I base them 3 abreast, in line as there's not enough room for them otherwise, unless forced by poses. Depends on the figure. Following the examples in the old 'Wargamer's Digest' articles, i cut my bases to fit three in a vehicle for infantry, or two with a bazooka or light machine gun; two for tripod-mounted machine guns or mortars if truck-borne. American halftracks have one mortar each, as do weapons carriers. Artillery bases are cut to fit inside their trucks, with half the crew on a separate piece that fits onto the other. When dismounted the crew stands are placed on either side of the trail, be it single or fixed in the towing position. If it has openable split trails the crews are set between them directly behind.

When I started out I had a huge number of infantry figures, and a lot of guns, but no mortars, bazookas or tripod-mounted machine guns, and few if any light machine guns. So I took suitably-posed infantry melee figures and converted them. The much-maligned man swinging a clubbed rifle makes an ideal mortar loader, while a kneeling rifleman with rifle replaced by a long, thin tube of rolled paper makes a satisfactory bazooka for any army. The last also makes a good heavy machine gunner, especially if a torso firing at the waist with weapon removed is swapped onto the kneeling legs. The last makes a good bazooka loader, or a gunner for an antitank gun.

An officer waving one hand with pistol in the other makes an excellent second mortar man with the pistol removed. Melee figures advancing or charging with rifles held across their bodies make good artillery crews.

For more recent armies, the kneeling rifleman gets a shorter tube, representing a LAW launcher. The antitank gun is replaced by a crew-served ATGM, with kneeling or prone crew converted from crawling or shooting. The standing rifleman with a longer tube makes a good shoulder-fired SAM man.

This works with any period. I made my French 75s from Airfix 3-inch ordnance rifles, and the crews were converted from surplus infantry figures, the assorted mixed poses giving the battery a very energetic look. The trails fit nicely between the figures, hiding the lack of seats, and fit neatly atop towing trucks which started out as die-cast trucks from one of the 'Indiana Jones' movies, which have a generic look nicely suitable for both World Wars and in between(very useful since I don't have limbers for horse towing!)

Bill

Those Indiana Jones trucks are great!

They sure are! Unfortunately the stores around here never had too many. I was able to buy enough to motorize my French artillery, though, before they were discontinued. All I needed to do was add wire loops for towhooks and give them a camouflage paint scheme. They work good.

Bill