Battalion Scale Sabot Bases
Following on from the previous post, here is a brief selection of some of the other Battalion scale Sabot bases that I have in mind for running big games.
After many play tests, I am convinced now that using Sabot bases is not only convenient for ease of movement, but it also adds a lot of clarity to the tabletop.
It is definitely something worth playing with.
The rationale of using Sabot bases for each Battalion scale unit are many :
- Speed up moving lots of figures around, whilst holding their formation.
- To denote a sort of 'Zone of Control' for each battalion. As units start to lose cohesion and take losses, bases from the unit can remain on the table, but off the Battalion base .. so they become stragglers that clutter up the table. I like having my figure collections nicely organised if possible ... but I find that removing bases during a game and putting them back in the box just creates chaos. This solution of leaving stragglers and wounded on the table solves that issue, and also does away with needing to have tokens on the table to denote cohesion / morale losses as well.
- Battalion bases that are close to each other (or touching) mean that 2 battalions are in close support, and are acting as a single group despite the gaps between the figure bases.
- More flexible units have larger battalion bases, which gives a larger zone of control.
- Restrictions on the types of formations that the unit can assume are defined by the physical size of the Battalion base.
- Changing the formation within the confines of the Battalion base is a 'free' move as part of standard tactical movement in the game.
- If a formation change requires adding additional Battalion bases to the unit to accomodate the formation, this requires the expense of some 'Command Points' or something similar.
- Also provides a holding spot for labelling each unit !
- I want to start playing with embeded RFID tags on the unit bases, for use with computerised tracking of the game. Battalion sabots make sense for this.
- In order to build 'Every single unit in every campaign' ... All I really need to do now is build a Battalion base for each unit, and just fill them up with figures on an as-need basis. I don't actually NEED to collect and paint up 3 million figures now if I do it this way :)
So lets have a look at some possible designs of Battalion Sabot bases to reflect different scenarios :
Start with the simple ones ....
 |
| 3" wide, 2" deep - for a 4 company Prussian Battalion, 1813 Leipzig campaign. |
My Prussian Musketeer battalions for this campaign are operating almost exclusively in Battalion masses, 2 companies wide.
Due
to the large scale of the campaign, and need to compress as much mass
as possible on a given frontage, this formation allowed easy control of
the very large and not very well drilled armies.
They rarely changed
from this formation (as far as I know).
This Battalion base allows for
the following Formations :
- 2 x2 companies in closed attack column (as
shown here).
- 2x2 companies with a space between the lines for
supporting waves of 2 company wide columns.
- 4 company square fits
nicely on this base.
- Throw 1 company of troops out front of the
Battalion base, to denote the 3rd rank deployed as a semi-skirmish order
screen.
- Sideways orientation - 1 company wide column, 4 companies
deep.
- Add a spare base next to this base and re-arrange as a single line
of 4 companies .. a 'complex' move for this unit, so that requires some
command point cost.
