Monday 6 April 2015

TO THE STRONGEST - Basing Question Audience Participation

At the recent Crisis Point IV event organised by the 'Oracle of Andreivia', otherwise known as Mr Richard Crawley, try saying that in a Tommy Lee Jones voice you get the full Dr Richard Kimble moment from 'The Fugitive'. Sorry where was I, oh yes Crisis Point IV. Over a pie and a pint, as you do at Crisis Point events, we were discussing other games that people were interested in at the moment and Richard C mentioned a set of rules by his good friend Simon Miller called 'To the Strongest' so on my return from Yorkshireshire I read a bit more about the rules and also Richard had posted some info on the rule system and an AAR of a game he and Jamie C had played using 6mm on his http://thelandofcounterpane.blogspot.co.uk/2015/04/to-strongest.html site.

So I took the plunge and ordered a copy and within minutes my inbox pinged with a PDF of the rules from Simon. The main reason for getting these rules was the fact that, a while ago, I purchased an obscene amount of Kallistra Hordes & Heroes 10mm/12mm figures from Mr Peter Andrew Jones (doesn't quite work with the Tommy Lee Jones voice, nevermind) of CWC/BKC/FWC fame. The figures mainly consist of enough figures to fight the Battle of Hastings in 1:1 (well there are alot!!) plus a load of Vikings. They have sat in Shed HQ awaiting a decision on their future. Now recently Pendraken released 'Warband' so I thought some of them could go and form the basis of a Warband army. Great. that still leaves we with a load of figures left. What to do with them? Mr Richard Crawley (stop it now!) mentions 'To the Strongest' and I think mmmm that might work.

So after a quick skim through the rules it was off to Shed HQ (while cooking gammon, roast potatoes, cauliflower cheese and broccoli, who says men can't multi task) to get some figures. How to base them? With the amount of figures I have got I would like to go for the mass effect as they will look impressive on the table top. The rules use a grid system, no measuring, and looking at the rules the games I will probably play will use either the 100mm square grid or the 150mm square grid for bigger games. So I have come up with a few basing options and I would welcome peoples opinions on what would look best. Bear in mind when looking that you can have two units in any one square so there needs to be room for both. I cut a couple of squares from card and used some bases I use for CWC.

150mm Square - 6 bases 40mm x 30mm with two ranks of four plus a couple of figures at the front. Like the massed effect not sure about the amount of space taken up.

150mm Square - 3 bases 40mm x 30mm with two ranks of four plus a couple of figures at the front. Again like the massed effect and there is a bit more room in the grid square for a leader base.

100mm Square - 2 bases 40mm x 30mm with two ranks of four plus a couple of figures at the front.
Using the smaller grid the bases work with a leader. Probably just enough room for another unit. 
 
150mm Square - 6 bases 40mm x 20mm with two ranks. Plenty of room for two units plus leaders but looks a bit Napoleonic!

100mm Square - 4 bases 40mm x 20mm with two ranks. Little less room than the 40mm x 30mm.

Interested to hear what other people think, now to work out what to do with 23,426 Norman Cavalry figures :-)

P.S. I managed not to burn the tea either. Brownie Points off to Shed HQ.

5 comments:

  1. I like the 3 bases 40x30mm option with the extra fee figures at the front. They look better than having a solid front rank IMHO.

    If it's feasible to cut up the strips you might be able to vary the formations a bit more and have the figures advancing in a wedge formation with the leaders/heroes at the front.

    I keep thinking about this set myself but would have to build both armies myself but I keep coming back to the idea.

    Glad to see I'm not the only one who can multi task :-)

    Cheers
    Richard N

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    Replies
    1. Hi Richard,
      I am leaning towards the 40mm x 30mm bases as I think they will suit the masses of light cavalry I have got. I like the idea of the wedges. I think I could leave gaps here and there as well to to break up the lines.
      Cheers
      Richard P

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  2. Lo, the Oracle speaks!

    I quite like the fourth option but any of them would work. You'll find, though, I suspect that the multiple bases will slow down the game compared to my single element bases.

    You need to think about how to distinguish between small and standard sized units (which I can't do at the moment) and how you will base any deep units (not that there were many phalanxes at Hastings.

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  3. I played my first games of "To the Strongest!" last week , but couldn't use my own figures, as my units are all on large square bases, and the rules assume any unit will be based no more than half as deep as it is wide.

    So how you base elements/figures/etc. is irrelevant, so long as the whole unit when assembled is a lot shallower than it is wide. Any of your options will work, bearing in mind Counterpane's points.

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  4. coming on nicely

    http://www.10mm-wargaming.com/

    Take care

    Andy

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