John and I were talking about his 'opening moves' and the
need for quality content yesterday. He stated that he is very much in need of
content/painted examples/help with the 3mm Napoleonics.
I've been thinking about 'large base' projects lately. My
oldest son and I are painting 28mm ancients for Impetus. What if we did some
'large base' formations for a particular battle. Each of us could take on a
unit of some kind (regiment or division). 5-6 bases total with a largish number
of figures on each base in formation. Probably an afternoon's worth of work.
It's been years since I played Napoleonics, but I remember
that Napoleon's Battles was a more operational level game (for which
PicoArmor figures would be perfect). Each of us could write about how we researched,
painted and put together our unit. The idea would be to snap a few photos as we
went along. I'm just not as up-to-date on current rules sets. Would Napoleon's
Battles basing work?
Mr. Fratt - I'm tempted to suggest your rules, but they are
not commercially available and John would love to help people to 'get started'.
Thoughts, folks? Other ideas?
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I'm certainly game. I'll need a
fair amount of help, as Nappys are entirely out of my wheelhouse. I suppose a
fair place to start is with a list of the major combatants.
I know of -
French
English
Russian
Prussian
Austrian (I think these are
complicated)
Then there's the types of
infantry, cavalry, and artillery. I suppose we should add command.
I would agree on establishing a rule-set for the basing.
I'll look for Napoleon's Battles while we see what Steve Fratt has to say.
One thought would be to use Borg's Command & Conquer
Napoleonics. It's the Napoleonic version of the old AH Battle Cry game. We
could talk about making the game more 'visual' by replacing the figures in the
game with stands of figures - looks cool but keeps it simple for 'first
timers.'
C&C Napoleonics 3rd edition
from GMT is a good gateway game from board games to miniatures.
I have a lot of information about the Austrians from my 1809
research. They are complicated tactically 1809 but not structurally.
Personally, I think that basing for existent rule-sets is a
step backwards, for a long list of reasons, but I understand why people would
probably be in favor of it. Having a set of rules might help in selling
the scale. That said, the scale has a tendency to illustrate what is
wrong with most miniature war-games rules out there (mostly ground scale, range
and time issues).
For wow-factor I think that trying to do some 1:1 battalions
is the way to go. If we are to set a basing system we're all going to
work with I think Black Powder or something similar would be a good idea.
Black Powder is very easy to do at about 1:1 for Napoleonics. 6 x 60mm x
40mm bases will represent a French battalion at about 1:1. This is the
same size as a 36 figure battalion in 28mm. An Austrian battalion would
be almost twice that big, say 10 such bases, Russians would be about the same,
British would be wider but without a third rank. To keep the same ground
scale a cavalry squadron is 2 ranks, 2 x 60mm x 40mm bases. That means
that a full sized regiment is 8 such bases, and a full brigade of cavalry is 32
bases and over a thousand miniatures. The base could be narrowed, of
course, to 60mm x 30mm or about there, and still have the space to show all
three ranks and the NCOs. I did a bunch of 1:1 battalions and brigades
for Pico Armor a few years ago. One was a three regiment cuirassier
brigade; I think it came out pretty good. If you are sticking to 1:1 then
you can also put together 1:1 artillery batteries, which look great on the
table top. Going 1:1 highlights the strengths of the scale IMHO. On
the other hand, basing for abstract "brigade base" games merely
points out the weaknesses of static-footprint brigade-base games. I have
a bunch of thoughts on this on my blog, as I did create an entire Austrian army
on 60mm x 60mm squares, then when I realized the spatial problems, rebased them
so I could make individual battalions.
That said, one of the articles I have in mind to do will be
about using 3mm figures to create non-static, stackable brigade bases, which
don't involve sabots. I'm very dubious about any static brigade-base
games at this point, although I admit they look good. Anyways, just my
two cents.
Thank you for this. However, I
feel like we're having two discussions, and I think I'm to blame.
The discussion you've outlined
is an example of why we asked you to join the faculty. I find your approach to
both rules, terrain, and dynamic basing extremely interesting and forward
thinking.
On the other hand, what Jim
outlined from our discussion would be part of an introductory blog - a
how-to, if you will. The idea is that someone new, or someone new to an era, is
looking for a method to begin. This series of posts address this topic. Based
upon a period how does one find how to base, how to paint, and how to organize
an army.
Using standard rules may be a
step backwards, but it is a step :)
I'd like to invite you to open this discussion and please
include Steve Fratt and Jim Roots, as I believe you will find a VERY
sympathetic audience.
Ahh- ok. I got it now :)
If you want to do Impetus style basing, on a 120mm x 80mm
base, you could show a bunch of individual battalions arranged in field
formations on the base, maybe with some artillery in the mix as well.
These are all on 60mm square bases, so Impetus basing would
be like 3 of these side by side (I think?). Or would we want to do single
battalions on the bases, and show the companies? Lot's
of options on a base that big!
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