There are times when I enjoy arts-and-crafts assembly-line work. Such was the case in making generic sabot bases for Midgard. Luckily, I had enough material laying around to get started. Somewhere in the past I acquired a small stack of 150x150x3mm plywood sheets that could be cut to size using a box-cutter. After running out of wood I started on a stack of 3mm book-board that I also had squirreled away from my card modeling adventures. All in all, I had material enough to fashion twenty-four 120x60mm bases plus another four 120x80mm bases for the chariot units. That's plenty of bases for two 300 point armies in Midgard.
I wanted to use round bases for the heroes who play such an important part in Midgard. I didn't have the tools to make acceptable round bases out of the plywood or book-board. However, I discovered that my gaming stash included a goodly number of 1.5 inch diameter plastic poker chips. Perfect! I textured these as normal bases but left a square recess to receive individual leader figures. Turns out I really didn't need them (yet). All the heroes in the Trojan armies are mounted in chariots. I had just enough chariot figures to do this since I decided to represent the chariot units with a single chariot flanked by a couple of light skirmisher runners.
Once the bases were made I applied my favorite ground color of a brown-tinged gray. Since they weren't getting textured I stippled them with brown and green to visually break up the grayish coverage. Finally, they received a fresh lemony scent by being liberally sprayed with furniture polish. I'll be using Blu-Tac to temporarily attach figures to the bases. The intention of the furniture polish is to prevent the Blu-Tac from getting too attached to the bases. It should hold the figures firmly but not ooze into the porus surface of the base. It's an experiment... what can I say?
The better part of a day was used to attach the figures. Most of the time was spent trying to find figures that worked as a unit, similarly armed and armored. The figures certainly weren't bought that way--it's mostly a collection of randomly selected Trojan War figures from multiple manufacturers and all based individually on 20x25mm bases. I envisioned playing more 'skirmishy' games rather than big battles. (And I'm glad to say that I still have enough unused figures for Nic Wright's forthcoming [Ilium: A Game of Heroes](https://irregularwars.com/products/ilium-a-game-of-heroes?variant=57002206101828).) Once the figures were sorted out I rolled small balls of Blu-Tack and squished them onto the base. Then, placing a figure over the Tac, I used a sturdy wire tool (sold as a rigging tool for model ship building) to apply pressure to the base of the figure while gently working it back and forth settling it into the Tac. Seems to work OK but the real test will come when I get a chance to play a game with them. I attached eight figures for units with a stamina of 4 and four figures for units with a stamina of 2. Even I should be able to remember how that works!
Army storage might be an issue. Like much of the world right now we're experiencing pretty severe heat here in Delaware. When we down-sized upon retirement I lost a lot of hobby space. Right now, my figures are stored in the garage where the temperature routinely gets to 95 degrees Fahrenheit by mid-afternoon. Two weeks ago I discovered that the heat had caused some Museum Putty (a more professional Blu-Tac, I suppose) to soften up enough to ooze out of the package and engulf items that were co-located in the drawer. It was like an amoeba eating a paramecium! Hmmm, I'm thinking... forewarned is fore-armed. I don't believe I'll store Blu-Tac-ed figures in the garage for now! I'll set up a 4x8 foot table temporarily in my study for games so the heat (and presumably cold in Winter) won't be an issue for playing games. Furthermore, I don't believe the temperature extremes pose a threat to the figures but it does limit the amount of time I can work out there. Nevertheless, I did venture out this morning and dug out my ground cloth to take some army photographs. Needless to say, lighting is an issue.
Next up: An actual game!
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