One of the main challenge I have ever tried to solve was to do a battle with a ratio 1:1. In this case I try to reproduce the Battle of Turin of 7th September 1706 between Imperial/Savoy army under the command of Prince Eugene versus the French. The picture I reproduced here gives (representing the Battle of Turin) a very good idea how mixed were the troops during a fighting like this.
Living in Turin it has been for me quite simple to find sources and books otherwise impossible to find (I also tried to write for Osprey a Campaign series, but .....)
The choice of this battle for a 1:1 ratio wargame is also due to the fact that the troops deployed in that battles were arrayed on a 4 ranks deep battallions (reducing then the witdh of the deployement) and the battle involved a good number of soldiers, but was not a huge one, like for exemple Blenheim or Malplaquet.
I decided also to try to use the 25 mm tall because the details (also the little ones, besides the phantastic colours!) can be clearly seen. Moreover, the fact that I can cut the figures letting a little or even zero contour allows that the figures can be placed very close each other because they don't cover the figure behind.
It remains the problems of the width of a battallion.
I started with a Palatine Battallion of the Regiment Bentheim. They were usually done on 10 companies for every battallion. The fact was that during the campaing the number of men decreases strongly and a battallion was done on a 400 men as average. This produces that every company had 40 men, thing that appears to be a little bit unlikely. So I thought that probably the men were put together to strenghten the force of each company.
It also to remark that every company had a colour and in this way the look of the battallion was really beautifull. So I did the unit on 5 companies, and so to move a battallion on the boardgame I have to move its 5 companies, detaching in the case - exactly as in the reality - the Grenadiers Company to form an indipendent battalion of Granadiers.
Each Company (on four ranks) measures about 75 mm with a front of circa 20 papersoldiers (i.e. 1papersoldier every 3,75 mm). So 1 Battallion front of 5 (aggregaded) Companies has a frontage of about 37,5 cm with circa 100 men as a front. So it is possible to do as a scale 35cm = 100m and so 3,5 m = 1km // 7 m = 2 km. 10,5 m = 3km.
Considering that at my disposal I have an area of 12 m per 3,5 it corresponds to a battlefield of 1 km deep x 3,4 km wide.
Living in Turin it has been for me quite simple to find sources and books otherwise impossible to find (I also tried to write for Osprey a Campaign series, but .....)
The choice of this battle for a 1:1 ratio wargame is also due to the fact that the troops deployed in that battles were arrayed on a 4 ranks deep battallions (reducing then the witdh of the deployement) and the battle involved a good number of soldiers, but was not a huge one, like for exemple Blenheim or Malplaquet.
I decided also to try to use the 25 mm tall because the details (also the little ones, besides the phantastic colours!) can be clearly seen. Moreover, the fact that I can cut the figures letting a little or even zero contour allows that the figures can be placed very close each other because they don't cover the figure behind.
It remains the problems of the width of a battallion.
I started with a Palatine Battallion of the Regiment Bentheim. They were usually done on 10 companies for every battallion. The fact was that during the campaing the number of men decreases strongly and a battallion was done on a 400 men as average. This produces that every company had 40 men, thing that appears to be a little bit unlikely. So I thought that probably the men were put together to strenghten the force of each company.
It also to remark that every company had a colour and in this way the look of the battallion was really beautifull. So I did the unit on 5 companies, and so to move a battallion on the boardgame I have to move its 5 companies, detaching in the case - exactly as in the reality - the Grenadiers Company to form an indipendent battalion of Granadiers.
Each Company (on four ranks) measures about 75 mm with a front of circa 20 papersoldiers (i.e. 1papersoldier every 3,75 mm). So 1 Battallion front of 5 (aggregaded) Companies has a frontage of about 37,5 cm with circa 100 men as a front. So it is possible to do as a scale 35cm = 100m and so 3,5 m = 1km // 7 m = 2 km. 10,5 m = 3km.
Considering that at my disposal I have an area of 12 m per 3,5 it corresponds to a battlefield of 1 km deep x 3,4 km wide.
I did some measurements about the space occupied by this 1:1 battallion. The frontage of this unit is just 41,5 cm and it is 5,8 cm deep. As you can see in photo every company got the total amount of men, officers and so on and the Colonel's company besides this has also the total number of men (all included) that are present.
In this case we have this Battallion of the Bentheim Regiment done by a total of 389 men (of whom: 1 colonel, 5 captains, 5 sergent-majors, 11 Leutenants, 5 colours, 18 NCO's, 15 drummers and 329 privates. Obviously as in the reality, every company has a different number of soldiers, depending how I could glue them on the stand. But this is a real recreation of a battle and you can forget about the dice. It must be considered that according to my rules SINE ALEA what is important is the number of soldiers that can shoot. In this case it will be 32
In this case we have this Battallion of the Bentheim Regiment done by a total of 389 men (of whom: 1 colonel, 5 captains, 5 sergent-majors, 11 Leutenants, 5 colours, 18 NCO's, 15 drummers and 329 privates. Obviously as in the reality, every company has a different number of soldiers, depending how I could glue them on the stand. But this is a real recreation of a battle and you can forget about the dice. It must be considered that according to my rules SINE ALEA what is important is the number of soldiers that can shoot. In this case it will be 32
In the photos here upon it is possible to see the complete Benteheim Regiment at the Battle of Turin in a ratio 1:1.
1st Battallion: 389 men (1 Colonel - 5 Captains - 5 Sergeant Majors - 11 Leutenants - 5 Colours - 16 Drummers - 330 privates)
2nd Battallion: 431 men (1 Colonel - 5 Captains - 5 Sergeant Majors - 12 Leutenants - 5 Colours - 16 Drummers - 372 privates)
So the total number of this unit was (supposed) 820 men/papersoldiers.
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In the photos here under I showed the array of 3 Battallions of a Palatine Brigade, split not only by company, but also in 4 rows per company, so to allow to set up a square or to switch one row to the other during the battle. I also put an entire battallion on 1 stand (plus additional 1 company stand for Grenadiers troops, so to allow to form indipendent Grenadiers battallions from different regiments as happened during the Battle.
1st Battallion: 389 men (1 Colonel - 5 Captains - 5 Sergeant Majors - 11 Leutenants - 5 Colours - 16 Drummers - 330 privates)
2nd Battallion: 431 men (1 Colonel - 5 Captains - 5 Sergeant Majors - 12 Leutenants - 5 Colours - 16 Drummers - 372 privates)
So the total number of this unit was (supposed) 820 men/papersoldiers.
********* ********* ********
In the photos here under I showed the array of 3 Battallions of a Palatine Brigade, split not only by company, but also in 4 rows per company, so to allow to set up a square or to switch one row to the other during the battle. I also put an entire battallion on 1 stand (plus additional 1 company stand for Grenadiers troops, so to allow to form indipendent Grenadiers battallions from different regiments as happened during the Battle.
The Barbo Regiment is shooting and protecting at the same time the General Staff of the Brigade. On its back 1 Battallion of the Alt Efferen Regiment is supporting it