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All resources will be used to make thearmy ready for war.

Napoleon. 1813.

CHAPTER 1.SCALES, BASE SIZES

& DICE

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1.1 SCALES

General de Brigade rules are designed for use withboth 15mm and 25mm/28mm figures. All commandradius, movement rates, etc., are shown first incentimetres for 15mm figures followed by a 25mmfigure equivalent in inches within square brackets,e.g. 15cms [9”].

The rules can also be used for 10mm & 6mm figureswith a little modification to ranges and movementdistances.

(A suggested method is to convert the 25mm inchesscale to centimetres.)

Figure scale – 1 figure = 20 men.

1 model gun = 2 artillery pieces.

Ground scale = very approximately 1mm = 1 yard/meter.

I will not suggest a time scale as wargaming timetends to be very elastic. Though do bear in mind thatthe turn is divided into eight game phases eachfollowing the other, thus charges take place perhapsa minute or two before normal movement, etc.

SCALES, BASE SIZES & DICE

1.2 BASE SIZES

Base sizes are not vital to the game, thus there is noneed to rebase any figures.

As long as players use the same or similar basing orif there are differences make allowances where

necessary for this difference, there should be noproblem.

The following is a suggestion only, adopted as it addssignificantly to the visual appeal of games and easestroop movement.

• Divisional General – 40mm x 40mm (a minimumof two figures, three or four looks best).

• Brigade General – 30mm wide by 35mm deep(represented by one or two figures).

UNIT FRONTAGES• Infantry – 8mm to 12mm per figure mounted in

two ranks, on company or double company sizebases. British infantry should be mounted 12mm perfigure to help reflect the two rank structure.

BASE SIZES FOR 15mm FIGURES

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• Cavalry - 10mm to 12mm per figure. Can bemounted in pairs or threes.

• Cossacks – 12 to 15mm per figure, mounted inpairs or threes.

• Artillery – 30mm to 45mm per model gun. Eachgun crewed by four figures.

• Skirmishers – from 12mm to 15mm per figurewith two or three figures per base. This is only anaverage frontage as skirmishers tended not to keephard and fast frontages. Skirmishers shouldalways be mounted in a single rank.

BASE SIZES FOR 25mm & 28mm FIGURES

• Divisional general – 70mm to 100mm x 70mm to100mm (a minimum of two figures, three or fourlooks best).

• Brigade General – 45mm wide by 50mm deep(represented by one or two figures).

UNIT FRONTAGES• Infantry – 15mm – 20mm per figure mounted in

two ranks, with either one company to a base ortwo companies to a base. British infantry shouldbe mounted nearer 20mm per figure to help reflectthe two rank structure.

• Cavalry - 20mm – 25mm per figure. Can bemounted in pairs or threes.

• Cossacks – 25 to 30mm per figure, mounted inpairs or threes.

• Artillery – 50mm to 60mm per model gun. Eachgun crewed by four figures.

• Skirmishers – from 20mm to 30mm per figure,with two or three figures per base. This is only anaverage frontage as skirmishers tended not to keephard and fast frontages. Skirmishers shouldalways be mounted in a single rank.

N.B. Larger frontages of up to 1mm or 2mm extraper figure are okay if the figures are a tight squeezeon the base.

UNIT DEPTHS – These should be kept to aminimum or just deep enough to allow the figuresroom to sit on the base adequately. (Depths onwargames figures are way out of scale compared tothe frontages anyway. So I wouldn’t worry toomuch.)

NUMBER OF FIGURES ON A BASE METHOD:

General Excellent Average Poor

Divisional Four officer figures, combination Three officer figures combination One officer figure (either of mounted (at least two) and of mounted (at least two) and mounted or on foot) and two foot officers one foot officer. ADCs or NCOs on foot,

(preferably looking confused orbored!).

Brigade Three officer figures; two mounted Two officer figures; (at least One mounted officer figure orand one foot officer or enthusiastic one mounted) or a single mounted one foot officer plus one or twofigure. officer. wounded or “routing” figures.

• A six-figure base or an eight-figure base can beused for most infantry battalions.

• Six figure bases represent either; two companies ofaround 60 men, one company in front of the other,or single companies of 100 to 120 men.

• Eight-figure bases represent either; two companiesof around 80 men, (again one company in front ofthe other or side by side) or single largercompanies of 140 men or 160 men.

• Four figure bases can be used to represent any oddcompany, (such as British grenadier companies, ifthe light company has been deployed).

When basing the smaller 100 man or 140 mancompanies use the same sized six or eight-figure baseas used for full strength 120 or 160 man companies.Simply place five or seven figures on the base insteadof six or eight. Any gaps can easily be filled withscenic material or casualties. So a French sixcompany battalion need only have five figures oneach base. This can represent an under-strengthbattalion of 30 figures or a full strength battalion of36 figures by simply assuming each base representsthe full six figures. There is actually nothing to stopyou placing the odd casualty figure or piece ofscenery to most bases. Each base can still representthe full number of figures but saves on actual figuresand painting time!

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BASING DISTINCTIONS FOR EXCELLENT; AVERAGE & POOR GENERALS

Though, of course, players are free to use anymethod they prefer to highlight a particular general’sability, the following basing suggestions can beemployed if players wish to do so.

Base Shape Method: Alternatively or in combinationwith the below method, players can use differingbase shapes to distinguish their general’s abilities. Soexcellent generals can be mounted on oval or roundbases while all others are mounted on the usualrectangular bases. Alternatively, poor generals aremounted on round or oval bases and so on.

BASING CLOSE ORDER INFANTRY FIGURES IN TWO RANKS

Two x 3 figurecompanies onsix-figure base

Six figure base

Eight figure base

USE SIX FIGURE BASES FOR:• French line and light

battalions of either 30 or 36figures: (6 x 6 figure bases or6 x 5 figure bases).

• French Young or MiddleGuard battalions of either 24or 36 figures: (4 x 6 figurebases or 6 x 6 figure bases).

• French model Alliedor Confederationbattalions of either30 or 36 figures: (6 x6 figure bases or 6 x5 figure bases).

• Austrian battalions ofeither 24 or 36figures: (4 x 6 figurebases or 6 x 6 figurebases).

• Prussian jager battalions of 24 figures: (4 x 6figure bases).

• British battalions of 30 figures: (5 x 6 figurebases).

• Portuguese battalions of 30 figures: (5 x 6 figurebases).

USE EIGHT FIGURE BASES FOR:• French Old, Middle or Young Guard battalions of

32 figures: (4 x 8 figure bases).• Austrian battalions of either 32 or 48 figures: (4 x

8 figure bases or 6 x 8 figure bases).• British battalions of 40 figures: (5 x 8 figure

bases).• Prussian battalions of 32 figures: (4 x 8 figure

bases).• Russian battalions of either 24 or 32 figures: (3 x

8 figure bases or 4 x 8 figure bases).• Spanish battalions of 32 figures: (4 x 8 figure

bases).

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1.3 EQUIPMENT

a) A minimum of two six-sided dice per side. Anyreference to 2D6 refers to a roll of two six sideddice with their scores added together. Anyreference to 1D6 refers to a single six sided dieroll.

b) Order markers depicting Assault, Engage,Support, Hold, Move & Retire. See Appendix Dfor printed order markers.

c) Plus roster sheets (see Appendix D) or casualtymarkers if you have them. (See 10.47 CasualtyRemoval.)

d) Finally one very useful aid are those commerciallyavailable arc of fire guides that have 30º and 45ºarcs of fire printed on clear plastic.

BASING BATTALION SKIRMISH COMPANIESa) Light Companies in Close Order. Always base the

skirmish company on a separate base. I.E. If yourskirmish company consists of four figures and thebattalion is mounted on eight figure bases (e.g.British or Austrian) then dispense with one eightfigure base and use 2 x four figure bases instead.This allows the skirmishers to be detached.

b) You can also mount a duplicate light company oncorrect skirmish bases. Thus once the skirmishersare deployed the close order light company isremoved and replaced with a duplicate companymounted on skirmish bases. This is not essential,but if you are using light companies on close orderbases as the brigade skirmish screen always ensurethat there is at least 5cms between each base whenthe skirmishers are deployed.