I agree with the tactical posture idea, and do something similar for my home grown Napoleonic rules. The way I get around this is to place my figures on 3 or 4 2x1.5cm bases and move these around on a 8x4cm 'formation' base which, represents the tactical area occupied by a brigade. This is also handy for placing on casualty markers etc and moving the whole lot together. It also means I can adapt to other rules as necessary simply by combining bases onto sabots.

Horses for courses though.

"Has anyone done this and regretted it?"

I didn't when I did this 10 years ago.  That said, moving to 6mm and single-based battalions and brigades and so on was all part of the same approach.  If I knew I was only ever going to play General de Brigade or Black Powder, then I would probably use a multi-base system.  What I have found though is that even for those kind of games, it doesn't matter very much: I play using Neil Thomas' rules sometimes and you simply declare/scribble down what formation everything is in.  These games are designed for c.6 - 12 units per player, so it ends up not being much of an issue. If I were really going to play "General de Brigade" with a Corps per player, I'd run into difficulties.  But then again, that is going to be quite a labour-intensive game anyway (I'd be moving a lot of bases around). 

So essentially it resolves to an aesthetic question: can you live without "seeing" column-line-square?

Hello John!

"can you live without "seeing" column-line-square"

Great question, perhaps I can help some who think they can't.

When we first jumped into 6mm we thought that our little bases that were roughly 23mm square were perfect company sized bases. Change formation etc, really cool. After playing with them for sometime the light bulb finally went on and we realized that we were not really gaining much table space from 25mm, not to mention the logistics of a few hundred of them for a big battle. So we came up with the idea that they would serve two purposes. For small battles they would still be companies, but for the major battles they would become battalions. We then started to build each one with a flag and command stand.

The single base concept was a major stumbling block in the developement of "Ruse de Guerre" but after playing the Napoleonic Polemos I realized that it was not really a problem, but actually a God send. We only used the 60x30 base and observed a few things. The first was we mounted all our bases in lines so we had "lines" automatically. When you put one base behind another one you had "columns". It took two bases to make a column so if you always use two bases you can also form "square" by simply turning the second base around. So for anyone who needed the aesthetics it is there if you use two or more bases.

From there the transition into the realization that a single base could also really be called anything you want was easy. Build it to look like a battalion or regiment as that is what it will actually be most of time, but realize that you can call it and use it however you want. Battalion, half battalion, company, brigade, whatever.

However, another interesting observation developed when we exposed our single base games to new players or to people at conventions. The most common comment was "this looks like a battle scene right out of a book". Nobody ever said "where are the squares".

Our club is now 52 years old and contains a number of seasoned Napoleonic players. Nobody, absolutly nobody misses the aesthetics of "squares" (because that is all that is missing) or all the useless time wasting baggage associated with them. Our group is actually over-joyed that their gone!

Best regards,

Glenn

ah well, as I said, horses for courses.

There is one huge advantage to using single based units.   Let's say you are each playing with an army of 30 units.   With single bases, you have up to 30 'things' to move each turn.   If you each have an army of 30 units each of three smaller bases, then you have 90 'things' each to move per turn.    The extra things to move do eat into play time considerably.

Yes, you can sabot, but I've yet to see a system that looks as good as a purpose designed single base.

Ok, I am convinced, going to rebase...  I agree completely with you Peter, my AWI makes playinge asy and much less fiddling with bases and more focus on the game.

Thanks!

While were on the subject that Peter has managed to nail as usual, please let me expand on that thought a little bit. My club (Napoleonic Miniatures Wargamers Society of Toronto) has been for years more then just a wargaming club. We often analize the games we play in order to improve the rules and speed up play and have been doing so for around 40 years. The club itself is 52 years old. Some of our findings are as follows.

If you take a close look at Peters math the first thing that jumps out at me is thats only one situation. Most times people who use small bases mount them as companies. So if your looking at a French army those 30 single bases or "30 things" are actually "180 things" of small fiddly things. Thats only one person per turn. Most of our games have over 5,000 figures, so about 8 figures per base thats "625 little bases" in play every turn.

Now for the best part, the players commitment. Every turn, every player is obligated to analize every base or stand under his control. Where can I move it? Do I want to move it? What formation should I be in? What enemy units are near everyone of my units? Which enemy units will effect my units the next turn or the  following turn? There are of course more, but you get the picture. So roughly half the table can be related to any single player in one way or another. Which means he has to run through most of these questions for at least 200 bases every turn! Some of these questions will of course be required no matter what kind of basing you use. The problem is simply magnified when you have more bases to deal with. When we used small base or individual/company size base units it was not unusal to find that some players were simply overwhelmed with all the detail that they had to deal with every turn. Some players never even returned because it was too much for them to handle. The real sad fact was it was never ever needed. It was all simply a by-product of poor rules or misinformed writers that brow beat an entire generation or two of gamers that it was mandatory to deal with company sized bases so that you could change formation. There simply was no other way to play Napoleonics. Today we know that is all wrong, so why not break free of the useless baggage and spend more time enjoying our wonderful hobby with Baccus6mm on single bases!