Sunday, 2 February 2025

It’s all about that base, ‘bout that base…..


The components - two 1” 3mm think MDF squares and a 2” length of bamboo skewer


The side view - bear in the mind that the counter is not fixed in place as yet as this is just a proof of concept exercise


Another view

Following on from the Dawn Patrol acquisition and the perplexing problem of the very thin aircraft counters, I spent some time messing about with my MDF ‘mountain’ (I like to be different - most gamers have lead or plastic mountains….) and came up with the following. It was very simple to do - I simply took two 1” square bases and drilled a hole in both, into which a 2” piece of bamboo skewer was placed. 

The counters will be glued to the top of the base but these will not be permanently fixed to the flight stand as I will only need a couple of dozen or so of them. All the counters will be mounted though.

I will paint the edge of the counter and its base, along with the skewer in a sky blue whilst the ground base can be painted green and textured.


Somewhere over the Western Front….

Now I know this is not a model but using such a base certainly adds to the visual appeal - one could really go to town with varying heights etc but for me this is just fine. I could also do something similar for Mustangs although these is a minor problem in that the counters are double sided. In that case perhaps fixing a ‘lip’ around the top base into which the counter is placed may be a viable option. 

In either case an order to Warbases will be needed!

18 comments:

Donnie McGibbon said...

That look really good and works very well indeed.

Jim said...

That works...looks pretty good 😊

David Crook said...

Hi Donnie,

It is a simple solution but once painted will look very effective.

All the best,

DC

David Crook said...

Hi Jim,

Simple but effective - and saves a lot of time!

All the best,

DC

Martin Rapier said...

That is very smart David, what I great idea. It is perhaps co enter intuitive to do flight stands for a hex and counter game, but it looks really good.

David Crook said...

Hi Martin,

I was pleased with how it turned out and as you mentioned, it is not something you would think of for a hex and counter game (or square and counter in this case). All due to the aircraft counters being very thin!

All the best,

DC

Robert (Bob) Cordery said...

David,

That’s a very elegant and simple solution!

All the best,

Bob

David Crook said...

Hi Bob,

It is quite a neat workaround and will certainly give my aerial games a visual lift!

All the best,

DC

Archduke Piccolo said...

Well thought out solution to the 3D problem of air war games.

Mark Cordone said...

Very nice! And considerably less expensive than Wings of War models.

Steve J. said...

Very simple and very effective David:). Quite easy to use this system for height differences should you be so inclined...

'Lee. said...

That really is rather clever David!
Lee.

David Crook said...

Hi Archduke,

It has made me think about all the other aerial board games I have! Thinking about it I would say that it is 2 1/2D rather than 3D - all that is happening at this stage is that the counters are elevated off the map!

All the best,

DC

David Crook said...

Hi Mark,

I costed the bases and bamboo skewers involved for Dawn Patrol and it is still considerably less than a single Wings of War/Glory model!

All the best,

DC

David Crook said...

Hi Steve J,

I could assemble bases with varying heights but it would mean changing them a lot during a game which would be tedious. For certain systems though, it could be viable - for example, Angels 20 which uses 6 height levels - simply have pole heights ranging from 1” to 2” and away you go.

Something to think about anyway.

All the best,

DC

David Crook said...

Hi ‘Lee,

Cheers old chap! I have a few other games that this would work for in a slightly modified way. Simple but effective!

All the best,

DC

The Jolly Broom Man said...

And the award for the best warbases customer goes too… lol. :-)

David Crook said...

Hello there JBM,

I reckon I will get an invite to their Christmas bash and am certainly in the works pension scheme…. ;-)

I am rather pleased with the idea though!

All the best,

DC