Basing; of washers and slotted bases

[Malamute]

I use washers now for all my basing.I prefer the look for the same reasons as above.
 I used to base figures battles on either 20mm square plasticard or for groups of figures like artillery pieces on larger sized pieces. I have never liked slottabases and never will.

[Cory]

I originally went with washers because I wanted bases for storage on magnetic sheets.

Lately I have been building terrain with sloped parts such as roofs made out of manetic sheet. This keeps a lot of area in play that otherwise was avoided because the figs would fall off.

[Captain Blood]

I'm with the washers! I used to use 19mm repair washers, but most of my  figures in the last couple of years have been based on 25mm repair washers. I just like that extra bit of space for creating slightly more interesting mini-terrain on each figure's base... Unless it's a particularly slim figure, like a Copplestone babe, in which case I occasionally revert to 19mm, so that the figure doesn't look lost on the base...

Why washers? Because they are cheap(ish), perfectly round and nicely smooth. Above all, they have just the right weight to give the figure some stability and a bit of oomph when you pick them up. And they provide a nicely finished 'soft' edge.

I rarely find the hole in the centre of the washer to be a problem - even where I deliberately offset the figure on the base. Most figures come with cast-on bases which are big enough to cope with the hole one way or another...

Interestingly, for cavalry, I use 30mm x 60mm 2mm MDF bases which I buy off a chap on eBay. They are dead cheap, precision cut, and just the right size to invest a mounted figure with extra gravitas (as Hammers so poetically puts it!) Cavalry figures tend to be heavy enough anyway - they don't need the added weight of a metal base.

Besides, the amount of basing material you can load onto a 30mm x 60mm base creates quite a lot of gravitas of its own!  :wink:

Cavalry on great big circular bases just don't do it for me - seems to be a terrible waste of all that base sticking out on either side of the horse...

But slotta bases - eeeeyuch! Not only are they a visible manifestation of the GW's ubiquitous tyranny, they are nasty, lightweight, plasticy plinths. And even though they now cost more than a decent metal washer (how absurd is that?!) they still feel and look definitively cheap. Horrible.

[warrenpeace]

Aesthetical reasons.
I base my figs on plastic bases and my canons, chariots and other big models on plywood bases instead of plasticard. My reason is I want to move the figures without touching them directly. Therefor I accept they're not looking that good (washer-bases fitting better in the scenery etc.).

Gamers in my area tried thick basswood bases for one of our periods partly for this reason.  My observation has been that the players don't really grab the stand by the base, but almost always grab the figures.  I find myself handling the stands by the figures even if I thought that I wanted to try handling by the base.  So I just give the figure a heavy gloss coat and spray dull coat over that.  The thick bases are still useful for labelling the units.

Most gamers in my area use fender washers (small hole) for skirmish gaming.  But people are not too picky about the occasional figure on a slota-base.  We also have a good local supply of heavy precut steel bases in many rectangular sizes.  Some of our gamers use these in colonial games for the European troops, since these troops are supposed to form up in ranks.  I have a few of these with 3/4 x 1 inch bases.

I also like more weight on the base (a British pound coin would be really good!) and prefer to line the storage boxes in magnetic sheets or strips because the box is too heavy when it's lined with ferrous metal.  I haven't tried the idea of using magnetic material under terrain, but I'm thinking about trying it on sloped decks or on "crow's nests" on pirate ships.

[UncleRhino]

I am one of those on the fence guys, my pulp figs are all mounted on fender washers, 25mm, I believe.  My old fantasy figs are mounted on various sizes of evil empire style bases, slotta minis or not.  

I did some experimenting with the last batch of hills I made and put some small magnetic strips into the sloping areas of the hills.  They seem like they hold a washer well enough, that and the texture I use, anyway.

I find that when I go to the hardware store, I normally just tack on an extra dollar or round up to the nearest dollar in washers, and that seems to do me just fine, since I am there already.  I could save money by getting just a box of the washers, but then I would have to buy more figs to use them...

UncleRhino

[Stecal]

Due to GW's recent repackaging of bases I have been forced to go elsewhere for 60mm round bases.  Either Gale Force 9 or Litko Aerosystems can provide them made of thin plywood.

www.litkoaero.com has 100 x 60mm rounds in 3mm plywood for $ 15 and they also sell add-on magnetic rounds for a similar cost to make them magnetic.

I still prefer steel washers or the fairly cheap GF9 magnetic 1" rounds (even have a slotta version)  which at 25 for $ 10 arent too expensive.

[Col.Stone]

I use litkos 0.8mm plywood bases, you can hardly tell they're based with those, and they're quite sturdy aswell.
At least i havent broken any yet :wink: