Wednesday, November 4, 2009

XXXIV: Base fit for a Champion



Here's the start of my other champion. I stole the idea for this conversion from Santa Cruz Warhammer. I couldn't help myself, I just instantly loved the whole "Alas, poor Yorick" vibe. I'm going with rags rather than fur on the shoulders, and I'm filing off some of the more "Blood God" type details on the armor. A different head & arm should help to make mine different enough from SCW's to stand apart, but hopefully still be nurgly in his own right. I'll post more WIP shots as this guy progresses.

But here's the real point of this post: I really enjoyed making those objective markers, and I want to make something special (scenic?) for the bases of the champions in my army BUT I also want to eventually be able to use these guys in a game. What do you guys do for the bases of your champions? Is line-of-sight something I should be worrying about?

Any and all suggestions welcome (and thank you for reading).

3 comments:

  1. Line of sight should be something to think about, at least.

    I think a cool base is worth the extra exposure it brings, but it can't hurt to consider the ramifications.

    For my armies... I haven't really done anything interesting in terms of basing for my Dark Angels: the most elaborate thing I've done is put Belial on a floor section from a Cities of Death kit. For my Skaven, I like to put important guys on chunks of stuff from the Arcane Ruins and Chapel sets... but that's starting to get a little old. Probably time to start basing with cork.

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  2. Making the base more interesting is something you should certainly do. The trick is to do it in such a way that it doesn't look like you're trying to gain some sort of in-game advantage. Basically, I try to have the end effect be the same for gaming but with a prettier base.

    My rules:
    1. Don't increase the vertical height of the model's head by more than 1-3mm. So a large rock can be offset by a partial crouch.
    2. Having the base extend off the normal circle is fine as long as it doesn't interfere with gameplay. It shouldn't be anything too overly elaborate and the original base should be visible.
    3. Nothing higher than mid-shin unless the model is interacting with it. The model should be the focus and not the base. (So a column just sticking out of the ground is bad. But one they're stepping up on, leaning around or otherwise "doing something" with is fine.)
    4. Even if the base or conversion isn't that extreme, always be willing to swap the model out for a normal model of the same size. I've never had anyone ask me to do this, but the willingness is there if they do.

    Cheers and keep up the nice work! (Even if it is Nurgle...)

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  3. Rushputin:
    I've been looking at some of the resin bases out there, and there ARE some nice ones, but each one I see I can't help but think "I could just MAKE this at home, and it would be more fun". Cork might be the way to go.

    Dverning:
    Wow, what a well thought-out & helpful response! Thank you for sharing your rules, sir, they all make perfect sense. I'll consider what you've said when I take the next step.

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