Planning a Napoleonic Adventure....Part 10

One of Blandford's finest - I now need to get the 1812 and the Peninsula versions!

I have racked what passes for my brain over the whole basing issue and have come to a decision. In truth it is probably the only decision I could make given the circumstances surrounding the collection and the availability of original figures for it. I am going to go with individual bases rather than multiples.

There are a number of factors that have clinched this for me. To begin with, as much as like the idea of multiple figure bases these are only worthwhile in my opinion if you have a number of figures deployed thusly. Placing two infantrymen on a base and calling it a multiple is stretching things a little. Three infantry are the minimum I would consider for a base but a two base unit of 6 figures does not sit well for me – if you are using units that are that small then why not just base then individually and have done with it? This would seem to be at variance with the set up that Bob Cordery has but his collection has a far better mix of figures than mine so he is able to configure his units with identical or complimentarily posed figures far more readily than I can. It looks very effective under these circumstances.

If I were starting a collection from scratch and with a full range of figure poses to choose from then I would use Bob’s basing for certain. Indeed, I plan to get some movement trays organised to fit up to 4 foot figures or 2 mounted which will serve admirably for the Portable Napoleonic Wargame or for when I go ‘off the grid’.

Using individual bases will mean that I can utilise far more of the collection than ordinarily as I will not be constrained by the making up of bases of similarly posed figures. Obviously I will do this as far as possible but it means that I will have the flexibility to chop and change unit compositions as and when I need to. This is only an issue with the infantry as the cavalry are far more uniform in respect of poses.

The appropriate bases have been ordered so I will be able to get the figures based up and ready to finish off with my preferred shade of green (Humbrol Satin 131) green and plenty of gloss varnish.

Whilst I was pondering the thorny question of basing I have been spending a lot of time revisiting the Waterloo section of my library. I am embarrassed to say that it is a shadow of its former glory as I disposed of a number of books whilst having one of my periodic reorganisations. One casualty was a copy of the Blandford book: Uniforms of Waterloo by Philip Haythornthwaite. I am happy to say this has now been rectified and so the uniform section at least for my Waterloo library is complete as it now resides alongside my copy of Ugo Pericoli’s work and the two volumes of Funcken. I appreciate that these books are quite old but they have a sentimental value for me above and beyond any apparent inaccuracies. My armies will look close enough to their historical counterparts – as long as one does not look too closely that is!