Basing 1/72 Plastic Figures

Quintus · Post by **Quintus** » Thu Mar 06, 2008 9:45 am

How do people base 1/72 plastics? The news so far is that they are based according to 25mm but is it not possible to base them satisfactorily on 15mm scale bases?

I haven't had my delivery of 1/72 Punic Wars figures yet but had a look at US Nato figures(!) and they didn't take up much space at all. I wonder if base depth is the issue.

Take a look at these figures! http://www.baueda.com/plastikornar/painting_guide.html

hammy · Post by **hammy** » Thu Mar 06, 2008 9:54 am

I base mine on standard 25mm bases.

The photo from Claudio's site I am pretty sure is of 1/72nd figures on 25mm bases.

Cam_Millar · Post by **Cam_Millar** » Thu Mar 06, 2008 10:01 pm

1/72 foot would probably fit on a 40mm base - as long as they are in a fairly sedate pose. With some infantry poses you may need to cut down the number of figures on the base. Cavalry are more a problem - getting 3 cav figures on a 40mm base will often be too tight a squeeze. You could use 2 figs for cav and 1 for light horse, but I suspect that will look a bit odd. Things like chariots (width) and elephants (depth) may also be a problem.

I think 1/72 look better on 60mm bases. One option is to add more figures. In a perfect world (ie in one where I can paint really fast) I would double the recommended number of 1/72 foot figures on a 60mm base (and the number of elephants), while keeping the number of cavalry figures as recommended. A warband or spear/pike block would look pretty impressive with 8 per base, and even 4 light infantry on a 6cm base has plenty of space.

Cam

Quintus · Post by **Quintus** » Fri Mar 07, 2008 9:40 am

I tend to agree as regards presentation by using more figures. I would be tempted to add say one more figure per base but FoG is pretty clear on the numbers of figures per base and I would like to have the opportunity to compete with my armies so I would have to stick to the rules in basing my figures.

Nathaniel · Post by **Nathaniel** » Sat Mar 08, 2008 8:20 am

I don't think it's possible to squeeze 8 of the typical 1/72 infantry onto a 60mm wide base. It'd have to be 2 ranks deep to pull that off. 5 or 6 could certainly be possible, but 8? Only if you use only the most static poses that all line up perfectly.

Quintus · Post by **Quintus** » Sat Mar 08, 2008 8:54 am

Just received my HaT Punic Wars figures. They're very good.

Now that I have measured them it is clear that they will have to be based on 60mm width bases. I will have to go with bases that are deeper than normal to fit the cavalry satisfactorily (as I don't want to rub the paint off noses and tails when I play).

As regards infantry there is no problem for the Spanish swordsmen nor for the light infantry (both Roman and Spanish). Roman infantry might be a problem for depth because of the some of the poses but that is easily solved by using double-depth bases and providing suitable figures on single bases for flexibility. As they are so cheap this is no problem. What is more I prefer double-depth bases for heavy infantry (I had a Macedonian-style pike phalanx based like that in 15mm and it's the best way in my view). Plastic figures are slimmer than the somewhat chunky metal versions and a suitable placement of figures on a double base will really help show them as a mass of heavy infantry.

sjwhite72 · Post by **sjwhite72** » Mon Apr 07, 2008 2:33 pm

I am a confused noobie to historical wargaming, played mostly fantasy.
I have enough HaT 1/72 figures to build the core Republican and Hanibal armies from FOG:Rise of Rome
What is the best size base to use?
How many figures to a base?
How many bases per a unit?

Like I said, I am a noobie trying to understand the book.
Steve

Quintus · Post by **Quintus** » Mon Apr 07, 2008 3:06 pm

Well I'm part of the way through painting my 1/72 plastic Punic Wars Spaniards and Romans (HaT figures). I have bought bases for the 25mm scale so that I can base them according to my earlier post (08 Mar), i.e. as though they were 25/28mm figures, 4 per base for HF, 3 per base for MF etc.

The only exception is the double-depth bases for most of the Roman Infantry.

I'm very pleased with things so far and they look great painted. Not least they are so cheap to buy!

hammy · Post by **hammy** » Mon Apr 07, 2008 3:15 pm

sjwhite72 wrote:
I am a confused noobie to historical wargaming, played mostly fantasy.
I have enough HaT 1/72 figures to build the core Republican and Hanibal armies from FOG:Rise of Rome
What is the best size base to use?
How many figures to a base?
How many bases per a unit?

Like I said, I am a noobie trying to understand the book.
Steve

All bases should have a frontage of 60mm

For legionaries four figures to a base 20mm deep with units (BGs) of 4-8 bases or 2-4 for Triarii
Velites two figures to a 30mm deep base with units of 4-8 bases
Cavalry three figures to a 40mm deep base units of 4-6
Light horse (Numidians etc.) two to a 40mm deep base units of 4-6

See P126 of the rules for basing and Rise of Rome for full details of the armies.

madaxeman · Post by **madaxeman** » Mon Apr 07, 2008 6:34 pm

In my rather too long experience, no-one in the ancient wargaming community is going to beat you to death (or refuse you entry to a competition) for having one or more figures per base above or below what than the rules suggest.

The only things people will be likley to expect is that a/ the army looks good (ie is painted) and b/ that your different troop types can be distinguished from each other.

If this means your 20mm close oder foot are in 5's and the loose order ones are in 4's - or your "fat 28mm" close order foot are in 3's so be it - honestly, no-one will mind, especially if they are well painted. As long as they look cool, everyone is happy

tim
www.madaxeman.com