Miniature Basing In Chainmail

[Punkrabbitt]

I can't seem to find any information in the Chainmail rules for basing miniatures. Is it assumed that models are individually based on squares, or in groups on round bases? Or?

I apologize if I missed it in the rules.

Thank you for any assistance.

[harlandski]

Dec 3, 2019 2:16:53 GMT -6 Punkrabbitt said:

I can't seem to find any information in the Chainmail rules for basing miniatures. Is it assumed that models are individually based on squares, or in groups on round bases? Or?

I apologize if I missed it in the rules.

Thank you for any assistance.

OK, so I've played some Chainmail, and read the rules a lot. The rules don't go into this kind of detail. I think people just used what they could get their hands on at the time (see p. 8). You could probably look up what the figure types mentioned there actually looked like.

Edit: This question sort of came up when I played Chainmail with my friend yesterday. I think we assumed that each unit took up an inch square on the battlefield, though that may be an anachronism.

Edit: For example the Airfix Robin Hood figures don't seem to have come with bases. Edit: As pointed out these are not the Airfix ones - see below for those.



But it is possible to base them:

[waysoftheearth]

I agree it's pretty loose, but see these clues:

* The photograph of play right before the Introduction (which is much larger and easier to see in the 2nd Ed than in the 3rd).
* The 2nd dot point under Miscellaneous Melee Information (p14/16 2nd/3rd Ed):
-- All types of troops are considered to control the space 1" on either side of themselves to stop infiltration.
* S&S p2: FIGURE MOUNTING.

[harlandski]

Dec 3, 2019 3:33:29 GMT -6 waysoftheearth said:

I agree it's pretty loose, but see these clues:

* The photograph of play right before the Introduction (which is much larger and easier to see in the 2nd Ed than in the 3rd).
* The 2nd dot point under Miscellaneous Melee Information (p14/16 2nd/3rd Ed):
-- All types of troops are considered to control the space 1" on either side of themselves to stop infiltration.
* S&S p2: FIGURE MOUNTING.

It may be my eyesight or imagination, but in the photograph of play the figures don't seem to have special bases - they seem to just be one-piece free-standing figures like the "Robin Hood" airfix I shared.

Also I understand the space controlling thing to mean that you can't pass between figures, even if they're an inch apart, but that would mean the total space controlled would be at least a 2 1/2" diameter circular area, or 3" if the figure was based.

Can't speak about S&S as I don't have it :-)

[rsdean]

There are no basing conventions in Chainmail. In S&S, base widths range from 5/8” to 1 5/8” per figure, depending on species and weapon type. Base depths are sufficient to accommodate the castings.

Those top green figures, btw, are Marx 60mm Robin Hood figures. The bottom guy is a 1/72 Airfix Robin Hood figure (literally; it’s the Robin character figure...)

[harlandski]

Dec 3, 2019 19:40:25 GMT -6 rsdean said:

There are no basing conventions in Chainmail. In S&S, base widths range from 5/8” to 1 5/8” per figure, depending on species and weapon type. Base depths are sufficient to accommodate the castings.

Those top green figures, btw, are Marx 60mm Robin Hood figures. The bottom guy is a 1/72 Airfix Robin Hood figure (literally; it’s the Robin character figure...)

Sorry, my bad Googling. Here are definitely the Airfix ones, and they are similar one-piece free-standing minis with rectangular/oval bases.

[rsdean]

So, my friend Ross has a largish Elastolin collection. Blog reports on games using them are here:

gameofmonth.blogspot.com/search/label/Prince%20Valiant

He has most of his on 1” round bases, for convenience. Sizes of miniatures have increased over the years. The “40mm” Elastolins look a little slender compared to some of Reaper’s current production Bones. They do/did come with integral bases, but are fairly easy to knock over if not based on something a little larger. Recommendations to group figures on bases go way back; Morschauser’s 1961 _How to Play War Games in Miniature_ recommended square bases of four infantry, sized according to the size of miniatures, so 3” for 54s, and 1” for 1/72 scale plastics like the Airfix guys.

Practically, it shouldn’t much matter for Chainmail, as long as the two sides are based to the same frontages. Relative base widths of cavalry and foot are probably more of a concern than the absolute sizes of the bases.

Since the game is based on individual figure counting and removal, the usual custom for group bases would be to include some “small change” so that you could remove any number. (So a unit of twelve might have three bases of 3, 1 of 2, and 1 of 1...)

[harlandski]

The basing might become an issue for area of effect, like catapults/fireballs (and even cannon/lightning bolts once you take into account deviation and bounce) though it depends then if you decide the figure or the base is what counts as a hit. My friend and I fudged things quite a lot when we played on Monday, but then again we weren't being that competitive. I guess originally the referee would have decided what was a hit or a miss in Chainmail?

[harlandski]

I found this image, apparently of a game on Dave Arneson's ping pong table. Not sure what year it is, or what system is being played, but figures are clearly based.



But I agree that basing probably was more a practicality than anything else - in any case the Chainmail rules refer to figures hit by cannon, catapult etc.

[Starbeard]

Does anyone know of the first ruleset to suggest uniform stand sizes?

Basing figures goes back to the antiquity of wargaming, particularly for flats, but my impression is that for a long time it was mostly used to group multiple figures on a stand. Metal and better plastic soldiers typically came on their own bases, either as part of the model or as separate stands that were attached by the little T-hooks at the bottom of the figure's feet. Charles Grant's War Game from 1971 doesn't mention anything about basing, and the photos show all of the figures with their own molded bases (I believe they're all 1960s era 30mm).

The first edition of WGR in early 1969 gives strict guidelines for individual figures, and text assumes that you might already be doing this; but in reality these are intended to be grouped into multiples to create a single element with several figures on it. That it breaks the sizing down to frontage per individual figure seems to be a convenience of how people were already basing their models.