9 replies to this topic

[FarEasternWanderer]

Hello all,

 

Basing 6mm men. Rules suggest a 1/2 inch square with 4 men.

 

This seems a very tiny base, I wonder if others have tried different sizes? Such as 30mm square for all stands of all types.

 

Cheers

[FarEasternWanderer]

I also wonder if anyone has tried each squad being made of 2 little stands and then removing one to show casualties?

[Begemot_]

I'm basing my 6mm figures (or whatever the actual scale/size is for the GHQ figures) at 1 figure on a half inch base. Two such infantry figures will be a squad. I've chosen this because it allows me to deploy a squad size group (two stands) in a column or line or as detached fire teams. It also reduces the visual density of the infantry on the table, which is a visual aspect of the WW2 and Cold War battlefields. It works for me.

[Kenny Noe]

Hi guys,

 

You can use what ever base size you like.  The key is using the same size for both sides.  This is important when one stand close assaults another.  (Read Infantry Drop-In chapter for charges and close assaulting [esp useful for WWI trench fighting]). 

 

As for 2 bases representing a squad, again what ever you like to do is fine wrt the rules.  As long as both sides have the same (2 bases rep a squad).

 

I use 3/4 x 3/4 for my 10mm Infantry stands and 1/2 x 1/2 for weapon team stands.  One stand represents a full squad and when a stand takes a hit I place a small plastic ring (casualty ring) on the stand letting the players know that is now considered a half-squad (and use the appropriate stat when they next activate).  A "team" stand (rep half squad in size) only takes one hit and then is removed thus no ring is necessary.  I'll post pictures of this when we go to Fall-In 2024 in a couple weeks.  Yes, the figure are a little tight on the base but on the table top they look great.

 

My personal game preferences.  I find that when playing MPC the more bases (stands vehicles or infantry) the slower the game due to having to move each base.  This is simple a matter of having to touch (move) so many bases to get to the objective.

 

I once played a scenario at a convention where I had a two battalion plus attached support elements Chinese amphibious brigade attack the beaches of Taiwan!!  It was a fantastic looking table!!  Miniatures EVERYWHERE, but the game stunk because in the  4 hour allotted time we only got in 3 turns.  Just enough time to land (with lotsa casualties) the Chinese and not move inland and take the objective.  Lesson learned as a convention GM!!

 

MPC is pretty agnostic when it comes to basing miniatures.  Yes, "recommendations" are stated but use whatever works (you like) for your games.

 

Would love to see pics of your miniatures and AAR of your games when you get rolling!  You can create a gallery on this site.

 

Thanks

[Peter M. Skaar]

For my 6mm infantry, I use 3/4 "x 3/4" bases for my squads and use 1/2" x 1/2" bases for my teams (mostly) with sometimes larger bases of 1/2" x 3/4" for prone figures such as AT rifle teams.

Here are a few pictures.


GHQ late war German infantry on a 3/4" x 3/4" base.  These 4 figures represent a squad sized unit.


This is a team, in this case a Company Command Team on a 1/2" x 1/2" base.


Here is a Russian ATR team on a 1/2" x 3/4" base.  It handles the prone figures better than the standard 1/2" x 1/2" base I use for most teams.

]
A Russian infantry gun also on a 1/2" x 3/4" base to provide enough room for the crew.

 

Here are American 60mm and 81mm mortar teams on 1/2" bases.


This is a GHQ 88 with crew mounted on a 1" x 1" base.  The crew is a bit crowded, especially the guy with the range finder, but I didn't want a larger footprint for this one.

[FarEasternWanderer]

Outstanding. Really.  Is there anything to the rumours that GHQ infantry are too large in comparison to their vehicles ?

[Peter M. Skaar]

Thank you very much, FarEastern Wanderer.

Here is the deal with GHQ infantry.  They are a tad larger than true 1/285th which the vehicles are.  I would say they are approximately 7 to 8 mm depending.  I do not have any issues with using them alongside my vehicles in games.  The issue comes when trying to use them in or on vehicles and then the size difference is more noticeable.  Here is a case in point - The GHQ Russian tank riders look large riding on the  Russian tanks.  I had asked GHQ to make them the same scale as the vehicles which is what they did with their artillery gun crews which are closer to 1/285th.  The U.S. Paratrooper in some cases are HUGE being closer to 10mm in some cases. 

The older block style infantry is true 1/285th.  The U.S. 81mm Mortar teams in the picture are from the Heavy Weapons pack of those older infantry.

For more of my work on this Forum, feel free to check out the Pete's Minis section as well.

[Mark 1]

I am a user of both GHQ Individual Infantry and Heroics & Ross infantry.  I have tried Adler, C-in-C and Scotia as well, but settled on GHQ and H&R.

 

For basing I have chosen US Pennies (1 cent coins).  19mm across (about 4/5 of an inch). Good sturdy metal, takes paint well enough, low cost (I get 100 for as little as $1!), and plentifully available (I have never yet had to wait to finish a unit because I ran out of pennies).

 

I have arranged my stands based on:
- 4 figures on a base to represent a "standard" squad. Major armies of WW2 were usually populated mostly by a standard squad organization.  As long as all of the squads are standard, it hardly matters what figures I put on the stand -- they are only there for the look of it.

- 3 figures is squad-sized, but not a standard squad.  Here the figures matter, to tell me what the base represents.  But they are far fewer than the standard squads so that's workable. Examples of 3-man bases:  8-12 man gun crews, combat engineer squads, 8-12 man HQ / command units, etc.

- 2 figures is a half-squad / team / crew sized stand. Again the figures might matter.  Examples of 2-man bases:  infantry support weapons, small command teams, artillery observation teams, vehicle crews.

 

Separate from that I use a marking style to identify command units.  I use small stripes/dots on the back rim of the stand:  3 = platoon command, 2 = company command, 1 = battalion / battlegroup command.  The dots are done in a dark paint similar to the dominant color on the stand (dark green for temperate zone units, dark brown for desert units).

 

Here are some pics of various units from my active forces:

 

This is a US Army armored infantry platoon, dismounted from their halftracks.  3 rifle squads (4 man stands).  By doctrine the platoon commander would ride and fight with the 1st squad.  There are 3 MG teams (splitting up the MG squad).  There is one 81mm mortar squad.  In this case the figures are older H&R castings.

 

Here is a Romanian rifle squad.  I use a prone LMG and loader figure with each squad, but the figures hardly matter, as every rifle squad had an LMG.  My Romanian infantry figures are all GHQ.

 

The Romanian army was very short on infantry anti-tank weapons.  So each platoon would have an individual who might carry any sort of improvised explosive, and a team of SMG gunners would support this tank hunter ("vanatori di carre").  Here I have re-purposed a grenade throwing figure, clipping off the stick grenade, bending the arm, and attaching a teller-mine (a random circular bit from the extras bin), and made a 2-man stand with an SMG gunner.

 

Here is a platoon commander.  Romanian officers did not travel and fight with the squads.  But platoon resources were thin, so it is only a small team.

 

Here is a company commander.  A full squad of men supported the company HQ.

 

Here is an infantry battalion/battlegroup HQ.  There is a command squad, a commo team (communications equipment was rare in the Romanian army, and should not be assumed to be available if not specifically provided), and a medical aid team.

 

Here are my Romanian AT guns. For big guns I tend to base the crews, and leave the guns loose. That way I can manage the casualties and moral of the crews separately from damage to the guns, and I don't have to do as much work, as I will usually have more gun choices than I would use in a typical game.  You see that demonstrated here -- I have 4 gun crews, and show here 4 different types of guns that they may use (late war Resita 75mm guns, mid war Pak97/50 75mm guns, early war Boehler 47mm and Bofors 37mm guns).  The kneeling gun crews are H&R.  The guns are H&R (Resita, Boehler), GHQ (Bofors) and C-in-C (Pak97/50).

 

This is a Romanian artillery battery.  The same crews can be used for French 75mm guns (H&R) or Austrian/Italian 100mm howitzers (GHQ).  There is a full squad battery HQ (with embedded commo) and an LMG security team.  The LMG figures are GHQ, the HQ squad has 2 standing GHQ artillery crew figures and one kneeling Scotia radioman, and the gun crews are a mix of GHQ and H&R figures.  I do not find the GHQ infantry to be out-sized too much, and generally have little hesitation in mixing them with H&R, even on the same stand when it suits my purpose.  The Scotia figures, however, are indeed too big, and I only occasionally use them, in particular using kneeling figures as that tends to hide their extra height.

 

Here are my Italian combat engineers.  The squad sized (3-man) units have riflemen and kneeling figures with satchel charges.  The flame throwers and supporting LMGs are on team-sized stands.  Figures are a mix of GHQ and H&R (new castings).

 

 

Hope that helps.

 

-Mark
(aka: Mk 1)

[Mark 1]

Accidental double-post.  Second instance removed to cut down on duplication.

[Peter M. Skaar]

Great stuff, Mark!