Musing on basing and rules

I have one batch of figures to paint to reach 64. So I started musing over how to base them.

The place to start is rules and what rules will they be played with and also how big is my table.

So my maximum table size is 6ft x 4ft and usually it would be 5ft x 3.5ft.

Now rules. Reading through Blackpowder I love the command and control aspects, I like the thought of Field of Battle for solo play and I quite like lasalle. The one I haven’t read is the man at war rules.

So taking Blackpowder as the baseline then a standard line infantry unit has a frontage of between 24cm and 30cm in 28mm so to have a decent game in 15mm I need to half the distances to fit on my table so that’s a frontage of between 12cm and 15cm.

So I have 3 preferred basing schemes that I need to choose between.

Option 1

This option in 4 bases of 6 figures at 30cm x 25 cm. this gives 24 figures on a 12cm frontage.

In line…

In column…

This works pretty well with all the rulesets, but I wonder if the figures are a bit squashed and if the whole thing leaves little room for scenics on the bases.

Option 2

Again 24 figures but on 6 bases that are the Napoleon at war bases. It works out as a frontage of 15cm. I’m not sure if they look a little too spaced. But they would work with Napoleon at war as well as Blackpowder.

Option 3

Back to 4 bases per battalion but now we are 8 figures per base giving a total of 32 on 40mm x 30mm.

A very common basing scheme good for Blackpowder and others but gives a lightly large frontage of 16cm

So what’s it to be ? There are pros and cons in all 3 systems, but I err towards option 3.

I am a week away from having my batch of figures ready to base so no urgency but will need a decision next week.