Yes, for DBA, DBR, DBA RRR and Hordes of the Things I use 40mm wide bases.  For my Napoleonics and American War of Independence I have gone for 60mm wide bases, mostly similar to the Polemos standard.

For horse and musket armies there are a couple of advantages in using the 60mm wide bases.  Firstly, a colour party can be put in the middle of the front rank very easily, without cutting up the bases the figures come on.  Flags are useful to help distinguish troops easily, for instance, are those blue uniformed troops French or Portuguese?

Secondly, the extra space on the base is very useful for attrition markers.  (Peter does casualty figures for most of his ranges that can be used.)  I use DBN.  Regarding your ACW armies, I believe that all the Polemos sets of rules use attrition levels, although they might call them something else (maybe "shaken level").

Thank you!

I have been reading about volley and bayonet, alter of freedom but they all seem generally to be the same idea as Polemos so I might as well just play those.  I have an ambitious plan to host a Gettysburgh battle at my house in July for some wargaming buddies to tempt them to join in the 6mm fun!  They are excited to see them, and I am anxiously awaiting theyre arrival!!

I am lucky in that I live about 15mins from Gencon as well :)  Though there are no historical miniature gaming groups in my area and the stores all generally cater to warkammer 40k and warmachine.  But there are a lot of individual players in the area.

Brad

Me too, I use 15mm sized bases as it is a good compromise. 25mm bases can contian a lot of figures which looks amazing but can take time to paint. In saying that, I like to jam as many figures on my bases as possible. I dont like the look of a few figures in a thin line.

But it depends on your rules.For ancients I went with 40x20/30mm for DB*/FOG bases and 80x40mm for Impetus and both look good.

Have you considered the 6mm rules, Altar of Freedom for ACW. The above shows part of the Seven Pines battlefield, from one of the two scenario books, this from the eastern theatre. A 60x30 base represents a brigade.

Now I read this and read up on Alter of freedom and I must say they are definatley going to be worth a go i think!

Great Picture btw.

Brad

Thanks Brad, AoF has a great website as well, including a large number of free ACW buildings and snake fences, some of which can be seen in the above photo. They are deliberately underscale to avoid crowding the battle field.

www.6mmacw.com

You could always paint up some strips and lay them out on different sized bases (for your rules) and see which option you prefer.
 

Hey I recieved my first ever packet of 6mm figures !  They are actually very detailed and look great.  I have them cleaned ( soap and water ) primed ( black) and after work tonight I will break out the Magnifying lamp and start going after it.  I will post my first completed strips.  Not expecting award winning quality right off the bat but if they look the part that will do for me!  

Planning on doing Gettysburg broken up into 3 scenarios with friends in July :)

Brad

Good to hear Brad. Have fun.

Gettysburg!. Nothing like starting off small:-) 

If you like bigger battles you might want to consider something like Bloody big battles by Chris Pringle

http://bloodybigbattles.blogspot.co.uk

For more info

https://uk.groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/BBB_wargames/info