Tuesday, 1 December 2015

To be or not to be based?

I have been having a long hard think about the semi flats since I saw them en masse at the weekend. I am considering basing them ( say ,off hand, in fours or sixes on 60x40 or 60x60 mm) as one base units.It would make them easier to handle (but not so to store- they currently store flat ,layer upon layer) and they wouldn't fall over when clumsy me knocks the table.I do like the look of based figures as well as presenting the opportunity for based vignettes for command elements etc. However unbased has an old school,Wellsian look that appeals too. A quandary indeed.What do you think?
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8 comments:

  1. Jim Duncan Wargamer1 December 2015 at 21:43

    Alan, I would consider basing each figure singly on a magnetic base and then making movement trays or even sabots for your preferred multiples of figures.

    See my blog:

    http://jim-duncan.blogspot.co.uk/2012/07/movement-trays-american-civil-war.html

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  2. ColCampbell501 December 2015 at 22:45

    Alan,

    Jim has a wonderful idea. I do that for my 25mm Medieval forces and it makes them very flexible. I can use them for formed units and then individually in skirmish type games such as Lion Rampant.

    Jim

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  3. Ross Mac rmacfa@gmail.com1 December 2015 at 22:48

    Unless you are going to knock them over using catapults or spring loaded cannon, either method has honorable anticedents going back over half a century.

    After much experimenting I have come back to the Base camp. Easy to set up and take down a game.

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  4. Dan Foley2 December 2015 at 02:14

    I like the look of casulties laying about on the table,but ifhaving to move more than about 50 figures going with movement trays would be the way to go.

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  5. Brian Carrick2 December 2015 at 07:44

    I think basing singly as Jim suggests is the only way to keep the old toy look and feel. I base all my 54mm on 2p coins and use the appropriate movement trays from Warbases, it solves the falling down and moving problem but if I were starting out from scratch now I would probably go with the magnetic bases.

    Just to muddy the water, you probably have enough of these figures (and it's cheap enough to get more) that you could do both single and multiple bases.

    Best wishes, Brian

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  6. The Good Soldier Svjek2 December 2015 at 08:09

    I would individually base the figures to stop them falling over - a thing semi-flats are prone too, Tony

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  7. Conrad Kinch2 December 2015 at 08:50

    I use singly based figures on magnetic bases and it's a pretty flexible system. I've never regretted it.

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  8. Mad Padre3 December 2015 at 16:14

    Single basing would be my suggestion as well, if only to protect them from falls and bumping around the storage box when not in use.

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