Midgard bases and tokens

Introduction

When I originally bought my 15mm Cromarty Forge Early Imperial Romans and Ancient Germans, I intended to use them for Infamy, Infamy and therefore ordered the correct amount of figures for starter forces.  However, even then I didn't want to be held to a particular game system and I'd decided to base the figures as flexibly as possible.  In reality this meant basing them individually.  And then Midgard came along.  This post details how I have based them to take into account these two rulesets. 

Planning

I'd tried a number of base sizes and eventually settled on 12.5 mm square bases for all melee (for want of a better definition) troops.  This was large enough so I could still pick the figure up by the base if needed, but still meant they looked relatively tight as a unit.  I used 15mm round ones for all missile troops and characters (leaders, standard bearers etc).  

In Infamy, Infamy regular Roman units are based in groups of two ranks of four for eight figures a unit.  With the 12.5mm bases this gave a frontage of 5cm which handily meant that if I stuck them on a unit base of 6cm with a nice edge of 5mm each side, this would work with one of the standard frontages and measuring sticks for Midgard, where Heavy Infantry are based in units of between eight to twelve.  Depth doesn't matter too much but I ended up using a 40mm depth so I could add space for Stamina Loss tokens at the back of the unit.  For the Roman Auxiliary Archers (which I had already based on rounds prior to Midgard being released), this still worked as I could fit eight on a base as a Formed Archer unit, albeit there wasn't the nice edge to the base. That was the Romans sorted quite painlessly.

All the skirmishers were easy to sort out.  For Midgard you only need four on a base, but as I had more figures available I used five.  This left less of the base showing.

The Ancient German melee warriors needed a bit more thought.  For Infamy, Infamy they are usually in mobs of ten figures.  I wanted to keep the look of these but for Midgard purposes it was essential that I kept to the 6cm frontage.   Very much influenced by the Infamy, Infamy specific bases from Warbases, I decided to go with three ranks and a greater depth of 5.5cm to the bases.  This gives more of a mob feel and allowed me to use nine or ten to a unit base.  I could also spread them out and vary how I placed the figures on each base so that they had that tribal, irregular look.

The final bases to sort out were for the Heroes.  I liked the idea in the TFL Midgard videos of using three figures for the Level 3 Hero base, two for the Level 2 Hero base and just the single figure for the Level 1.  I followed this idea.

That's enough of the thought process.  On to what I did.  

Doing

Here's the materials I used.

• 2mm thick MDF from Warbases for the figures' bases.  The vast majority were bought with 3mm magnet holes pre-drilled.  I already had some and drilled these myself but it was a tedious business and never again.  
• 0.4mm ferrous rubber sheets for the unit bases.  I'd got a pack of these a few years back to line the storage boxes and stop my Celtos and Warmachine/Hordes figures from moving about and still had some left.  It's really easy to cut and I think I only used just over one A4 size sheet for all the figures.  The worst thing about it was marking it out as it's black, but eventually I found that a biro worked better than a pencil.  Although very thin this material is quite tough and always reverts to flat.  It gives a lovely low profile to the bases.  
• Homemade mud paste for the base texture.  I had used Vallejo Thick Mud paste on the figures bases, but I'm running out.  It took little effort to very quickly throw together my own using old tiling grout, sieved horticultural sand, builders PVA and my old stand-by Dulux flat matt emulsion colour matched to Vallejo Leather Brown.  I made it in a little jam jar and it's kept goods for weeks so far and cost next to nothing. 
• 2mm Javis Summer Grass Tufts and a mix of self-adhesive tufts (the majority of which were from Tajima1) for the foliage. 

And here's the steps.

1. Measure out the base size on the ferrous rubber sheet. 

2. Cut the base out.  I used a sturdy craft knife with a brand new blade, but decent scissors would work as well.

3. Paint the unit base.  For the Romans I only did round the edges, but for the Germans I painted the entire base as they'd be gaps between the figures.  I used the same emulsion that I added to the mud paste. 

4. For the melee troops measure and mark the 5mm border round the front and sides of the base.  For the missile troops and the Ancient Germans I placed all the figures on their respective bases.  That way I could see where to add the texture between the figures.

5. Add the mud paste to the edges of the base and the areas between the figures where required.  Make sure that you don't go over where the figures will go.  The magnets work if it's just paint but not if there’s any paste.  I repeated this stage until I was happy with the texture on each base.  You don't have to worry about the rear too much as this needs to remain relatively clear for the Stamina Loss markers.  My own mud paste dried quicker than the Vallejo which was a bonus.

6. When this was dry I drybrushed the whole base with Army Painter Banshee Brown.  

7. I blobbed PVA on randomly over the textured areas and added the 2mm static grass, giving it a blow afterwards to get it to stand up. 

8. Finally I added mixed tufts along the edges and also across more of the entire bases for the Germans.  

The Heroes were based somewhat differently.  The Level 3 heroes were based on 32mm zinc washers.  All I did was place a trio of figures and then repeat steps 5 to 8. I didn’t have any suitable sized washers for the Level 2 so cut out a disc from the ferrous sheet.  The Level 1 heroes were stuck onto pennies (ones that were magnetically receptive as not all are). I will look for some suitable washers for the Level 2 but it’ll do as an interim. 

Stamina Loss Tokens

For my first game of Midgard (AAR here) I used micro dice to denote Stamina Loss.  They worked well enough but are a tad fiddly.  For this collection I decided to make something easier to use.  Inspired by Mr Morris's idea of using white shields as Stamina Loss markers, I ordered up some packs of 2mm thick 10mm round bases with 3mm magnet holes pre-drilled from Warbases. 

This was a simple job and here's the steps:

1. I primed/undercoated the top surface of all the bases in Citadel Wraithbone.  This is a good primer for any surface

2. Then I gave the bases a couple of coats of Revell acrylic matt white.  I find this to be a really bright white which was the look I wanted.  

3. I then painted the edges in Vallejo Game Colour Boltgun Metal.  

4. Finally I added the magnets and pushed them so they were a fraction proud of the top surface.  Even though the magnet won't be touching the ferrous sheet of the unit bases, there's still enough magnetic attraction for them to stay in place. 

And here's how they work on the unit bases.: