"Basing question" Topic

Hi!

I've just got a good deal on the Hail Caesar!'Conquest of Gaul' starter set, and am awaiting the included rulebook. I'm also interested in 'Clash of Empires', as I've read that it may be more suitable for smaller games.

I'm coming from a 28mm skirmish background (I have a few Saga warbands) and don't have a large table to play on, so would be confining myself to smallish forces and battles. I know I ccould go the other direction and go for larger battles at a smaller scale, but my main enjoyment is painting 28mm miniatures.

Does anyone manage to successfully use 25mm round bases with movement trays rather than the 'standard' 20mm square bases?

I don't want to go for multiple figure basing, and can imagine that fitting some of today's chunkier 28mm miniatures on 20mm bases might be a squeeze. I need to balance the aesthetics of larger round bases with the practicality needed in larger units and games.

Thanks!

25mm rounds not bad especially if you playing people with a similar set-up.
But my saga is based on 20mm rounds as it seems to cover most systems like, in my case, War and Conquest, Kings of War, SAGA, Dragon Rampant and Frostgrave
Most of my miniatures seem to fit, though in some cases a bit of base trimming is required.

err… hope that helps.

Does anyone manage to successfully use 25mm round bases with movement trays rather than the 'standard' 20mm square bases?

You want movement trays with 25mm holes like these:
link

You want movement trays with 25mm holes like these…

That is how I based the infantry in this army:

yes, it's possible. i too started with SAGA and then blew it up. there are several basing options, all usually consisting of a movement tray. for me, since my figures are based on washers, i use Shogun Miniature trays with a magnetic sheet. some pics:

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closer shot of the base..

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since sizes are what you make it, my units are 125mm frontage with about 12-15 figs per base. for cav i used about 8-10. even with this somewhat smaller frontage, HC really only works on a BIG table. the min i use is 5x8.

games that scale well for a 6x4 will be War and Conquest, Clash of Empires, and my fav, Sword and Spear.

Square bases certainly look better if you are intending to field the figures ranked up in units. I find rounding off the corners makes them look nicer, without the disadvantages of round bases.

game that springs to mind as you ask is Games Workshop Lord of the Rings Strategy Battle Game, and it's subsequent big battle game. Both used round 25mm bases and the big battle game collected them on sabot bases.

I think it looks OK, but not great myself. Overall if you're playing small, I'd say just move the figs in a blob. If that's too cumbersome, any tray will do.

If you want multi-fig units to look good, IMHO, you need to base them together on a large base. But if you must have skirmish circles then you'll just have to learn to like how it looks, right?

the big battle game from GW called "War of the Ring" is terrible, i would not recommend it. the LOTR SBG game is excellent for dark age warfare however, and for a 4x4 board.

but! people are right. if i could do it all over again, i would use square 25mm bases bc they do rank up better and look better when ranked. i just keep using the 25mm rounds just to be consistent across all the miniatures.

if i were to start up another genre, i would use larger bases of 50mm or larger with multiple figs and some 25mm singles for change / causalty removal or for skirmish.

-Stew

Thanks for the replies and good ideas.

I've ordered some movement trays from War Bases, and think I'll go for individual 25mm round bases with thin self- adhesive sheet under each one, and then glue a steel washer in each 'hole' of the movement trays before painting.

This way I can keep the aesthetics of the round bases, use individual figures for SAGA or small skirmishes, and still have square frontages and move them around and store them in larger groups securely.

I used a similar system for my GW War of the Ring figures, but used neodymium magnets due to the slotta style bases:

link

I can see how 20mm square was the standard when 25mm tall figures were common, but they look very cramped with most of my 28mm miniatures.

Having a look up the loft, even my Grenadier and Chronicle dwarves and hobgoblins from the 80s were based on 25mm rather than 20mm slotta style bases.