Thursday 4 October 2012

... Magnets, how do they work?


OK, in all honesty I have a pretty good idea how magnets work.This is more about my hobbying obsession with them! Speak to anyone at the Hampton Games Club about my armies and magnets will probably be mentioned. Obviously, I go with the simple, in that I use them to keep my troops on their movement trays. That's not new.



Picture stolen from Hooling's Hole.
I've also used magnets to aid in storage. The first example of this is the Giant from my Arabyan Orc army. This guy splits down the middle so that he's a bit easier to pack. I used magnets in him to make sure the two parts stay together when being used.

I've also used magnets in a much more on-table way; anatomic wound counters.My Ogre army used this abundantly, to the point where every unit in the army that had multiple wounds (that's most of them) had enough parts that could be removed to keep track of wounds. I didn't take it to the point of painting the cross-sections red to indicate gore, but it was still pretty handy! Usually this took the form of removable arms, but in the case of characters it also included removable hats (and a monkey for the tyrant!)

Trouble!
You can see the tree is not a permanent part
Orcs have fewer multi-wound units, but I've still made magnetised bases for all of the ranked units. I've also used magnets to assist with storage. I didn't get this done for the doom diver, but the giant will be split much like the last one.The trolls also have weapons that are removable, mainly because I didn't consider the size of them when I bought the case! In the theme of being tree kin, the trolls had to be waving bits of tree around. You can also see the completed armour in these photos. I also plan to make two trolls with removable arms in the 2nd batch, so that each unit of 6 can have wound counters.

It's free!
The lone magnet about to be puched into the hole.
I've also got a few bases to the point of painting. I cast my own; I like how they look and they give me a bit move flexibility in style. They're also cheaper than purchased ones. My technique for getting magnets into the drilled holes is to use a bit of plasticard. Take one magnet off the stack and slip a piece of plasticard in the gap. Push the lone magnet into the hole you have drilled (and put glue into), then remove the rest of the stack (but don't remove the plasticard). Use the plasticard to push the magnet right in and you're done!
Trays made and magnetised.

This is not even half of them!












I've also completed the new mold for the 40mm bases. I'll start production on them soon I think!
Not a lot to see at the moment.
And lastly, the bow is finally on the doom diver. Behold!

The bow is a little chunky... but I think it's still less heroic than the real one!

2 comments:

  1. You do indeed have an unhealthy obsession with magnets.

    The Giant is coming along. I assume he will get a bowstring at some point?

    ReplyDelete
  2. Yes, I just need to work out where to attach it.

    ReplyDelete