Sunday, 26 June 2016

Sabots and Magnets

My latest change in the way I do things is use sabots and magnets as supplied by our good friends at Warbases.

A sabot looks like this:


This is a 4x2 with 1p (UK) slots and precut magnet holes. Ideal for an 8 figure group in Sharp Practice.

Here are the magnets, 5mm wide by 2mm deep, same as the holes in the MDF. They are small and powerful. I would be careful putting them near a credit card or any other electro-magnetic storage device.


This is a sabot with magnets installed.


As it happens the first one or two times I used these the magnets were slightly smaller than the holes so I secured them with a touch of superglue. This time I had to gently enlarge the holes with a small round file as the magnets wouldn't otherwise fit in. They did not need glued.

This is a completed sabot base (2x2 for Black Powder) with figures based on UK one pennies which are steel centred.


Matching up the terrain on the pennies with the terrain on the sabot marries the two together.


Tipping the sabot over does not dislodge the figures.


Nor does turning the sabot over.


The beauty of this technique is that you can have the same figures mounted on 2x2's for Black Powder and 4x2's for Sharp Practice. Just change the sabot. If you have a ruleset which requires 3x2's just make more sabots.




9 comments:

  1. What a clever idea - like it ! , Tony

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Not my original idea, not sure where it originated.

      Martin at Warbases is doing well to have a practicable version in his product list.

      Delete
  2. Excellent!! But I wish I'd seen these a few months ago!!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. During last autumn I was preparing units for sale the same old way.

      This spring I have been inspired by the re-emergence of Sharp Practice where you need the same figures but individually based.

      This is where the sabots come to the fore and magnets make them more practicable.

      I'll ask Martin next time I see him where he got his inspiration from.

      Delete
  3. I have been looking at those very same sabots myself. Does the paint over the magnet affect it in any way?


    Greg

    ReplyDelete
  4. I use steel bases for pretty much the same reason. These look very well too.

    It does free you from the purgatory of rebasing - which is all to the good.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Makes you save pennies for a reason you never had before.

      Delete
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    ReplyDelete