"Question on FoG basing style" Topic

So my gaming group has decided to get into Napoleonic as we found many of us have an interest. While we're going to use Black Powder 2 as our primary rules, when we asked the other gaming club in the area what basing to use someone suggested we use FoG basing as this would allow us to play Black Powder, Blucher and FoG: Napoleonics without having to rebase at all.

We mostly plan to use 15mm (likely the "thicker" 15mm like OG or AB), with one guy probably using 1/72 because he has a lot of 1/72 plastic French and doesn't want to buy more models.

First question, if he uses the same basing as the rest of us is it okay if he uses 1/72 scale? They will look much larger than ours but the base size/frontage is what matters, right?

Second, this is the advice we were given for basing in the FoG style:

Infantry/Cavalry: Infantry 40x30, 8/stand in two ranks of 4 (it was suggested to use 6/stand in two ranks of 3 because of the larger models. I would guess the 1/72 guy might want to use 4/stand in two ranks of 2 since his models are larger still). Cavalry 40x30 with 3 models per stand (one rank). Four stands make up a unit.

Artillery: 40x40? It was mentioned "light and medium guns" on 40x30 but I don't know the difference right now. One gun and however many gunners.

Skirmishers/Flankers: It was suggested 40x20 to represent flank companies deployed for mixed formations (I don't know exactly what this means). I would guess basing this would be like one rank of infantry but spread out on the base to represent not being in formation.

Division Leaders (are these Commanders?): 40x30 "so they can fit in if attached". Not sure of models on a stand.

Is this roughly accurate? The major appeal was that he said this would let us play all three games with no adjustments or rebasing required.

Consistency in base size and unit size is what is important, but you can certainly come to a gentleman's agreement if someone has an "off" style of basing.

Is 1/72 okay with 15mm figures? Probably not for me, but what you guys tolerate is your business. I have never seen the 18mm AB line in the flesh, so that might be more forgiving with 1/72 figures.

Yeah I think at some point he will get 15mm but he has a lot of existing figures in a box that are not based and expressed interest in playing but did not want to purchase more right away.

With Black Powder you simply decide if units are small, regular or large. Even if the basing is different, as long as you declare the unit size you;re fine.

Black Powder was specifically designed to accommodate different basing between armies and units!

Put some 1/72 next to some 15s and decide. Only you can tell if the look bothers you or not.

FoG basing is a bit specialised. I had most of my 15mm/18mm Napoleonics based for it, with 8 infantry (4 x2) on a base. AB figures easily fit at 4x2? I used three cavalry figures, (but only 2 Cossacks) on the same size bases. For artillery I generally stuck to the 40 mm frontage, with 30 mm depth for lighter guns (which were often used attached to a unit), but I found that some of my AB guns did not fit well on the 30 mm depth, so made bases a bit deeper. If your friend wants to use /01/72, which are really 25mm fugures, he will probably only get three infantry in a rank, but it will deoend on the poses. If the rest of you are hapoy with the difference in scales, then go for it.
The problem I had was that FoG was not popular, the rules were badly structured and poorly written (this was 1st edition, 2nd ed may be an improvement) and you seemed to spend half of each game looking things up. The basing is not really suitable for most other rule-sets and my group eventually moved on to " Over the Hills".
I now play OTH and Napoleon's Battles and have pretty well rebased all of my figures ( around 1500!) for Naps Battles. Infantry are 2x2 on 20 mm x 25 mm (25mm square for British and later Portuguese), I have my cavalry at 2 per 25mm square (slight deviation from Naps Battles) and artillery are on 40 mm x25mm. I find this basing, with some slight modifications, such as adding an additional 40x25mm artillery crew base, allows me to play OTH, General d'Armee, Black Powder, Lasalle, Age of Eagles etc as well as Naps battles. I could also play FoGN, in the unlikely event that I would ever want to, by using movement bases.
I would suggest that you think very carefully before committing yourself to the rather esoteric basing of FoGN

I started basing my 28mm chaps for FOG(N), however tried once and sacked it. I have used them for Black Powder , Waterloo and Over the Hills without a problem, but I do supply both sides,

Tally Ho!

I would suggest that you think very carefully before committing yourself to the rather esoteric basing of FoGN

Well as I said, the FoGN basing was what was suggested by the other club since they said with it they play BP, Blucher, and FoGN without any change. FoGN was suggested for pickup games since it has points (I'm not familiar with the rules, as this is brand new to me) but the primary game will be Black Powder II.

Originally someone also mentioned Napoleon's Battles basing which also looked interesting, but the FoGN basing got the most support from people at the other club so it would seem the most prudent thing to do is to base the same way as they do. I've reached out to them again to see if I can determine which one is used more (if it even matters??), but FoGN seems the most likely candidate right now if it really will allow for multiple games without any changes to basing.

-Wayne

Talked to some of the others, the guy with the 1/72 wants to use 40x40, someone else said 40x20 (I think he wants to use 10mm), I'm going to use 40x30.

For BP that doesn't matter as its just the frontage, I'm not sure about the other games but at this point, I'm not going to argue it since we are a new group and I don't want to tell people what scale they can use or how they can do things even if I'd want us to standardize

Thanks for the assistance everyone, I'm sure we may have to revisit this again later.

The main thing I am seeing in the group discussion is to not care what scale people want to use rather than pick one scale and stick to it. I get that viewpoint but I don't like it, however as I said above I don't want to start dictating anything to everyone else based on things I've read here or otherwise; in my past experiences that tends to get people upset with me for trying to "tell [them] how to play" since they want to be loose and freeform and I like to have a standard.

So the group would have 10, 15 and 1/72 armies in teh same game? Yeah, that strikes me as odd. 18 and 1/72 are close if you squint, but otherwise that would be adeal break er for me!

Yeah… we put up a poll to determine a size for gaming (RIP the guy who wants 1/72; 15mm is winning) but the general opinion seems to be that nobody (except me…) cares that much about sticking to a particular size because its the bases that matter, and I don't want to become argumentative and try to tell people how they need to play; that got me kicked out of my 40k group for about 2 months for pointing out where people were playing the rules wrong. Yikes!

Same with the basing (what prompted this topic in the first place): I want us to have a standard basing size (if possible to match what the other, more established club uses), but we've already heard "Well I do…" as a response so we have to ultimately decide for ourselves.

I was on the NB style until it was said that FoG basing would allow playing BP, Blucher, and FoG: N without having to adjust bases, since having more options for games are good. But then came the question of base size, and while 40 wide has been agreed on, the depth is being discussed because this doesn't seem to matter at all in BP but could in the others. My vote is to use FoG basing as it is, following those guidelines for the appropriate scale.

In reality, I don't care as long as it's a standard and not everyone uses something different but "if X is the same it doesn't matter" since that won't look good and will feel even worse to me. In the end though, I just really want to play Napoleonics. It's taken years to find like-minded people in the area, so if I had to pick between playing with everyone doing something slightly different, or not playing at all, well…

So I think the end result will be "approximately" FoG standard basing. One guy is doing 40x40 because he insists on using 1/72 models (again, he has a large collection and doesn't want to buy more) but the rest of us are likely doing 15mm at, I believe, 40x30 for infantry and cavalry, at least that's what I plan on doing for mine.

I don't know about FoG: N but BP doesn't seem to care about the depth so we *should* be good as long as everyone sticks to 40mm width. I'm a little disappointed that there's barely any desire to stick to one standard and enforce it, instead of saying how since our primary game doesn't care we should each do our own thing, but what can I do?

-Wayne

Hi Wayniac

FoGN uses the same base sizes as Blucher & Lasalle. Not sure about BP.

All bases in 15/18mm have a 40mm frontage. Depth is 30mm for infantry, cavalry and artillery (except 12pdrs) or 40mm deep for commanders and 12pbr artillery. As mentioned, many players base larger artillery models on a 40mm base. No problem.

Number of figures per base doesn't really matter, but most go with 8 or 6 for foot (in two ranks) or 3 for cavalry (2 if they are Cossacks). 'Skirmish' bases are the same 40mm x 30mm, but usually have 3 or 4 figures on them.

FoGN version 2 was released about a year ago. It is a major overhaul & clean-up of the original rules. Many of the complexities of v1 which added nothing to the game are gone. Rules are now more easily located. Downloadable QRS sheets are comprehensive and colour (and page number) referenced to the rules, the points system has been rebalanced, the command control system streamlined (and made more relevant), speed of play has been enhanced and a whole new innovative game set-up system – one which has results in a great deal of player choice and varied games, and has received excellent feedback – has been introduced.

The bones of v2 are the same as v1. But it's a quantum leap forward in terms of playability. I'd encourage anyone who was initially interested in v1, but gave it up because of clumsiness of those rules, to consider giving v2 a try. The set-up system alone is worth a read.