Tutorial - Skirmisher movement tray

 Two weeks ago, I posted a picture of these guys, without their finished movement tray. I'm really happy about the result of the movement tray and I think it really gives a good effect to the unit. Since it's fairly easy to make such a movement tray and I think the result is totally worth it, I've decided to add a tutorial of how I made the tray. Enjoy the read and please, feel free to comment my work!

Skirmisher movement tray tutorial with pictures

First of all, let's start with the tools and materials I used to make this movement tray. I used a hobby knife, a pencil, an eraser, a 20 mm base, scissors and a ruler. I also needed a GW movement tray, some white glue and some carboard. Last but not least, I needed a cutting suface so I used a cutting mat.





Step 1:  First of all, in 8th edition of WHFB, skirmishers adopt a loose rank formation where they stand roughly 1/2 inch apart. I considered that a made a bigger than normal movement tray for a unit of 10 20mm based models. I made sure I'd have a gap of roughly 1/2 inch between each model and each rank. I then used my pencil and ruler to draw the surface of my movement tray on the carboard. Then I used the scissors to cut it and made sure it would fit tightly in the movement tray.




Step 2: Using the 20mm base and my ruler, I used my pencil to draw each model's base on my piece of cardboard. I made sure I had roughly 1/2 inch between each base.

Step 3: Using my scissors, I cut each base so I would be left with a piece of carboard looking like the one on the next picture. I had to make 3 such pieces and glue them together to have a thick enough piece of carboard for my movement tray but that really depends on the thickness of your cardboard.

 Step 4: The piece of carboard was then glued to the movement tray and primed black. I then gave a basecoat of Gnarla Green (P3 color) to the piece of cardboard.

 Step 5: Finally, I used some static grass and white glue to completly flock the base. You can see an overview of the finished skirmisher base on the next picture.

 

As you can see, every model fits tightly and you still have lots of place on the base to add to the basing. You could add plants, trees or even make a scenic skirmisher base, depending on how skilled you are! I hope you enjoyed this little tutorial and that it gave you some ideas.