, not number of figures or bases.

So, it might be that however you arrive at (for instance) something between 18cm and 22cm is just fine. The benchmark 20cm, and corresponding ground scale unit of measurement, can be reduced to fit smaller tables and/or figure collections (whether in number or in size of models).

I don't know about BP in particular, but some recent rules sets might care about one or the other of number of bases or number of figures.

There are various ways to adapt the assumptions to what's at hand, even if the opposing forces are based to different standards. If you're providing both sets of figures, then you have great freedom to go with whatever suits you.

If you're looking to participate in tournaments, then you'll need to adhere to whatever the standard is for those. That also facilitates "pick up" games at conventions.

If there's a local club in which you want to play, then following whatever is most popular in that environment is advantageous.

Phillip; very useful imforation, thank you.