Movement Trays for the Apocalypse

I'm getting pretty excited about the release of Warhammer 40,000: Apocalypse. I've watched the "How to Play: Video and another with a couple guys playing an actual game with the new Apocalypse rules, and it looks pretty slick! Cleverly addresses Alpha Smite - which I find to be one of the biggest drawbacks of the current rules. Simplified, streamlined, kind of reminds me of Epic... but with 28mm models!

I plan to pick it up on release tomorrow and host a game for the kids and a couple of their friends on Sunday. We will be facing the swarms bugs of Hivefleet Haemorrhoid again. Some of my Imperial Forces faced the horde back in February, but this time the Hivefleet has invaded an Exodite world with ties to the Thaestalyrdaes Craftworld and the Biel-Tim fleet.

In preparation for this Apocalyptic battle I've been making myself a few custom saboted movement trays....



I decided to make them myself because... well... I'm a cheap bastard.. Also, I like making things... and I liked the idea of making them match the basing of my miniatures... and I could make them a little asymmetrical and each on a little different... AND I could make custom ones to fit specific units!



Like this Guaiacan Commando Sniper Squad



Or my Tallarn infantry - as each squad incorporates a missile launcher team.

I had meant to make a tray for the command squad, but I made it with five holes and then realized the command team only has FOUR in it!?

I made these by cutting holes in 1/8" mdf cutting it out with a jigsaw, gluing the upper to another solid piece of MDF, and then cutting that to fit the contour of the upper.



A Battalion Detachment of Amanda's Drukhari Wyches.

The plastic bases fit a bit snugger than my minis that are based on metal washers. So tight were they that I've decided to leave them in the movement tray for the time being. If we play a regular game of 40K and need to take them out, I'll worry about it then. I think putting them in and taking them out constantly, could potentially damage the paint on the plastic bases.

 

Conveniently, Amanda has a lot of storage space in her drawers, so these can easily be accommodated.



that's not so much an option for me...

Being a bit of a moron, I didn't give much though to how I was going to store these until I was putting on the tufts and static grass and realized if I just piled them all in to a box, all that pretty static grass and tufts would likely get squashed flat... I'm going to have to find a box that I can store them sort of vertically - perhaps with a small foam space in between each one?



My Wraithguard.

I was kind of torn about units like this... I actually have six Wraithguard. While I CAN field all six in 40K if playing open play or building a matched play force with points, the standard size in Apocalypse (and 40K if you're just using Power Level) is five. I went with five for now. I may make one with six and just go ahead and use it in apocalypse. It doesn't REALLY matter exactly how many you have on the base - as long as everyone knows I'm using it as a unit of five and not a unit of ten (which would have additional attacks and wounds)!



Keira's Harlequins - this could be fielded as a Battalion Detachment. If she finished up the other two Death Jesters she has, they could be two detachments - the Troupe Master, three Troupes, and Solitaire as a maneuver/assault element (that would often get Assault orders), and the Shadowseer and the three Death Jesters as a fire support element (that could be given Aimed Fire orders)



More of Keira's minis - Jain Zar leading a Vanguard Detachment of Howling Banshees. Not sure if the "Rule of Three" applies in Apocalypse? If it does they could simply be fielded as one unit of ten and two units of five.

Some of these are custom make for her Aspect Warriors. She's put the exarchs of some of her Aspect Warrior units on different sized bases - to differentiate them from the rest of the Aspect Warriors in the unit - so I've made a few trays with four holes of one size for the regular troops and one, slightly larger, hole for the exarch.



Swooping Hawks! Another custom base, and another case of how many do I make this for. She HAS six Swooping Hawks.... but I made this for only five -as that's the standard size for the unit. I may make a special Swooping Hawk base just for these guys... well... unit she buys MORE Swooping Hawks and has a full unit of ten!



Keira's Rangers.

This last base was one of the first ones I made, it places the minis a bit closer together and has less space around the outside - I tried it this was first, thinking it would be best to economize on the space they took up on the tabletop... but a few of them broke as I was cutting them (drill bits and jigsaw!) so I made the rest a bit further apart and with a touch more space around the edges. On the plus side, it gives me more space to put more tufts and grass and potentially add some dioramic elements!?

Our first planned Apocalypse game in on SUNDAY! I'm not sure I'm going to get anymore of these done by then... but I'd say the experiment was successful and I am planning on making a BUNCH more - as I'm expecting The new Apocalypse rules may become our go-to set of rules for playing larger 40K battles for the foreseeable future!

Coming Soon to Tim's Miniature Wargaming Blog: 

APOCALYPSE!!