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As long as the base sizes aren't ridiculously out of proportion with each other, does differing base sizes really throw the game out of balance that badly? I ask because some of my Marines have bigger bases than others. For example, the BaC box (which is the core of my army) came with 32mm, while a few of my squads have the old size (I forgot the dimensions, whatever Cadians come on still). Do I need identical bases for all of my Tac Squads, or could I get away with a squad or two having the smaller bases?

*Insert "motion of the ocean" joke here*

To answer your question, depends on your opponent really. Smaller bases allow you to get more models into base-to-base contact, but they also force you to cluster your models more to stay in coherency, so you'll have more models under templates. There are pros and cons to each. I've yet to encounter a single player or tournament that would force you to re-base your entire army as long as they are on a base that has at some point been the standard for the model (so either 25mm or 32mm for Space Marines, for example). YMMV. Talk to your opponent/TO

It mostly depends on Rule of Cool. Someone here once posted their Space Wolves commander riding on an Attack Bike or something and since there's love put into it nobody cares if the base size was bigger.

Generally though try to keep them similar.

RaW you stick them on the bases they came with. I would simply advise you to keep the basing consistent.

 TheCustomLime wrote:
RaW you stick them on the bases they came with. I would simply advise you to keep the basing consistent.

This is a common misconception. The rules assume you are using the base supplied, but RAW allowance is made for unusual bases.

Consistency is definitely a good idea, though.

If they are one a base they came with you are fine.

It is always fine to go up to larger bases but know that is a detriment at the same time it helps. As long as the base looks like the correct one for the model you are fine.

As far as I am concerned, as long as all models in a unit are based consistently, I won't care. It bothers me, when a unit has mixed 25mm and 32mm (or 40mm for Terminators) bases.

Note that this does not hold true for any Independent Characters, or unique/special model upgrades (e.g. Broodlords for Genestealers, or SM Captains).

 Happyjew wrote:
As far as I am concerned, as long as all models in a unit are based consistently, I won't care. It bothers me, when a unit has mixed 25mm and 32mm (or 40mm for Terminators) bases.

Note that this does not hold true for any Independent Characters, or unique/special model upgrades (e.g. Broodlords for Genestealers, or SM Captains).

The whole 25mm and 32mm mix is a major pain for my Space Wolves and the models aren't even more than 2 years old.

I stick with the smaller bases for my Marines.

They can take cover behind a Rhino better, and stay out of LOS. You can also fit more onto different levels of buildings, particularly the GW ones, where each "square" on floor pieces is 2 25mm bases deep.

Nor am I about to go out of my way to rebase 140+ models.

RAW, no it does not matter. GW gave us a "guideline" but left intentional freedom for cases like this, when a model is rebase by GW itself, or for conversions
It only matters with your opponent, which again, is subjective, so it doesn't really matter then either.

At the end of the day do what you feel is best. The most important thing is to be consistent within units. If you have some 25mm and some 32mm Marines, don't mix them. as it looks bad and gives your opponent the impression that the larger based models are more important for some reason

 Mr. Shine wrote:

This is a common misconception. The rules assume you are using the base supplied, but RAW allowance is made for unusual bases.

Not exactly.

The rules make allowances for situations where you wind up with models that have the wrong base. They stop short of actually giving you permission to put different bases on your models... just deal with what to do when you have them.

So here is a question: What prevents you from using bases for a model that were once supplied with that model.

Some examples:
Deamon Princes are now supplied with 60mm, but once were on 40mm.
Terminators are now on 40mm, but once were 25mm
Tau Broadsides are now 60mm, but once 40mm

If it is ok to still field those older models on the smaller bases because "that is what they were supplied with" than what is to stop someone from using the smaller base for the newer model? Since we all agree that older models are legal to use, why wouldn't using the older accepted base size?

 Galef wrote:
So here is a question: What prevents you from using bases for a model that were once supplied with that model.

Some examples:
Deamon Princes are now supplied with 60mm, but once were on 40mm.
Terminators are now on 40mm, but once were 25mm
Tau Broadsides are now 60mm, but once 40mm

If it is ok to still field those older models on the smaller bases because "that is what they were supplied with" than what is to stop someone from using the smaller base for the newer model? Since we all agree that older models are legal to use, why wouldn't using the older accepted base size?

GW created the problem by being rather fast and loose as of late with making changes to base sizes for already existing units. Cats out of the bag so unless its a tournament or a gaming club with set standards then its not really possible to enforce base sizes (within reason) without coming across as a jerk. I highly doubt you will see a person with 10k points worth of space marines with their MEQs on 25mm go through and rebase everything to 32mm. Its also a hard sell to get somebody who has both size MEQs to go out of their way to buy 25mm bases to base their new MEQs (that came with 32mm) the same as the ones they put together 2 years ago.

Galef wrote:At the end of the day do what you feel is best. The most important thing is to be consistent within units. If you have some 25mm and some 32mm Marines, don't mix them. as it looks bad and gives your opponent the impression that the larger based models are more important for some reason

This is an overly restrictive requirement.

Why should I either have to 1. buy more marines or 2. rebase some of my models simply because GW decided to start using different base sizes?

There's nothing in the rules that require me to use one base as opposed to the other, and each base size carries its own benefits and drawbacks.

If you have a psychological tendency to equate "bigger base" with "more important," then that sounds like your problem.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

 Galef wrote:
So here is a question: What prevents you from using bases for a model that were once supplied with that model.

Some examples:
Deamon Princes are now supplied with 60mm, but once were on 40mm.
Terminators are now on 40mm, but once were 25mm
Tau Broadsides are now 60mm, but once 40mm

If it is ok to still field those older models on the smaller bases because "that is what they were supplied with" than what is to stop someone from using the smaller base for the newer model? Since we all agree that older models are legal to use, why wouldn't using the older accepted base size?

I think that either base size is fine. Again, each base size has its own drawbacks and benefits.

You want to use 25 mm terminator bases? Fine. Just make sure that, when you fire, that's that's the base size that you're measuring distance from.

You're using a 40 mm terminator base? Cool. Then I have more leeway in deciding where to center this blast marker.

 Galef wrote:
So here is a question: What prevents you from using bases for a model that were once supplied with that model.

Some examples:
Deamon Princes are now supplied with 60mm, but once were on 40mm.
Terminators are now on 40mm, but once were 25mm
Tau Broadsides are now 60mm, but once 40mm

If it is ok to still field those older models on the smaller bases because "that is what they were supplied with" than what is to stop someone from using the smaller base for the newer model? Since we all agree that older models are legal to use, why wouldn't using the older accepted base size?

Off-topic, but how the hell do you fit a terminator on a 25mm base? I once tried to put one on a 32mm, and it was already hanging off!

Scale creep is how.

 Ghaz wrote:
Scale creep is how.

Nah, that’s just a myth.

 Galef wrote:
So here is a question: What prevents you from using bases for a model that were once supplied with that model.

Why would anything prevent you from doing that?

Some examples:
Deamon Princes are now supplied with 60mm, but once were on 40mm.

It's not quite that simple. At one point, Daemon Prince models were supplied with either one, depending on which model you bought. The generic Prince came with a 40mm, the Nurgle one came with a 60mm.

Eldar Jetbikes were concurrently supplied with 30mm and 60mm flight bases, depending on whether you bought them individually or in a battleforce.

Space Marine Dreadnoughts were sometimes supplied with square monster bases, sometimes not. Likewise with bikers and cavalry bases.



And that's not even getting into the things like Hormagaunts that have always come with bases that are far too small for them...



GW have never bothered to stock to any real solid structure for assigning bases beyond 'Let's give it this base[/i]', so I don't really see why players should be particularly concerned with trying to enforce one either.

Our interpretation, which I believe matches with the rules, is that you can either use whatever base your specific model came with OR whatever base the most similar current model comes with.

In other words, if you find a unit of the super old, smaller Terminators on eBay, it's reasonable to put them on either 25mm bases (as that's what they would have come with) or 40mm bases (as that's what the most similar current models come with).

However, if you find a unit of current Terminators without bases, the only reasonable size to use is 40mm. These newer models never came with 25mm and the most similar current models use 40mm. Trying to put new Terminators on 25mm bases feels very much like modelling for advantage.

There are going to be lots of ambiguous situations. What about a Space Marines Captain/Chapter Master model? Well, you can walk into a GW store right now and find the old kit, coming with a 25mm base, the updated Deathwatch version, coming with a 32mm base and at least one named Wolf Lord in Power Armor (Krom Puppygaze?), coming with a 40mm base. It would be reasonable to me, therefore, to use 25mm, 32mm or 40mm for your custom Captain/Chapter Master. Throw him on a bike and all of sudden your most similar models are based using bike/cav bases.

I think, as a rule of thumb, if you can point at another specific model in the current range and say "I used an XXmm base because that model is very similar and is on an XXmm base", you'll be fine. If you're unable to do so, it's probably not a reasonable base size.

Compare these two sentences and see which sounds more reasonable...

"I put my custom Space Marines Chapter Master on a 40mm base because Krom Dragongaze is on a 40mm base and I wanted him to stand out in the same way."
"I put my current range Terminators on 25mm bases because old Terminators were on 25mm bases and I wanted a smaller Deep Strike footprint."