Met Ray, Mark & Rob at Albannich today and a couple of questions arose about me changing base sizes on my Grand Alliance stuff.
So here is the rationale and perhaps a little reassurance for those who may be thinking the have to rebase their entire collections!
In 28mm scale
The past....
Standard infantry frontage is 15mm with depth 20 -25mm. I have always gone for deeper bases in order to protect bayonets and swords from bending/breakages etc. So on 45mm x 50mm bases I usually place the figures further towards the back of the base thus having adequate protection for the figures.
When I did my GNW units about 10 years ago I experimented with 60 x 60mm bases. The reason was purely aesthetic as I wanted to do some scenic ground work. The flanking bases both had the figures on a 45mm total frontage leaving a 15mm gap on either flank before the edge of the base was reached. The central base was 45mm x 60mm to maintain the same distribution of figures across all bases.
Examples of this appear in BLB see Swedish Guard Grenadiers and some of the GNW Swedish and Russian figures.
The present....
Since beginning to refresh my collection using the Reiver figures (which are very bulky 28s), I have found the 45 x 50 bases a bit constricted.
Combining a need for more space with an increased number of figures in each unit (I am now putting up to 26 figures into my Reiver Dutch units)..
I have resorted to a new base size ; 60 x 60mm (as per above)
In the front three bases I am placing 5- 8 figures in each base. The distribution and orientation is as described above except that the central base is also now 60 x 60 and I am keeping the continuity of the front rank of this stand by placing 4 figures there instead of three.
The pike base at the rear(also 60 x 60) has now 6 figures on it too.
NONE OF THIS HAS ANY EFFECT ON THE GAME WHATSOEVER. My units still fire as three stands of muskets and the unit is destroyed when it takes 18 casualties. It does not enhance or reduce the fighting effectiveness nor disadvantage players. It is purely because the Reiver figures are bigger, I wanted to bulk out the units and keep them symmetrical. It may appear that I have done a lot of extra painting for nothing but in fact the visual effect is extremely striking.
I will probably resort to 60 x 60mm bases for the Reiver Horse too as these are bulky. Examples of this already exist.. see Von Barnikov's Horse in the Dutch Cavlary Gallery.
I think the Reiver guys WILL do the larger base size if it is requested in battlaion packs.. they'll tell us here if the won't