Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you: No adverts like this in the forums anymore. Times and dates in your local timezone. Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance. Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely. Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net. If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

My initial foray into multi-basing has been fairly simple. Just ranged weapon Troops, so I glued the figures to cardboard or paint sticks, painted them, then glued the finished product to the plastic base, glued sand, then painted the sand and base. (Similarly, I've done this for two Lg cav regiments.) However, the thought of trying to glue then paint carefully around a 40 figure Zombie horde has brought a halt to multi-basing. Are there better ways to do this? Paint the movement tray, then glue figures to it, for instance.

Yeah do everything seperately and then pin the models to the tray.

Here's my question as a newer player -- do you put the models on bases first before applying to tray? Or do you have them set lower and glue directly onto the movement tray? What are the pros and cons of each?

Most people place the figures directly onto the movement tray. Once the terrain fill (sand, flock, whatever you're using) is placed, it will look more natural. With the bases, it takes more work to blend them in. For those people who have built elaborate multi-bases, (See some examples in the Golden Blue Trident Realm thread) it is easier to pin and place minis in unusual places.

The cons is some figures may have tiny contact points, and so glue may not hold them to the tray properly.

Of course, one may have older figures already on individual bases. In that case, it may be simpler to glue them to the movement tray rather than remove the old bases.

Edit: I've been looking up videos since my original post. At least for some of my figures, the contact points are too small for a pin so building & painting tray first, then pinning will not work. Older minis with integral bases (like older Mantic, or historicals) could be placed into putty on a tray, then removed when the putty is dry, then replaced in the "footprint" when the tray is painted.

 Shrapnelsmile wrote:
Here's my question as a newer player -- do you put the models on bases first before applying to tray? Or do you have them set lower and glue directly onto the movement tray? What are the pros and cons of each?

For those, I suppose you could paint the minis, then attach them to the tray one by one and texture/paint the tray as you go, from the inside out.

For some units I tend to do the ranks in sections to a base plate.

First rank, then flock, paint, etc. Then the next rank - and continue till finished.

My first attempt had me glue everything to the base plate and then flock and paint the whole lot together. You definitely then have issues trying to paint and weather the base without fouling the miniatures. It is really only a problem with regiment sized units.

These days I mount my units on their lowest base size. So say ghouls go on a troop sized base (fire extinguisher hard plastic information signs cut to size) and I then can magnetise these to a KoW regiment tray to make regiments. That means I can run either regiments or troop sized units for added flexibility during army selection.

This then removed trying to multi-base regimental units in the main as most units can be selected in troop sized units.

Thank you, and also thanks to Lord Blackfang. Rank by rank on a tray it is. Will still do a few regiment sized trays though. {When I get around to the Forgotten World Zombies, they are definitely on regiment sized trays.}

niall78 wrote:
For some units I tend to do the ranks in sections to a base plate.

First rank, then flock, paint, etc. Then the next rank - and continue till finished.

My first attempt had me glue everything to the base plate and then flock and paint the whole lot together. You definitely then have issues trying to paint and weather the base without fouling the miniatures. It is really only a problem with regiment sized units.

These days I mount my units on their lowest base size. So say ghouls go on a troop sized base (fire extinguisher hard plastic information signs cut to size) and I then can magnetise these to a KoW regiment tray to make regiments. That means I can run either regiments or troop sized units for added flexibility during army selection.

This then removed trying to multi-base regimental units in the main as most units can be selected in troop sized units.