SCALES AND REPRESENTATION

There is a tendency, due to the price of figures and time taken to amass and paint them, to reduce the number of figures necessary a' la IMPETUS. A few figures on a stand can represent 1000 or so.

The opposite tendency is to go for cheaper plastic or 30mm and use lots of figures a' la GRANTs' Wargame.

I want somewhere in-between. Home-cast 40mm can be produced at a reasonable price, however, space is not unlimited and battalions of 30 or 40 figures begin to weigh the table down, even.


20 figures gives a nice battalion :)  A figure : men ratio of 1:30, there being 600 in a full strength battalion.

On reconsidering, 1:25 could be better. A company of 150 is thus 6 figures. 6 figures with 1/3 pikes gives a base with 4 musketeers and 2 pikemen. A battalion should have a front about 160m or 180 yards.

Each company is about 30 yards when 6 deep and thus 45 when 4 deep.

Usual formation 6 or 4 deep ...35- 45mm to take 6 figures in 2 ranks is a nice solution.

This can be represented by 4 musketeers standing in pairs either side of 2 pikemen. 6 figures for 150 men.

A battalion is now 4 bases of 45mm frontage.  15mm for a figure is compact enough without being too extreme.

PLUS a Command/Colour stand as battalion marker.

Depth can be as needed by figures - this is less important. Single rank can be allowed if need be .. giving a frontage for a 3-man-deep line of 90m for a company.

A cavalry squadron of 250 men is now 10 figures. A troop 125men/ 5 figs.
They should be in 3 ranks and about 1.5 m per man gives 127m frontage per squadron
or 63 for a troop front. Getting 5 mounted figures into 63mm is not possible, however......

4 figures can be put on that to represent a mounted troop - stretching the representation to 1: 30. A fudge. But maybe a good compromise. 1:30 allows for no-shows and stragglers which would reduce the OOB and compensate for the horsemens' vulnerability to fire..I smell FUDGE again...

Looking at old pictures the cavalry are shown as rather crammed together.

The last tweak we could do is to shift the ground scale and use 60mm frontages for cavalry bases.

So, in summary.....
INFANTRY based in companies of 6 figures in 2 ranks on bases with 45mm frontage, deep as necessary.
CAVALRY based in troops of 5 figures on a base with  60mmm frontage as deep as necessary.

15metres front per figure, whether horse or foot (foot 2 deep). A battalion is 24 figures, a squadron 6