"Help Needed Basing Ships for Cruel Seas " Topic

I know basing isn't done by everyone but this is my first foray into naval wargaming and looking for tips and pointers for basing ships for Cruel Seas.

I have seen a couple of methods with the use of ordinary household filler and another using a gloss gel medium but these tend to be geared towards more larger diorama type ships than gaming pieces .

Any help will be most gratefully received .

Thanks

I personally would not base them as it would make it more difficult to judge collisions. I have only based a few paper models due to the nature of the material involved but resin, plastic or lead are unbiased.

Curious why do you want to base? They are stable on the table without a base

Joe, agree with most of the models, but the Japanese sampans are unstable and I did base them.

M
For unstable pieces I would see how lloyd based them. I myself would probably use a little school glue to make the water effect and when it dries paint it

There are a few reasons why I want to base my models.

1) I tend to use the shallow type "Very Useful Boxes" to transport my models with and therefore anything from a humble Bren Carrier to a Magach 6 ( M60A3) are all based . Bases prevents the models from rubbing against each other when in transit to the club .
2) All of our members have based their models but for some reason the filler method they have adopted doesn't seem to float my boat
3) As I have mentioned before this is a stepping stone for me to Black Seas when that get released in the autumn. Therefore I have been practising rigging on the WW2 models in readiness . Napoleonic ships just don't look right without rigging IMO.
4) I think Basing for Black Seas models will be more important as they will be more delicate.
5) Apart from the S boats al of my models will be resin and the masts and fittings are more delicate.

That's why I am looking to base.

Well, one method I've seen for basing ships is clear acrylic. Get some 1mm acrylic and glue the models to it. Problem solved! (if the edges are a little rough, just take a lighter to it for a couple seconds to smooth the scratches away).

One downside is that it kinda elevates the ships a bit, so you want the thinnest base you can get.

I totally agree that Black Seas ships are going to need to be based to protect the masts and rigging.

Lion offers a valid point. When I am basing figures, I use expended gift cards that I save as they are just the right thickness for my tastes and they are free. Kinda the gift that keeps on giving.

Thanks guys . That gives me something to think about .

Here are some sites I collected that can offer basing ideas:

link

link

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link

YouTube link

link

Thanks Schogun . Those are very useful

Modern clamshell packaging is a free source for very thin yet stiff clear plastic material for basing. If I were going to base my ships I'd strongly consider that.

Thanks Lion in the Stars -I have already started basing my first Warlord Fairmile . I have used Renedra bases left over from other model soldier projects .I then painted them a mirky grey/green/blue colour . I have then used Liquitex Gloss medium and sculpted it with my smallest sculpting tool over the prepainted bases. I then highlighted some areas in an off white to represent white caps. So far I am pleased with the progress.

As you all may know I am doing this really as a prelude to gathering and practising some techniques in readiness for War Lords release of Black Seas ( Age of sail) in the Autumn. On saying this I am being sucked in by Cruel seas as it is a very interesting segment of Naval Gaming not often covered by other ( Heroics and Ross) excepted of course.

What I have noticed that to play Cruel Seas effectively , well to use torpedoes that most of the boats carry including the Starter Set models , one really needs to use merchant ships and I think more merchant ship models are needed to compliment the range. I have currently a Warlord Tanker Ship on my work bench .