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Hey all, in another thread I've detailed my new old Blood Angels. I've been out of the game for a loooong time and I'm a little confused. I've been told by various sources I must rebase various old models in the army. The Land Speeder must have a flying base (this doesn't bother me, actually makes it far more stable), the bikes (when I get to them) must be on the new GW bike bases, the dreadnought moved to a 60mm base and most pressing my terminators must transition to 40mm bases. The best 'rule' I can find is that a model should be mounted on the original base it came with, which is how they are mounted, but apparently this gives an advantage in 'deep strike footprint'. While I don't wish to do any modelling for advantage (nor do I believe rules should even be written so as to allow it) I also don't want to get kicked out of the first event I rock up to. What do people think? What, if any, of the bikes, speeders, terminators or dreadnoughts should be rebased?

GW models must be based on the bases they come with. Did your Termies come with 25mm bases? If so, they may legally stay on those bases. You will have to explain this to your opponent before each game.

Now, all Termies currently released are on 40mm "Terminator" bases. Your opponents will expect these typical sized bases. But you are still within your rights to keep them on the small bases. However, there are significant advantages (ie. making friends) to not causing your opponent confusion and annoyance before the first die is rolled.

Also, I looked at your picture. Your Termies aren't "based" in the modelling sense. There's no scenery, and only random brush-cleaning on those bases. How hard would it be to switch over to the newer base size? How easy would it be to avoid a whole lot of complaining from other players?

When terminators changed to the bigger bases, I changed all 30 of mine over. I didn't want people to think I was keeping the small bases for an advantage.

I also stopped using my 3rd Ed Tau stealth suits which are infantry sized when the much larger Tau stealth suit was released.

Even if I'm not looking for the advantage they might give me, people probably will think that I am, so it's not worth the hassle.

If it is not a lot of effort, rebasing is usually worth it. You would be surprised how easy it is to pop a model off a base and put him on a new one without harming the paint job. You can even put the 25mm base on top of the 40mm base and build up around it with rocks, scrap and sand to make it a nice scenic base.

As for base price, lots of 3rd parties make blank bases for super cheap. You can get 10 biker bases for like 6$.

Some TOs don't accep the legacy base argument and will ask you to play as if the modern base size... They may make you set your terminators on poker chips for measurements.

 Elric Greywolf wrote:

Also, I looked at your picture. Your Termies aren't "based" in the modelling sense. There's no scenery, and only random brush-cleaning on those bases. How hard would it be to switch over to the newer base size? How easy would it be to avoid a whole lot of complaining from other players?

Yeah I actually stopped short of finishing them because of this issue. I didn't want to base them and then find I need to swap them. Swapping them wouldn't be a *major* hassle though. The dreadnought is already based and if you look at the thread you'll see there's a dreadnought already based. He's on a 40mm square base which he came with but I could see upgrading him to a 60mm easy enough.

I actually have all the bases I need to do any or all swaps, so the rebasing isn't a cost thing. I just want to be compliant with the rules and not get anyone upset. That said I really do think they're too small to be mounted on 40mm bases and if I'm within my rights to keep them on 25mm I'd prefer that. I actually like the idea of mounting them on 30mm lipped bases- it just looks right for their size. Oddly that would be less advantage than 25mm but more wrong to do.

How about getting some inverted bases in the sizes you need, and plonking them in the middle?

I personally think that rebasing on what is currently the accepted standard for the unit is the respectful thing to do. Just because you CAN keep your termies on 25mm bases doesn't mean you should.

I don't intend to imply that you were being intransigent about it. This is an issue I face with local people who can be kind of annoying about it.

If all those models are old school metal I wouldn't mind it one bit. If you base newer plastics on smaller bases to match older that's when it gets a little hokey.

I've got old tau broadsides on the 40s they came with, im not going to basing them on the larger bases. I've got to many other projects to work on.

Bludbaff wrote:
. Just because you CAN keep your termies on 25mm bases doesn't mean you should.

No, but the rules telling us to base models on the base with which they are supplied certainly seems to...


GW has never cared much about bases. There are models in the game that have been supplied with as many as 3 different sized bases in the time they've been around, and other cases of models supplied with different bases (or in the case of the Monolith, being supplied both with and without a base) depending on whether you bought them individually or in Battleforces.


And so the rules have never really made a great deal of sense where bases are concerned. The best policy, IMO, is just to let people base their models however the hell they please, so long as the base looks appropriate for the model, and don't sweat the small stuff.

As far as the rules are concerned, the only relevant wording is on page 3, and it's not that helpful in this instance.

It's one of those things that will vary from player to player, so if you have regular opponents, see if they mind. If you play a lot of pick-up games or go to any tournaments, rebase them just to be on the safe side.

For what it's worth, considering the pedigree of the entire army, it's clear you're not using them just for the rules advantages so I would have to look pretty negatively on anyone outside of a tournament that pretended to take issue with it.

Thanks for the replies. I think I will rebase them onto 40mm lipped bases. It'll clear up any potential annoyances and I can't imagine anyone actually pulling the 'base it came on' rule against me.