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So I don't like the little rod that sticks the scarabs above the base, so is there an actual legal height that they have to be?

It just seems that hovering over a base seems weird for scarabs...

they're mainly elevated so other models have a chance to see them. If you get any of those decorated bases that should be about the same height. or just put some big rocks under them.

RAW it would really depend on how you define "mounted on the base they are supplied with" if you just glue them to the base they are on the base they came with.

"Mounted on the base they are supplied with" means just that. As long as they are on the base, a reasonable variance in height is ok. For reference, check the Tau Fire Warrior set where some are kneeling and some are standing.

Half of my scarab bases use the sticks and the other half have the scarabs directly on the base. I haven't had any problems with opponents yet.

If you remove the little stands you could get accused of MFA.

And since the scarabs are so short anyway the difference in height is pretty major. They could get cover from just about anything, and completely blocked by even more.

flyers come with a base and a stand,

can you mount them on the base without the stand supplied?

also, can I put all my guardsmen on their base, but sideways, so you cannot see them over even the smallest terrain?


sure you could, but GL getting it past a TO

As posted earlier building up the bases before mounting seems to be a better choice. I built mine up so they stand between a half and three quarters of an inch. About the same size as the flight like bases.

99% of people won't notice or won't care.

To be safe, I'd explain to your opponents that you've decided to model your Scarabs without the sticks. Say that, in the rare case it actually becomes an issue (e.g. a very, very short wall completely obscures your Scarabs from LOS), you would play it as if the Scarabs were a quarter-inch taller. If you're at a tournament, be sure to also inform the TO, and then repeat that to each of your opponents throughout the day. And every other TO and opponent at every other tournament you bring your slightly-modified models to. Of course, none of them will likely care. You are taking a very small modeling liberty. The only way I see that actually bothering anyone is if you're actively exploiting it. Since you will rarely, if ever, have a good opportunity to take advantage of your 1/4"-shorter Scarabs, and can easily ameliorate those rare situations by saying "let's pretend they're slightly taller," the problem pretty much solves itself.

I don't see an opponent refusing you a game, nor do I see a TO turning you away from an event because you tossed your Scarab sticks. Indeed, most people are going to be reasonable and accommodating. If you don't try to take advantage of that, you have nothing to worry about.

What if you stood them upright, or possibly stacked a few of them (without sticks) on top of each other to gain the designated height? That is to say if you have extra scarabs.

With Scarabs, they rarely need LOS to anything in the early turns of a game while they go through terrain to get to the oppoenent, a decent board will have plently of terrain to hide in, more so being smaller then normal. As said they dont need LOS as they have no shooting but can move 12inches then assault so I can see quite a lot of cases where MFA would be called out

Thanks for all the help, I might just end up putting one on a rock that is a 1/4 inch off the base so that at least if you could somewhat see that one bug then I'll give it to you.

Yeah, not trying to MFA that's why I'm asking here, because it just doesn't look right...

I don't see a rule they can't be mounted directly to the base. Fluff wise in all the books I read the crawl all over everything. I have a bunch of the old metal ones and they have no stands included. I prefer mine on the base anyhow just b/c the ones on stands always break off. I saw one guy magnetized all his so he could take one off for every wound. I would love to do that.

As someone pointed out previously, the stem is part of the base. Since you have to use the base provided, you have to use the stems.

If you want to argue that the stem is not part of the base, then your also saying flyers don't need to be perched on their stems, skimmers don't need the stems and so on.

At the very least, if you really don't like the stems, you should model the scarabs at the same height using something else,(a rock was mentioned) or allow your opponent to target the scarab bases as though they were still on the stems.

Anything else is modeling for advantage, and if my opponent wouldn't allow me to target the scarabs as though they were on the stems I wouldnt want to play them.

Technically speaking the stem is part of the model, not the base. With that in mind, are you allowed to not use parts of a model "just because"? And I'm not talking about obvious outfitting choices like weaponry.

 BarBoBot wrote:
As someone pointed out previously, the stem is part of the base. Since you have to use the base provided, you have to use the stems.

If you want to argue that the stem is not part of the base, then your also saying flyers don't need to be perched on their stems, skimmers don't need the stems and so on.

At the very least, if you really don't like the stems, you should model the scarabs at the same height using something else,(a rock was mentioned) or allow your opponent to target the scarab bases as though they were still on the stems.

Anything else is modeling for advantage, and if my opponent wouldn't allow me to target the scarabs as though they were on the stems I wouldnt want to play them.

The flaw here - for FLYING bases - the stem is part of the base, it is just a two part base. For scarabs - the stems are additional and, from what I can see, it would be perfectly fine to model without them or any thing under them. I have seen amazing bases that had them without the stems...noone cried MFA. In all honesty, with the minimal height difference, there will be VERY few opportunities that the little height difference matters. Yes, it matters in a tiny few cases...but in most of those - all you have to do is rotate it to hide the taller one anyway.

Anyways even if you do reach a problem, you could levitate them just a tiny bit, i lost the stem to my doomsday ark and the guys at my LGS just hovered it a tiny bit... too easy

 Amaraxis wrote:

 BarBoBot wrote:
As someone pointed out previously, the stem is part of the base. Since you have to use the base provided, you have to use the stems.

If you want to argue that the stem is not part of the base, then your also saying flyers don't need to be perched on their stems, skimmers don't need the stems and so on.

At the very least, if you really don't like the stems, you should model the scarabs at the same height using something else,(a rock was mentioned) or allow your opponent to target the scarab bases as though they were still on the stems.

Anything else is modeling for advantage, and if my opponent wouldn't allow me to target the scarabs as though they were on the stems I wouldnt want to play them.

The flaw here - for FLYING bases - the stem is part of the base, it is just a two part base. For scarabs - the stems are additional and, from what I can see, it would be perfectly fine to model without them or any thing under them. I have seen amazing bases that had them without the stems...noone cried MFA. In all honesty, with the minimal height difference, there will be VERY few opportunities that the little height difference matters. Yes, it matters in a tiny few cases...but in most of those - all you have to do is rotate it to hide the taller one anyway.

In the situations where the height difference would make a difference, the scarab owner should allow the opponent to target them as though they were on the stems.

You can nitpick the flyer examples I used, but there are other examples. The previous chaos raptors were perched on flames that stood over 1/2" tall. Would cutting the flames off the raptor and reducing its height by 1/2" be MFA? Is that in any way different than scarabs?

 BarBoBot wrote:
In the situations where the height difference would make a difference, the scarab owner should allow the opponent to target them as though they were on the stems.

You can nitpick the flyer examples I used, but there are other examples. The previous chaos raptors were perched on flames that stood over 1/2" tall. Would cutting the flames off the raptor and reducing its height by 1/2" be MFA? Is that in any way different than scarabs?

This is YMDC - I was just stating my point.

Now, I can see why someone would see the scarabs on the base as MFA. As for The raptor - I would not because removing that 1/2 inch from the Raptor's height also affects their LoS soit is not all advantage.

The thing is - in order to prevent LoS to a scarab swarm - you need a wall that pretty much BLoS to most normal models also. If there was an issue, either way, I would just be like whatever....arguing over that kind of stuff in game is a waste of time and earns nothing....

Relevent, inaccurate, and funny.

Oh man, that video still has me in tears. Im bookmarking that one! XD