I have to admit that I didn't like the suggested basing for Skirmisher stands in
Bloody Big Battles! and wrote about it
here. I suggested the use of Skirmisher markers, thinking that there wasn't enough room on a 1" stand for additional skirmisher figures. Since getting my hands on some actual Baccus 6mm Franco-Prussian War figures, however, I think it is practical - for 6mm figures - to get skirmishers onto an ordinary base by placing the formed troops at the back. And that's not the only way in which my plans have changed.
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| The left-hand Imperial French infantry base (above) has a Skirmisher characteristic. The other one doesn't. The Baccus strips of formed figures have been clipped so the figures fill the MDF bases from side-to-side. However, I think it will be difficult to texture the MDF when the figure bases are flush with the edge. I've therefore rejected the idea of having five figures in line. Simply adding two strips per base will keep everything simpler (below). |
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| I had assumed that two skirmisher figures would be needed, but one figure makes the point just as well if not better (above). This is obviously a more abstract representation than I had originally planned. |
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| Heavy cavalry will be three-up as expected. Light cavalry might have two. |
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| 1" bases provide plenty of room for a gun and four crew. |
I was thinking previously about base sizes for BBB, as I'd both Irregulars 2mm blocks and some left over Baccus ACW.
ReplyDeleteIn the end I went for 20mm so a four man Baccus strip fills the base exactly, saved fussing. It was also slightly larger than the widest Irregular block, so one base size fits all.
I went for four skirmish figures or two ranks of formed for the Baccus ones- am thinking I'd have been better with one rank of formed and two skirmish figures now!
Having a couple of games down and reading other peoples reports, I don't think the base size difference is going to matter, and I junked my initial idea of knocking map and measurements down to match.
Some piccies of the 6mm troops here - https://www.facebook.com/pg/jtppainting/photos/?tab=album&album_id=1758853604364436
And the 2mm here - https://www.facebook.com/pg/jtppainting/photos/?tab=album&album_id=1702243366692127
Thanks for your feedback which is appreciated. My 10mm ACW armies were already on 40mm wide bases so I made up some 20mm singles for playing BBB. So for those armies I effectively arrived at the same place as you. I don't think going down to 20mm matters at all, except that 20mm bases are a little more fiddly.
DeleteIn the BBB Yahoo Group, meanwhile, Julian Lander has suggested going up to 30mm and I think that will better meet what I'm trying to do with with skirmishers as well as allowing me rows of 5 figures which I prefer.
Actually, looking at the 2mm stuff I do really wish I'd gone wider - I could have done as Andy/Leman did with his Langensalza chaps and make a "mini-diorama" for each base!
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