Movement trays have been around since..umm...guessing.. during the 1990s? There a dozens of wargaming bloggers use movement trays. DeanM WAB Corner , Christopher Bunker Hill , Cyrus Bucellarii and Rob Hawkins hobby blog are all influential...well to me anyway :o)
Movement trays are a game-changer for large-scale wargaming, drastically cutting down the time spent pushing individual models and keeping your ranks crisp. They are especially useful for "horde" armies or "rank and flank" systems like Warhammer and maybe DBMM?I use DBA-DBMM elements with my movement trays for Command Colors Ancients and Impetvs army units. Also I think, is one of the best ways to maximize your collection of miniatures without the nightmare of rebasing figures! :o)
Movement trays for De Bellis Multitudinis (DBMM) are a practical way to manage large groups of elements, especially during the early stages of a battle when moving in coherent lines or columns is more PIP-efficient. The DBMM system is element-based, not figure-based, battle groups are always chaning frontages during games so it may be impossible to have and difficult swapping different frontages trays just to move your grouped elements.
Impetvs 15mm frontages are 80mm one can use DBA/DBMM army elements to form up Impetvs battle groups depending on unit type i.e. Pikes I would use as a typical full strength Macedonian Pike block 2 by 4 (total 8 elements) The elements are removed during Command colors ancients and Impetvs games as casualties.
Left to Right of picture
80mm x 30mm, 80mm x 40mm, 80mm x 45mm, 80mm x 60mm
Pikes 2 Ranks Museum Miniatures "Z"Sculpts
Pikes 3 Ranks
Pikes 4 Ranks
Republican Romans 2 ranks Old Glory Miniatures
Republican Romans 3 ranks
Skirmishers 2 Ranks Xyston Miniatures
Auxiliary Light Infantry 2 Ranks
Bowmen 2 Ranks Essex Miniatures Goths
Warband 2 Ranks
Warband 3 Ranks
Warband 4 Ranks
They all seem to fit perfectly Phil. I went through my basing stocks the other day and looked at my dozens of unassembled trays and thought I must get around to them some day. They will be very handy moving multi-part figures such as Xyston as I normally lose half a dozen shields and spears each game, but at the same time I was thinking they will have to dismount at the point of contact under DBMM in preparation for all those pushbacks.
ReplyDeleteThanks Lawrence, DBMM does make it awkward. The moment contact and pushbacks come into play, all that neat organization breaks down and you’re back to individual elements anyway. So the trays end up being more of a “marching phase” tool than a full-game solution :o)
DeleteThe way to go Phil with different rule sets and basing, rebasing is a waste of time.
ReplyDeleteThanks Cyrus! the only time permanent rebasing really pays off is if you’re 100% committed to one system—and even then, rules evolve. Flexibility usually wins in the long run...... I think? :o)
DeleteThey look great Phil! Anytime I can reduce the number of elements I move on a table the better the flow of the game has been my experience. Thanks for the shout out.:-)
ReplyDeleteThanks Christopher, I think treating trays as purely optional movement aids—use them up to the point where things get tactically messy, then just lift elements off as needed. If the trays are thin and unobtrusive, it’s not too disruptive. Magnetic basing can also help a lot here: keeps everything stable on the tray, but easy to peel off when combat starts.....cheers!...oh..no worries about my shout out to your blog..awesome painted units!
DeleteDark ages and war of three kingdoms Ive gone fir individual figures on 1p pieces in sabot bases, I dont have too many square based figures, although my 25mm hundred years war figures are on 20mm x20mm warhammer bases so Im building movement trays for them, Im going to have to rebase my Early Imperial Romans as they dont work with anyone elses basing, kind of putting it off!
ReplyDeleteBest Iain
Iain, sounds like you’ve ended up with the classic historical wargaming problem: multiple basing standards colliding over time. There’s no single “correct” solution, but some options are less painful than a full rebase.
DeleteYour Dark Ages and Three Kingdoms period forces, using individual figures on sabot bases is actually a very flexible approach. You can adapt them to different rulesets without committing permanently. That’s a strong foundation to build around.
Your 25mm Hundred Years' War figures on 20×20 bases are also in a decent spot. Movement trays are the right call there—many players do exactly that to rank up figures for mass battle systems while still being able to skirmish with the same models.
My 28mm Napoleonics and 25mm/28mm ACW figyres are mounted on frontage 30mm x depth 40mm plywood bases (4figs fit Ok per base) close to older unit-based systems and some homebrew conventions. Not standard for things like Black Powder, but totally usable with trays..... I think? :o)
cheers!