Oh! What a lovely chore!

Or - The Unbearable Lightness of Basing.

I think basing or re-basing figures is a chore for most wargamers. We get all enthusiastic about our shiny metal or plastic figures, and many of us like the whole painting process, but when it comes to putting the little guys on bases, or - gods forbid - re-basing them for a new set of rules... Well, the excitement tends to pall.

I looked over my Sudan collection and found I'd based about half the Mahdist figures - the bare minimum to game with - and had got halfway through the process of basing up a new, even larger batch to bring the Mahdists up to a force to be reckoned with. The older bases look a bit shabby after nearly three decades (!) of gaming. The new figures are at least already on the right sized bases for my rules, so I thought I'd complete the process and then refurbish the older batch.

I'd forgotten how many Mahdist figures I had.

The Collection - a mix of Heroics & Ros and Irregular Miniatures.

There's twice as much again under these.

And this is the effect I'm aiming for.

Luckily the Imperial army is all based up to this standard so I don't have them to bother with. Maybe I doth complain too much. Although it is fiddly working around 1/300th scale figures it doesn't take that long to complete a base, I'm lucky to have them and a permanent table to play on. I shall persevere. One day in the not too distant future, they'll come rolling across the Sudanese desert to give those interlopers what-for.