Multibasing Cavalry

Multibasing Cavalry harder than it looks like, here’s why:

I do like multibasing. My blog is full of multibased infantry; as I really like the diorama’s I can make out of these. Cavalry, not so much. Why? there’s very little I can do with those horses and I don’t really like that.

The problem with the horses is the sheer size of most cavalry models. I own a lot of GW models. (like many with me) and these barely fit on a 25×50 mm base. If you want to rank up 10 GW knights in a 5×2 formation, I really hope you thought about that before building them, otherwise they won’t fit. I’ve had to rebuild knights as they can’t ride stirrup-to-stirrup as the models are more than 25mm wide. Even so, I had to plan out the ranks and file in advance, and stick to it, otherwise the models wouldn;t rank up. That this led to very tedious set-up phases in the past should be evident….

In Kings of War, this problem is no more, fortunately. Yet, there’s still a problem in multibasing them properly. As the models almost take a 25×50 spot on the base, there’s very little give in multibasing them in a more dynamic post.

In this blog post, I’ll look at potential solutions.

My solutions to deal with this.

As I want to multibase my models, I use the following limits.

• The regiment cannot exceed the footprint
• I’d like to have some room for a dynamic pose
• I want at least 6 models on the base, but would prefer preferred model count (PMC) of 7.
• At least one option should be able to split into troops.

There’s several solutions to deal -at least partially- with this. In the below post, I’ll work these out with diagrams.

First things first: This is how my diagrams look like.

This represents a single cavalry base (25*50 mm) and a regiment consisting of 5 cavalry bases wide and 2 deep. The actual models are shown green.

I will not field the regiment 5×2. The models are so close I cannot appreciate the painting on each individual model as the models obscure view to each other. It’s plainly too cramped.

The wedge

The wedge formation is a bit like the old bretonnian lance formation and consists of a single knight in front; two behind him and a 3rd row of 3 knights. This fits precisely on a regiment base.

It looks extremely decent and dynamic. I like the heroic pose of the single knight leading his brethren deep into the enemy ranks. It’s also historical accurate.  There’s also some room for terrain or base embelishment, which is a good thing.

The disadvantage, however, is that it doesn’t meet preferred model count as it only has 6 knights in a regiment of 10. This means that some tournaments don’t allow this. Secondly, the regiment cannot be split up into troops.

Diamond formation

The diamond formation is a bit like the wedge formation. The difference is that the first and third row have two knights, while the 2nd row has 3.

The diamond formation has a lot of the advantages of the wedge, as it’s more dynamic as ranked-up knights and it shows a lot of painting on the models due to the spaced-out basing.

I tend to dislike it a bit as as I find it not as dynamic as the wedge. It meets PMC, however, so that’s a bgt plus. One other disadvantage it that it can’t be split up into troops.

Two ranks of four

Yeah, this is just 2 ranks of 5 with a little more space between the models. It’s an improvement over 2×5, but not much. There’s almost no room for dynamic basing and/or scenery.

It does meet PMC, however and can be split up in troops, so there’s some advantages. I’d use this for calvalry troops (such as these reconnoiterers) that are planned out as troops, but which also *could* be fielded as regiments.

Two ranks of 3&4

It’s a bit like the wedge formation, but with some more space between the models, thereby solving the “too many models on a small row” problem.

It’s also got the advantage of having some (not a lot, but some) space for base decoration and the regiment can be split into troops. One of the troops doesn’t meet PMC, but the other does.

Though it’s not as dynamic as the wedge, it’s my favourite for basing regiments, especially knights. If I field 2 regiments of knights this way, I can combine them into one horde, or split them up into 4 troops (2 of which meet PMC, the other MMC).

My Reiksguard (as shown in the header) are fielded as 3&4’s.

For my Brotherhood army

My brotherhood army-in working I hope to be able to multibase 3 regiments of knights in the near future. I just need to paint 4 more knights.

As it is now, I’ll be fielding at least 14 of these as 2 regiments of 3&4’s. How I’m going the 3rd regiment, I’ll have to think about. Leaning towards the diamond, as I don’t have that one yet, but things can change, as always.