Block Changes or Why Didn’t I Think of This Before?

The three examples (best viewed ‘blown up’). The one on the right shows the constituent parts. The small triangle fits along the top edge (there is a triangle marked there) whilst the dice frame forms the edge of the pre cut square. I miscalculated this as I did not allow for the thickness of the frame itself as this should line up with the central recess. The thicker lower edge will have a strip of magnetic paper so that unit ids can be used.

In what seems like an age ago I mentioned about the plans I had to ‘pimp’ the block armies. Aside from the  ‘weapon’ counters (designed for the pre gunpowder and mechanised eras) I also looked at producing some movement trays that could be useful for games where a grid is not used. After some rather hasty designs were drafted and sent to those very nice people at Warbases, a small Jiffy bag arrived with some samples of what I was looking for.

Aside from a small error in the alignment of the dice square - easily rectified - these are just what I wanted. By using a combination of a dice frame and a reduced number of blocks (2 each for infantry and cavalry and a single for artillery) within the footprint of a movement tray I will not only have effectively doubled the size of the block army collection but I will also be able fight battles on a non-gridded basis. The small triangle along the leading edge of the base will be used to indicate the unit facing.

I plan to have two sets of these bases - one in green and one in a sand colour - and I am also planning one other design of base to complete the set up but for now I feeling pretty pleased with this latest iteration of the block armies. I am only peeved that I did nt think of this idea a lot sooner!