Getting the most out of a modular movement tray kit

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Nuriochi_sol
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Getting the most out of a modular movement tray kit

Post by Nuriochi_sol »

As the title suggests, I picked up a GW modular movement tray kit. I'm just starting out and have a 1000pt army I want to run. Problem is, I'm not sure how best to build my movement tray set-ups that will serve me at 1000pts but also be usable later as my army grows.

Are there standard sizes for rank and file layouts that I'll use again and again?

For example, what's the best structure for 20 Corsairs? Or 20 RxBows? Etc. I looked through the DRAICH articles, but didn't see anything specific to this kind of slow grow approach. Thoughts?

EDIT: One thought is to just build the ones I need now and perhaps they'll become obsolete as my army grows - since a new kit is only $10. But that still leaves the bank of questions above - best lay out for common units? The army has 20 Corsairs, 20 Spears, 10 RxBs, 10 CoKs, and a Sorceress.
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Kaleth stinson
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Post by Kaleth stinson »

I would (and have) make those first ones into a 7x3 for corsairs, 3x10 for spears and rxb, and 2 x 5 cav bases. The trick here is not to make the trays to big, but rather have several so that you can easly reform or take away trays as your units get killed.
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Phierlihy
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Post by Phierlihy »

Spearmen, your biggest unit, is the one that will need the movement trays the most. Spearmen aren't really there to kill things, more for their rank bonus so expect them to be 5-wide almost always. A 5x5 tray is a great start for them and will always be useful.

Corsairs I either run 7-wide (all my units with multiple attacks try and go wider than 5-wide to take advantage of those extra attacks) or 10-wide with Handbows. Again you can make the tray 5-wide putting one loose model on each end of the tray which is still pretty easy to move or put two 5-wide trays side-by-side for 10 wide.

Cavalry has so few models, they don't need a movement tray to start with. But if you get around to making one for them, make it 5-wide and 2-deep.

Basically you can't go wrong with a 5-wide movement tray.
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Red...
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Post by Red... »

You should be aiming to balance utility with small size. You can always double or triple up movement trays to make bigger units, but using big movement trays for small units is annoying and looks terrible. That said, using too many movement trays for a unit becomes unwieldy, so it's a balancing act.

That all sounded absurdly complicated, so perhaps some examples would help:

With cavalry, I suggest making your trays 1 cavalry model deep by 5 cavalry models wide. If you run a unit of 10, you can always stack the two together. It's not a good idea to go with a tray that is 2 cavalry models deep by 5 wide, because if you ever run a unit of just 5 cavalry, you are stuck with an unseemly looking base that is rather unwieldy to use.

Same goes for infantry. Go with several trays of 5 models wide by 4 models deep. If you run a big unit of spears you can always combine several of these trays together, but it means if you ever run a small unit of just 20, you're not stuck with a big ugly 60 model tray that looks empty and is unwieldy to use.

The 5 wide versus 7 wide versus 10 wide issue is tricky. Personally I hate having 5 models on a movement tray and then two sitting off of it. It looks ugly, is super unwieldy and just feels weak. So I guess aim to have a few trays which are either 2x7 (great for RxBs) or 3x7 (good for Black Guard and other units if you must run them in 7s). Personally, I'm not a big fan of units run in blocks of 7 wide these days - it's a bit too middle of the road for me: you don't get the benefits of horde status, nor do you get the maximum steadfast efficiency or column-esque manoeuverability of 5 wide units. So it ends up feeling a bit like a 'can't make my mind up, so stick with 7th ed norms' decision.

Oh, one other tip - don't glue the things together too rigidly. You'll almost certainly get the size of one or two of the trays wrong for your preferences. The ability to add bits onto them or take bits off is invaluable as you build up your unit size preferences...
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Nuriochi_sol
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Post by Nuriochi_sol »

Thanks for the replies all...

@Red... I should just enlist you as my mentor. You've been replying to a lot of my stuff and been EXTREMELY helpful - so thank you!

That said, I went a little off from the suggestions here. I made a few 5x2 trays, that I can arrange in twos, as either a 5x4 or a 10x2. I made a 5x5 too - so I can use a 5x5 and a sideways 5x2 to make a 7x5. Should serve my needs for now.
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