Black Powder/Republic to Empire basing question

[Justin Buck]

Ok, I've dipped my toes into the Napoleonic pool before and now I've convenced my dad to move from 15's to 28's with a bunch of pictures of shiny metal/plastic things.  Now I'm ready to jump feet first and was wondering which of the two rules to get.  A major deciding factor would be base size.  I know evreyone says as long as each side is the same then it should not matter; but, my pops likes his French to be 3 deep.  Like this

I have to agree with him, having the French 3 deep and the British 2 deep looks pleasing to the eyes.  Do either set of rules take in acount of this or do they treat each side the same?  I was also wondering how everyone els bases thier troops.  Any help would be great.

Thanks,
 Justin

[Hobbit]

BP doesn't use specific base sizes but most people tend to use 15-20mm per figure. The rules don't have casualty removal, so you don't need individual figures and the number of ranks doesn't matter in the rules either. If you're basing up both armies then you can please yourself as to how you base them so long as you can clearly indicate column, attack column or line formations.

I do have a vested interest, but I'd heartily recommend BP as a fairly simple, easily adaptable, quick-play set for a gentlemanly game of toy soldiers with friends.

[robh]

Lovely painting on those French.

[bill5549]

For BP you can use almost any basing of figures as long as both sides are fairly consistent.  I think the key for playability is that standard size units in BP should really have the same frontage or approx the same frontage.  There is no dealing with the differences between 2 or 3 deep lines.   

BP gives an enjoyable relatively simple game.  See my recent posts on Tarutino and Polotsk 1812. 

[Justin Buck]

Thanks for the feed back.  Still not sure on what rules set to get but I'm starting to lean towards Black Powder.  As it would only be me and my dad playing, it doesn't matter as long as we have a good time.
@robh- Thanks, I painted up a unit of 36 Old Guard for my dad as a birthday present.  Since I was living at home at the time, I had to kick him out of the painting room for about a month and he wasn't alowed to go in there with out me so he wouldn't see them.  Even with a month, I was still painting/varnishing the night/day of his birthday.  There are a lot more pictures of the unit at http://s233.photobucket.com/albums/ee130/jbuckvb/Old%20Guard/

Again, thanks for the advice

Justin

[Anderson Collection]

Great present Justin

[bill5549]

Seriously nice figures.
 

[Schrumpfkopf]

What gaming experience are you aiming for? If it's about realism and historical events, then I'd suggest RtE for it has the depth in both the rules and the approach do simulating history. It's also quite a nice source of inspiration as there are countless nice photos of well painted miniatures in there. The rules however are massive and it's a challenge to learn them.

Black Powder is a nice fast paced game that feels a bit bouncy to me. I know there's others with different opinions, but really I think it's overrated.

Basing: Again this is entirely owed to your taste. I like densely packed Ranks as this is how I imagine the men to march into battle. So I wouldn't base Foundry miniatures on 2cm frontage, but calpe on 1,5 is damn tight too.

I doubt the few centimeters make a big difference in the greater scheme however.

Edit: And the miniatures are really nice =)

[H.M.Stanley]

You need to tailor BP for your period to get the best out of it. Or wait for the particular supplement 

Nice figs chap

[14th brooklyn]

R2E has no specific basing regulations. You can multibase your minis (whatever way... pairs, fours, sixes or eights). It is recommended that figures take a space of roughly 15mm x 15mm or 20mm x 20mm. It should not get any wider then 20mm, but you can easily go deeper per mini as well.

Regarding rules. I found too BP too much Beer and Pretzels and too little history. I think it tries to work for too long a period and looses the period flavour as a result. Even if you use era specific rules it is too much a jack of all trades and a master at none IMHO since it makes Napoleonics feel,no different from the ACW.
On the other hand we found R2E both historically accurate and easy to play (although the mechanics are different from what most people are used to, especially ifmthey come from a GW background, but after a handful of games you will comfortable with them.

All that being said... Both rulesets contain lots of eyecandy (BP not Napoleonics specific though) and have similar basic thoughts on basing. So if you really can not decided, get both and try them out. The one you will not choose will in the end make for a nice addition to your library!

Cheers,

Burkhard