More Battalion Sabot Bases

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.

Prussian Army of the Revolutionary Period

Regiment of the Day

IR 49 - Von Muffling
IR 32 - Hohenlohe

As luck would have it, I managed to score a couple of small batches of extra Prussians for the early Napoleonic campaigns. Can never have too many early war Prussians !

For the actual Jena/Auerstadt campaign in 15/18mm, nothing comes close to ABs in terms of figures. They are spot on, and a joy to paint.

Prior to Jena / Auerstadt, there is the French Revolutionary period, with a great variety of very intriguing little mini-campaigns of the First and Second Coalitions. For the Prussian involvement during these earlier campaigns, the cut of the uniforms was quite different to those used by the army at Jena / Auerstadt.

So, I grabbed a few Revolutionary period Prussians with a view to covering this gap, and a at pinch ... maybe fielding some of them in the older cut of uniform for the Jena Auerstadt campaign.

They also make a great subject for trying out some new ideas on basing, sabot bases, and 1:60 Battalion organisation.

Introducing ....
Revolutionary Period Prussian Infantry

1 Battalion, IR 49 of the Prussian Army, 1792-1801. Figures by Lancashire Games.

EmpireV - Morale Tests all done, and a new messaging system.

Computer Hacks of the Day

Ooops - This report is from the 15th April 2012, and I never got around to posting the update.

So here is a belated progress report on the computer system.

...

Got Phase 3) of the Empire system complete today, which includes applying ME determination tests, and all of the subsequent morale checks.

In addition to that, I have added a messaging system, so that the little metal men on the tabletop now start sending messages back to whichever player commands them.

Army of the White Citadel

Horde of the Day

Every 3,333 years .. the planets align in such a way as to bring into existence a gateway to an ethereal Kingdom known simply as -

The White Citadel

From this White Citadel come warriors who are true of heart, and as brave as lions.

They fight against injustice and oppression, righting wrongs and rescuing damsels in distress .... before the planets once again begin to un-align ... and whereupon the White Citadel fades away for another 3,333 years.

They have been known to appear during several famous conflicts, such as :

• Pretty much any 18th Century battle
• They were at the Berezina during Napoleon's retreat from Moscow
• They appeared briefly at Jena to cover the withdrawal of the Saxons
• They appeared in Berlin during the Kapp putsch, and convinced the Freikorps to head back to barracks.
• They appeared at Rouke's Drift to save the Welsh Choir from being washed on the spears.
• They opened the gates of Palermo to Garibaldi.

This is their story.

Von Kochitsky Karabiniers

Regiment of the Day

Getting on with posting my monster backlog of forces

Some 1806 Saxon Heavy Cavalry - Karabiniers von Kochitsky.

These are around 5 squadrons at full strength, attached to Zechwitzs 2nd Division (Saxon), part of Hohenlohes Army  Group South.

In Republique scaling ... that comes out to 1 base of Cavalry. Yay !


It was the Southern army group that ended up getting smashed at Jena by several combined French Corps.  By all accounts, the Saxons had a favorable position on the flank, and came out of the engagement in better shape than the Prussians.

The Saxons managed to extract themselves from the battlefield in good order, never once falling to pieces in the same fashion as the less fortunate Prussian brigades.

Napoleon was so impressed by the Saxons, especially their heavy cavalry, that he went out of his way to sign up Saxony in an alliance and incorporate their forces into the Grande Armee, where they continued to serve with great distinction pretty much up to the end in 1813.

As always .. my history lesson is probably a little off there, but that interpretation makes for a ripping yarn if ever there was one.

Bugle Call 2012

Bugle Call Convention - Adelaide 2012

I seem to have missed a few weeks of posting updates to the blog, so I now have a massive backlog of finished things to be posted, some updates on the computer development, and a tonne of new projects to get into.

Lets start with Bugle Call then ...

A gaming convention held over the weekend of June 10-11th in lil old Adelaide.

Well done to Martin from www.littlesoldiers.com.au for  organising this, and it was impressive to see such a great turnout of displays and visitors.

Spider Forest and Spiderlings

Scenery of the Day

Today we look at a real simple terrain tile of a horror themed 'forest' . and also a lair for horrific little spiderlings.