Hello All,

I am currently building a GdD British Peninsular army and am now considering how the light infantry and Portuguese Cacadore battalion bases are arranged (while I await delivery!). 

I understand that close order infantry are typically depicted as two rows of 12 figures to a base and that skirmishers are abstracted as SK factors, which may be represented by a skirmish line in front. For example, an SK1 base with up to four skirmishers.

Regarding the 1812 army generator (and the excellent Sixth Coalition online tool), I see that Light battalions may be included, even as a light division, with SK2 factors.

The online Catalogue NBR02 image has light & flank company bases arranged similar to the line battalions, with NBR11 as open order skirmishers. Is the norm to still arrange two rows and then more than four skirmishers to reflect SK2? Or would the battalion be represented in open order, say in a chain deployment?

I would welcome your thoughts on the matter,

Cheers,

Wilf

I have done it both ways since I have never quite decided which way I like best...

I think two rows and more than four skirmishers does end up looking a bit too crampled though on a 60mm x 30mm base.  I would limit it to 4 for SK2 and 2 for SK1.  If you wanted more skirmishers on the base, I might consider using a single line of formed troops with 8 in front, or two lines of 8 skirmishers.

(link to the Sixth Coalition if anyone needs it)

My thoughts on the matter of basing here. Try flexible basing with smaller bases on larger steel sabots. Then your basing is rule independent.

Hello Leftblank!

Great explanation on your decision on basing. There really is no right way or wrong way to base your figures. Everyone has to work out what they like the best. Your recent entry into 6mm (2014) suggests your probably not aware, but your choice is not new. It actually pre dates Polemos basing, by at least 20 years. I used 25mm square basing with magnet sabots in the 80s. As long as my collection was small it was okay, but never ideal. As the size of my collection grew it became a logistical nightmare. It also made setting up, playing and take town tedious and time consuming. You also had to be very careful on how you handled magnetic basing. A single metal sheet was too thin to pickup, move around the table, etc. Removing and or replacing the smaller bases was also just awkward.

I lost track of the number of different sabots I used over the years. None of them really performed well and they all just looked ugly.

Before Polemos basing, most people based their figures to match the rules they played and then rebased them when they changed rules or used sabots. Polemos eliminated all of that as you can pretty much play any rule set with them. Often as is or with a couple of simple house rules.

Polemos players who like to use bigger units like you (72 figures) simply use three 60x30 bases. Other variants are also used, two 60x30 bases and two 30x30. For a lower figure count some people use one 60x30 and two 30x30 for the elite companies. A Polemos base by itself can also be considered a sabot of three bases of 20x30 or two bases of 30x30.

My collection presently exceeds 50,000 figures. Can you imagine what a nightmare it would be to have them all on small bases.

The basic rule of thumb is to base your figures to match the scale not the rules. Polemos does that better for 6mm then any other basing system out there. I call it the swiss army knife of basing.

Best regards,

Glenn

Surely if you're against the use of sabot bases, using 3 60x30 bases would be worse than using 1 dioramic base? Isn't it a little hypocritical to say that sabots for smaller bases are a waste of time, but they are ok for 60x30 bases on a sabot?

Hello Nick!

My comparison for 3 60x30 bases was in reference to a battalion and refers to people who play Polemos.  They are never on a sabot, they are used as free moving, often together, but can be seperated if required without any difficulty. Leftblank uses smaller bases for his 72 figures, for a battalion which I assume are on a sabot. Yes certainly having to move 1 dioramic base is easier then moving three. However, it's the forming, handling and changing of that one piece that gets awkward. It also looks ugly in different formations, losses removed, etc.

So I don't see any hypocrisy in that at all, not even close.

Best regards,

Glenn

Thanks for your contibutions, Gents.

While Leftblank offers much food for thought (and likely more hair than me) I have already committed to the Polemos system. This project began as a starter army set many years ago complete with hard copy first edition rules. Progress has been positively glacial (I blame the wargaming butterfly...) My Napolonic knowledge is limited so I am happy to begin the Polemos journey for now.

My interest is more grand tactical, having Blucher will all the cards, and having played some Grand Armee in the past, but one has to start somewhere to get a game to the table and the GdD / MdE compatibility appeals. (I am also thinking of using the sames bases for Blucher at a reduced scale using a sobot to apply the arc of fire & unit data).

I admit to having some basing reservations as the 6x3 wide base convention intuitively does not seem to match frontage for French attacking in column vs. British line defence (why not turn the base sideways to present the narrow edge to the front?). But, I try not to lose any sleep over it!

Cheers,

Wilf

"I admit to having some basing reservations as the 6x3 wide base convention intuitively does not seem to match frontage for French attacking in column vs. British line defence (why not turn the base sideways to present the narrow edge to the front?). But, I try not to lose any sleep over it!"

This is one of the reasons that I think that Polemos really works as a set, by making them the same.  In rules sets which do mess about with these unit formations, the game has to become about those formations.  Take a French column versus a British line: in theory the French could fit four unit columns on the frontage of a single British battalion in line.  I can't remember an instance when they did so (shades of this at Albuera perhaps) but they could have physically done it.  So how does a game model deal with that?  Polemos solves this by just making that impossible, so the general has to concentrate on the things that seem to have been emphasized in practice: disordering the opposition with artillery or skirmishers and attacking them, or outflanking them.  If you want the columns vs line 'look' the best way is to use the same base size but base the French in three lines of eight or four lines of six, with any skirmishers on the base towards the front corners.

Hello Wilf!

Some people who use Polemos basing to play Blucher simply put the unit details on an order of battle sheet of paper that they generally needed to set up the game. Others  just cut out cards or use the ones in the game and slip them under the base. The arc of fire is just putting your measuring sticks on an angle. No need for sabots unless you actualy want them.

Best regards,

Glenn