"Basing question in 2mm." Topic

New to the period and somewhat new to 2mm I have decided to start up a couple of armies, mostly to be used for Imaginations gaming. Accidentally bought Irregulars french and british armypacks the other day because, well, why not :)

The system I got interested in is 2x2 Napoleonics and thus have decided on doing 2 batallion-strips per 25*25mm base for the infantry and differentiate other stuff accordingly (heavy/light cav. have different bases etc).

Should I rethink this basing?
I had an idea to use 40*20mm first, as I maybe want to try out DBN down the line. Also looking at some other systems such as Blucher that looks kinda interesting and also uses rectangle basing.

I have no qualms about using the wrong basing to try the systems mentioned above or even rebase in the future if either of them will be my go-to. If I get hooked, I will most likely paint 6mm armies for the period as I love that scale.

I just want to make sure I don't paint myself into a corner from the get-go.

Cheers.

I use two battalion strips on 30x15mm bases (30x20 for cavalry). They all have magnetic strip on the bottom so I just assemble them on steel paper sabot bases if I want to make larger elements.

I'm not sure there is a 'correct' basing for Napoleonics, although some people seem to swear by the huge Polemos 60x30 bases, persoanlly I'm not a fan. I'll just stick four of my small bases together if I want to do that.

25mmx25mm is pretty common for Napoleonics, my pals have all their 15mm stuff on 25x25. You could always just put two of them together for DBN and not worry about the extra 10mm.

Not sure there's wrong as such. I would try to keep with a constant frontage or some fraction thereof. A lot of rules work better that way. My 2mm Napoleonics are on 30mmX30mm bases for infantry and cavalry and 15mmX30mm--full depth but half frontage--for artillery. Works for 2x2, but it would also let me to DBN at half their "big" frontage distances.

A couple of suggestions.

I use 25x25mm bases myself (for BBB rules). A typical BBB infantry unit has maybe 4 or 5 bases, so I have about half of my ordinary line infantry (excluding skirmisher bases, or command bases with flags) on double bases, 50x25. This makes them easier and quicker to move and also makes their formations a little tidier. If the 2x2 rules use units of multiple bases, maybe some double bases would be a good idea.

The other suggestion, regardless of base size, concerns how you base the strips. Since it is very difficult to tell 2mm units apart just by their uniforms, I recommend you use variations in their layout on the bases to help you differentiate at 'wargamer range'. E.g., your two strips per base might serve for your average line infantry. Elite/veteran/guard might get three strips organised in an assault column. Raw rubbish you might want in a single dense blob. Then you can use the odd mounted officer or skirmish strip etc to differentiate further.

Or of course with imagi-nations you can paint whatever radical uniform schemes you like and make them very easy to tell apart!

I hope this is helpful. Good luck and have fun!

Personally, I like the look of large bases with small troops.

"Since it is very difficult to tell 2mm units apart just by their uniforms, "

Agreed. I paint a strip of colour on the rear base edge so I both tell what nationality they are, and which way they are facing!