Kings of War Army Storage

A few people have asked me how I base and store my Kings of War armies.

The concept of basing my armies up on large display bases ready for use in Kings of War is often touted to me as the best way to go and I get a fair few comments as to why don't I do it.

I've been a wargamer for many, many years, more than I care to count, and in that time I have tried more systems than I can remember. Every system seems to want to have a different basing scheme and so you can end up re-basing your models for each system. Many systems also say that "you don't have to re-base your miniatures to play". This is a lie. Sure you can play, but you won't be playing as the author intended. Usually you end up re-basing anyway.

Although I know right now I won't be using my KoW armies for many other games I also know that 5 years down the line I have no idea what I will want to use them for. Having them singly based to a fairly generic system means a lot less pain if I do decide to change system. I get more use out of my models.

There are other reasons to my mind for not multi-basing... One good one is flexibility. If I decide to change the size or formation of a unit then it's an easy job of switching models over. If I decide a unit needs a standard for this game then it's just a case of switching a model over.

However I guess one of the really good reasons is I like the look of ranked up models in a unit. It's one of those things that first drew me to Warhammer Fantasy Battle 3rd edition in the late 1980s. I can't escape liking the look of ranked up soldiers... This is also the reason you won't find any of the very popular unit-fillers in my armies. They disrupt the flow of the troops.

Anyway, enough of all that and on to how I do my basing. I've tried a few approaches so far including double-sided sticky-taping miniatures to plasticard, but I've settled on a method I prefer.


This is to use Warbases close order movement trays. These are laser cut in MDF and come ready glued together. I get the additional 3mm deep top layer. What I then do is stick on some self-adhesive A4 metal sheet into the gap where the troops will go. This is is available from many purveyors (search for flex-o-metal sheet). I then texture the edge as per my miniatures and undercoat and paint.

Warbases movement tray with metal sheet and texturing.

To the underside I do one of two things. I either glue on some 6mmx1mm rare earth magnets (obtained from ebay) or use some self adhesive magnetic strip. I started with the former, but now prefer the latter as it is a lot quicker to do. Get the strongest magentic strip you can find.

Magnets glued on with two part expoxy.

Magnetic self adhesive strip.

I use the same self adhesive strip on the bases of my miniatures.
Self adhesive magnetic strip on bases
The result is I have magnetised movement trays that the troops will sit in and not move around. With plastic models they magnets are actually strong enough to hold them on when upside down. But these ones are metals.


Unit all based up.

For storage and transport there really isn't anything better than "Really Useful Boxes". These are primarily available from Ryman, Staples, B&Q and Hobbycraft in the UK, but you can buy them elsewhere. I'm always looking out for the special deals which seem to come along fairly regularly as they are not that cheap in the scale of things. But you get what you pay for, They stack well, have straight sides, a flat bottom and come in a wide variety of sizes. In addition being transparent I don't have to open the boxes to see which troops in are in which! I use 4 litre ones for my main troops and 9 litre ones are good for taller models. Check out the various websites for the available dimensions.

4 Litre Really Useful Boxes
In these I stick the same A4 metal sheet I use on the movement trays. I find an A4 sheet nearly fills a 4 Litre box.
Metal sheet inside the boxes.
As you can see since everything is magnetised both individual models and whole units can be stored in the boxes.





1 comment:

  1. That's some useful advice. Especially seeing actual minis in actual boxes to get a sense of the size of the box.

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