"Dux Bellorum 10mm base and table sizes" Topic

In the DB rules, Dan suggests 4cm x 2cm base sizes for 15mm and smaller figures, but many of the internet bloggers have gone with bigger (6cm x 3cm or 8cm x 4cm, or in some cases larger still).

It would be good to get a straw poll about what works best. I should say than my most likely wargaming space is 4' x 3'.

Do folks have a feel for base size vs table size?

I have gone for DBA size bases for my 10mm stuff, so 40mm frontages and varying depths. This gives me the flexibility to play DBA, Dux Bellorum, Impetus, FoG, Hail Caesar etc. with the same set of troops. I use magnetic basing and simply put two or more bases together on a metal sabot base for sets such as Impetus.

You'd be well advised to choose some sort of DBX option; either the 15mm or 28mm standard. 4' X 3' should cope easily with either for Dux Bellorum, and given the lack of manoeuvre in Arthurian battles even 80mm should be manageable. But if you think that at some point you might want to enlarge your army for other rules 40mm bases might be best. As Dave says you can always temporarily combine them into units on an 80mm frontage for Dux Bellorum.

Personally, I'm about to rebase my Renaissance 15mm collection on 60 X 30/40mm bases, and plan to use the same system for ancients, because I'll mainly be using Impetus and it's about the smallest size that allows a single base of 15mm figures to pass reasonably convincingly as a full unit, it's not as unwieldy or hard to conform to terrain as 80mm, and I have some scythed chariots that are 60mm wide including the scythes (if they project beyond the base they'll be continually breaking off). It also approaches closer at 1/100 to the historical dispersal distance for elephants (20 – 50 meters) than 40mm, and permits the attachment of a few light infantry to the base on either side of the elephant, as per the historical practice.

AS Dave points out, DBX basing renders an army very versatile. I'll still be able to do DBA and smallish FoG games if so inclined.

15mm figures on 60mm bases aren't perhaps as versatile as 40mm, because the armies couldn't be used against other 40mm based forces (the majority, I'd say) or in competitions (which I don't do), and should I have to part with them at some stage (one always has to think ahead to the possibility of resale) this might impact on their resale potential as compared to 40mm – but it's a compromise I can live with.

Agree with Henry Martini that 4x3 table plenty big enough for 10 mm. We play 28 mm Dux Bellorum and Saga on 4x4 .

I use 60x30mm for my Dux Bellorum armies, I feel that it allows me to make each element look like a proper unit/horde. I own several armies based like this, don't play DBA and haven't found many other ancients rulesets that I enjoy like Dux Bellorum so my basing isn't issue.

Prince Albert's Revenge : Thanks for your comment. As you say with 10mm figures, there is a temptation to make the bases bigger and cram a few more warriors on to make them look more like an "army". Is a 4'x3' table OK for your 60mm bases and would you be able to speculate about whether 80mm x 40mm bases would be too big for that size table?

I second what PAR says – 60x30 bases allow you to make each stand of 10mm figures look like a warband.

FWIW, I put 12 figures to a shieldwall, and 10 for warriors.

We play on a 3'x3' board with no ill effects – indeed, it seems to be more than adequare for the army sizes in Dux B. Can't really comment on the larger sizes, but I imagine 3x4 would cope with them.

Like HarryHotspur, I also game on a 3x3 table. I have played games on a small coffee table that was more like 2x3 without it impacting gameplay. INMHO,4x3 wouldn't be an issue with a 30 point game using 80x40mm bases.

All excellent stuff thanks. Off to the Colours show tomorrow to spend my hard earned on assorted Pendraken loveliness.
Tempted to go with 60mm frontage, but may postpone the final base size decision until painting gets underway and I know how many presentable figures I'm likely to end up with.

Those numbers are close to what I'm planning with 15mm: twelve close order in two ranks for regulars or randomly for irregulars, and nine figures for 'medium infantry', Harry! After all, four figures is the standard way to represent 'heavy infantry' on a 40mm frontage, giving 10mm per figure; more than adequate. In 10mm there'd be a lot of unoccupied space. I'd think you could fit in half as many again. Or do you mean twelve figures per rank?

Bow and shieldwall

Warriors

They may have shields, but they don't seem to have quite come to grips with the 'wall' concept yet.

Very nice, if a little sparsely deployed.