generic basing for FPW rules

[brisko32312]

Hello meine Freunde,

coming back to my FPW project after years, I not only started painting again and tried (in vain) to repair broken rifles (thanks again for all your comments there) - I also think about the most practicable way to base my miniatures.

Years ago, after looking into different rulesets (1870, To the last gaiterbutton, Fire and Fury) I decided to go for double rank 3cm x 2,5cm Bases with four (advancing) miniatures in the second line and skirmishing/firing or command figures up front.

I would like to be able to play different rules with my minis (and are happy to make reasonable adjustments to fit in my basing)

My main focus and interest lies with playing 1870/1871 respectively, and I own To the last Gaiterbutton and Neil Thomas' Wargaming 19th Century Europe; and I fancy getting Age of Valor.
It would be great to find a way to use my armies with all those rules.
Maybe using single rank bases provides more flexibility?
Who tried something similar and what were the results/experiences?
Is it doable or just impossible and I should focus on one ruleset or my own 3 x 2,5 method?

Thank you in advance for all your thoughts and help.

Best regards.

[sean66]

Pendraken do MDF bases in various sizes. they also do movement sabot bases I'm not sure about the rule sets you mention,
but maybe 3 strips of 40x10 in a movement sabot base could work. I use their 40 x60 trays for my BOFA units.
Regards
Sean 

[Big Insect]

I gather that the Bloody Big Battles rules set is good for Franco-Prussian wars

Headman is the best to chat through them with you.
He's got a lot of battles on his blog-site.

It produces a fast, enjoyable and realistic mass formation battle.

I must admit I'm also very tempted in 10mm myself

[Lord Kermit of Birkenhead]

So long as both sides use the same sized bases it doesnt matter. The popular size for a base frontage is either 60mm or 40mm. The 60 frontage is most used with 25/8mm figures although loads of my 6mm are on it as well, with 40mm being used for 15mm and 10mm. 6mm go well on both. Depth would vary on figure type, so a 40mm frontage would normally have a 20/30/40 mm depth for infantry cavalry and arty respectivly, similar proportions with 60mm frontage. Some rules suggest 1/2 the frontage for artillery. Things like limbers and wagons should be 1/2 friontage and as long as needed.

BTW - Welcome, you will need psyciatric help if you stay on here too long 

[Steve J]

Bloody Big Battles recommends 25mm square bases, but I've seen 30mm work well too. These sizes then allow you to play across a variety of rulesets, which is good. Hope this helps?

[Shedman]

I've played both 1870 (40x30mm) and Bloody Big Battles (25mm Square)

My preference is for 25mm square as you can get 6 figures in 2 ranks

IMO Bloody Big Battles (BBB) will work for 30mm or less base widths as anything bigger skews the 6x4 foot playing area

[Chris Pringle]

(Thanks, chaps, for all the kind mentions of BBB.)

Hi Brisko,

As the others have said, BBB (which was primarily designed for FPW) works with 30mmx25mm bases. Note that it is better to have distinct command and skirmisher bases. There is a spreadsheet in the BBB groups.io files that tells you exactly how many of each base you need for the 15 or 20 FPW battles for which there are BBB scenarios.
https://groups.io/g/bloodybigbattles

You might be interested to see this New York group's reports from fighting through the whole FPW with BBB at roughly one battle a month for just over a year:
http://corlearshookfencibles.blogspot.com/2017/03/la-guerre-est-finie.html

I hope this helps. Good luck with your FPW gaming!
Chris

Bloody Big BATTLES!
BBBBlog: http://bloodybigbattles.blogspot.com/
BBB on FB: https://www.facebook.com/groups/1412549408869331

[Leman]

I play the rules you mention, plus Field of Battle, Walter Schnaffs, From Shako to Coalscuttle, Neil Thomas'C19th and others. 25mm square is my preference for cavalry and infantry, with 25mm frontage by 40mm depth for artillery. Never experienced any problems with this basing:

[John Cook]

My advice is not to be hidebound by base sizes.  Base your miniatures so that they look right, or to be more accurate what you perceive as right. 

[brisko32312]

Thank you all for your answers, advice and help.

Right now I can imagine to change to 3cm x 1,5cm bases - just for the look of it -, and thanks to Lemans pictures and other comments, I might well stick with my 3cm x 2,5cm bases.
Sabot bases/movement trays will be an option for the future. The same goes with other rule-systems, BBB up front. I read and heard a lot of good things about BBB and I will be happy to try them out one day.

@ianrs54, I already called my psychiatric helper: although my head wants to follow the old advice of "only paint what you see at an arms distance", it just doesn't feel right not to paint the black leather straps on dark blue coats/uniforms... (by the way, does anybody - other than the admirable Javier Gomez - paint those french red-collarpatches?)

Leman, I very much like the look of your groundwork -how do you do them?

A good weekend to all

[brisko32312]

Okay, just to let you know my decision:

after playing around a bit and making mock bases on which I temporarily placed miniatures I decided to stick with my 3cm x 2,5cm bases.

They just give me the rectangular look I like and provide enough depth not to look crowded and to place some skirmishers up front.

Unfortunately, my holidays ended yesterday and it's back to work on monday. 

Happy painting, building and gaming.