Overthinking basing

Started by mmcv, 14 April 2020, 06:00:57 PM

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mmcv

Quote from: fred. on 26 April 2020, 09:17:12 AM
With your option 2 I think you will have problems with sand getting under the figures bases, which will stop them sticking well.

With option 1 I tend to careful add a bit of the PVA/paint mix to the edges, and any largish flat top areas of the base (avoiding the feet). The style of cast figure base does vary between ranges, some are quite thin, slope up and can be textured. Others can be a bit thicker and have a much squarer edge, these are harder to hide the edges in the basing material.

Yeah I think you're right Fred. One advantage of only doing small bases with a few figures is you can afford to experiment a bit both with painting styles and basing. Had a check there and most of the figures seem reasonably secure, just two needed a superglue touch up.

mmcv









The reds were option 1 and the blues option 2. Think I need to add a bit more to bring them up to the bases. I like the mix of light and dark brown flock on the blues so will have to add a bit of light to the reds.

steve_holmes_11

I can't compete with the fine examples above, so I'll advocate a simple principle.
The smaller the scale, the less you want to re-base.

By the time you reach 10mm, I'd avoid rebasing entirely.
Some fore-thought can help with this.

a) Select rules which are basing agnostic, or at least ones that use popular basing sizes.

b) If that's not possible consider what can be achieved using movement trays.



mmcv

Quote from: steve_holmes_11 on 27 April 2020, 07:30:07 AM
I can't compete with the fine examples above, so I'll advocate a simple principle.
The smaller the scale, the less you want to re-base.

By the time you reach 10mm, I'd avoid rebasing entirely.
Some fore-thought can help with this.

a) Select rules which are basing agnostic, or at least ones that use popular basing sizes.

b) If that's not possible consider what can be achieved using movement trays.


Hi Steve,

Certainly rebasing isn't something I particularly enjoy so I'm with you on not wanting to do it much. So far most rule sets I've used are reasonably basing agnostic. I'm also mostly playing solo and producing both sides of a conflict myself so the basing will generally match. The main aim of this is to find what that standard basing methodology is that I want to use.

I don't intend to massively rebase any of my existing collection in this way, this is more just a choice going forwards. The only bits I plan to rebase are some very early ones I did that I'm not too happy with.


mmcv

Found the first issue with my 40x20 basing standard....anyone with forward-pointing spears or polearms ends up pointing out the front of the base, which becomes a pain when in base to base contact with the enemy. However, keeping to a 40mm frontage and just going to 30mm depth for those that need it should be enough to give a bit of clearance on the front. Will just push me towards a 70mm grid rather than 60mm but that's still reasonable enough by the time you add in various counters etc. And should still be reasonably distinct from a 40x40mm "deep" unit, though I suppose they could creep up to 40x50 or 40x60 when it comes to deep spear and pike units...

Will need to get some pictures done up soon. Have one Aztec army about halfway there, just awaiting an order of basing bits and a couple more units to paint up. Also varnished a bunch of bits I'd done over the past 6 months or so so should really get them photographed! And once the basing order arrives I'll be able to put together 5 big units of crusader infantry plus attached crossbowmen.


FierceKitty

Hijacking, but a Conquistador battle today to teach Lee some humility.  :)
I don't drink coffee to wake up. I wake up to drink coffee.

mmcv

Oh my, you mean you actually won?!

Nice to see those rare 10mm Incas!

hammurabi70

Quote from: steve_holmes_11 on 27 April 2020, 07:30:07 AM
I can't compete with the fine examples above, so I'll advocate a simple principle.
The smaller the scale, the less you want to re-base.

By the time you reach 10mm, I'd avoid rebasing entirely.
Some fore-thought can help with this.

a) Select rules which are basing agnostic, or at least ones that use popular basing sizes.

b) If that's not possible consider what can be achieved using movement trays.




I am facing this issue in terms of what size to make the grid I am planning on having.

My understanding is that the normal standards are:
Ancients & Renaissance - 40mm frontage
Horse & Musket - 30mm frontage
ACW - done In inches
Modern - 25mm

This could all be rubbish / designed for 6mm / 15mm usage as I would think 25mm / 28mm might struggle with these but it would be interesting to know others take on this.

Techno

Quote from: mmcv on 27 May 2020, 01:08:04 PM
Oh my, you mean you actually won?!

'Course he didn't !  ;)

Cheers - Phil

FierceKitty

I don't drink coffee to wake up. I wake up to drink coffee.

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Macsen Wledig

just looking back at this thread and 40mm x 40mm calls out to me

mmcv


Quotejust looking back at this thread and 40mm x 40mm calls out to me
My current "standard" basing for ancients is 40x20 for a standard unit, 40x30 for cavalry then 40x40 for deeper units. Seems to work pretty well and been able to put stuff together reasonably quickly while still looking decent. It's then easy to scale up if I want to make bigger units in future.

I've a few projects doing "diorama-style" basing (usually 80x40 or 100x50 standard) then a couple on 25x25, generally 19th/20th C stuff where manoeuvre is more important. 

Macsen Wledig

I just wish I had the time to produce in multiple set ups

I may opt for different formats for different scales