+ inload: Rebasing the Ultramarines +

+ inload: Mustering the 190th +

+ Rebasing an army is a relatively quick way of completely changing how they appear; particularly if you alter the size or type of base. The base of a model is a bit like the frame of a painting. It's not an integral part of the figure, but helps to present it well and show it off to best effect. Good bases help to give the figure a sense of being an artwork rather than a model.

+ It also offers the opportunity to ground the figure; both literally in helping it to stand, and figuratively, in the sense that you can choose an environment in which to stand your figure. This immediately gives a little bit of a story – whether parched earth, lush jungle or rubbish-strewn street. +

+ My marines didn't fit well on 25mm round bases because of the stances of GW's terminator legs, so when I came to base the Praetors of Calth I chose 40mm round bases with rolled shoulders and an urban paint scheme in order to accommodate them. A lot of these were resin bases from companies like Fenris game and Dragonforge. The size gives the models presence and plenty of room to suggest the world around them. +

It also offers the opportunity for mini-dioramas, like this one of Young Holion and Cassie the refugee.

+ These bases look good for display purposes, but my models sit in their cases rather than out on a shelf; and these large bases are rather impractical for gaming – they're too big and cause gaming headaches. In addition, over the years I've come to the view that they make the models look slightly over-large. The idea behind the 'true-scale' approach for me was to slightly alter the proportions (making the legs and torso proportionally bigger and hands and heads smaller), rather than simply have 'big marines'. 

+ For these reasons, I switched to 30mm rounds for my marines; testing the idea with my Novamarines. These bases are large enough to accommodate the Terminator leg poses comfortably, without drawing the eye away from the figure itself.

Novamarine on scrubby desert.

+ Liking the result, I extended the idea to the new 190th Company who have benefitted from various lessons learned from earlier models.  I think they fit a lot more comfortably, and will be easier to store, more standard to play with (30mm's a lot closer to the 25mm 'official' base size than 40mm), and look better. +

I chose a snow scheme to contrast better with the deep blue than the Praetors of Calth's urban rubble.

+ I was a bit nervous about rebasing the Praetors of Calth – they're probably my favourite army, so changing them always feels a bit risky; as though I'll break their juju(!) by altering them. Nevertheless, I've got stuck in; and it seems to be working well. The only slight fly in the ointment is that I ordered fifty bases from eBay, and a package arrived with only thirty. Hopefully the seller will sort it out promptly; as the whole army is being gathered to take the fight to the orks this weekend! +