Slitherine

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

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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

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!

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.

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