Lohwand: Back to Bases

 

Litko "Rune Battles" basing set

GMT268

3mm Plywood

Demonstrating the effectiveness 

of my magnetic basing system...

Formed Unit bases

5" x 4" custom from Warbases

So far, so good!

Made a small leap forward over the last week, my slow progress with base-making gradually taking shape. As I think I mentioned previously, I have decided that "regulars" should be based in even numbers, and "irregulars" in odd numbers. In addition, "formed" will get bases with 90-degree corners, while "unformed", i.e. "warbands", will get irregularly shaped bases.

As we have a stock of surplus biscuit tins saved up over a number of years, and I have a stock of off-cuts from sign shop magnetic sheeting, I decided to make my bases so that I can swap the troops on and off the bases as needed. Theoretically, by doing this I should only need a limited number of bases; enough to field two typical armies without caring which armies they are. 

By happy chance the Expeditionary Force 60mm Ancients that are providing the bulk of my armies have integral plastic bases with a hollow underneath. The hollow is roughly egg-shaped and, with slight variations, about the depth of the magnetic stripping - another stroke of luck! In some instances the depth is slightly deeper, requiring a card insert to make sure the magnet is flush with the base edges. Some others are slightly shallower. It just seems to depend on the particular pose and presumably how the sculptor made that particular base, or perhaps how the production die was cut. 

Anyway, it is "So far, so good". I have finally produced ten or so "formed" bases and have started on the "irregular" bases. As I mentioned before I have decided on 5" x 4" x 3mm thick bases as my main base type, for "formed" troops such as Roman cohort or hoplite phalanx. For Macedonian pike phalanx I might turn the base on end so the narrow face is the front, with three ranks of two. I don't currently have any pike-armed figures though, so I am unable to experiment.

For warbands and hordes, the first picture above shows a possible warband arrangement. It shows nine figures on the central base, and then perhaps seven on each side base, with horn blowers and priests behind on single bases. That gives 23+ figures, about the size of one of my cohorts (20 figs.)

The Litko "Rune Battles, Terrain Tile Set GMT268" contains two of the large bases, the two medium bases shown and the four small bases. So I can make larger warbands by using more from each set per warband. I can also alter the warband size by swopping around how the bases are aligned. Litko also make an even larger irregular base: tree bases I think they are called. They are about 10.5" x 7" give-or-take. Warbases also makes irregularly shaped "Pond Bases" which look like they would hold three of my figures. So, lots of options!

The above photos also show how the magnets, though not super strong, are strong enough to hold the figures more-or-less in place. Certainly good enough for gaming though I probably wouldn't try running with the figures on, at least NOT after I've got everything painted!

Lastly, if I am lucky, the remaining biscuit tins will be deep enough to store the figures in, and the magnets will do a fine job holding them in place there. So far I have only cut up a single tin, and I am only about halfway through the metal from that, so I should have plenty of tins left over for storage. (Plus we are liable to accumulate a few more this Christmas!) ;-)