Avec mes sabots.....

Which piece of appalling French merely goes to introduce this short piece on basing now normally and for the last few years I base my figures on Dalerboard- its a thick art board used by chaps who paint in 2D and its splendid stuff. I also use it on the rare occaisons I make model buildings. Most of the previos pics on this blog show figures based on Daler board- although some of the smaller chaps are on somwhat thinner watercolur board. However. I've been looking at circular bases for some of the 40mm models. I tried 2p pieces but it didn't seem right somehow- Her Maj and all that - I suppose the nearest American similie would be using the Stars ans Stripes as a duster- not quite the ticket doncha know. . So I looked about and found plastic 25mm round bases. I tried these but somehow - having a hollow underside they made the figure a tad top heavy so again I looked about and found lazer cut MDF bases in all sorts of sizes and circular too. Not only that but detachable multi figure "Sabots" to place them in.

Sio the first pic shows rebased Drabant WSS figs in one of these Sabots which are approx 100mm by 50 mm and take 8 of the 25mm round bases as in the pic of the single figure

I terrained the bases so that they blend as much as possible which in the case of the Sabots is a bit of a faff to be honest as you must keep your holes clear or the bases won't fit properly, Still so far its been worth it.

So enthised am I with this that I'm thinking of using the same system for others of my 40mm models- at least in areas where the numbers won't leave me re-basing for a month or two so currently my 40mm Naps and ACW will stay as they are and IMHO this system does not suit my Dark Ages somehow so initially at least it will be 17th and 18th century 40mm that may get re-based.

First of the New Year.

Well here we are at the start of another year and it has to be said it's started busy. We'- that is my wife Carole and I have already shifted out a good bundle of parcels and its only the 6th. I don't tend to do Christmas painting projects or such as you can bet something will get in the way.- the nearest to a project was "How far can I drink down that bottle of Woodford before I fall over" However I did paint a few things and started to get my head around going further on salready commenced projects. Here are some pics of the results of 1 idea I had.

More mixed marriages these and I'm pretty chuffed at how they turned out. Both figures are Sash and Saber on Drabant horses- the Drabant figs will go on S and S horses to see how that looks- they end up in units with these chaps- The Scots Officer in the Blue bonnet will lead a bunch of 1650s Moss Troopers and the Roundhead Corporal of Horse will be part of John Lamerts New Model regiment. I already have bits and pieces of New Model and Scots in 40mm so it seemed approopriate to expand 'em and anyhow I liked building these slightly individual and close to unique figures. Several more are on the go so I'm not as far away from actual units as I was. I just need to not get distracted by other stuff- Fiw Marlburians or whatever sometimes its the creation of the figures that is more interesting than the "mere gaming"