Magnetic Bases made easy!

[Lord Reginer]

Hello all, kinda of my First How to post.. hope some one finds it helpful and that its in the right section! forgive the thumb nails, i didn't have time to re-size the pictures

Hi First of all if your not familiar with using Magnets to base your army your missing out. Now some people might be wondering why bother with this if your models aren't going to fall over on there trays. The answer is pretty simple, when i go to play a game my army is already set up. They are inside a case in full ranks on there movement trays ready to be pulled out and put on the table.

First step A quire a case now you can just pick up an nice old fashioned Metal tool box and avoid a step if you like, but for me i have several of these cases laying around. Make sure your case has enough clearance to fit Models with tall banners or spears



Second step, Your magnetized stuff will need metal to stick to, since my case has foam lining i needed to add something to achieve just that. So i picked up a Sheet of metal at Menards. (Make sure it's steel or something that magnets stick to.. Aluminum won't work. It didn't quite fit the case side. Being to lazy to go and use the wielding torch at work, i just bent the sheet into shape and beat the edge with a hammer.. giving me this


Now comes the time consuming part. Its worth noting the time it takes to apply sheet magnet to your bases will save you enough time in set up to be worth it. Since we play an army that has HORDES of models its totally worth it. There are two ways to do this, you can by the sheet magnets in well sheets or you can go my route, the price really isn't that bad. Plus for me this company is literally in the next town over..

http://www.litkoaero.com/ your looking for Flex magnets and flex steel.
You can get them custom cut and for that matter some nice custom cut wood trays! My 20mm base sheets haven't arrive yet for the undead.. but my High elf army is done so i'll go ahead and use them. The nice thing about the Base flex sheets is they are adhesive on one side, so you just pop them into place. All and all they run like 10 bucks for 100, so really not a bad deal. For me worth every penny.

The flex sheets on tray, the magnets on the mini bases and we have this

Strong enough to hold the unit upside down

Next we have to Magnetize the tray. To do this i used a Single rare earth magnet (I would recommend 2 as with just one the base with spin.. and two would be idea to keep it from breaking loose in transport. just used one here to show the strength)

and the final product



You can pick up rare earth magnets from http://www.rare-earth-magnets.com/ 8 bucks can get you like 150 depending on the size.

You could even do the bases with the rare earth mags and flex steel sheets. might be cheaper that way..

So how much time does it save? Ask your self this, How long does it take you to set up a big block of troops? How often has a unit toppled while trying to make it up a hill? Imagine showing up to a game, and opening your minutres case to display a Fully ranked and ready to go army. You typically know what your going to field before you show up any way!

Hope this helps some one out there!

quick links
Flex steel and magnitzed bases http://www.litkoaero.com/
rare earth magnets http://www.rare-earth-magnets.com/p-5-nsn0592.aspx

Any questions are comments ask away, would appreciate any input.

 

[Onikaigo]

Wonderful. That link for the Magnets looks good, though I haven't ordered anything yet. I've been looking for a good supplier of those for a while, since I've already got X Magnets for my bases, I just need to magnetic sheeting for my models.

Thanks for that! Great write up as well.

 

[Lord Reginer]

Thank you Onikaigo, I recommend both company's I've dealt with Mag craft once and had no problems. In terms of price, you'll find some pretty Outrageous price for REM (rare earth Magnets) Like 10 for 1, so getting a 150 at that price seems fair to me.

Litko I've ordered from two or three times. First time i had quite a await do to machine failure how ever i was informed there would be a delay and offered a refund. The second time, and third time i got all my products with out a hitch. Just remember They custom cut all there stuff so don't expect it the next day or anything. Worth the wait though. I am a nut when it comes to the neatness of my bases, and its hard to beat Laser cut things. Its worth noting that by ordering through them you cutting out the middle man, alot of companies order through them for tokens and such.

I would recommended, testing the strength of the field if you intend to transport them in ranks. So the Magnet on your base doesn't Repel against the one on your tray. Other then that your set! once you've done this you'll really start to wonder how you played the game with out it. (And even start to get annoyed when people you play don't have there stuff done especially at larger point levels!)

 

[Max]

what do you do with heavier models like blood knights etc? i have a bit problems with that.. btw, i orderd from amazingmagnets.com and they too were verry reasonable and good.

 

[Onikaigo]

Use more Magnets! I had my varghulf hanging from my ceiling the other day.

 

[Lord Reginer]

Rare earth Mag's should be more then enough to hold the blood knights, just get a slightly wider magnet or as Onikaigo says use more magnets. Heck i even have Magnets for my Ogre kingdom guys. I haven't tried to Mag the Tyrant yet, i tend to carry my characters and army "Show" pieces in foam still. Honestly, settling up a unit of blood knights really isn't that time consuming. Though i suppose it would cut down my carry rate to 1 model. I have some Gamezone knights of morning coming in this week (Fedex is slower then the Post office) they are full metal i'll try it on them. I rarely even use trays for my cav, like i said five guys pretty easy to move.

 

[Onikaigo]

I just had a wonderful idea suggest to me by a friend.

Using these magnets, what would it be like for me, being Military, to have a Warhammer game on my ceiling?

And say....get inspected. Having all those dudes hanging from the ceiling and my SSgts are like, 'Wut? Is that a demerit, or just weird?'

Could be fun. This thread makes me realize that it is entirely possible to do so without damaging my room. I might give CN some pretty LoL pictures sometime.

 

[Bishop]

Surely many of us have played a game or two of floorhammer in our days.... but ceiling-hammer... that takes talent/commitment :slapface:

 

[ChaosJedi666]

Ooh! Would love to see some pics of a game played on the ceiling. Good thing is you don't have to worry about your Vamps or Zombies getting blood rush. Would be interesting anyway, to put it mildly

 

[Lord Reginer]

By far the STRANGEST place i've personal have played, is a Strip club stage. We called it the "Battle for the Pole" my buddy's a manager and they open fairly early just to get things ready. Was really funny, i'd share the pictures but one of the dancers plays as well and was kind enough to stand in heels between our armies for the picture.

 

[Onikaigo]

You could, umm....Email me that picture. I'd definitely be interested in seeing it. :tongue:

 

[Mannerheim27]

Brilliant work my friend! I'm sorry that I did not see this sooner due to me being sick. I know just the place for this great idea.

Great stuff and thanks for sharing!!!


Jake

 

[Lord Reginer]

@onikaigo I'll have to hunt for it. Had two hard drive failures since then, i'll see if my buddy has it. There were several games played there. Warmachine we still play once in a while there.

@Redarmy Thanks man, glad people are finding it helpful.