"Do you base your Micro-Armor vehicles?" Topic

A while back a took the first plunge into collecting and running games in 6mm. I got a wonderful set of painted late Cold War era NATO and WarPac tanks and other vehicles and have run one game with them using Force on Force. However the AfVs are not based and trying to denote which tanks are command and type is kind of difficult. I was considering basing all the vehicles individually and having large enough base to denote Nationality, vehicle type and unit number to make it easier for player to know what from what. Do any of you that collect Micro Armor do this?

Never base vehicles.

In my opinion, they just look silly that way.

I always base 6 mm vehicles.

JohnG

I have micro-armor Arab and Israeli tanks and I did not base them.
I didn't mark them to denote a Platoon Leader, like I've done before with Infantry, but I plan on it.
I usually use a yellow dot on my soldiers base to show that he is a leader, maybe I could put a yellow dot, small one, on the engine base deck or turret top.
Joe

It also seems to me basing would make it easier to transport and keep the barrels and paint job from getting dinged up.

I base them in 6mm, because I want to protect the gun barrels, which are so easy to bend/break.

V/R,
Jack

I don't like basing them. My experience with the gun barrels is that they get bent up based or not because of the way people handle them.

I base all of my micro-armor. Protect the model and I think they look better. However, that a "personal life style" choice, to each their own, as they say. ;-)

OK how large a base? I bought a pack of FOW small infantry bases today thinking that would be suitable. An M1A1 Abrams takes up most of the base but fits. A T-72 fits fine but the gun barrel of it and the T-64s extend past the base. I have some 40 x 40 mm mdf bases that are about 3 mm thick so provide something for fingers to hold but seem too large for single tank. So what size base to afix to your Micro Armor.

If you want to protect the model and gun barrels you will base it. Most of mine are on 1 inch square bases but for larger models I will increase the size.

I base mine, especially for the earlier tanks with very thin barrels.

I'm now transitioning from thin steel bases (which I've used for years) to 3mm thick wooden bases with flexsteel beneath. Much easier to handle while gaming.

One problem with basing is that a base long enough to protect the gun barrel is going to make it hard to keep your tanks close together when in column.

Hmm…I am leaning toward using to mdf bases I have, and I have a ton of them. Yes it means the models will be more like a counter than a figure but in this size/scale that might be fine. There is much to ponder on the subject.

My bases are 30mm x 30mm thin bases from Litko.

JohnG

I base afvs, Infantry and arty on 30mmx30mm thin bases from Litko. I attach magnet sheets to the bottom, which I also get from Litko. I store my micro armor in 9x13 steel cake pans that have clear plastic lids. Each pan is organized by opponent ant year, so all the 1941-1942 Russian micro is in one pan, etc. I have also seen micro based this way stored in peppermint bark tins from Williams Sonoma.

If you are not going to base your atvs you will still need a way to store, transport and organize them. I suggest you contact the following…

Village Games
2665 4th Ave Ste 105
Anoka, MN 55303
Phone number (763) 506-0303

The micro armor group that games there (or did the last I heard) has a unique way of storing unbiased micro armor.

I use 10mm and I base regardless of any aesthetic consideration for these reasons;

My tanks are metal and chunky and I play on plastic Kallistra hexes, without a base, I feel the tanks hit the hexes when moved and it sounds like drum being struck. and I think the metal is too severe to the flocked surface.

To transport a tray of tanks, the bases stop the vehicles sliding around and making contact with each other.

I have the base very small, so that it only protrudes a few millimetres around the tank.

I make my turrets sit very loose, so if the tank falls, there is every chance the lighter turret will fall away.

non-turreted are given a slightly longer base to protect those guns that canot fall away.

At this scale, a base on everything keeps the height of a vehicle and infantry / support weapons in constant scale and infantry do not to look too tall next to the tanks.

And if you want to be cool – Piers Brand does it and he seems to have the best wargame toys of anyone who posts.

I always base 6mm vehicles too. They are easier to transport that way.

Depends on the rules. I use magnets so that when I'm playing with someone I trust to take care, we can go without.

Niet.

I don't base.
To designate command vehicle I use the turret facing. All of my turrets are glued on.
turret straight ahead = normal tank
turret 45 degrees left = platoon commander
turret 45 degrees right = company command or higher (you can usually identify which command level by accompanying vehicles)
If not turreted or cast fixed turrets, use 'hairbrush bristle' aerials-
no aerial = troop vehicle
one aerial = platoon command
two aerials = company command or higher.

hope this helps

If you base your infantry you you should base your vehicles. Otherwise they are out of scale.

I don't like to do it but I'm trying to get my system in place to use rules like GHQ where things are on 1x1 bases. Magnets for now but some may just be glued down to get playing.

I base mineon steel a little larger than the vehicle. Then I store/transport inmagnet lined boxes. Gives mea place to ID units onthe rearofthe base.

All my 6mm vehicles are based. Generally I go with Spearhead standard sized 30x30 bases but for some things they are on bigger bases (30x40) and others (half size recce stands or whatever) are on 20x25.

I didn't use to base, but now I do. They protect the gun barrels, and since I use 3mm MDF, they are thick enough to grab onto, rather than handle the models.

I used to think that bases would look awful, but – and as someone mentioned this is a matter of personal taste – I don't think they look bad at all! In fact, the based infantry also looks a lot better besides them.

I use whatever is slightly larger than the vehicle. So for example, my Leopard II with their big gun are on 40mm x 20mm. My Marders (and pretty much everything else) are on 30mm x 20mm. All facing on the 20mm side. My infantry are on the FOW small sized bases that Litko sell. They have rounded corners, which I like for infantry. Four to a stand. Teams like ATGM or GPMG are mounted on round penny sized bases.

I base 6 mm stuff because I play Spearhead, where a vehicle represents a platoon (or company? It's a while since I played). Bases are the standard 30mm square. It also seems better to base them to protect the vehicles, as others have said, barrels are easily damaged on 6mm tanks and it's a pain to drill out and replace them. For the same reason I base all of my 1/144 stuff as well, here I use 50 mm X 30 mm for tanks and 50 mm x 25 m for other vehicles. I use these sizes because I started the collection for Blitzkrieg commander and they were recommended sizes and I have stuck with them for Battlegroup. For 20 mm I prefer to have vehicles unbased, as they are robust enough to handle.

I don't base my 6mm vehicles – I use Flames of War small bases for my 3mm & put 3 vehicles on a base to represent a platoon

I always base, to protect the minis, and I use additional figures etc for command bases.

link

@ Khusrau
I think your army makes the case for basing very well. Beautiful collection.

Yes

I don't base most 6mm vehicles, but things like motorcycles (obviously) and small vehicles with trailers, like jeeps, and anything that would usually be deployed as a command post etc., do get based.

For micro grav armor, no base means it's at nap-of-earth altitude, a clear acrylic base without its post means terrain following mode (treetop and building height), and the base with its post means high altitude. That's what we do with Striker and Striker II anyway.