"Basing open order troops" Topic

I understand how the troops fought, but I'm struggling how best to depict different levels of open order troops

How do folks differentiate between line battalions in close order(with maybe a single skirmish base), light battalions that could fight in close or open order(ie French legere or Austrian grenzers), and light battalions that were almost always skirmishing (British 95th) ?

I only base for skirmish and close order, but then each 2" base represents 300 yards, so a few skirmishers here and there may be safely ignored. Whole battalions dispersed as skirmishers aren't likely to be reformed as close-order troops in the same afternoon. It means doing a few units both ways, but 6mm troops are cheap and the clarity and simplicity are worth the extra space and expense.

We use 6mm on Age of Eagles sized stands for 15mm (except instead of 4 troops per stand there are 9) so a unit usually has 6 stands – to show them in open order we space out the stands

I am currently wrestling with just this issue with my 10mm forces for Peninsular War games. Solution I have finally arrived it is that close order unit bases have 6 figures for the French and most other nations these are 20mm square bases with two ranks of three figures. For the British and Portuguese I have gone with a 25mm wide base, again 2 ranks with depth of base as shallow as possible to fit the figures.
Light infantry, operating mainly in a more open formation have 5 figures to a base. Most of my rifle armed (60th and 95th) are based on UK pennies, 2 figures to a base, 2 bases to represent a company. In the case of a 95th battalion, I have also done a few bases using the " open order" basing to represent the actual deployment of a battalion.

I have "close order" stands and "skirmish" stands.

I have "close order" stands and "skirmish" stands.

I use the same system.

This is a perennial issue for Napoleonic's, but is dependent on rules. These days I base my light troops as standard close order troops, as they did often fight this way – example are Prussian Fusiliers, Russian Jager, French Legere, Austrian Grenze and I suppose the British 95th. Then I create extra elements where these troops are based in open order. I also base troops which only fought in open order in this manner, such as Prussian Jager/Schützen. I have issues which armies where part of a battalion would skirmish, so I double base those troops as well.

Its not perfect, but in the old days of WRG, light troops were based on half bases, allowing them to remain together or spread apart, but I never liked that system.

For what its worth in my attempt to determine the best basing system i created a video on light troops. My research did help me a bit, but not much.
youtu.be/vC2xaAi-LiY

I base the guys in two ranks. Close order infantry have two ranks of four figures each, close order with skirmishers have two ranks of four but the front rank is more ragged/dispersed, and genuine open order troops have 4-6 figures scattered around the base (usually in pairs).

Seems to work OK.

Hello rangerdad!

"I understand how the troops fought, but I'm struggling how best to depict different levels of open order troops
How do folks differentiate between line battalions in close order(with maybe a single skirmish base), light battalions that could fight in close or open order(ie French legere or Austrian grenzers), and light battalions that were almost always skirmishing (British 95th) ?"

It's an issue I struggled with when I wrote "Ruse de Guerre" for Baccus 6mm in their Polemos series of rules. All Polemos rules base their figures (battalions/regiments) on 60mm x 30mm bases and don't waste valuable game time on formation changes with much smaller individual company bases. So I used those bases as light infantry or skirmish bases as well and also thought it was very important for players to easily be able to tell the difference between line and light troops. Especially for new or occasional players. You can use as many figures as you want on a 60x30 light infantry base. I use just 8 skirmish figures on a base that allows me to be very creative in making each one a mini diorama. Baccus sells all their skirmishers/light infantry in packs of 48 figures so you get an economical 6 bases out of each pack. For visual conformation all traditional formed troops are mounted in close order on their 60x30 bases and all light infantry in open/skirmish order on their 60x30 bases. In reality the light infantry/skirmish troops are not locked into open order. They are always intended to be in the best formation for the current situation at hand. Such as skirmish, line, square/clumps etc. Actual formation changes are automatically performed at a level below the scale of the game.

For battalions that sent out companies of light troops RdG uses the same basing except the base represents the Brigades consolidated light companies. So roughly 25-30% of a Brigades battalion bases are tabled as skirmish bases. A Brigade of 4 bases, 3 are formed, 1 is skirmish. Brigade of 6 bases, 4 are formed, 2 are skirmish, etc. Since the skirmish bases are often better troops then the formed bases the Brigades are able to add some historical strength to a Brigade that is missing in some systems.

Any questions, concerns please let me know.

Best regards,

Glenn