First of all, I have to credit the Old World Facebook group for this amazing meme. It was only a matter of time before GW stirred up the hornets with some form of change for the Old World, and it happened last week. What I am alluding to is how GW will be changing the base sizes for its models in the Old World.
Previously, the majority of all units were on 20mm square bases. These will be removed, and 25mm square bases will be the new standard. Other models which were on 25mm squares may get resized as well. In a way I understand the player frustration. GW stated that they will require the new base sizes for their events, and 20mm infantry make up the majority of most armies. For example, my Vampire Counts alone have close to 200 20mm infantry models to say nothing of my Skaven, Brets or other forces. However, I feel the response has been overblown and here is why.
The Scope of the Problem
Part of the reason I am annoyed with the player response is that the only people who will really be affected are tournament players. Unless you are playing competitively, I full expect most events to continue allowing 20mm infantry as they need as many players as possible. Furthermore, you don’t accrue as much of an advantage for using them. You are more vulnerable to some template weapons (although scatters are more likely to cause misses), and any advantage in combat frontage will be talked out.
How to Adjust
Unlike re-basing in 40k, it is actually much easier to adjust unit bases in Warhammer fantasy. The reason being the unit movement trays. People have already been showing a variety of ways to adapt to the change that don’t involve tearing models off their bases. Remember, the only thing that matters is the width of the tray.
Here are a few to consider:
- Purchase or 3D print adapters
- Get new movement trays that space the models further apart
- Get new properly sized movement trays and create unit fillers to fill out the space left over.
The latter two options do have some drawbacks if you want to change your combat frontage but I rarely do that. All of these options will be fairly cheap, especially the movement trays. It will be annoying to repaint a lot of trays but it’s worth it to see the old kits released once again.
Benefits?
For all the complaining I actually see this as a bit of a good thing. The wider bases will make it much easier to rank up models. Furthermore, this may indicate the armies will be using less models as the base sizes increase and take up more space. All in all I think this is a nuetral to positive change. It will allow you to poach some of the amazing AoS models ad make posing older units easier. Heck my stupid skeleton banners always tip over because they are too top heavy, an extra 5mm will go a long way in helping.
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