Movement Frames and Trays

Introduction

In case you hadn't noticed, "small unit" skirmish wargames are very popular these days.  For myself, I play (or at least, collect models for) both Saga and Congo, though there are plenty of other games which use similar numbers of models.

The common factor in all these cases is that they use a squad (for want of a better term) as the basic group for movement, combat and so on.  In Saga this will be sized from 3 to 12 models and models within a squad must remain within a certain, proscribed distance of each other.  For Congo units are from 3 to 6 models (but may have one or two characters, auxiliaries or other supernumeraries attached permanently to them) and each figure must touch at least one other model from the same squad.  These groupings are fairly typical of many modern wargames.

Where am I going with this?  Well, it's a bit of a pain to have to move every model individually, so some people buy or build "movement trays" to allow the entire group to me moved at once.  The remainder of this article will examine a couple of types of movement frame.

MDF Movement Tray

There are a number of different companies who supply movement trays made from MDF; these are from the excellent Warbases.  Such trays are always made from 2 sheets of MDF stuck together; the top one has holes to suit the desired figure bases and the lower one is solid.

MDF bases are relatively cheap, extremely flexible (the number, size, shape and layout of slots can be customised extensively), but here are two things to consider:

• Because of the nature of the material, slots in an MDF tray are usually spaced out by 5-10mm
• In turn, this requires that the MDF needs some work to paint the bases.  I could have just used a single colour on the examples above, but I felt they looked better with some texture, dry-brushing and static grass.  None of this is difficult, but it's extra work.

3D-Printed Movement Frames

There is an alternative to MDF.  A recent browsing session brought Winterdyne Commision Modelling to my attention.  They make a number of 3D-printed "no effort" movement frames.  I thought that I'd dip my toe in this water as well, so I ordered a few of these recently.

First thoughts: Winterdyne don't produce anything like the variety that is available in MDF trays.  That's OK; it looks to me as if this is a starting venture and I imagine the range of products could increase if there was enough demand.

For now, you can buy trays with:

• 5 or 10 slots exactly
• 25mm, 32mm or 40mm circular holes
• "Ranked up" or "offset ranks" positioning [i.e. no semi-random variants]

For Congo in particular, I really wanted frames with 4, 5 or 6 slots.  It turns out that the 10-slot frames can be cut apart with a sharp knife and a bit of care, as shown above.  This would allow creation of frames with any number of slots from 2 to 10, though at some effort.

I don't think it would be at all easy to glue bits together (for example, to produce a 12-slot frame); this would probably be better handled by petitioning the manufacturer for different products instead.

How do they look?  Very well, I think.  These frames hold the 28mm figures almost as close together as they would be if no frame were used; there aren't any large, open gaps between them.

I could have painted the frames to match the figure bases and this would have been very easy: a single base colour would have been enough.

However, another thought has occurred to me: perhaps the frames should be coloured according to the faction to which their troops belong.  In genres where many warriors from opposing forces look similar (for example, Dark Ages Europe or tribal Africa or any civil war), painting the frames red and blue would enable friend and foe to be distinguished quite easily.  Of course, this could be applied to the MDF bases as well.

Note: Winterdyne also produces a flexible movement frame where each slot is something like a link in a chain.  With one of these frames, a unit could vary its layout from (say) a line to a compact cluster at different times in a game.  I'm not totally convinced by this concept: on the one hand it's a very clever piece of engineering, but on the other it seems to be an over-complex solution to a fairly simple problem.  Others can make their own minds up...

Conclusion

I'm torn between both these forms of movement accessory.  At the moment, the MDF versions have overwhelming flexibility in shape, size and so on.  However, because of the way they are manufactured a squad based in one of these will always occupy significantly more area than the individual figures.  That's fine (even desirable) for skirmishers, but less suitable for those troops who wish to be nearer to each other.  Of course, "close ranked" MDF trays are also available; these tend to be hollow, rectangular frames which work well enough for drilled troops but which look a bit odd in a skirmish game (or so I think).

 I could see the 3D-printed movement frames catching on quite quickly.  If so, then the range of different types might expand quite rapidly and this would make them much more attractive.  Even without this, they are less effort to prepare for the table - indeed, no effort at all if you accept the black colour and the default 5- or 10-slot layouts.

Alternatively, I could just continue to move each model individually, for the ultimate in flexible formations (cheaper, too!).  Ah, what to do... ?

Warbases 28mm MDF Land Rovers

Introduction

If you're a regular reader then you may remember that I visited the Claymore 2016 show recently.  Amongst my purchases were a couple of Land Rover kits from Warbases, a local(-ish) Scottish company.

I've been on the lookout for some early Land Rover models for quite a while; these could be used as British farm vehicles or as light army transports (especially for the Brigadier and his UNIT troops from Doctor Who).  Alternatively, with a different paint job and a lot of stowage, they could be part of some long-range, cross-continent expedition.  A Land Rover painted with white and black zebra stripes could be the wheels for game wardens in the savannah (anyone remember "Daktari", I wonder?).  In fact, they are very versatile & rugged vehicles and could be used for almost anything from the 1950s onwards!

The Kits

I was delighted to find that Warbases makes Land Rover MK1 kits; I'm guessing that these are a new addition to their catalogue since I don't remember hearing about them until recently.  The vehicles come in SWB (short wheelbase) and LWB (long wheelbase) versions; both kits are priced at £7.00 .  They're the right vintage for my purposes and they don't cost too much - but how well do they work?

The LWB Land Rover kit has a somewhat surprising 53 parts, laser cut from a variety of materials including strong MDF for the body shell, thinner card for the skin and textured card for the floor.

Note that the door window frames (not attached) are not part of the Warbases kit

So, how was this model to build?  Firstly, the instructions: there aren't any in the kit.  Instead the company's website is given, along with the information that the instructions can be downloaded from there.  That's fine; it saves paper and packaging cost.

Now, you can call me stupid if you like, but I had some difficulty in finding the downloadable instructions on the Warbases site.  They are there, but it took me a while to find the link, though it seems obvious in hindsight.  Another disappointment was that once downloaded, the instruction document wasn't very easy to follow.  It consists of a large number of small, slightly blurry photographs following the stages of construction.  I had some difficulty in deciding which pieces were needed for each stage, particularly for the early steps.

OK, I'm an experienced model-maker.  Using the instruction sheet, I worked it out and despite the large number of pieces, the kit went together very rapidly.  Note that I did the build over several sessions, as I found it necessary to clamp some of the curved parts around the front of the vehicle (and leave them to dry) before proceeding with the next stage.

Good points:

• All the parts were very well cut and only required a little nick to separate them from their sheets.
• The use of a cardboard skin (especially on the sides and rear) covers over the otherwise obvious MDF slots and joints very nicely.  It also allows for some extra detailing, such as the door handles & hinges.  A nice touch.
• More generally, the mixture of types of material in the kit allows for the necessary curves and thinner parts (e.g. windshield), whilst still maintaining a good, rigid base structure.

Not so good:

• The instructions, whilst better than nothing, were poor.
• The cardboard sides were cut slightly short, I felt.  I needed to use a little filler  to neaten up the corners.
• The bonnet (the hood, if you're American) was a bit awkward, as the cardboard needed quite a tight curve around the edges.  Although the part was scored for this, it still took some effort to get it to fit neatly.  I'm not sure how this could have been done differently, mind.
• The joints (tabs & slots) between the MDF parts were slightly loose.  I'd have preferred these to have a little less play in them, though they worked well enough once glued.

Extending the model

I decided even before I started on the first of my pair of Land Rovers that I wanted to make them quite distinct from each other.  The most obvious way to do this was to give one of them a soft top, but there was a problem: the Warbases model has a windshield but doesn't come with any windows for the driver's or passenger's doors.

I've looked at a number of photos of Mk1 Land Rovers over the last week or so and they do come in a number of configurations.  The Warbases version with no door windows  is certainly a valid version, though it seems to me that it's less common than vehicles which do have them.

Click on the image above to download the PDF containing the correctly-scaled pattern

To fill this void, I constructed some door windows (cut from thick plastic card) for both of my Land Rovers and added a frame for a canopy to one of them.  These are fairly crude and probably not particularly accurate with respect to any Land Rover blueprints, but they work for me.  I used some cloth to cover the hooped frame; this was actually quite difficult as I wanted to be able to remove the canopy during painting so as to be able to paint the inside of the vehicle.

Painting

I didn't put a lot of effort into painting the 2 Land Rovers.  They were primed, then coated all over with olive.  Details were picked out in dark grey or silver (tan for the seats, lichen grey for the canvas canopy) and then each model was given a black wash.

Finally, a couple of tiny orange and red dots were added to the rear, as indicator & stop lights.  Job done!

Conclusion

I'm very happy with the way that these kits have turned out.  They were models that I had wanted for some time (though I'm now mildly irritated to discover that 1970s UNIT used an SWB Land Rover, not the LWB versions that I have here).  I'd be very happy to buy further Warbases kits, if there were any that suited my gaming genres.

Cost: 4/5.  Not too expensive, but I've seen other kits of similar size that are cheaper.  Then again, those have less complexity...

Construction: 3.5/5:  Poor instructions, slightly loose parts, some filling needed.  Despite these caveats, finishes into a well-detailed model with little hint of its internal MDF construction.

Usefulness: 5/5.  Land Rovers can be used for almost any setting, almost any time from 1948 onwards and for almost any purpose (military, domestic, wilderness, rural...).

Overall: 4/5.  A very nice piece once built, though you might wish to add some extra details.

Not enough time in the day - so, cows...

Once again, I've missed my self-imposed Sunday post.  This is partly because I'm just not organised enough, but also because I can't even find time to read other people's blog posts with the attention they deserve, let alone write my own!  Until I manage to sort things out a bit, here are some cows...

 These are 28mm Highland cattle from Warbases; I bought these at the recent Carronade show.  I think I painted and finished them in under 2 weeks from purchase; this is probably some kind of a record for me!  Usually models linger for months, years or (occasionally) decades before I complete them and apply that final coat of varnish.

Highland cattle are probably about the simplest animal models there are to paint.  These were undercoated, sprayed with a pale brown and then given a darker brown wash.  A little detailing around the muzzles and some effort on the horns and they're done - you don't even need to paint in any eyes (well, apart from the calves)!

This livestock will make very suitable objectives, obstacles or decorations for my games of SAGA; they are entirely appropriate for herds in much of Scotland.  I don't know if Highland cattle are ever seen anywhere else in the world, though.

It's possible that I might also use them for rural scenarios in All Things Zombie as well.  Although cows like this are generally peaceable creatures, I don't imagine that they'd take kindly to being assaulted by the walking dead.  If they were cornered by zeds and couldn't escape then they might just fight back!