"How many figures per unit in Hail Caesar?" Topic

I am thinking of converting my old Warhammer Ancient forces over to Hail Caesar. I do not have the rules as of yet but plan to purchase them at some near future time. So for Ancient Greeks, Early Imperial Romans, etc. how many figures per stand or for say a unit of Greek Hoplites? Thanks in advance. I am sure this has been covered before but appreciate the time of those who know.

Unit sizes in HC rules are just recommendations for looks. I thik that they use 24 figures for the average sized uit and a bit more figures for phalanxes. Actual # of figures doesn't affect a game.

You can use 12 men units for all average sized units, 6 for small units (skirmishers) and 18 for large units (warbands).

I have been using 16 in a standard unit. 2 rows of 8 figures.

Figure count's really not important in HC – all that really matters is unit frontage. Standard sized units all have the same frontage, with small units half that and large ones double it. Skirmishers double the frontage. Most people seem to go for 6 inches or so for a standard unit, so using a WAB collection, assuming you have the usual 20mm infantry bases and 25mm cavalry, I'd probably go with 16 infantry or 12 cavalry in two ranks.

As stated relative frontage is the important thing so feel free to go with looks good to you.

Thanks gang, so it sounds like any typical 2000 point Warhammer Ancients force would easily convert over to Hail Caesar with little fuss. I might have to reorganize some units and purchase or make some new movement trays, but otherwise I would be fine. One my gaming buddies put on a game of Hail Caesar for us a while back using his 20 mm Republican Romans and Carthaginians and I was hooked. Of course I have a substantial number of 28 mm figures for various ancient and classical forces. I had been put off switching to Hail Caesar as it seemed I would have to purchase a ton more figures. I see now that is not really an issue.

I still like Warhammer Ancients will continue to play it from time to time. However, trying to advance interest at gaming stores in historical games is easier to accomplish when there is regular set of game rules that can be purchased. Given that one is often dealing with those who have come into the hobby via 40K, Warhammer Fantasy, Warmachine/Hordes, Dystopian Wars, etc., a well designed color rule book tends to catch the interest more.

I did that a few years back – I base my figures 2 X 2 on 40 X 40 mm bases with 24 figs per average sized unit (i.e. 6 stands per unit)

That way I can still use them for Warhammer Ancients

I must say that I do still have about 100 Celts left (out of 400 or so) to re-base

When I came back to wargaming I re-based from WRG to WAB. Now we play Hail Caesar so there was a bit more work.

Not sure if you have seen the Warlord Games site but it has a number of handy snippets, such as:

link

The Hail Caesar Yahoo site also is a good one to look at.

We played a 2 Division 340 point 28mm game recently with 6 'heavy' units, 4 skirmishers and 3 cavalry units a side (the Carthaginians also fielded an elephant) – about 250 figures a side.

Good system to get your teeth into!

Garry

I am looking forward to getting the "Conquest of Gaul" starter set even though I have a bunch of EIR boys. I also bought (At a sweet discount) the last two boxes of 30 Celts by Warlord at my FLGS and I have been basing them on 20mm X 20mm squares. The problem is that the figures stand out with arms stretched out in such a way that I cannot fit 5 guys on a movement tray (leftover from my WAB experiences). If I give a 25mm X 25mm space for each Celtic figure, then I can fit 4 guys on that same movement tray.

Conclusion: whether it is 4 guys (Celts) or 5 guys (EIR) the unit frontage is still the same and that is what matters in the game.

Looking forward to solo play of HC…

Capt

Those Warlord figures are difficult to fit in. Have you tried making the bases deeper? I use 40mm x 50mm or even 40mm x 60mm for some figures – 4 figures to a base.

Irony was WRG specified 30mm deep bases for light medium infantry (1 figure deep).

Seen other basing using 2 figures in front and only 1 behind. For a warband that highlights lack of discipline. As you say frontage is what counts.

Garry

As for warband basing, I remember the seemingly perfect orderly rows of Celts 5 wide by 4 deep. I must that that this is not how a warband would look! Romans? Sure, no problem there. Warbands? These guys are one step away from Viking Berzerkers when it comes to charging into combat. Granted, I will give more credit to the bezerkers to keep fighting long after the warband would break up and run for it.

Summing up: I would expect a warband stand to have some disorganization and perhaps, different numbers of guy in the various rows.

YMMV

I have Late Romans I am building up for use with Hail Caesar. I am mounting each foot soldier on a 20mm base and making my unit 16 foot. Two ranks of eight. 160mm frontage.

I am planning their Goth and Saxon opponents to be war bands of four ranks, but varying amounts of figures per rank to give the look of more of a mob appearance. 160mm frontage. 24 figures spread out over four ranks.

My understanding about the rules and what Rick Priestly has said, regarding base sizes and number of figures is that the frontage sizes need to be the same for a certain sized unit.

The previous post has an example of the frontage being 160mm in length, but there is a difference between the Roman and the Celt rank numbers.

I also found that while I like the Warlord Celts, mounting them on a 20mm X 20mm and expect them to fit perfectly on a movement tray like the Romans, is not possible. Therefore, the idea of how to distribute the figures for the warband base (ie 160mm frontage. 24 figures spread out over four ranks.) makes perfect sense to me. Thank you, Diocletian!

Hello all, I'm just starting out with hail caesar. Im planning on keeping the figure count down in the beginning while my group gets used to the rules. We have decided a standard unit of Romans for example will be 12 men based in two ranks over 3 40x40 bases. A phalanx will be 24 men in 4 ranks, so two lines of 40x40 bases. For a warband we were thinking 6 40x40 bases two deep with 3 figures per base so 18 in total.

For a large unit we will simply add an extra 40x40 base or two depending on the unit. All standard units willy then have the same 120 frontage.

As for my own figures.. I use roughly 50x50 bases.
This came about due to they were originally based indiviually on 25mm /1 in. sqr bases.
Personally I tried 20mm and personally found for 28mm figs they were too crowded when placed in formations on movement trays. As previously mentione.. i.e., extended arms / weapons etc.

As such I have 'regiments' of 16 figures 4 bases of 4 ea. I have an archery unit of 12 that would measure roughly 150 for frontage.

The biggest problem I saw with HC is that -- as alluded to above -- the rule writers seem to have taken zip-nada-no-notice of the reality of the Laws of Physics when it comes to mounting 28mm figures on puny 20mm bases!! If the figures are posed stock-still with spear or pike upright, it is just possible. As soon as you start trying to mount "excited" figures posed in combat action, you are "toast."

I'm thinking of "finally" buying into this game. Maybe make sense of it all by mounting 12 figures on 25mm bases for a "standard" unit (instead of 16 on 20mm), but build movement stands with 160mm frontages!! The "only" issue then is how does the rules treat "causalities" and any effect they have on morale? Obviously, a unit of 16 could absorb more "hits" before reaching say 50% casualties than would a unit of 12 figures!!???

In HC, all stamina 'hits' are taken by the unit as a whole. The number of figures per unit is irrelevant, and can be whatever you wish. By design, the unit will behave in exactly the same way, regardless of the number of figures it contains.

You can also determine for yourself the frontage for a 'standard' unit. The numbers and basing given in the HC rulebook are simply suggestions, based on the author's own existing armies previously based for WAB. Don't like 20mm frontage per figure? Then make it whatever you want. As long as all of your 'standard' units have roughly equivalent frontages, everything will be perfectly fine.

…….the rule writers seem to have taken zip-nada-no-notice of the reality of the Laws of Physics when it comes to mounting 28mm figures on puny 20mm bases!!

Laws of Physics? Lol!

I seem to have mounted my ancient German army on 20mm bases, and that includes the "aggressive" Warlord sculpts. If you mount 4 figures on 40X40mm you'll have even more room. You actually expect rule writers to modify their rules based on the vagaries of the sculpts of every miniature manufacturer?

Have a peak at the rule book and your other concerns will be answered.

arsbelli is correct. I in fact have a Gothic army of no figures at all. It is composed of wood planks painted with a picture of a Goth on them. The plank is the size of a warband base. I use it to face my Late Imperial Roman army which is composed of figures. I use a frontage of 120mm for a standard unit for both armies. In that way I can use them for both Hail Caesar and Impetus.