Late Medieval Multibasing and Base Sizes?

[HappyChappy439]

Hi! This is mostly just a question thread (showing my ignorance here!)

Where I've mostly come in from a background of individual basing (read: GW) I've always been a bit apprehensive on multi-basing miniatures, but I thought I'd take the plunge and give it a shot!

So this is a bit of a silly question, but is there any particular standardised base-size guidelines, or a "models per base" recommendation? I'm pretty unfamiliar with the gaming systems on-offer for 15th-century type stuff, so I'm not sure what the standards or recommendations would be!

From what I've seen, 60mm x 40mm infantry bases seem pretty popular, but Artillery, Cavalry and Command bases seem a bit more vague to me. Perry Miniatures sell 90mm x 65mm artillery bases, but are these too large for War of the Roses artillery?

Any help is much appreciated!

[Eric the Shed]

much will depend on the rule system you are using

e.g

Hail Caesar/ To the Strongest works with multibasing whereas Lion Rampant/Saga work better with single based figures.

To compromise I base most of my minis on steel 25mm washers and then use movement trays.

Final point be consistent with your bases sizes with your opponents, it helps both on frontages and aesthetics.

good luck

[SJWi]

Hi, I would echo the last post. I have armies based for Impetus and Hail Caesar but have now switched to figures based individually on either 1 or 2p coins, and then buying rule-specific sabot bases from Companies such as Warbases ( other manufacturers are available!). This means figures can be used for “big-battle” games or skirmish games such as Saga or Mortal Gods.

Whilst sabots might cost say £30-40 (a) they can be used for many armies and (b) the investment isn’t that bid if you are spending £200+ on a metal army.

[happyhiker]

I've multi based mine and much prefer it to sabot trays etc, which I always found a bit fiddly multibasing allows you to create better dioramas. But at the expense of flexibility. Most rulesets these days will work as long as you have the same frontage as your opponent. But 20mm per figure is a common size ( Hail Caesar, Swordpoint etc)

I base mine 4 figures to a 40 mm square mdf and 2 Cavalry to 50mm Square and have had no problems with any of the rule sets I've played, but I haven't played as many as some. I think the 60mm frontage dates back to DBA.

I originally single based mine for Kings of War, but I've decided there are better rulesets out there for historical and prefer multibasing now. I can still play KoW but with an increased frontage, which is fine if my opponent agrees,and I'll get another opponent if they dont.

[AFC Forever]

From what I've seen, 60mm x 40mm infantry bases seem pretty popular, but Artillery, Cavalry and Command bases seem a bit more vague to me. Perry Miniatures sell 90mm x 65mm artillery bases, but are these too large for War of the Roses artillery?

So the question is how many figures you expect to use for both. I started with sabots but quickly realized my multi base games need 3 times as many figures so it made sense to do it that. You will find sabots do not allow you to put enough figures on the base either and for aesthetic reasons at least you won't be satisfied. Plastics in particular can be very brittle and the damage to them on single bases can be pretty bad.

As fat as bases sizes go I would recommend the bases sizes in ADLG as they are DB(X) standard so they work for most rules. Heavy infantry and cavalry at 60mm x 40mm, medium infantry at 60mm x 60mm

[fantasticlegions]

Being inspired by Simon Chick's Burgundians, I use 60mm square for infantry and 60mm x 100mm for cavalry so that couched lances are less likely to be broken or interfere with games.  Here is a shot of a unit of Breton ordonnance archers:



More pics on my blog: Fantastic Legions

[Charlie_]

I was in the same situation as you last year, deciding to move from GW-style single bases to some form of multi-basing.

I use a variety of methods, and all my large units still use movement trays even if they are multi-based in some way.

For infantry such as pikemen and halberdiers I suggest keeping the 20mm square footprint of each man to give them a tightly packed look - you don't want such troops looking too spread out, in my opinion. You could use various size bases - my pike blocks have the front two ranks based together (both 40x80mm and 40x40mm bases combined, i.e. 2x4 men and 2x2 men, for a full frotange either 10 or 12 wide), which lets me get the lowered weapons to rank up well, and a more 'fluid' shape to the formation rather than strict ranks and files.... The rear ranks are based in a variety of ways. Some 2x2, 2x3 and 2x4 bases, and also some 1x2, 1x3 and 1x4 - this is so I can remove a few casualties from the rear rank (replacing them with empty bases to avoid empty black squares on the movement tray) to indicate them losing men, even if the rules I use don't require it.

For archers and other missile troops I recommend having them in a looser formation, whether they are supposed to be in true 'open order' or not - they can still be close together but in a looser shape. Square bases (50mm or 60mm) with 5 archers on seems to work well.

My heavy cavalry I actually still have on single bases, but on movement trays of course. I think they are going to stay that way - every time I paint up some more I re-arrange the units, and I don't want to permanently commit to a certain unit size for them (I have 2x8, 2x9 and 2x10 units. Over time I think they will eventually all be 2x10). I also swap out flags and livery coated men as needed. I think re-basing them 2 to a base (50x50mm) wouldn't gain me anything in terms of practicality - the only way I can see really benefiting is if I committed to a full rank of 10 models on one base, so each unit was just 2 bases.... but that would mean they would be permanently French, or Burgundian, or whatever, losing all their flexibility. And re-basing plastic horses stuck to plastic bases is a bit of a nightmare!

I have re-based my open order light cavalry though - 2 to a 50x100mm base, arranged slightly differently on each one. This way you can line the bases up neatly and the actual horsemen are still in a loose skirmish formation. I'd seen a lot of people do it like that, and they undeniably look better than on individual bases in skirmish formation.


I personally don't like the 'round bases on sabot' approach, as I feel it puts far too much space between the models, and at the same time usually keeps them in a too-neat rank-and-file formation.


So, my tips are...
1 - Go multi-base, but approach every type of unit differently if need be! You can do this and still have all units with the same frontage, if that's important for your rules.
2 - Movement trays can be your friends if required.
3 - Keep your pikeman and halberdiers packed in tight, they will look much better!

[Charlie_]

They look awesome - do you have a whole Breton army? I think we need to see more!

[fantasticlegions]

They look awesome - do you have a whole Breton army? I think we need to see more!

It's a new project, so this is the only completed unit now.  I should have a unit of gendarmes ready in a week or so if you want to keep your eyes on the blog.  I will try to post pictures here as well.  The plan is two units of archers, two units of gendarmes, a unit of coutiliers, a unit of voulgiers, a unit of crossbow-armed skirmishers, and a couple independent commanders.

[Rick F]

I think 40x40mm with 4 figures to a base is the most common I've seen lately. As long as both sides agree it doesn't really matter and most rule writers generally put in a paragraph saying base how you like nowadays anyway.

[HappyChappy439]

Thanks for the suggestions everyone! Sounds like I've got some planning to do! 

Also @fantasticlegions, those are some impressive Bretons! Looking forward to seeing more!