he other day I picked up a unit of halberdiers by the base, which slipped slightly and spilled 20 models onto the table. I was just trying to move them 6″ over a hill and then suddenly I was picking them up and having to apologize to my opponent for dropping my guys in the middle of his unit. Sound familiar? It happens in almost every game I play with stands of infantry. Then, a couple of weeks ago a friend of mine mentioned that he was ordering some magnets to make magnetic movement trays. I was definitely interested, so I asked him to order me some too. And thus the saga began…

Materials Needed: -Small magnets
-Magnetic sheeting
-Thin plasticard
-1/8″ Basswood rods
-Hobby knife
-Utility knife
-Superglue
-Dremel rotary drill

Setup:

The first thing you need to do when starting your magnetic basing is to decide how you plan on doing it. There are basically 3 ways: (1) Buy the magnetic bases and trays pre-made from a hobby company (such as these from GF9; (2) Buy magnet sheets for your trays, and glue washers to the bases of your miniatures; (3) Buy small magnets to insert in your mini bases, and magnetic (metal) sheeting to use in your movement trays. This third option is the one we are going to be talking about in this article.

For magnets, I used the ZD1 from K&J Magnetics. They are small, strong, and very affordable – 500 for $20 USD. The metal sheets I used are tin craft sheets that I bought at Hobbytown. Make sure your workspace is in an area that can get a little dirty, and that you have a surface that you can cut directly on. Cutting the plasticard and the metal sheeting takes a little effort so an appropriate work surface is necessary.

Making the Movement Trays:

The first step in making the movement trays is to measure and cut the metal sheet to fit the interior of your movement trays. now, if you are using premade trays like the ones sold by GW or your old movement trays, simply cut the metal sheet to fit inside your old tray and glue it in. If you are making your trays from scratch, like I am, you want to build up your trays around your metal sheet. First, you need to figure out how big your trays need to be. If you are building a 20 man tray that ranks up 4×5 then your interior dimensions need to be at least 80 mm x 100 mm. I normally add 2 mm to each direction for “fudge room”, giving me a little freedom when I rank the minis up.

Once you have the measurements for your base, carefully draw your cutting lines on the metal sheet. Now, if you have bought very thin metal sheets or metal paper, cutting is a simple matter. However, i chose slightly thicker (~ 1 mm) sheets because I am going to let my metal be the rigid foundation of my movement tray. This means you can’t just use a hobby knife to cut through it like you would a thinner sheet. What you do is carefully score the metal along the line you drew for your base. Then, go back over it several times to get a nice deep scoring. From the bottom of the metal sheet you should see an indentation forming along your cut line. At this point, simply fold the metal back and forth to snap it along your score line. Do the same for the other side, and you end up with a metal sheet that should be the same dimensions as the unit you are making the tray for.

Since we are building the tray up around the metal sheet, the next step is to cut the plasticard “base” out and attach the metal plate. Measure the plasticard to be the same size as the metal sheet plus 1/4″ to either side to allow for the basswood rails. Then, carefully cut out the plasticard base and glue the metal sheet to it, centered. You may ask “Why use the plasticard at all? Why not just make the metal sheet a little wider and glue the rails directly to that?” Well, I chose to do it this way for a couple of reasons. First, by building the bases around the metal sheet, all of the sharp edges of the metal are facing either wood or plastic, which means you don’t have to worry about getting cut or snagged on the metal. Second, the smooth plasticard underbody slides easily over most table top materials, making it really easy to just slide your unit into position while playing.

Now it is time to glue on the basswood rails that will finish the movement tray construction. I tried measuring, marking and cutting the rails on my first base, only to find that it didn’t exactly end up very square. So, the second time around I build the rails system up one leg at a time. I laid a rail down on a side, marked it to fit, cut it, and glued it in place. Then, I mark cut and verify the other 3 sides, trimming as necessary. Once you have dry fit the rails and verified that they fit, glue them to the plasticard and trim off any plasticard that may be sticking out from under the rails.
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Okay, now that the movement tray is done, it is time to magnetize the models. The ZD1 magnets are really strong, easily capable of holding the minis to the trays even while upside down. You may find that depending on what type os superglue you use, the bond might not be strong enough and you may have to epoxy the magnets on. I have had no problems with my superglue, so that’s what I use. For infantry models it is simply a matter of tipping them over, placing a dot of superglue on the bottom, and setting the magnet in place. Let it cure for several minutes before you test it on the moment tray or the magnet will rip off before the glue sets. For cavalry models it is a little different. You can’t really place the magnets under the base without the model sitting up off the tray on the magnet. So I took my handy Dremel tool and drilled out a cavity to place the magnet inside. Make sure that you make it deep enough so that the magnet, when in place, allows the mini to sit flush on the movement tray.

Once you have all of your minis magnetized and have let the glue set long enough to get a strong bond, plop them onto to the movement tray and go to town! As you can see, the magnetic basing is easily strong enough to keep the minis in place when the unit is held sideways or even upside down. All that is left is to texture and paint the movement trays to go with your army and you are done.