Opinions on basing.

[Wirelizard]

People, people, people... Jesus WEEPS at the sight of slotta bases and movement trays...

Slottabases, agreed! Most plonky movement trays, also agreed.

Nicely done irregular "skirmish" trays? Perhaps. Perhaps not... I like Elysium64's "ring'o'putty" idea as it avoids the whole "too damn thick!" look of two layers of material.

On a closely related rant, does nobody make steel bases anymore? All I seem to see out on the interwebs are great huge thick things of acrylic, flexible magnet stuff or even hobby plywood. I read a blogpost somewhere with someone mounting 15mm figures on plywood bases "only" 5mm thick. That ain't a base, it's a bloody pedestal. I have a stockpile of sheet steel bases in a couple of useful sizes from years ago, but it's slowly dwindling. Are precut sheet steel bases an extinct breed?

[Connectamabob]

I had the idea while back of using undecorated replica period coins as army bases. It would tie everything together as a theme, and avoid the oft-cited dilemma of making bases match multiple terrains. Originally I had the idea for using these for a pirate crew:
http://www.greatamericancoincompany.com/c5/Shiny-Gold-Doubloon-Replicas-You-Choose-Quantity-p184.html
But since I don't have much interest in pirates, I never actually did it.

I found some replica Norman coins on eBay, but only as singles, not lots. About 2 bucks a piece, so roughly comparable to using resin bases. Seems like a lot, but then I personally can't stand spending all that pride and effort painting a figure just to gob it on a crappy looking washer or plastic slotta at the end. Depends on how big your army is, I guess.

There's services out there you can use to have a movement tray cut to your design, all you need is vector drawing software.
http://www.bigbluesaw.com/
http://www.cutyourway.com/

Here's an online converter for turning jpegs and pngs into vector/cad files:
http://autotrace.sourceforge.net/
Just make sure your input pic is B&W and isn't anti-aliased.

[Silent Invader]

LAF has done it again as once more I find myself distracted from what I should be doing.....

So:

• My figures are individually based on one pence coins, textured to match my boards
• In the early stages of a game especially, it can be a pain moving a large group of 6 to 12 individually based figures
• I dislike clunky movement trays that, in the context of the table, look unnatural

And so I'd like temporary movement trays that:

• Are thin so as not to 'double-raise' the height of the minis
• That are stiff enough to grip and to lift
• That blend with the wider terrain
• That hold the minis into position

Possible solution:

• A CD for the very thin but stiff base board
• Milliput for the "ring'o'putty" securing lip
• My usual terrain/basing materials for decoration

The experimentation has begun.... 

[Red Orc]

On another forum I saw that someone had been basing their minis with clear plastic circualr bases to get over the 'but he's got a flock base, and he's on a desert board' problem. It occurs to me that something similar might work for movement trays. Some kind of clear plastic stuff that would keep the minis together but hopefully not look too clunky.

I have no idea what you could actually use but if anyone else has I'd be interested to see what you could make of it.

[Hammers]

On another forum I saw that someone had been basing their minis with clear plastic circualr bases to get over the 'but he's got a flock base, and he's on a desert board' problem. It occurs to me that something similar might work for movement trays. Some kind of clear plastic stuff that would keep the minis together but hopefully not look too clunky.

I have no idea what you could actually use but if anyone else has I'd be interested to see what you could make of it.

Wasn't that Akula with his Hasslefree SciFi minis? It looked very good in that context but I am not sure I'd like it for my NWF.

[Red Orc]

Not seen Akula's, this was a guy called Sagh over at the Wargames Factory forum. They were modern minis he was basing, and generally I can see it less incongruous for sci-fi/superhero minis (that don't usually need regiment movement trays) but I was thinking of using it as a kind of visual shorthand for the area of control of the commander. Though I can totally understand why Perspex in Peshawar would be a bit weird.

[Malamute]

Jim Bibblys Oshiro Models movement trays are clear Perspex.

He is currently working on some new designs as mentioned before by Captain Blood which will hold figures based on washers.

http://www.oshiromodelterrain.co.uk/gamingaids.html

[OSHIROmodels]

Yeah, what he said 

cheers

James

[Hammers]

Yeah, what he said 

cheers

James

So you hired Nick as a spokesperson did you? 

[Citizen Sade]

On a closely related rant, does nobody make steel bases anymore?

PWS make them. Good quality product. Not cheap.

[OSHIROmodels]

Well, he's got to be good for something    

cheers

James

[Malamute]

Well, he's got to be good for something    

cheers

James

Charming!

On that basis you are buying the beers tomorrow

[Calimero]

Also don't forget about these Horde Trays from Litko?

http://www.litkoaero.com/page/LAI/CTGY/Horde

[Captain Blood]

Possible solution:[/i]

• A CD for the very thin but stiff base board
• Milliput for the "ring'o'putty" securing lip
• My usual terrain/basing materials for decoration

The experimentation has begun.... 

I have no doubt you will come up with a brilliant solution as ever, Steve - and I did figure out some time ago that I could make something for myself that would give me exactly what I want - which is pretty much as you describe.

I'd just prefer someone to make it commercially, so I can buy 12 - 15 of the ruddy things, rather than having to laboriously make them myself!

If Jimbibbly thinks he's cracked it - that's good enough for me! Watch this space... 

[Silent Invader]

Though I'm having a crack at a DIY version, I am also very interested in what Our Jim can produce, especially irregular shapes (plus oblongs for tracks and ranks).    

EDITED for completion