Basing Question

[imported_The Paper General]

I have a whole bunch of figures that when I measured them, discovered they were 30mm.
For basing purposes, can I stick with 25mm basing sizes or do I have to rebase them to another size?
Unfortunately I can't 'do the math' and figure out the 'right' sizing for larger figures than 25mm.
Any and all help would be appreciated.
Hairy Ape :confused:

[David Kuijt]

There are only two basing sizes, 15mm and 25mm. Modern figures that are labelled (or considered) "25mm" are often really 28mm or 30mm. Base them as 25mm; the only problem is 4Kn elements often won't work.

[yettie]

This is on a slightly different topic, but what happened to the 6mm basing scemes?

When I read about them in 1.1 it seemed like it would be fun to play a DBA game on a childs checker board, why was it dropped?

What is the deal with 6mm figures now, how many figures would I put on a 40x20 4Ax base?

[David Kuijt]

Originally posted by yettie:
This is on a slightly different topic, but what happened to the 6mm basing scemes?

When I read about them in 1.1 it seemed like it would be fun to play a DBA game on a childs checker board, why was it dropped?
You'd have to ask Phil. But I suspect that the main reason is that many of the people who were actually using 6mm figures were basing them on the 15mm size bases; as a result he was just formalizing a situation that already existed. My guess only -- your mileage may vary.

[Ivan]

I have a plan, alas long unimplimented, to finish a set of matched Roman and Carthaginian Baccus armies on half size bases, 20mm wide. The cool thing is that the old Baccus pieces (not sure about the new ones) are in fact all 20mm wide, so the bases of the elements are actually just the base of the strips they are on! A few are too big or too small, I've ground down a couple and built up a couple with milliput, but most are just right as is.

Eventually I'll put together some kind of half size board, perhaps 16"x16", sort of a travel set.

[ October 17, 2004, 00:21: Message edited by: Ivan ]

[imported_JamesLDIII]

I can't speak for all 6mm gamers, but I use 6mm on 15mm sized bases. Based on the 6mm pictures in the Yahoo groups archive, BobB and several other gamers appear to use 15mm size elements as well.
Some of my first DBA elements were based on the old system, but 5 or 10mm depth bases just didn't look that great.
As far as figure numbers for basing goes, it depends quite a bit on which manufacturer of figures you use. I would say the majority of 6mm gamers probably don't use the suggested doubling of figures in the DBA rulebook, but fill up the base with as many troops as looks reasonable.
I have figures from H&R, Baccus, and Irregular. H&R troops, since they come individually, can be set up with double the number of troops, but BobB's elements have quite a bit more than that. Irregular and some Baccus figures come in strips on a set frontage.
Baccus strips are designed to be 20mm in width. So my hoplite spear elements consist of 4 strips (of 4 figures each) arranged in a 2x2 strip formation. Irregular close formation troops are slightly longer than 20mm, which makes it harder to do this without filing the bases, but my Athenian hoplites are Irregular and based the same way as my Baccus Spartans, Boeotians, etc.
All close formation troops by Baccus are in strips, so the most common setup in 15mm base scale is a 2x2 strip setup. Loose formation troops are set to be individually placed on bases, so I use correspondingly fewer figures.
Here are my usual figure per base numbers:
blade/pike/spear -- 16 figures (4 strips)
auxilia/bow/warband -- 12 or 16 figures (4 strips)
psiloi -- 5-7 figures
knights/cavalry -- 9-12 figures
light horse -- 5-7 figures
chariot/elephant/artillery -- 2 pieces

For my 8Bw EA Persians, I have 8 strips of 3 or 4 figures each, for a total of 24 or 32 figures four ranks deep per 40x40mm base.

My because Irregular has variable size strips, I usually only get 2 lose or 1 open formation strip on an element base. Most Irregular strips have 5 or 6 figures, so my spear and close ranked bow elements have 24 figures, while my warband/auxilia elements have 12, and my psiloi get 5 (I cut off the last figure to make the strip fit).


If you go to the Baccus website, you will see Peter Berry promotes 6mm figures for 25mm scale element bases. This takes advantage of the best feature of 6mm figures, which is they look great en masse. A pike, spear, or blade element in 25mm scale bases has 12 strips (48 figures) on it. Having 300-400 figures in your pike, spear, or blade block is quite impressive and looks like an army, not a representation of one. Most players don't actually base their figurs like this, however, probably because they want to be able to play BBDBA, so 15mm basing is easier to accomodate (and cheaper).

I have Irregular and Baccus 6mm armies posted in the eye candy section if you want to see some examples, and BobB has extensive 6mm pictures in the Yahoo groups DBA website under the files section.

[Aethelfrith]

Hairy: Just use them as 25mm; I gather that the size difference is barely even noticable. I'll quote from the rulebook, v2.2:
"Base size is not critical provided that all bases have the same frontage and both armies use the same conventions."
If you use the 25mm basing conventions, you can use the army in any vs. an army that does the same-Even with different figure scales! I once saw an odd battle: A 6mm Roman army vs. a 25mm Carthagenian(Spelling?) army--They were both using 25mm Basing regs. Hope this helps.
Nate

[El' Jocko]

Originally posted by jldiii:
Most players don't actually base their figurs like this, however, probably because they want to be able to play BBDBA, so 15mm basing is easier to accomodate (and cheaper).
But just imagine BBDBA with 6mm figures on 60mm bases! Ok, so you'd need a 45" by 90" board and the table to hold it. But it would look very cool.

- Jack

[xeswop]

For large 25mm figs, use 25mm bases. Cut down on the number of figures if it is a problem. DBR rules call for 1 less 25mm figure than for 15mm. I have a number of late medieval armies that fit both games and I use the DBR basing. 4 Pikes look good but I use 3 Bd (2 for Fast(Bd)) and 3 Sp, 2 Ax and 3 Wb on either a deep or shallow base to tell 4's from 3's. 2 Cav and Kn, 1 Lh and Ps with lots of terrain. All looks good on the table and players, once told, do not get confused. Keep the proper base size and you are ok. In a tournament, glue a small label on the front with what the element is.

If you want to go really big scale, then I recommend you go to 80mm and double all the 15mm measurements.

The 6mm special size was dropped as it was just too hard to move, let alone cut, those small bases properly. Too fiddlely.

Just put as many 6mm figs on what ever size base you want. I have 16-20 heavy troops on 15mm bases, 12 Ps. I have also done 15mm figs on 25mm bases. As Jacko says, 25mm bases packed with 6mm figs is the way to go for the realistic look. [If I ever get myself organized, I will be sending him sufficient figures to do that.]

Bob

[Cremorn]

Originally posted by Ivan:
I have a plan, alas long unimplimented, to finish a set of matched Roman and Carthaginian Baccus armies on half size bases, 20mm wide.
Eventually I'll put together some kind of half size board, perhaps 16"x16", sort of a travel set. Wouldn't it be "officially" 12"?

Wow! truly minisculis. Smells like a project!

[Ivan]

The official size can bite my ***.

I have a 32"x32" board now for 15mm, so if I ever get around to finishing my mini 6mm project, I'll make the board 16" a side.

[David Kuijt]

Originally posted by Ivan:
The official size can bite my ***.
:D Hehehehehe...