Basically the 'recommended' 25mm scale base sizes for HOTT and DBA are too small to accommodate the popular 28mm size figures produced by Games Workshop, Foundry, Gripping Beast et aL Since I use 25mm or 1 inch square bases for my 28mm infantry figures I needed to come up with element bases which corresponded to the 15mm elements we are accustomed to. My solution has been to change the base dimensions from centimeters to inches. This gives a standard element frontage of 4 inches or 10cm. The main change is therefore an increase by a factor of 2.5. By multiplying all measurements by this factor DBA/HOTT can be more easily played using 28mm figures. Analysis of the rules has shown me that there are, in fact only 6 different 'official' base sizes in HOTT or DBA/DBM. Accordingly I have produced lists of both DBA and HOTT elements giving the type of base and the number of figures required upon it. I intend to produce movement trays of these 'common sizes' so I can use my individually based figures as elements for HOTr/DBA. Base Sizes Base type 1 is 10cm or 4" wide, by 10cm or 4" deep. Base type 2 is 10cm or 4" wide, by 7.5cm or 3" deep. Base type 3 is 10cm or 4" wide, by 15cm or 6" deep. Base type 4 is 10cm or 4" wide, by 3.75cm or 1.5" deep. Base type 5 is 10cm or 4" wide, by 5cm or 2" deep. Base type 6 is 10cm or 4" wide by 15cm or 6" deep Modifications to Play Multiply all distances used in 15mm HOTT/DBA by 2.5, thus a 3" move becomes a 7.5" move. The playing area goes from 2ft square to 5ft square. If space is short the deployment areas can be reduced to half depth and I suggest elements move at half speed when moving into or within enemy deployment zones. This modification would give deployment zones 7.5" deep by 60" (5ft) wide. The central battle area will be 60" (5ft) wide by 30" (2.5 ft) deep. Total size of playing area is 60"(5ft) wide by 45" deep. Camps I expect the imminently expected 2nd edition HOTT to conform to the 2nd edition DBA for camp/stronghold sizes. Accordingly camp/stronghold sizes may be up to 6 element widths deep + wide. Basically this gives max sizes of 12"x12" (3+3), 4"x20" (1+5), or 8"x16" (2+4). If halving depth of deployment zones camp depth should be halved accordingly. Back to MWAN #114 Table of Contents Back to MWAN List of Issues Back to MagWeb Magazine List © Copyright 2001 Hal Thinglum This article appears in MagWeb (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. Other military history articles and gaming articles are available at http://www.magweb.com