Formations and Skirmishers

[zedeyejoe]

OK I will go for 80x20mm, four figures in a single rank.

[Paul @ Warlord Games]

The dimensions of each individual model's base doesn;t matter however so if you were basing singly you could go for 15mm, 20mm, 25mm, wide, etc.

I'd just add the caveat that the formations you need to be able to perform will mean that a strip of four wide might be pushing it a bit - I'd suggest two wide, two deep instead as it allows ease of movement withflexibility of formations.

Cheers,

Paul

[zedeyejoe]

As mentioned trying to do this in advance of seeing the rules (well for me anyway). I imagined that there would be no bonus for a second rank, so did not see an advantage for having a second rank of figures on a base.

Having thought, the Zulus might look good in 6's on bases 80x30, arranged as a mob.

Just thinking of 80x20's as that is the standard Warmaster basing for 28mm and people have suggested that Black Powder is a Warmaster style game.

[rick priestley]

Hi Justin - the only reason Paul says 80mm might be 'pushing it' is that you need to be able to form march columns - which are nominally 2 models wide - though we stretch to 3 because some of our units are based 3 wide to a 45mm mulitple frontage (15mm per model). 'Course - you can just turn the strips side ways to march down a road - it's just the look of the thing really.

All the Perry's 28mm infantry are based to multiples of 15mm x20mm, usually 6 figures to a base 45mm wide and 40mm deep, in two ranks. Generally speaking, 6 stands to a unit (36 figs)sometimes 5 (30 figs). That's kinda 1 stand to a company - and it allows you to do a line (6 in a row), attack column (3 x 2 stands) and march column (6 in a line). For skirmishing it's best to have some spare singles - and squares can get a bit rectangular. If you're going for 5 stands (as I did for my 7YW army) its best to break 1 stand down into two 45mm x 20mm strips to make the attack columns look right.

Pretty much everyone else I know bases to a 20mmx20mm standard for infantry, usually 4 figures to a base 40mm wide and 40mm deep, in two ranks. Generally speaking, 6 stands to a unit, sometimes 7 or 8. Anything longer than that in a line starts to become impractical unless you are playing on very large table (8 stands covering 320mm in line 2 deep).

With troops likely to break into skirmish or spend a lot of time in prepared or improvised defence - we tend to base units into an assortment of singles and multiples with quite a few singles. That might be the best approach for Zulu War units - we fought with John Stallard's Zulus and both sides are based with lots of singles to facilitate casualty removal 'Warhammer' style.

But you can base in any fashion you wish - whatever looks good - or whatever matches other rules you use or are likely to.

Cheers

Rick

[zedeyejoe]

Its Black Powder for me and the CACK club - we don't game these periods currently. OK thank you for the explaination, its 20x20's with some figures based on multiple bases for me.