Back To Bases

 Good morning all,

Following my previous notes on basing, it was pointed out that I had not broached the subject of 'square versus round', a perennial hot potato.

Well, I can say conclusively that round is not an option, and that square sided movement trays for the same figures is a double 'no-no'. Argue with me not, because some things are instinctive.

If you want to use some of your army for skirmish, then have a few singly based figures mixed into your units. It's cheaper and less faffy.

1. MDF movement trays double the height of your basing.

2. They add expense which could be spent on more toys.

3. They are an absolute pain to put together if like, me, the average army is 400-500+

Round bases really came into vogue with Warhammer 40K, because they were cheaper than the early hex bases they produced for the range (and which were nicer).

With round bases you lose the easy identification at a glance of front, flanks and rear. They don't fit as snugly and securely into boxes and are plainly the work of Satan. The only time you can use round bases, is for commanders and vignettes.

Now, I will say here that one bugbear of mine is knocking the corners off square edged bases. It's a pain in the ass when they go all dog eared, but I do like a neatly defined idea of frontage.

So for well over two decades now, I have only used bases with rounded corners. It may be longer actually, and closer to 30 years. They wear a lot better, they look realy stylish, and you stil have neat frontages.

When you use a larger base, for the purposes of making your units look less like an army of clones (see my previous post) you have more space, but the lack of angled corners, appears to make the bases look smaller than they are and you automatically group your figures in what appears to be a less spread out manner. I also find that each base looks like a self contained element in it's own right, nicely framed and presented.

I also love the look of oval bases for units and in the early 90s, had a rather nice Medieval collection based on ovoid elements. This did not go down well at the club, despite the fact that the frontage of the elements did correspond to the rules du jour. They just couldn't get their heads around it and it offended their competition game sensibilities.

Oval bases done well, look brilliant and there a few sneaky ways of employing them to depict regular lines and warbands, but I really ought to end that discussion here, as it could cause war, and besides, it's time to go to my desk.

TTFN