14 August 2011

My approach to Tékumel big battles, part 1

As part of my Tékumel gaming, I would really like to do some large battles; i.e. where the are units of soldiers on the tabletop not just individuals.  Now, I should have thought about it more before, as the round bases that I favor for my troops look great for skirmishes, but do have problems when trying to combine them for the units that I envision.  Here is an example:





In my mind, this would be a single cohort of the First Legion of Ever Present Glory.  They are sitting on a piece of magnetic sheet material that was a freebie with a phone book (remember those?).  It is 3 inches square.  A cohort should be the smallest unit in the big battles that I would like to play out.  The problem here is that I would like to have the cohort's base match up with the bases of the individual minis, which would mean building up the top of the base to help conceal the round bases.  The only item that would really be an issue would be making nice round holes in the cohort base for the individuals.


Here is another view:





Three cohorts in these pics.  One of the issues with the somewhat large size of the cohort bases is my desire to protect the lowered spears of the front rank.


At the most radical, I could try to make two different sets of minis - one on round bases for skirmishes and another set permanently affixed to cohort bases.  The lowered spearmen would be good for skirmish battles, but I dread the thought of not being able to utilize all of my minis for whatever battle I choose.


I guess I will need to sit down and try to make a cohort base for the individuals.  If it is easy and practical then I will be quite satisfied.




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5 comments:

  1. Litko make laser-cut wooden bases, some of which have round holes - I think they are intended for games like Warhammer or 40K. And GW sells bases for it's LOTR battlegame, IIRC. How to do it without the expense of manufactured bases is another question.

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  2. depending on what you plan to use for rules, the litko bases could be far less expensive than buying a second collection of figures. I know I struggle with this two, which is why I thought your 6mm idea was so grand. Not that I have progressed much on that front.. (I did buy some more 6mm). And it ties in with the naval stuff nicely.. but.. they are tiny and fiddly..

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  3. They lok pretty god, Greg!

    Best wishes

    Giles

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  4. Thanks for all of the comments!

    Giles - Is Huge helping at the keyboard, or have you not had enough vino? :)

    Kokigami - I still think about 6mm at times, the shields will be the key to getting the proper look to the units. A 6mm Sakbe road system with units deployed would be awesome...

    Howard - Unfortunately Litko might be just too expensive this time around especially their custom-job prices.

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