Advice needed - Firing Figures

[Paul Richardson]

Hi,

Please may I ask for some advice. As some of you may know, all of the figures in my collection to-date are in non-combat poses - mainly standing around doing not much. Well, I've decided to depart from this with a unit of Swedish musketeers which will be in 3 ranks and firing a salvo. The front rank will be kneeling, the middle crouching and the rear standing very tall. All figures will have musket rests. For infantry units I'd normally allow a space of roughly 20mm x 20mm per figure but this looks too much for figures in this sort of unit - I think they need to be closer together. What do you do with your units please?

I'm actually planning on putting the figures on bases of 4 or 5 figures. A base of 4 will have 1 figure in the front rank, 2 in the middle and 1 in the rear while a base of 5 will have 2 in the front, 1 in the middle and 2 in the rear.

Any thoughts much appreciated. 

[Paul Richardson]

 Having played around a bit with possible base sizes, I quite like a base which is 30mm wide and 60 mm deep. I want the figures to be close but not touching. Any views?

[SJWi]

Paul, I use Simon Miller's "For King and Parliament" rules for ECW, and my infantry units are based as 17 figure vignettes with a pike block flanked by musketeers. Hence my answer may be atypical. Looking at my figures I would say that a 60mm depth is sensible. I have units with the front rank firing and the rear rank(s) loading. The firers take up more depth due to the "firing pose".  You could get away with a 30mm width but 40mm might be better, especially if you have dynamic figures. I also note that Warlord Games' "Pike and Shotte" rules assume 40 x 40mm for a block of 4 figures.       

[Paul Richardson]

SJWI: many thanks. Interesting. I do think the 60mm depth for 3 ranks is about right. The muskets of the front rank won't stick out too far in front of the bases. The width I'm undecided on. It will be either 30mm or 40mm. I'm inclined to go with 30mm and have the figures quite close together.

I should have said that I don't wargame, so don't have to comply with any set of rules. The figures are purely decorative.