StoneMtnMinis | 27 Jan 2020 8:07 a.m. PST |
If you were writing your own personal rule set for the AWI, what figure ratios would you use to give a "realistic" look and feel to the game? Since unit size was so small,in most cases, would you use a different ratio for infantry vs cavalry, bearing in mind you want the game to "look" right? Well, what are your opinions and/or suggestions? This would be for 15mm, or smaller, figures. Dave |
Frederick | 27 Jan 2020 8:12 a.m. PST |
I use 1:20 (i.e. usually 24 figs for a battalion) and I use the same ratio for cavalry (usually 12 figs for a regiment) I have not done a lot of AWI gaming but cavalry were in a distinct minority in all of them |
HMS Exeter | 27 Jan 2020 8:14 a.m. PST |
I tinkered with one some years back. If I recall I settled on 20/1. My draft was for Canada 1775, so there was no cav element. |
historygamer | 27 Jan 2020 8:37 a.m. PST |
In my opinion, 10:1 or 15:1 looks best. An average British 8 company battalion field about 320 men, American regiments were usually smaller still. |
bruntonboy | 27 Jan 2020 8:38 a.m. PST |
For my armies I tend to use a normal size of 20 figures for infantry and about 8 for cavalry. Larger or smaller if requited. It's more about looking reasonable than sticking to any particular ratios. In smaller scenarios my units may be bigger to show the visuals better. |
Pan Marek | 27 Jan 2020 9:17 a.m. PST |
1:20 seems to be the ratio used by the most popular rule sets for the period. |
Gunfreak | 27 Jan 2020 9:58 a.m. PST |
1:20 or 1:10 for smaller battles like guilford courthouse. I did try to make some homemade rules for 6mm at 1:3 scale. |
historygamer | 27 Jan 2020 10:00 a.m. PST |
So you all field about 10 figures for American units and 16 for British? |
Jeffers | 27 Jan 2020 10:57 a.m. PST |
I'm completely devoid of originality, so have always followed Loose Files with a 1:10 ratio, but I'm now working on standard units sizes depending on type: line infantry 30 figures, skirmishers 10 figures, and so on. Works for what I want to do! |
Unlucky General | 27 Jan 2020 11:22 a.m. PST |
I would recommend the lowest you can go (1:10 from the sounds of it)so all you need do is drop a stand or two to play with other rules and comrades who run at 1:20 or more. |
Gnu2000 | 27 Jan 2020 12:06 p.m. PST |
I do write my own (for 28mm) and use 1:10 in most cases stretching to 1:15 where absolutely necessary. Working copy of my rules on the "pages" section of my blog: paintingshed.blogspot.com |
FlyXwire | 27 Jan 2020 1:06 p.m. PST |
I start thinking of scaling at 20:1, but with all the multi-figure scales being collected, it's sometimes more practical to consider fitting figs to the number of unit bases needed, and also where a particular rule set's mechanics work best at. That's the nuanced answer, not at figure ratios, but at the number of sub-units to reflect the larger formation (as the number of troops in a platoon on one day changed constantly with another). I adapted Muskets & Tomahawks, and instead of with their single figure per stand mounting (as with its skirmish format), I multi-mount figs per, and count them as platoon stands, for a minimum of 8 in a typical line battalion, and from there, for bigger battalions range from 10-12 bases, and with smaller detachments or irregular units averaging 6 or less. If your rule system uses figure stands for it combat resolution, it doesn't matter what your figures ratio is, as the number of stands can determine the overall effectives represented – the figures populating a stand are there first to look good (and not bad – as many system force big figs onto smallish bases, requiring thick depths to stack these larger models onto where they don't look realistic, unless you stretch out the line to compensate for the "block' appearance with lots more figures). I consider some of these hobby conventions mostly obsolete today (or maybe they should be). |
robert piepenbrink | 27 Jan 2020 2:26 p.m. PST |
I tend to put infantry in units of 24 or detachments of 6, cavalry in units of 12 and guns with 4 crew for a gun. This looks right to me, is not too hard to handle, and would be about 10:1 for men and 2:1 for guns for the more formal battles in the south. But there's a lot of skirmishing which would require a different ratio. No reason you can't use the same figures with two rules and two figure ratios. |
epturner | 27 Jan 2020 6:49 p.m. PST |
I have used 1:10 for this period. I'd say that for the 15/18mm scale, it works, in my opinion. Just my thoughts. Eric |
DisasterWargamer | 27 Jan 2020 7:55 p.m. PST |
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Bill N | 27 Jan 2020 8:25 p.m. PST |
I would think the starting point would have to be what kind of AWI wargames do you want to do? I went with 1:10 because of the following: 1) I was going to do the southern campaign where actions involving 1,000 men per side or less were fairly common and where even a big battle like Guilford Courthouse involved fewer than 8,000 men total; 2) I would be replicating units that contained fewer than 200 men; 3) The southern campaign could see troops employed in looser or tighter formations involving 1 or 2 ranks or skirmishers, and I wanted to be able to differentiate these types of formations on the table top; and 4) I don't like painting large units of the same uniform, and I figured I might be able to handle 32 figures, the size of my standard British regiment. (I was wrong. Turns out my tolerance starts getting stretched at 12-18 figures.) |
Der Alte Fritz | 27 Jan 2020 9:56 p.m. PST |
I use a 1:10 ratio. My regiments have 20/24/30 figures for Americans and 32/40/48 for the British and 48 Hessians. |
Dn Jackson | 27 Jan 2020 10:56 p.m. PST |
All of my units have five stands with the same number of figures on each stand. I painted up units for both sides with unit sizes varying from a minimum of 5 figures to a maximum of 30 figures, (I only have two 30 figure units). I use a 'floating' figure ratio depending on the scenario. Anywhere from 1:5 to 1:20. So for Monmouth or Brandywine I would use 1:20, for Guilford Courthouse I'd use 1:10 or 1:15, while for Spencer's Ordinary I'd use 1:5. |
Durban Gamer | 28 Jan 2020 4:30 a.m. PST |
One factor is whether you want to have just a few units or many units in your collection, bearing in mind the great variety of uniforms. I went with 15mm and units of 6-16 figures because I want maximum variety so as to be able to play as many historical actions as possible. |
Virginia Tory | 29 Jan 2020 11:40 a.m. PST |
1:10/1:15 works best, though 1:20 is usually more manageable for something big like Long Island. |
Crazycoote | 31 Jan 2020 2:54 p.m. PST |
I use a figure scale of 1 to 8 and 1/3. (Mainly because I base them in stands of 6 and call that roughly 50 men…) |
Glenn Pearce | 01 Feb 2020 8:27 a.m. PST |
Hello Dave! I did write my own personal rule set called "Ruse de Guerre" covering the wars in North American from 1754 to 1815. Although designed for 6mm they are scale neutral. They can be purchased from Baccus6mm, On Military Matters or a PDF from the Wargame Vault. There is no figure ratio, ground scale, time scale, recording casualties or formation changing. It's simply a game full of action, decisions, good planning, maneuver, execution and quick reaction. The focus is on the senior commanders not the unit commanders. If you look at the 6mm Napoleonic board you will see that they are also being used for Napoleonics. You can also find some AARs on the other boards as well. The basic concept is you simply use your base to determine your ratio not the figures. This allows you to scale the size of your battle to whatever size you want. The rules use a sliding scale. In your basic game a base represents a battalion of x number of men. In a smaller scale battle your base can represent a company of men, etc. There is no limit or minimum to what you want a base to represent. It also allows you to get into a period with a minimum number of figures. The size of your battles can grow as your collection grows. And of course, you never have to rebase again! Your also able to design your games to "look right" to you. You can pack as many or as few figures as you want on a base. You can customize your bases to look anyway you want. Your only limited by your own creativity. Best regards, Glenn |
doc mcb | 10 Feb 2020 1:52 p.m. PST |
I use 1:10. My battalions are built around a command stand 40x40 with 4 figures and then some number of company stands of 4. A British bn has 9 stands total and 36 figures. |
Rudysnelson | 20 Feb 2020 8:16 p.m. PST |
In fire and discipline:the Wars in America company level rules, we used a 1:15 ratio. It allowed the easy identification and deployments of small units, two on a stand for a firing platoon of 30 men up to a large firing platoon of 100 men. Multiple firing platoons combined to make the battalion or regiment. |