Basing – Multiple Roles for a Single Model

by | Nov 12, 2013

Lately I've been creating a lot of bases. I like basing in general, and the basing scheme for my fimir includes a lot of opportunity to go nuts with sexy basing. I especially enjoy adding the tinted water effects to a base to see how the objects half-submerged are affected by the water.

While making up a new base for my meargh when I want her to sport a 50x50 base, I decided to use a 25x25 piece of adhesive steel to fix her in place. She's on a 40x40 in case she needs to pull duty as a monstrous character of if I want to use her as part of a 3rd ed force, but I'm using a 25x25 piece of steel in case I want an infantry sized fimir character to use the same plinth as a disk or daemonic mount.

Johnny Hastings' Bull Ogre chariot
This got me thinking about how common it is to give models multiple roles using base add-ons and such. I've seen beastman chariots (see above) where the tuskgors slot out and can be replaced with razorgors, and terrorgheists where a space is left on the base to add a ghoul king, but generally it seems uncommon to jiggle basing about like this, though would seem to make sense in terms of options available, and for a 'counts as' army like mine means I get more out of the models I have finished.


Take my gorebeast chariot/hell cannon for example. I use the gooey gent above as both. Right now I'm working on the large hellcannon size base, with magnetised slots for the smaller 100x50 base he's on to fit into. There are also 20x20 slots for the three maggot 'crew' to sit into. 'What if you want a gorebeast chariot AND a hellcannon matey?' I hear you wail. Well, I'll cross that bridge when I come to it.

I'll probably do the same with the marlbeast mount (daemonic mount) I'm planning. He's on a 50x50, but if I want him to work as a marlwyrm (juggernaut) mount, I'll add a 50x25 spacer to the back of the move tray he's in, or cut a steel sheet to 50x75 that he and the spacer can sit on if he's off on his own.

I'd love to see more examples of this kind of tomfoolery, so if anyone has seen more, lay it on me.