"How Do you Base your 10mm Napoleonics?" Topic

Going to dip my toe into 10mm Napoleonics but I was wondering how people are basing them.

I am thinking of 20mm x 20mm square basing because it seems to give me the most options regarding using different rulesets.

From what I have seen and read on the inter-web it looks like I can get 3x foot figures in two ranks on a 20mm x 20mm base.

But I cannot tell how people are basing their horse and guns.

How many horse can I get on a 20mm x 20mm base? Does it differ by manufacturer or are all 10mm Napoleonic horse approximately the same size?

How about guns? I like the look of the Old Glory guns. Can I get a large Old Glory 10mm Napoleonic gun with crew on a 20mm x20mm base or will I need to go larger?

I am in the U.S. and part of me does not want to deal with ordering overseas or cutting and trimming Old Glory strips to fit on 20mm x 20mm bases. Part of me wants to just mount the strips whole 2 strips wide by 2 strips deep on 2x3/4 inch bases and forget about forming column, line and square.

What have others done?

You can indeed get 3x2 on a 20mm square base, that's how I have my WSS
link

I'm wondering if 30mm frontage would have been better and 4 figs. That's where I'm tending towards with planning my restart into Napoleonics.

Just realised I didn't get round to the horses question. You can get 2 on 20mm, 3 on 30mm. My ECW is 2x3 on 30mm x 40mm.

Cannon you need a minimum 30 x 30, but 40 deep is best.

ESR does have a nice look.

I do 4x2 infantry on a 25mm X 20mm base. Sometimes figure bases need to be trimmed tofit them in, but not by much. I chose this size base as it is rectangular, meaning squares look better IMO, and it gives a dense look.
Cavalry I do 4 to a base 40mm X 30mm.
Foot artillery is 30mm X 40mm to give depth, limbers behind on separate bases. Horse artillery 30mm X 30mm. Just my preference.

Sorry 3 wide by 2 deep on 30 deep x 40 deep.

The WSS are on 25mm bases

How many horse can I get on a 20mm x 20mm base?

Not many. Too small for most makes.

Does it differ by manufacturer or are all 10mm Napoleonic horse approximately the same size?

There are small differences in 10mm horse sizes, mostly with sculpting style; but they take up approximately the same space on a base.

How about guns? I like the look of the Old Glory guns. Can I get a large Old Glory 10mm Napoleonic gun with crew on a 20mm x20mm base or will I need to go larger?

In my experience you will need to go larger if you want gun + 4 crew on a base.

What have others done?

infantry in 2 ranks of 3 – 20mmx20mm
cavalry in 1 rank of 3 – 30mmx30mm
cannon and 4 crew – 30mmx30mm
Keeps it simple and it looks good.

Sunjester gets 2 horses on 20*20

I think Bandolier has it. I just like the rectangular bases.

Infantry on 20mm squares, with 2 ranks of 3. I use Flashing Blade and Pendraken figures. Cavalry are 1 rank of 2 figures on 20mm frontage with 30 mm depth (although I may go to 25mm deep, as most of the figures I have seem to fit OK.) Guns are on 30mm squares, I use "Over the Hills" rules and these base sizes enable me to relresent the variuos formations allowed in the rules. A standard infantry or cavalry unit has 6 bases, i use 4 guns to make a battery, which has same frontage as a standard infantry unit.
Recently got OG Brits. It looks as if these could fit 4 infantry figures on 20mm frontage, but it gives a "blocky" look with gaos between bases. May have to cut the strips to individual figures.

ESR 30 x 30 bases would go nicely with Marc Severin's "pocket scale" Grande Armee (a Sam Mustafa game).
Where cm are used instead of inches. Wagram, Borodino, and maybe Leipzig on a 4x6 table if you wanted to scale up from ESR for the ridiculously huge battles. Each brigade would have a flag and be an actual "unit".

I think it would look good.

It probably should be mentioned that ESR and Grande Armee are grand tactical rules (1 base=1 unit) and the recommended basing (which is very nice) is designed with that ground scale in mind.
My basing is designed for lower level rules (1 base=1 company). Used for Over the Hills and a house rules set.
Either way, there's room for flexibility.

Hello Desert Fox!

Since your looking for something simple and your not concerned with line, column or square, you might want to have a close look at "Polemos style basing", from Baccus. Although designed for 6mm, other scales are using it.

In 6mm you only need two base sizes 60mm x 30mm and 30mm x 30mm. The 60x30 covers infantry battalions, cavalry regiments, limbers, wagons, etc. The 30x30 covers commanders and artillery pieces and crews. Only two base sizes for your entire collection. If you find the base sizes a little tight for 10mm then simply move up to 80x40 and 40x40 or even just 70x35 and 35x35.

You can play almost any popular rule set as is or with a few simple house rules.

You might even want to take a close look at Baccus 6mm as the figures are amazing and of course using 6mm will allow you to play even bigger battles on smaller tables.

Best regards,

Glenn