Most flexible individual base size for infantry?

[WorkShy]

Hi. Another dumb question for the hive mind.

I've been basing all my minis for WAB. Infantry on 20x20mm and cavalry on 25x50mm. Movement trays used to group. Typically into 24 infantry (8x3), 160x60mm and cavalry (6x2), 150x100mm.

Cavalry seems to work fine on 25x50 but infantry is causing problems on 20x20. It's not the width but the 20mm depth. The minis simply cannot be ranked easily as spears etc get in the way. Some minis are just too damn big these days! I'm finding the 20x25mm or even 20x30mm (i.e. more depth) can alleviate this problem, while looking aesthetically almost as good in a shieldwall.

In WAB with our house rules such a depth modification makes no difference but will using 20x25mm or 20x30mm cause problems for other rules systems? Thinking Swordpoint, Hail Caesar, Comitatus, Lion Rampant etc. Are these systems mostly width dependent or does depth matter? Rebasing many hundreds of infantry from 20x20 to 20x30 is tiresome and I really don't want to have to reverse it back.

[jon_1066]

Why not keep the 20 by 20 but mod the movement trays to give the 20 by 30 spacing. Eg a 10 mm wide strip of mdf on the tray.

[Cubs]

For troops intended for 'regular' units in battles (as opposed to skirmish gaming, rpg or skirmishers etc..), these days I often base them in 4's - 2x2. It means you can squeeze them together (after painting) and nestle them in at the right angles before gluing them down and make better use of the space (40x40, 40x50, 40x50 - whatever works best). So long as you make sure they're based in such a way that they're not going to obstruct their neighbours to front, back or sides, it's a good system. If you need singles for casualties then you can obviously do a 1 x 2 and then two singles to sit at the back.

[Charlie_]

Why not keep the 20 by 20 but mod the movement trays to give the 20 by 30 spacing. Eg a 10 mm wide strip of mdf on the tray.

I did this exact thing myself, though for me it was for archers and cavalry, using the same base sizes (20x20 and 25x50). Since then I have rebased, but I can say it did work fine. I got them custom-made from Warbases.



However I would also suggest not going for too much space between models in ranked-up units - just my opinion, but it can look a bit silly to have them all in neat ranks and files but with massive gaps between them. I like to see them grouped close together, especially so for infantry with spears, polearms or shields.

Your original idea of having the infantry on 20x25 bases should work fine too - I don't think it would cause any difficulties with any modern rulesets, most of which are designed to be as flexible as possible when it comes to basing.

Of the rules you mentioned, I can say it DEFINITELY won't matter for Hail Caesar or Lion Rampant. For both of those games you can base them however you want, it would help to have them roughly the same as your opponent (width moreso, depth I doubt matters at all), but it really wouldn't matter if they weren't done the same. Most people play Lion Rampant with individually based models, but the size of the bases really won't matter, and you can play it with ranked up units just as easily if you wanted to.

[DalyDR]

I base my infantry on 20mm round washers.  That way I can slightly rotate individual figures to prevent spears from sticking into the backs of others.  I have occasionally had to trim a base here and there to get some figures to fit, though.

[WorkShy]

Why not keep the 20 by 20 but mod the movement trays to give the 20 by 30 spacing. Eg a 10 mm wide strip of mdf on the tray.

I did this exact thing myself, though for me it was for archers and cavalry, using the same base sizes (20x20 and 25x50). Since then I have rebased, but I can say it did work fine. I got them custom-made from Warbases.

These are good ideas. I was thinking about buying some more trays from Warbases this weekend and modding them. I might hold off and ring them up and see if they can make them with an extra 5mm strip of MDF between each rank. If they can't I will need to find some 3mm thick mdf and slice it up.

For troops intended for 'regular' units in battles (as opposed to skirmish gaming, rpg or skirmishers etc..), these days I often base them in 4's - 2x2. It means you can squeeze them together (after painting) and nestle them in at the right angles before gluing them down and make better use of the space (40x40, 40x50, 40x50 - whatever works best).

Going forward I may well start to do some 2x2 for infantry. I was trying to individually base early on to maintain flexibility but this may have got a bit out of control.

[Charlie_]

These are good ideas. I was thinking about buying some more trays from Warbases this weekend and modding them. I might hold off and ring them up and see if they can make them with an extra 5mm strip of MDF between each rank. If they can't I will need to find some 3mm thick mdf and slice it up.

They will be able to do, that's exactly what they did for me!

[Dolnikan]

My infantry are all on 20 mm washers (except for a few who are posed too awkwardly. Those go on 25 mm but usually don't join ranked up units). My cavalry is on 40 mm washers. The infantry can be made to fit into almost any ruleset but the cavalry is a little more complicated. Even then, when putting them onto larger bases, it tends to work pretty well.