Rebasing BFG ships

[PST]

I want to do some more resilient and user-friendly bases for our fleets. Before reinventing the wheel, and not having found anything specific in searches, I was wondering what other people might have done for rebasing their fleets.

I know afterimagedan uses steel rods and the standard bases.

Litko don't seem to do anything specific for BFG (and their shipping to the UK is a little pricey).

Corsec is likewise very pricey when you get to doing multiple fleets (assuming GW gets round to sending them).

As a follow-up to the general 'any ideas':

Do BFG ships have to be based on circular bases as I found this when searching around:

http://images.dakkadakka.com/gallery/2009/11/9/63297_md-Battlefleet%20Gothic%2C%20Fleet%2C%20Frigate%2C%20Gladius%2C%20Space%20Marines.jpg

For attack craft, I've seen some on epic strip bases, and others on 20mm(?) square bases. Any rules on what they have to be based on?

[AndrewChristlieb]

Bases should be round or it will throw off how ordinance interacts. The faq says to use the square bases for ordinance as that matches the box set but alot of people still use the strips.

[Gothmog Lord of Balrogs]

They need to be on a round base. A design like that, even if it is the same overall area, can zoom through blastmarker and whatnot much easier.

When I get my BFG back (still in House Hold Goods shipment coming back from Japan) I am going to be using nuts and bolts to mount them. Basically intend to attach a small nut to the bottom of each ship and a bolt to the base. THen I just screw on the ships for games and unscrew them for storage. Likely going to drill up into the ship still some so it isn't just the tip of the bolt in the nut.

 I also kinda want to do a display diorama, so I can put the bolts in all over the place and at multiple angles to get cool effects.

[unseelied]

I've found that if you just drill a bigger hole in the bottom of the ship and insert the entire stick in,rather than just the little nubbin at the tip, durablity is drasticly increased.  Have to be careful with some of the smaller escorts but mostly everything else can be drilled out larger.  I normally do 1/8 inch. 

I also remember awhile back someone on ebay was selling aluminum sticks for BFG.  Haven't seen it recently. Its nice to have that draft on the stick as it looks nice but straight brass rod will certainly be durable.  Its normally the stick that fails not the base although I have had a couple over the years break in half.

I was thinking about making some bases soon with a little rectangle that rides behind it so you can easily put a label on it.  I think that the need/desire to proxy ships will rise sooner than we think and this will be a nicer way to go about it. 

[PST]

I've seen the aluminium flight stands, but at about £2.5 each it'd be prohibitively expensive to do a lot of ships.

I'm thinking acrylic bases, steel stand and magnet glued into the ship might be the most effective way of achieving flexibility and sturdiness at the same time.

[Gothmog Lord of Balrogs]

the problem with magnets it that the ships, especially BB, aren't perfectly balanced, so it would likely tip itself off the stand.

[PST]

So for the BBs it'd be better to drill and fit with a steel rod instead then?

[Jimmy Zimms]

The seller on eBay is Sleepy's Stems. The aluminum rods are fantastic and are a dead match for the plastic ones. I got a whole pile off him for a special deal and have no clue what his prices are now. Regardless they are nice

[PST]

$10 for 3. Which really pushes it outside the realm of affordable.

[Armiger84]

Yeah, I'm liking the Ninja Magic magnetics, but already running into a balance problem with them and the Vengeance hull.  The prow badly overbalanced it forward... May see how it works with plastic/putty/possibly resin.  I'm beginning to think I might want metal rods for the BBs and magnetics for plastics.

[afterimagedan]

Here's my way...

http://afterimagedan.blogspot.com/2012/03/basing-battlefleet-gothic-ships-better.html?m=1

Cheap and quite easy to do.

[mangozac]

I'm currently working with a small US company who sells plastic wargaming bases to produce a generic flying base that will be very suitable for BFG. The bases will be black styrene, include heading and fire arc marks, and will work with 2mm brass or styrene rod (styrene is fine for escorts, brass is preferred for everything else).

Should be available in around 4 weeks or so and cheaper than the GW price

[Comrade-K-Rad]

Let us know when they're done, zac.  I have a need of some new bases, as do some of my friends.  I'll have them hold out in buying them from GW.

[Khar]

http://stores.ebay.com/Hurlbat-Games - this store has relatively cheap laser cut plastic bases in various sizes, I started to use them recently, both 30 and 60mm work great. Ok, I know GW small base is actually something like 31,5, but the difference is nearly nonexistant and doesnt impact the game at all.

[mangozac]

Let us know when they're done, zac.  I have a need of some new bases, as do some of my friends.  I'll have them hold out in buying them from GW.

Sounds good. It is definitely doing ahead - the manufacturer is working on machining the moulds as we speak!
I'll post on here when they're ready

http://stores.ebay.com/Hurlbat-Games - this store has relatively cheap laser cut plastic bases in various sizes, I started to use them recently, both 30 and 60mm work great. Ok, I know GW small base is actually something like 31,5, but the difference is nearly nonexistant and doesnt impact the game at all.

It's so strange how everybody quotes the base as being 30mm when it's actually a little bigger! Does nobody use a ruler?

I'm personally not a fan of anything laser cut, especially bases. The flatness and perpendicular sides look really bland IMO.