Effing slottas

[Elbows]

I don't mind circle slottas...but square slottas drive me absolutely nuts.

"Battalion...adjust....45 degrees...RIGHT!"    So ridiculous that they couldn't find a solution to this...

[Glitzer]

Anyone remember Gorkamorka bases?

I remember them, but I did not use them for GorkaMorka.

[Mainly28s]

Add me to the slotta-haters list, please. The bloody things are like plinths.

[FramFramson]

Well, I don't mind them. I'd hate to be trying to cut off integral bases all the time.

[grant]

I just realized there are two conversations occurring here:

1. Those people who don't like miniatures with the tabbed feet to go into bases

2. Those people who don't like the bases themselves - having a slot for a tab to be inserted into, and by necessity being a raised style base

[jthomlin]

I just realized there are two conversations occurring here:

1. Those people who don't like miniatures with the tabbed feet to go into bases

2. Those people who don't like the bases themselves - having a slot for a tab to be inserted into, and by necessity being a raised style base

And some are insane enough to want to have consistent bases across all figure types, without removing all of a solid base or drilling and pinning after removing a tab, have them as thin as possible and magnetized! Those types of folk, or perhaps that particularly obsessed individual, tend to 3D design and print masters, make moulds and cast their own ... 

http://www.joethomlinson.com/trade/index.php?title=Bases

Cheers!
Joe Thomlinson

[Spooktalker]

Those of you in favor of round bases do make good points, but there are some disadvantages there too. One I mentioned already, that it so goes against the grain of people's expectations around here and I was trying for once to just go with the flow. I don't really ever intend to play Warhammer again but basing my old figures on 25mm rounds would feel so much like burning a bridge.

Also you have the topic of movement trays. I was hoping to use these from shogun (http://shogunminiatures.com/) and if I went round, I guess it would work ok to just stick them on but of course the temptation is to have another layer to the tray and countersink the bases in it. There are a number of ways to skin that cat, but none both cheap and easy.

The figures would look better all on 25mm rounds though.

But then the question is if you make as much of a break as to go for 25mm rounds, maybe it's worth the extra effort to do slim bases as well.

Man, I feel really discouraged. Like I said I bought a crap ton of square bases and have spent many hours just standing the guys up in them. Right back round to where I started this huge dilemma five years ago.

And some are insane enough to want to have consistent bases across all figure types, without removing all of a solid base or drilling and pinning after removing a tab, have them as thin as possible and magnetized! Those types of folk, or perhaps that particularly obsessed individual, tend to 3D design and print masters, make moulds and cast their own ... 

http://www.joethomlinson.com/trade/index.php?title=Bases

Cheers!
Joe Thomlinson

While the height of the slotta is one big strike, I think the fact that the miniatures intended for them don't fit on them which leads to:

3. People who are fine with slottas, as long as they are round. It's square bases generally they don't like.

Joe, I like the result of your solution but it does seem like a pain! I know we are talking slottas but on the topic of slip bases here's what I do for my mostly integrally based D&D collection:
http://belchedfromthedepths.blogspot.com/2013/08/magnetic-low-profile-miniatures-basing.html

[jthomlin]

On round bases, my main motivation was that they simply look better on an individual basis and you essentially eliminate the alignment issue because you can simply rotate as required. I have also made 'pill' shaped bases in various sizes (20x25, 20x30 etc) to allow for figures that are 'long' like archers, spearmen, lizardmen etc while still retaining a common width with more upright stanced figures. So my figures may be on rounds, but the majority are the same width as their square equivalents so with the right movement tray can be ranked up correctly for most games. Not that I play a whole lot these days and my main gaming mates and I have standardised on 'Impetus' style 120mm movement stands anyway.

(Why is it that a large proportion of humanoid miniatures modelled 'at rest' have legs spread so far apart they couldn't sustain it for any significant time? Just try standing with your legs a metre apart for any length of time ...)

My prototype movement trays did take a lot of time and effort to make but with lasers cutting services becoming more prevalent, the 'production' version is simply a .5mm steel sheet topped with laser cut 2mm MDF. Granted, you need to source a supplier for each, but I be surprised if you couldn't find a local sheet metal workshop and most hobby laser cutting shops are happy to do custom work, it just takes a bit of organising and it's not like it's something you have to do every day.

I decided that spending time getting an indented base sorted would take far less time in the long run than de-basing all the solid based figures I have (which is a lot!) I also have a lot of solid based figures that you simply couldn't remove from the base because of they are simply too fragile to survive the process. Now, all I have to do is a bit of filing to get the base down to ~1mm thickness (A large number of figures are pretty close to that already) for a completely flat base which after filling is indistinguishable from a slotta based one.

Granted, some solid bases can be quite thick and take a fair bit of time filing back, but it's a price I'm willing to pay and with my painting speed, still only a small proportion of the the overall time taken from bare lead to finished figure. 

Having the right tools and materials can also cut down time filling in the void or slot to get a level base. I use Apoxie sculpt and rubber tipped 'colour shapers' for the job and it doesn't take much time at all. With thin bases, the Apoxie Sculpt is important because it doesn't shrink and warp the base, unlike Milliput which isn't supposed to but does enough to cause issues in this instance.

BTW Spooktaker, love your work and the oval shaped bases really work nicely for individual basing, the curved edge and thin base just looks so much better than chunky squares! One suggestion on gluing the magnets to the bases, put some 'cling wrap' or similar plastic over a metal sheet and place the magnet on that. you can apply all the glue you want on the base and then push it over the magnet and wait for it to dry. The cling wrap prevents the base getting stuck to the metal and everything is perfectly flat. There may be a bit of glue on the underside that does not cure, but you can simply wipe it off afterwards.

Cheers!
Joe Thomlinson

[Dr Mathias]

I have slottas, washers, very thin plastic, wood, round, rectangles, hexes... man, I've spent hours worrying about basing stuff.

I'd love it if I had some consistency but I play so rarely it was all wasted fretting.

I actually like the round solid plastics from Wargames Factory nowadays. Not as high as a slotta, can be drilled into for pinning if need be.

As usual my capricious nature manifests itself.

The only thing I've not done yet is those fugly round lipped slottas.

[Glitzer]

And some are insane enough to want to have consistent bases across all figure types, without removing all of a solid base or drilling and pinning after removing a tab, have them as thin as possible and magnetized! Those types of folk, or perhaps that particularly obsessed individual, tend to 3D design and print masters, make moulds and cast their own ... 

http://www.joethomlinson.com/trade/index.php?title=Bases

Cheers!
Joe Thomlinson

And I thought myself at the brink of insanity because I copied the now unavailable Rackham-styled slotta-bases from plywood....

I'm always gald there's someone on the LAF who even outdoes me.

[jthomlin]

I'm always gald there's someone on the LAF who even outdoes me.

Glad to be of service! 

Cheers!
Joe Thomlinson

Keeping the rest of the world relatively sane since 1960 ... 

[Klingsor]

I quite like slotabases but I do find then hard to use sometimes. What annoys me the most are some of the GW plastic figures such as their Necrons, they know they are going to go on a standard 25mm round base so why do they not fit on one very well?

I use the slota type bases for pretty much everything so I hate big bases that will have to be hidden with Milliput (eg. Gripping Beast plastics) or sanded thin.

Mantic have a great idea, their plastic figures have small round integral bases that fit into their own round or square bases, and with the square ones you can thus angle the figure any way you want to. I would live to see everyone do this, so that every 28mm metal figure that is not slotabased comes on, for example, a 15mm disc that is 2mm thick. Of course there is absolutely no chance of this happening, the industry cannot even agree on scale for goodness sake.

[Mainly28s]

I just realized there are two conversations occurring here:

1. Those people who don't like miniatures with the tabbed feet to go into bases

2. Those people who don't like the bases themselves - having a slot for a tab to be inserted into, and by necessity being a raised style base

LOL, my hatred of slottas extends both ways. I find it a pain in the ass to have to grind a tab down to maintain a reasonable height so as to attach a figure to a proper base- I can't get a proper bond, somehow. And I find slotta bases and their variants aesthetically displeasing, as they look like plinths.

[Argonor]

Those of you in favor of round bases do make good points, but there are some disadvantages there too. One I mentioned already, that it so goes against the grain of people's expectations around here and I was trying for once to just go with the flow. I don't really ever intend to play Warhammer again but basing my old figures on 25mm rounds would feel so much like burning a bridge.

You can get 20 mm slottas from other sources than GW (and 20 mm wide washers, too) if it's the size that bothers you - with the round bases they'd probably be easier to fit on movement trays, too.

Of course its perhaps even more impractical, requiring even more shortening of tabs, etc. 

[Admiral Alder]

Got some West Wind EotD recently, the mini's were great, but the tabs.... most were too long, the rest had tabs so thin that the mini's lean either forward of backward, all the vampire hunters resemble Micheal Jackson. So do the zombies, but that could be a design thing