Legion of the Stars **great eagle

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Cosmos
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Re: Legion of the Stars

Post by Cosmos »

Hey all,

So I recently magnetized my whole army. I wanted to give a short little look at what I did, in the hopes that someone else will want to do this to their minis. It is an immense help when traveling with your minis, organizing and ranking them, moving them on a battlefield, etc.
First things first, you need 3 materials:
1. Magnets
2. Magnets strips or paper
3. Glue

I bought the magnets from a local dealer, but the site is magnetsrus. I spent $100 for 500 magnets, more than enough for the welves, and likely for further use for my skaven and beastman. You want to look for Neodymium magnets, and the sizes vary, but if I recall correctly the Dimension:1/8" dia. x 1/32" thick. They fit perfectly under the bases, as you can see in the photo below. For cavalry and monster bases, I used two on each model, and it was more than enough support. of course you want to get the magnets as close to the center of the base, but sometimes with slotted bases this just wont happen. Worry not, because on small plastic minis, an off center magnet will do just as fine. Some of the cavalry were a pain because you basically have to chop away to make space for the magnets, but I will leave those methods to your discretion.




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The second part of magnetizing ( which can be done first of course) is attaching the magnet paper or strips to your base. I bought a $16 strip from the local Michael's. They cost even less online, but the brand was pro mag® magnetic adhesive sheet, 12" x 24". This was enough for just one armies worth of models. I measured out my tray, and cut the paper to size. Most magnet sheets have a glue backing, but I added a little glue for assurance. in the photos below you can see the sheet attached to the trays.
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And that is really it. It is a relatively quick and cheap way of making your army easier to deal with. More complicated methods include swapable weapons and attachments. Im only daring to try it on my treeman (currently in progress), because the areas are large enough to work with. I dont think I would try it on a small elf, because you need tiny magnets and a tiny drill, but it can be done. its also a nice way to travel with skirmishers.



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I hope it helps, and if anyone has a question feel free to ask!
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Cosmos
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Re: Legion of the Stars **short magnetizing tutorial + new p

Post by Cosmos »

Has anyone found the look at magnetizing useful? For years I kept hearing about it and never fully understood the concept. Im not much of a tourney-goer so my group had yet to explore it. Now that i've done my wood elves like this, i plan on doing my whole army. Im not a fan of the foam battle cases, because they just dont seem to be able to fit anything but small infantry (keep in mind its been years since ive looked into newer editions and non-GW cases). With with my army magnetized, they fit nicely in two small boxes without much wear and tear when i travel with them. Also, the fact that some of my models dont fall over (im looking at you metal spellsinger!) while moving in-game is a great blessing.
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Hyarion
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Re: Legion of the Stars **short magnetizing tutorial + new p

Post by Hyarion »

It was good. I'd only ever seen it done with Eldar Weapon teams so it was nice to see it applied to troops. Well done.

PS. It's nice to see someone else post a picture of the Mad Puppet Miniatures elf. It is one of my favorite poses.
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There is no combat without movement.

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Re: Legion of the Stars **short magnetizing tutorial + new p

Post by Beragon »

I have slowly been adding magnets to my troop bases too. I do it in a slightly different manner though. I use the cutting mat as a guide for centering the magnet under the base: if you place a magnet on an intersection of the grid, a 20mm base lines up near perfectly to the grid-lines. Also, I use hot glue to adhere the magnets. Occasionally I had a magnet pop off but it's rare and easy to re-attach. For the movement tray, I use scrap pieces of flat sheet metal I can get from work. I have access to a shear to cut the sheets of metal to whatever size is needed.

Magnetized troops is very handy indeed.
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Cosmos
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Re: Legion of the Stars **short magnetizing tutorial + new p

Post by Cosmos »

Thanks guys!

Ya the mad puppet elf was a nice little piece i had to have. He serves well as both a captain and waywatcher.
Oh that is a great method for centering the magnet! I more meant what i said about off center for slotted bases. Hot glue is an option for sure. I couldnt find the metal myself, so i went with the magnet strip
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Re: Legion of the Stars **short magnetizing tutorial + new p

Post by Cosmos »

NonnoSte
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Re: Legion of the Stars **short magnetizing tutorial + new p

Post by NonnoSte »

Ehy Cosmos.
Great work on the Treeman!

Magnetising the right hand was really clever. I whish I did it with mine.

About the painting I love the dark tones you used on him, because you managed to let him very "alive".
I find great the contrast between the tree and the vines from the hand too.
Accidentally, I'm doing the same with vines on my third Treeman and on the head too.
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Re: Legion of the Stars **short magnetizing tutorial + new p

Post by Git »

I've done pretty much the same thing with three armies. Skaven and Orcs & Goblins are the other two, so I have magnetized quite a few models...
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Cosmos
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Re: Legion of the Stars **short magnetizing tutorial + new p

Post by Cosmos »

@NonnoSte Thank you very much!! How do you feel about me doing the runes? If i do them, should i stick with the blue to white glow?

@Git ohhh man I can only imagine what that was like. The Welves were easy to do cuz of small unit sizes, but I do have a 200+ model skaven army in the wings somewhere... Did you use a similar method to mine?
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Git
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Re: Legion of the Stars **short magnetizing tutorial + new p

Post by Git »

Cosmos wrote:@Git ohhh man I can only imagine what that was like. The Welves were easy to do cuz of small unit sizes, but I do have a 200+ model skaven army in the wings somewhere... Did you use a similar method to mine?
Just about the same. For some I only had cheap magnets that were wider and thinner, and had to glue a bit of plastic under the base so the magnet got closer to the tray. I do also have some pre-magnetized bases.
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Re: Legion of the Stars **Treeman!

Post by Cosmos »

Hey everyone long time no talk. Ive been busy working on the P&M challenge so i will be posting that stuff after its over.

I do have a question for everyone that cares to answer. I want to start using a Great Eagle (i know im late to the party). Now obviously i can go out and buy the hobbit eagles (which i do like). However, i have 3 of our old metal eagles (the ones that had riders so they might even be hawks).
Now for the question: should i put three on a 50x50 base (i think thats the size). Ideally i want each one removable to represent the 3 wounds. Do you guys think this sounds like a good idea or is it going a bit far in terms of visual and just "trying too hard." I find that at times i try to add too much which takes away from the model. The old metal birds are quite small in comparison to todays, which is why i want to do this at all.

Any thoughts or suggestions would be helpful!
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Re: Legion of the Stars **Treeman!

Post by Hyarion »

I think it would be too crowded/unbalanced. Use some of the owl bits that come with the dryad boxes for the same effect on the base, IMHO
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If you refuse to capitalize on your strengths or make the most of your opponent's weaknesses, you are begging to lose.
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Re: Legion of the Stars **Treeman!

Post by Cosmos »

Thank you for the input Hyarion!

I have to be honest im still goin to try it. Im goin to post a few pics when i complete some of it so you can see and give me your take. I might cut it down to two and find another one to make another with the leftover but lets see first with what i have.
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Re: Legion of the Stars **Treeman!

Post by Cosmos »

Im slowly running out of dryad bits as well so it will be difficult.
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