Fun with magnets!

I'm becoming more and more fond of converting stuff with magnets. It's partly because I can't make my mind up about the various options available, and with magnets you can swap around parts between games.

I do realise this increases the list or army building time since if I just build stuff to a fixed specification I can't change my force between games that much. On the other hand my games are few and far between so I usually don't remember how my figures are kitted out, this way I can do the army list first and then change the figures to suit.

Case in point was the new plastic Algoryn AI squads from Warlord Games. You get three squads in the Kara-9 boxed set, with five scenarios designed to learn the game with. However, I wasn't sure I wanted to use them in the configuration needed for the scenarios, so I brought out the good old drill and magnets.

This is one of the squad leaders, armed with a Mag repeater and an underarm X-sling.

However, I might want to use him as an extra support figure with a Micro-X launcher.

It's all possible with magnets. A bit tricky though because the magnets are 3mm wide and the arms only 4mm thick!

A fun side-effect is that you can pose the figure to either shoot with the X-sling, 

or just run forward. I've tilted the head slightly so it works either pose.

Another use for magnets is to put them under bases of figures. As Frostgrave never kicked off in our gaming group I decided to put the cultists to double use by putting them on a larger base for Kings of War. I ordered a couple of trays from Warbases to try it out.

Here are the gang. Most have handweapons, some even a shield or a dagger.

In an effort to make them look more irregular I staggered the figures on the bases.

This made some of the figures unstable and prone to falling over. Magnets to the rescue!

I had lots of 4 and 5mm magnets left over since they were to big to be used on the Algoryn arms. A 5mm on the bottom of the tray and a 4mm under the base did the trick nicely. It turns out that the space underneath a slotta base is exactly enough room for two magnets (they are each 1mm thick). Since the bottom magnet is bigger they don't need to be exactly aligned, which is useful if you swap figures around to avoid them decapitating eachother.

To provide variety for Frostgrave I made some with alternative weapons, and a skeleton to boot!

I also found an old Citadel cultist with a menacing look which will work perfect as the cultist leader.

I put magnets under them too of course, in case I wanted a differently equipped unit.

And yes, the magnets are strong enough to even hold the metal figure!

Of course, Kings of War haven't kicked off in our gaming group either, but I can always use the figures for Open Combat and use the tray as a secure display tray between games.

Happy gaming!