That is the question!

we are currently studying the basing of Our ACW project to play with Polemos or other rules... why not?

But for ACW as for FPW or napoleonic period, there are 2 options : 60x60 or 60x30mm bases...

We like very much the 60x60mm to make beautifull big base with terrain and place for skirmishers and don't really like the fact to place an second 60x30 base behing an other... not very beautifull looking for Us

What is the most populare? is one rules is better than the other? So if you have an opinion about the way to base... you are welcome!

Thanks for help!

Hello LEmpereur!

Certainly the most difficult choice, both have good value. The 60x30 is by far the most popular choice.

You already know that if your objective is to have the best looking bases the 60x60 is the best one.

The 60x30 is the more popular because of a number of reasons. The first is tactically it's a better tool. You can change the shape of your brigades which is critical if your looking to represent deployment problems which were a real concern historically. Second is it will always allow you to mix up your formations for different orders of battle for different battles. Third is its generally easier to play other rule sets with minimal adjustments.

The 60x60 is generally intended to be used for "Brigade Games" which makes them a little awkward at times to be used for "Battalion" level games. Where as the 60x30 can be used for both. Most players that use 60x60 put two or more units on the base which means that these units are forever locked in together and can't be seperated for different battles. Unless you make them all non descrip or no name units.

So the 60x60 gives you the potential to maximize the look of a base and the 60x30 lets you maximize the tactical ability. I went with the 60x30 for all my units in all my horse and musket periods and have no regrets.  We also play the bigger battles just using a single 60x30 base, we don't put two of them together to make a 60x60.

Best regards,

Glenn

Thanks a lot Glenn! :-)

That's very usefull and you are gave Us the points to choose... 30x60! Size We chosen for Our napoleonian bases for its playability, 

while We chose 60x60 for Our Project Battle of Loigny!

All Imperial Best!!!

The 60x60 does look terrific but is somewhat limiting. Last year I rebased all my 60x60 FPW and APW troops to 25x25. With the BBB/FOB2/From Shako to Coal Scuttle rules that I use in this period it proved far more practical.

You should consider 3030 too in order to play excellent games like Bloody Big Battles, Altar of Freedom, Longstreet. If you want to use bigger bases (60x60) you can use a sabot for the smaller bases then.

Hello dourpuritan & Nick the Lemming!

It's interesting to see that you both seem to be advocating smaller bases to play games that LEmpereur has not mentioned. His main concern is Polemos ACW which is really base neutral but recommends 60x60 and 60x30. I can certainly see that 60x60 is not practical for some games that are not "Brigade" games. I think  the 60x30 is even recommended in Alter of Freedom.

The basic rule in basing is to base to the scale not the game as games come and go. So far the 60x30 base seems to be the choice for a very large number of 6mm players. Since I switched to 60x30 some 20 years I've not found a game that I couldn't use them with. I call it the Swiss army knife of 6mm basing.

Before switching to 60x30 the common base used by our group for about 20 years was roughly 25mm x 20mm. As you both suggest these smaller bases do work fine for some games. While some games such as "Brigade" games not so much unless you want to use ugly sabots. The major problem we found was as the size of the game grows the smaller bases become too tedious and time consuming to move. The more bases you have in a game the longer the game takes to play, simple logistics.

So just a friendly heads up in case your not aware of these factors.

Best regards,

Glenn

Glenn, if you read the first post:

"we are currently studying the basing of Our ACW project to play with Polemos or other rules"

A lot of people use 60x30 bases (My SYW stuff is on those), but especially when it comes to ACW, smaller bases are used much, much more (see also Fire and Fury in both versions as well as the other games mentioned earlier). I like larger, dioramic bases (my Napoleonic stuff is on 80x60mm bases; my 15mm Ancients are on 80mm bases), but for ACW, you're missing out on most of the major games systems if you just have larger bases. If you want to base to a standard that can be used in just about every game, 30x30 is perfect, with the use of sabots if you need bigger bases.

Thanks Nick, I did read the first post a couple of times actually. I also read the topic a few times 6x6 or 6x3? There is no mention of other bases, just other rules. He is clearly looking to see which one of the two bases would be the best 6x6 or 6x3. I thought I gave him a great overview and he thanked me for it and picked 6x3.

I'm fully aware and I think LEmpereur is as well that 60x60 is not a practical fit for all game systems. The 60x30, however, will work for any game I've ever played. Most games today are not base restrictive. The 60x30 has reached such a popular choice in 6mm that some do in fact call it "standard 6mm basing".

There is nothing wrong with your choice of 30x30. 60x30 however, means you only need to move half as many pieces. Which in turn often means faster games as you have fewer pieces to move and think about.

Some people including Peter and myself find all sabots ugly. To which I would also add time consuming to make and a pain in the butt to design, store and utilize.

Hope this helps explain my position better. If not please let me know.

Best regards,

Glenn

Hi all!

Happy to see your keen interest for the subject and thanks for your opinion !

We will choose 60x30mm to be able to play other rules and on little table!

The 60x60mm chosen for Our FPW project are really suitable for battle reenactment!

:-)

Chris Pringle has made a good suggestion for Bloody Big Battles, i.e. the use of double size bases. Generally reccomended are square 25x25 or 30x30 bases, thus a 5 base unit could be made up of 2 60x30 bases and one 30x30. Similarly Alter of Freedom could follow the 60x30 recommendation or two bases could be put one behind the other, eg, Front base with dismounted cavalry, rear base with the horse holders; front base with skirmishers, rear base the main body of the infantry; front base with deployed artillery, rear base with the limbers. This gives a diorama appearance but also allows the bases to 'bend' on slopes.