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I've seen this done a few times, and as I start to build my lizardmen I kind of want to do this, too. It seems like having models who stick to their movement trays would make the game much, much more fun, What is the best way to go about magnetizing your bases and movement trays to make gameplay easier?

This is here instead of in the Painting and Modeling section because it seems like a more WHFB-specific question, and I'm interested in WHFB-specific answers. Also, not exactly a Painting and Modeling question. More of a Practicality and Gameplay question.

I used rare earth magnets from amazon and the gale force nine magnetic sheets
You wouldn't believe how much of time saver it can be for deployment and clean up.
Not to mention keeping your models a little safer from damage.

http://www.flamesofwar.com/default.aspx?tabid=79&CategoryID=13187&filter=

http://www.amazon.com/Magcraft-NSN0566-16-Inch-Magnets-100-Count/dp/B000SJ7IPS/ref=sr_1_7?ie=UTF8&qid=1320626342&sr=8-7

i used a bit of green stuff to seat the magnet in the base and make sure it makes contact with the movement tray.
There very well could be a better/easier way to do this but this way works and isn't to difficult.
With this method i can turn my clan rat units upside down and they dont even move.
There are videos on youtube about using this method if you need a bit of a visual guide.
Hope this helps good luck.

You can also get metal sheeting from Home Depot & similar places & cut it with tin snips.

Besides all the great stuff Spazz said- some stupid models (namely the standard bearer) tend to be top heavy and fall over if a butterfly flies by the window. So magnetizing them just so you can move the unit around without having to pick up falling models every time is worth it.

Hmm the best way...
Magnet on the base, metal on the tray

I suggest going to a dollar store and finding a strip of magnet that's not too thin .( the stuff I got had a side to peal off so it could stick to stuff). Add a drop of super glue and put it on the bases.
Metal goes on the tray and you are set.

You could hold my blocks of chaos warriors upside down and it will hold and it cost me less than $15 for 4 blocks of warriors with supplies to spare.

Dollar store magnets and some thin metal that any old hard ware store has a little green stuff and some super glue and you are set.

Sheet metal from Home Depot works well. Cut and attache to standard GW movement trays. But for all that work, http://shogunminiatures.com/ makes well priced metal movement trays which both work well are are rather inexpensive.

For bases, I've found this supplier of strip magnates
http://www1.mscdirect.com/eCommerce/NavigationServlet/Clamping-Workholding-Positioning/Magnets/Flexible-Magnetic-Strips-Sheets/_/N-77dfv?cm_re=Category-_-BodyLink-_-Flexible+Magnetic+Strips+%26+Sheets
Type Strip
Back Type w/Adhesive
Length Ft. (Feet) 10
Width (Decimal Inch) 0.7500
Thickness (Decimal Inch) 0.0300

I would not go with the cheap dollar store sheet magnates - too little hold for my taste. With the .03 thickness strips, I can hold a unit of metal figures upside down without a problem.

I've been using the sheet metal/magnet combo.

The magnets I use are the ones you can find at hobby stores (small disk magnets). The only problem with these is that they are often TOO strong.

To cure this I glued my magnets to the bases using Gorilla Glue, I glue the metal sheets to the plastic movement trays using Gorilla Glue and then (in a couple of cases) glue the model to its base using Gorilla Glue.

Gorilla Glue is way stronger than super glue, but expands like crazy though. I won't use it for actual model assembly.

I'm definitely going to go with sheet metal/disk magnets. That way I (blessedly) don't need to worry about polarity.

just be careful about how strong the magnets are. you might find your models are starting to have an immense attraction for each other

i heard about an army that had both magnetized movement trays and weapon options. Things worked great, until he found that every unit would form into a riot of arms, bodies, and bases whenever he ranked them up.

ROFL i wish i could see that

Grey Templar wrote:just be careful about how strong the magnets are. you might find your models are starting to have an immense attraction for each other

i heard about an army that had both magnetized movement trays and weapon options. Things worked great, until he found that every unit would form into a riot of arms, bodies, and bases whenever he ranked them up.

and it seems the magnets were strong enough to crush his dreams too...

I've tried out sheet metal & the craft magnet strip kind (the cheap cheap kind in a strip you can cut). For smaller stuff, Elves & below, it works pretty well. Bigger stuff I'm not so sure. And not at all with metal.

giant stegadon wrote:

Grey Templar wrote:just be careful about how strong the magnets are. you might find your models are starting to have an immense attraction for each other

i heard about an army that had both magnetized movement trays and weapon options. Things worked great, until he found that every unit would form into a riot of arms, bodies, and bases whenever he ranked them up.

and it seems the magnets were strong enough to crush his dreams too...

I've tried out sheet metal & the craft magnet strip kind (the cheap cheap kind in a strip you can cut). For smaller stuff, Elves & below, it works pretty well. Bigger stuff I'm not so sure. And not at all with metal.

The magnet strips wouldn't work very well at all for my ogres, although I do use that stuff for my gnoblars.

Metal models just need more magnets. I use the gale force 9 magnet disks. The only metal model in my army has 5 on the base and it will hold. But you gotta use the strongest glue you can find. I used loctite gel professional from home depot. I didn't get too crazy with magnetizing weapon load outs and all that jazz so I don't know about the models attaching themselves to each other; but I do know that the bases don't 'attack' each other on the board.

Originally I thought the use was limited to weapons and WFB, but since doing my 40k I can say that combined with a magnetized case (I made mine by sewing home depot roofing shingles between faux suede and using a sheet of dense 1" foam and a sharpened copper pipe) makes a huge difference in terms of clean up and transport.

Stuff still flops around in foam cases, NOTHING MOVES in my case. Because of this I can have thinner foam walls resulting in more storage room. Not to mention the magnet (and green stuff ball) smashed in the bottom of the base adds weight that keeps the model from tipping over. Nothing like a nickel glued to the bottom of the base but it's still something.

Spazz wrote:I used rare earth magnets from amazon and the gale force nine magnetic sheets

How much effort does it need to get them off? I was considering a rare earth magnet under the base and also on each 'slot' on the tray, but that would have a massive amount of pull and I'd be scared of breaking my skeletons ankles. I hadn't considered rare earth magnets to a magnetic sheet.

I use rare earth magnets on the bottom of all my bases. I then use magnetic sheeting like this: http://www.dickblick.com/products/promag-magnetic-sheets/ I put a layer on the top and bottom of my movement trays. I then use a metal toolbox for transportation and simply grab the movement tray and set it on the table with all the models attached, it travels great even over speed bumps no models have detached from the tray. I find the toolbox a bit limiting and plan on gluing or screwing metal sheeting to the bottom of a rubbermaid container so it's lighter then the toolbox and has more surface area so I can fit 2 horded trays of 50 models at 25mm as Beastmen are my main army.

I use rare earth magnets in the base and the old GF9 Rubber Steel sheeting on the movement tray. Simple, convenient, and easy.

I heard of that gf9 stuff never knew anyone that used it so i stayed away.

I used some hard ware store thin sheet metal that was quite heap and i can turn my trays of warriors upside down with dollar store magnets so no complaints here.

Im sure the rare earth magnets hold even better than that.

Ill try this out for my ogres.