Saturday, February 6

Sudan rebasing progress...

I reckon I must be about two thirds of the way through one of the two re-basing projects I set myself for this year ... in this case the smaller of the two, the Sudan project.

The project has a two fold aim...   firstly to standardise the basing method; when I started the project I used plastic card and a sand flock material, two thirds through the project I decided I didn't like that and started using MDF bases, with sharp sand for the flocking material. The older bases, being a thinner plastic card, are also warping slightly..  not nice...

Old style basing... note the base warp...
 Secondly, I started to have an issue with the number of infantry figures per base for the Imperial forces, in the picture above/below you can see six infantry figures per base, four per base looked ....  just "better"...  and given my rules are "base" level, the number of figures is largely immaterial..

Half way house - new basing style but old style number of figures per base...

With apologies for the poor quality of the picture the following shows the new basing methodology and practice directly compared with the old...

End state...  new basing and revised number of figures to the left, old style single base to the right, 6 figures and warped plastic card...
A constructive couple of hours this morning got the following done... command figures are now on metal disks (tuppence's actually, but don't tell Her Maj I am defacing the royal visage ), all infantry & cavalry are on 30mm MDF squares, the carriages/limbers are MDF 30x60mm...


Lessons learned...  MDF bases are great, but a pain to prep - I think Big Lee [clicky]mentioned how the sides of the bases "bleed" through acrylics, so I now spray paint the bases with a polyurethane primer, and then paint in acrylic - saves time...  for the AWI re-basing project (which is much bigger) I've invested in a can of spray primer in the right green - saves even more time...

16 comments:

  1. The rebasing looks goo, Steve. I like the 4 foot per base too.

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  2. Great work. Glad I'm still using mounting card and not MDF

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    1. Will - MDF bases are brilliant, but to be fair I said the same about plastic card originally... :o) I think the issue is the PVA glue I glop on for the flock/sharp sand.. I read somewhere that when it dries it contracts slightly so you need a good thick base to counteract that.

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  3. Good man Steve. I made the switch to MDF a couple of years ago and have never looked back. Rebasing is a pain though.

    You are absolutely right - four figures looks well and less crowded than six.

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    1. Thanks CK.. for the Marlburian armies six looks good, but for this later period four space very nicely...

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  4. Who made the miniatures? I have a colonial project in plan, and am tempted by 20mm

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    1. Mel - you are a lucky man to be at the start.... these are 15mm's and a variety of manufacturers (detail in the project page - link top left) the best (for me) are without a doubt Peter Pig... if I was starting the project again though, I would go 20mm and Newline without a second thought.....

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  5. Ah, the joys of rebasing! Proof if needed that you are a proper wargamer! The bases look very good.

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    1. David - this is a small re-basing project and is going quickly - the AWI is next though and we're looking at 160+ bases! :o(

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  6. What a very tempting period to play...and your minis are gorgeous! Great job on these bases...

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    1. Phil - sure is... don't hold back, fill yer boots... :o)

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  7. Coming along nicely Steve, great collection of figures, I'm a big fan of the Pigs!

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    1. Lee -apologies for the delay in responding, but thanks.. me too re. the Pigs - I like their animation, and especially their faces.. :o)

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  8. Very interesting post. Some of my favourite gaming memories have been getting massacred in the early period by Dervishers. I finaly got rid of my figures last year. Now your making me want to start again!

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    1. David - do it,you know you want to, and there's an embarrassment of riches in terms of figures, scales, and materials, these days....

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