The Peninsula Army List calls for a large battalion of riflemen. Should all six bases contain 8 men as in a regular unit or should I mount them more dispersed say 4 to a base?

Hi All,

I understand that units in Lasalle are not meant to be 1:1 matched with batallions, but with most nations this works pretty well in my opinion. Yet I'm still trying to work out how to depict British Batallions. As they were exceptionally large with their 10 companies, I would have expected them to be classified as large units (like e.g. the Austrians). But since they are defined as normal units, I'm thinking about breaking down a Bristish batallion into two Lasalle units - for example depicting in one unit three bases infantry and one base command and in the other unit three bases infantry and one base grenadiers. What do you think about this, and how do you depict your British units?

Very best regards,
Tobi

Howdy all,

I am trying to figure out how to store my Armies in a practical way that is easy to put away & sort, and carry to club and so on. My normal plan with 28mm figures is to use foolscap (lever-arch) file boxes (with a self-adhesive sheet of flexible steel in the bottom & self-adhesive magnets on the underside of the bases), as these are pretty sturdy and are about 65mm deep (so usually ample for mounted troops, barring camels, and most Infantry standard bearers) - see here for an example if you aren't sure what I'm referring to. And they are an excellent size (because they fit normally 7 x 5 of the 50mm square bases quite snugly) - but they just aren't working for my Lasalle Nappies due to the numbers of infantry standards over 65mm high and the majority of mounted guys have upraised swords and such which won't fit in! And unfortunately (in NZ at least) they don't make a larger version that's 50% deeper or such (e.g. 100mm high) which would be my ideal solution.

So I'm trying to figure out what other commercially available products might be suitable and what's everyone come up with to store their figures - especially in case someone has a really cunning scheme no one else has thought of yet?

Hi,

after much deliberation I'm almost at the point of deciding to go with 15mm on 30mm x 25mm bases. Before I commit and abandon Sam's recommended 40mm BW for 15mm figs can you answer this question for me. I'll be using a 6' x 4' table. Can you play a game with two support groups on that size table with 40mm BW? Or realistically are you limited to one support?

Cheers

Our group here in Tucson just wrapped up a 2 day game. I call small, but my buds call big...anyways, with about 3 divisions for each side. With that being said there were a lot of markers on the table; skirmershers and Disruptions. A member of our group suggested making one base with the number of figures on it to represent the unit's skirmish value. Example: I fielded a large unit w/3 skirmish value - instead of three skirmish bases, just one base w/3 figures on it. Has anyone tried this? Thought?

Thanks.

P.

As per my earlier posting, here is the start of a list of what NZ players are up to.

Tim
Wellington
28mm
British
45 x 40 INF, 45 x 60 Cav, 135 wide art bases
Panzershreck, Call to Arms and Napcon

Bryan Fowler
28MM
Austrian 50 x 50 Bases
French 45 x 40 bases
Panzershreck, Call to Arms and Napcon

Any one else in New Zealand want to add to the list?

Cheers
Bryan

I will play using 15mm figures.

I started out with 40mm x 25mm bases with 8 figures each, but then decided that 48 figure Austrian units, while very nice looking, were perhaps a bit impractical.

So I decided I'd switch to 30mm x 25mm bases with 6 figures on a base. Also, I thought this might be a bit more compatible with other rules sets should I want to try something different.

Either works well with figures in march attack pose, but I just bought a bunch of painted Old Glory in sdvancing/trail arms poses and it's proving a challenge to fit 6 of those on a 25mm deep base.

So, I've got two questions.

1. What basing convention would be the most versatile (i.e. would allow me to play LaSalle and other popular rules sets).

2. Does an increased depth base (say 30mm) interfere with the Lasalle game mechanics in any significant way.

Thanks.

Hi All – I’m not sure if it’s been discussed here but I did a quick search and could not find any obvious references. What are peoples thought’s on how to maximise the utilisation of figures for Irregular capable unit and such. I’ll have a few of these but the first obvious one is 1/95th Rifles from Picton’s Division at Quatre Bras & Waterloo – In an extreme case (and I’ll use my 24 fig 28mm scale battalion as an example) you might want or need up to 48 figures as follows:

4 Formed Stands at 6-figs each = 24 figs
4 Irregular Stands at 4-figs each = 16 figs
4 Skirmisher Stands at 2-figs each = 4-8 figs

Obviously this is pretty inefficient and not the best use of the figures?

I was thinking one trick might be to have 4 Irregular Bases that are just figureless but have spaces cut in them to insert a Skirmisher stand (a bit like a movement tray) – so you can reuse the 8 skirmisher figures (from the above list) and remove the 4 Irregular Stands completely (getting you down to 32 figs). So a 50mm x 25mm skirmisher marker with 2 figs drops into the middle of a 50mm x 50mm standard figure base to indicate it’s an irregular not a skirmisher?

Alternately I am thinking just model the 4 stands of the Battalion as semi-Irregulars – so 4-5 figs per base in a not completely regular formation (versus having 6 figs in 2 regular ranks of 3) – and do the 4 skirmisher stands (which you always need regardless) and then you can tell when it’s irregular (because no skirmisher stands are out - right?) and when it’s formed it has it’s Skirmisher stands... Plus you have the prerequisite SK stands for breaking the unit down completely. And this gets you down to 16-20 figs for the main unit plus 8 Skirmisher Figs (which you might pad out further by doing half to all the SK stands with just 1 fig) – leaving you only something like 20-28 figs max to cover all options...

This latter probably works fine for the Rifles & 60th Americans, and the odd European Jager unit but I guess for standard Light Battalions you want to model them as formed 6-fig per base* and just to the slightly staggered bases with no Skirmishers as per the rule book if irregular, as the simplest and best way to model? But you'll still need the 4 SK stands again so in the 28-32 fig region (i.e. if your basic formed 'small' unit is 24 figs).

* I’m using my 28mm basing scheme as an example – the 6-figs per base per formed stand isn’t the object (so don’t get hung up on that) it’s the reduction of figs or alternate bases for Irregular formation and/or cunning way’s to model both with the same figures that I’m interested in.

I’ve also thought of putting some figs on small 20mm round bases that sit in the standard base amongst the other figs, when the unit is irregular you remove the 1-2 removable figs and replace them with blank spacers (e.g. with grass & rocks on - again like a movement tray) so suddenly your 6-figs in 2 lines of 3 per base suddenly has only 4 figs with an irregular gap in each line (because you don’t always remove the middle fig). But this pushes the overall fig count up again – i.e. a 24 fig small battalion with 4 SK stands is back to 28-32 figs...

This latter would work for any type of unit (incl. Light Infantry) – but still results in a (significiantly) increased figure count once you do several units...

What have other people tried, considered, come-up with, or otherwise experimented as a way to create morphable units where they have this 3-way function (i.e. Formed, Irregular, and break into SK stands/companies)...?

I'm almost there with my Perry French.

8 x Battalions of French infantry with Foot Artillery & 2 x Large Cuirass Squadrons with Horse Artillery

I've used the Perry bases that come with the plastic box sets.

Now my infantry battalions are 6 bases (6 men to a base) and i'd like to keep them as 6 bases rather than the usual four, just for the look. My cavalry 6 bases; 3 horses per base (they may be a bit small for Large units if i'm using 6 x bases for regular infantry)

So with that in mind, would an 8' x 6' table be better rather than the usual 6x4?

Are there any other amendments i need to make to the rules to take into account the extra bases i'm using

Just the artillery to paint; i'll post photos when they're all done

Thanks

Hi Guys

I got the rulebook yesterday, havent had a proper read-through yet. This is my first venture into Napoleonics, and I intend to do LaSalle in 15mm. Will probably start with an Empire French army and then pick an opponent army to build. So far, Battle Honours seem to be the right balance of quality & price. What manufacturers are other 15mm players using, just so I can get an idea of what other people think of the ranges out there.

thanks

Phil

I'm thinking of starting in on a 15mm army for Lasalle. It seems that 40mm by 30mm is pretty standard, but I happen to have a sack full of 40mm by 20mm bases lying around. Do y'all think that 40x20mm bases would work with 15mm?

Thanks.

I'm putting together an 1815 British army for Lasalle. I'd like to go with 6 figures per base, but I'm stuck on how to arrange officer/colours/drummer. Assuming a 6 figure base, how would y'all arrange those 4 figures?

Thanks.

I tried out the rules at Historicon, got hooked and began painting 15mm British two days ago. I realize the system is fairly flexible with regards to base sizes. However, will there be official base sizes for tournamets? I am considering basing my stuff on one and one eighth inch bases.

Am I correct to assume that the Lasalle rules are written to a true 15mm scale (as measured from foot to eyes/top of head of figures, more or less)? This is roughly where Minifigs and Essex figures are sculpted.

If so, where does that leave the much larger sized 18mm miniatures (many of which really tower up to 20-22mm)? Examples include AB, Old Glory, and Fantassin.

Anyone else considered making alterations to the game to accommodate these larger-sized figures? It seems there might be a "20mm" scale recognized as a recognition that broadly encompasses these figures that sit somewhere between the 15mm and 25/28mm scales.

I've done a search and looked through some of the past leader basing questions, but nothing was definative. So I will ask now, especially with the Historicon Tourney right around the corner, what size bases is everyone using for :

a. 10mm and less
b. 15mm
c. 25mm

I'm really curious about this so any insight that everyone can provide would be greatly appreciated.

Sincerely,
Steve

Greetings,

I started to base my 18mm AB figures on 1.5"x1" thin metal bases but ran out, so am planning to purchase some of the laser cut wooden bases from Litko. I thoguht the .8mm bases (their thinnest) would match up well with what I already have. Does anyone have experience with thier bases, and have any suggestions for which width to select? Do the .8mm ones hold up well, or should I consider the 1.5 or 3mm bases instead?

Thanks,
GreenMountainboy.

No, I'm not providing one, so much as needing one. I have experience playing wargaming, but its pretty much limited to fantasy and science fiction gaming. Over the last couple of years, I've collected half a dozen Napoleonic and historic wargaming rule sets, including Shako 2, Black Powder, GdB, and of course, LaSalle.

Given the high quality of the rule sets, it appears to be a great time for a new players to enter Napoleonic gaming. Even with the new stuff, however, it seems very intimidating.

After having read LaSalle, it seems to be a relatively easy rule set to get into Napoleonic gaming, though I have also liked Shako 2, and Black Powder. Given the "army creator" in the back of the book, it also seems to have enough of a GW/PP/BF mechanic to get us non-historical gamers into it.

Anyway, I am looking for some advice and answers to questions.

1. When playing Napoleonics, do you generally recreate historical scenarios? Or, do players do "what if" scenarios?

2. There is a great deal of jargon in Napoleonics, from whether a rule set is at the tactical level, the brigade level, etc. etc. Is there some FAQ or Wiki that defines these types of terms?

3. I've looked at the forums here, the advice found in LaSalle and Shako II, and on the TMP boards regarding basing. Would the following basing idea be viable?

INFANTRY: 4 figures on a 1 1/2" x 1/2" base.

CAVALRY: 2 figures on a 1 1/2" by 1" base.

Artillery: 1 piece w/ 3-4 men on a 1 1/2" by 1 1/2" square base.

Also, with regard to the infantry base, should I instead use a single 1 1/2" x 1" base with 8 figures or just join the 4 figures together when needed.

4. With regard to basing, there is discussion of center and flank companies that is damn confusing to a beginner. Is the placement of officers, flankers, and center figures primarily an aesthetic thing or is their location critical to games (LaSalle and otherwise)?

5. I have ordered figures for the Peninsula theater of war, because I like the idea of having British and French with smatterings of Spanish and Portuguese. With regard to painting figures, my thoughts were to paint them as generically as possible, so I could use the miniatures for other campaigns. For example, for the British, Grey pants, red jackets, white piping and black hats. Do other do anything beyond that? When painting and collecting your forces, do you explicitly collect specific regiments?

6. Where do people get their bases? Is Litko the primary source in the United States? And, if so, do most use metal bases or wooden ones? And, for 15mm, which thickness is commonly used?

7. The use of movement trays? And, finally, with regard to basing, has anyone bases their figures 2x2 and then just used movement trays to go to 8 figures? Or, is that not really a viable approach?

Thanks for your help!

Greetings,

I've got a mix of 18mm AB Austrians, which I am re-basing for Lassale. Now, I understand that the Austrians would generally amagamate thier Grenadier Companines into thier own battalions, but I am wondering- Was this always done? Would there be no grenadier companies in Line Infantry battalion?

I am just curious, as if that's the case I'll have to pick up more Austrian Line infantry to flesh out the units.

Thanks,
GMB.

I'm stuck right now trying to decide whether to base my 28mm Mamluk and Berber cavalry as regular cav (2/3 figures per stand) or just base them as individual figures (on round bases) since they seem to behave as irregular cav....particularly Arab cavalry.

Any suggestions?

Obviously it would be nice to have the flexibility for skirmish games as well to have them mounted individually.

Thanks

Phil

There are a lot of 15mm Napoleonic figure collections out there in different forms and flavors. The two most common ratios I know and have seen of are the 1:60 and 1:30 collections. Most, if not all, of my figures are set for 1:30 gaming; typically, a French infantry battalion has 24 figures in it. I use to have a small 1:60 collection, but it got converted to 1:30. I prefer more figures than less, so those 32 figure units in the Lasalle rule book catch my attention. And it would be easy, if not time consuming, to just paint up some more figures - it would require 8 figs infantry per battalion - to bring the total to 32 figures and have four bases of eight figures each. I have briefly thought of this, but I ran into a couple of snags. First snag was that there will be a LOT of painting to do if we would like to fill out the ranks of our 1:30 collections and base them as “recommended” for Laselle. Second snag, and the most limiting one, is that most of the figures in our collections are no longer being cast, though we still have a few packs of unpainted figures laying about. These figures that are no longer produced are only available here and there at random (mostly on ebay, miniatures forums, or at gaming conventions) but even then, there is no guarantee that we’ll be able to get the needed figures to fill out the ranks.

As a result, we have decided to leave the 1:30 collections as is because we don’t fancy the idea of painting hundreds figures unless its to create new units, and also, because one of the nice things about Lasalle is that it is flexible enough to adapt to almost any base size. “The most important criterion is that you and your opponent use the same system for basing figures.” When I do paint new figures, I can always make the newly painted units 32 figures and base them as “recommended” on page 6 - in fact, I have already painted one new unit this way. But as for the old collection, I’m just going to work with what I have. In the end, I will have two sets of figure collections; one old collection and one new collection.

Here are some ideas we have been contemplating:
Idea #1
Rebase all of the old figure collections so that 1BW = 1” (25.4mm) so that we can use inch rules for Lasalle. The figures would resemble what you see on page 5 of the rule book. Except that instead of “20mm+” figures we would use 15mm figures. Also, instead of 2” (50.8mm) per BW, one BW for us would be 1” (25.4mm). But the number of figures would be the same at six figures per base for infantry and two for cavalry, or a total of 24 figures and 8 figures respectively. There are two very good reasons to go this route:
1 ) One BW = 1” so we can use standard inch rules when playing Laselle.
2 ) Visually, three figures to an inch or six figures to a base looks and resembles close order formations. Not shoulder to shoulder, but close never the less(1) However, for the larger 15mm (figures that measure 18/19mm from bottom of foot to top of head) it will start to get constricted. But fortunately, most of our figures are the second generation minifigs with a few of the newer ones thrown in, and they are true 16mm and 17mm figures. These will fit very nicely on basing described above. Even more so would be the old Heritage 15mm figures; which happen to be true 15mm figures as they measure 15mm from bottom of the feet to top of the head. The old Heritage 15’s look and work best on the above basing.

However, there is on negative… and it’s a very big negative. Just the word “rebasing” sends insalubrious chills down my back and may be the cause of some nightmares. So…

Idea #2
Our collections are already based at 3/8” per figure with some bases having three figures per base, and some having four figures to a base. That is, a base that measures 1-1/8” x 1/2" (28.6mm) has three figures while a base of 1-1/2” x 1/2” (38.1mm) has four figures. If we choose to have one BW equal to 1-1/8” (or 28.6mm) then those figures already based three per are almost done. Just need to slap two bases together “or doubled” as the rule book says. Those that are mounted four per stand just need to be rebased on bases to match, a base that measures 1-1/8” (28.6mm) x 1” (25.4mm) with six figures. Example of this can be found on page 6 of the rule book. However, 1-1/8” = 28.6mm and not 30mm, and 1-1/2” = 38.1mm and not 40mm… but one might say, “close enough” since you get roughly a 6mm to 8mm inconsistency. There is one good reason to go this route. That is, we do not have to rebase all our figures - those that are 3 per stand are just doubled up.

Are there other gaming groups with a similar situation? If so, how did your gaming group come up with a workable solution? I’m leaning towards the BW = 1”, but I’m open to good ideas. I have seen other posts were gamers have used six figures in two rows on 40mm bases. For us, that is not an option as it looks like skirmishers, and we want the look of close order formations. I have seen a lot of figure collections that are 1:30 (also 1:33) and 1:20 that have three figures per stand. For them, I just recommend doubling up. But for 1:20 collections, there are enough figures to base as “recommended”. But what did you do if your collection was mixed?

Here is a question to fellow Napoleonic gamers out there. If you had hundreds of Napoleonic figures that are organized for 1:30 gaming, and adding new figures to form 32 figure units from 24 figures is not an option, what would you do? I guess you could cannibalize other units, but this would have limited success in that it wouldn’t work for all units; can’t stick line infantry to fill up a guard unit.

(1) Probably more historical if not really shoulder to shoulder since the ranks would open up a little but then close up at times, but more about this in a different thread. Let us just stick to basing here :-)

Looking at the basing options on the web site I noticed that for 6mm it just says any rectangle, the picture near by looks like standard Baccus basing of 60mm x 30mm.

I have my 6mm based this way but I was thinking that if I play to this base size my 6mm Armies will move faster and shoot further than either 15mm or 25mm. This does not seam right to me, what do other people think?

I was thinking of using one 60x30 to represent 2 bases in the game as this would redress the balance.

Hi All

I have just received a complete Laselle army from Battle Honours and find my self completely lost:

Firstly I have the Light infantry marching pack (1808-1812), (I intend to use these for my SK stands) in the pack it looks like I have 8 with a Bear skin, 8 with a pompon and plume and the rest with just pompon. What are the differences and can I still use them as my SK stands?

Secondly the Line infantry marching (1808-1812) pack; this has (I think) 16 with pompon and plume, 19 with just pompon then there is 3 with no hat and 3 sets of command. Again what is what and how should I base these? I plan on doing 4 bases as per the suggested basing with 6 figs per base.

Lastly in the command figures I have; one eagle standard bearer, one officer, one drummer and one fig with what looks like a halberd with a small flag on it, who is he and where does he go?

Any help is appreciated.

JP

I am assuming that I am not the only person to base a new, 28mm army composed mostly of plastic for these rules. What appears to be the default basing scheme for 28mm players who aren't trying to keep an old system?

What seems to be the consensus favorite among all 28mm games?

How "robust" do the rules seem for playing with units that aren't quite 4xBW in width? For example, if a tournament organizer sets up a tournament with a declared 50mm base width would a player whose infantry units are 4 men in 2 ranks to a 40mm frontage (think WAB or GW) be at a disadvantage or an advantage? Would the difference be noticable as long as the player used 50mm for all movement and shooting?

Thanks

Hi All,

What size bases are everyone else using for 10mm? My group is working on 10mm but our dilemna comes down to basing sizes. I would like us to use 'tournament' legal basing, but I haven't found anything that would suggest that for 10mm.

Any help that anyone could provide would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
Steve
"The Dial Dude"
http://www.dialdude.com

Hi guys, just getting back into Napoleonics and I am rebasing my Austrians. What is the recommended way to base Jaegers & other elite light infantry that have SK2 or 3?

My thinking is to base the Jaegers as irregular since I imagine that these will usually break down into skirmisher bases to be attached out or as an irregular unit? Any reason these guys would ever want to be a formed unit?

As a preliminary to kicking off my 6mm armies for Lasalle and Grande Armee I based up a few 6mm French to try out the basing I have planned:

Sample here:

And the details and more pictures here:

http://blog.belisarius.org.uk/2010/02/6mm-basing-test.html

Cheers

Andy

What is the best way to base guns and limbers? Do you have you guns loose on their main base so that you can use take them off and use with a limber or do you just have two guns, one based unlimber and one based with the limber? I looking for some new ideas.

Thanks.

Has anyone tried different base widths for measuring than the actual base width of the units? I think I am going to go with the 50mm wide basing for the two 28mm armies I am basing up.

However, about half the time I play I will only have a 6x4 table. If I use 40mm BW for ranges and movement with these armies will it skew the rules too much? It seems the amount of time (in turns) to close is probably and the relative distances for movement and firing are probably more important than the ratio of Unit frontage to movement since it is arbitrary anyway.

Thanks for your thoughts.

-Pete

BH packs Grenz come mixed with marching, shooting, and advancing. Trying to base 8 to a unit is tough unless you use all marching. I'm going to try to use a front line shooting with back line march. Also, a plan on one unit of irregular Grenz and looking at only 4 figs per stand. Any thoughts...

Hey Sam,

From the pictures, it looks like the infantry skirmishers are on smaller bases. Can you tell me the size you are using?

Thanks, Mark