Micro Armor Figure Question

[bwegle]

Hello – and thanks in advance for your help.

I am contemplating rebasing my micro armor armies by eliminating bases for the vehicles and mounting the infantry on Wargames Accessories steel bases. I currently base on 3mm Litko bases 1.25" x 1.25".

My concern/question is regarding the infantry. I have made a couple of prototype bases for the infanctry – using FOW style basing – 4 to 5 figues per base. They look great, but there is no way to pick up the bases without using the infantry models to pick up the base.

So, the questions for those of you who do not base your vehicles, but base your figures:

(1) how do you base figures – specifically material and thickness?
(2) if you pick up the bases using the figures as a handle – how do your figures hold up?

Thanks in advance for you opinions.

Bert

[opsctr]

As long as you protect your figures with a clear varnish they should be OK. For infantry I use at least one coat of gloss before I "Dullcoat" them. The gloss seems to provide a better protective coat and the flat outer coat makes the figures and equipment more acceptable to gamers.

The link below provides several examples of different bases. We have figures mounted on metal bases which are handled by lots of individuals during our training scenarios on a regular basis. For the more delicate castings we use the small nails glued to the bases to make handling easier, ...but some manufacturers hold up very well without them as noted on the bases in the ArmCav unit box.

GHQ's larger figures handle the use as do Heroics & Ros (NAVWAR now) but the CinC figures are very delicate (problem with true 1/285th castings) as are the GHQ artillery crew castings which are also in true 1/285th scale.

http://commandoperationscenter.com/products111.htm

Good luck... Will

[piersyf]

I base my infantry on styrene sheet, 0.75mm thick. Mainly for aesthetic reasons (so they don't tower over everything... a3mm base plus the cast base would have them half again the cast height of the figure... about 10' tall!

In using 0.75mm there are some limitiations; there is no real advantage to texturing the base... I just flock/ground cover it. I actually want the plastic to maintain some flexibility so when they are picked up the base has some flex and absorbs a significant amount of the pressure that would otherwise go into the legs of the figures. My guys don't get anywhere near the usage that opsctr's get, but I have a very low damage rate (almost nil over 20 odd years)

My bases are also small... for WW2 I have them on bases roughly 1" frontage and 1/2" depth. Helps to get a more accurate unit frontage with the ground scales I use.

P

[ferret701]

I mount my infantry on 3/4" by 1/2" bases for platoons and 1/2 by 1/2 stands for teams (SAM teams, recon, command, etc). I use Wargames Accessories steel bases. This does necessitate having players pick up the stands by the infantry (as the metal stands are very thin), but with GHQ figures, this isn't really a problem. so far, in 30+ games, I have no casualties.

Pat Callahan
www.microarmormayhem.com

[Timothy OConnor]

I base my infantry on thick Litko wooden bases. That way you don't need to touch the figures when moving them.

[thetourist]

I mount mine on *ahem* coins. The edge of the coin is good for gripping and I don't handle the figures much at all. Just use common cents.

[TankTracks]

I am new to GHQ having come from FOW. so I am asking myself the same questions. Why not split the difference? Litko makes all their bases in 1.5 mm size as well. Then you can add the sticky magnets to them.

[Theodore]

A gloss coat will help paint wear, but figure bending is another story.


I use linoleum flooring tiles, about 3 or 4 millimeters thick and 12 inches square for under a buck. I score and snap them and they leave nice textured edges. You can model down into the surface too.

[Mk 1]

I mount mine on *ahem* coins. The edge of the coin is good for gripping and I don't handle the figures much at all.

That's my approach as well.


This is some of my more recently done infantry -- the marvelous GHQ Romanians.

I find that the coin is substantial enough to be gripped rather often, and only occassionally do I (or other gamers) pick them up by the figures. In addition the coin provides some level of protection, as they don't get bent like the cardboard or styrene bases I used before (nor fractured along the grain like balsa). The new GHQ infantry seems robust enough to fair well with this kind of handling. But it didn't work well at all with the old GHQ individual infantry (pre- en-bloc style) -- I have a full battalion of mid-1980s GHQ cold-war Soviet infantry mounted on pennies, and the casualty rate is very difficult to endure. It also doesn't work AT ALL with some of the "other guys' " infantry -- my Brand-C WW2 US infantry is no longer usable due to too many broken ankles.

Just use common cents.

And so I do. Pennies for infantry. Can also use them for smaller heavy weapons.


Here is a battery of French 47mm AT guns. The crews (kneeling figures by a UK vendor) are mounted to pennies, but the guns are loosely set upon them. This way I can work up a single battery of crews, but maintain a variety of guns to be manned by those crews from one game to another. Also helps with rules that allow crews to survive destruction of their gun, and vice versa, as per the Mein Panzer rules I currently use.

I have found that I can pretty regularly get about a hundred pennies for a dollar. Haven't found a better price on bases yet. For figures that need larger bases, like cavalry, I use nickels. They're something like 5x more expensive, though, so I try to stick to pennies when I can.

[Oberst]

For my rule system, I use 1/2" by 1" card stalk with a stright pin with a flat head stuck threw the bottem. The tip is then cut off. After everything is painted, I paint the pin flat black. This way when your units are close together, in woods, or between buildings, they are able to be moved with out trouble or having to move the objects around them.

[JimF]

The link below provides several examples of different bases. We have figures mounted on metal bases which are handled by lots of individuals during our training scenarios on a regular basis.

Will, 2 questions (which may have been answered before, sorry)

How thick are the metal bases you use? Couldn't find that on the WA website.

Are the labels on the boxes in your pics available commercially, or are the home made?

Thanks.

Jim

[cfielitz]

I use Wargames Accessory steel bases.

What I do is stick on a 1--2mm slab of Sculpy or some other polymer clay on the base. I then carefully push the figures into the clay (after they are painted) to where the bases are flush with the clay. Then bake. I then paint and flock the bases. The clay is thick enough that I tend pick up by the base itself rather than by the figures.