Guide to assembling Flames of War miniatures

One of the most daunting tasks of playing Flames of War is assembling your army. What player can forget the first time he cracked open that rifle company box and saw this:

It is quite intimidating. There are ways to conquer this and you must be organized in your approach. First thing is first. Everyone should take a read over of this PDF file that Battlefront provides:

http://www.flamesofwar.com/Portals/0/Documents/BasingArticles/BasingYourArmy.pdf

This PDF lays out how to base each type of stand or unit in Flames of War and breaks it down with pictures so that you can see what type of miniature goes on each stand. Using this will solve almost 80% of the headaches you may encounter.

 Next thing you must do is look up the box set you are assembling on the Flames of War online store and see if there is a product SPOTLIGHT page.

That spotlight page will show full color assembled images of the box you are building and often times have hidden assembly instructions. Look it over carefully.

Using those pictures and the PDF, lay out each base and then match the miniatures up on the bases like in the image below. Make sure you have your command stands, infantry stands and special weapons all picked out and set aside then place them on the bases. Go over your bases and the box and make sure no miniatures are missing.

 Now do your usual modeling stuff like cleaning off flash, cleaning the bottom of the bases, straightening bent guns etc etc. After that you will need to hit the hardware store for the next part. Now some people prefer to simply glue their men onto the base and then add basing like sand or what not. That is a good way to do it or you can use the method below even though this can get messy.

Pick up a 6 dollar tub of DryDex or similiar spackle from a hardware store. Dont forget to get a simple plastic spatula also for like a $1.49 before you leave the store. I like the DryDex that goes on pink and turns white when it dries. It lets you know how much time you have to move miniatures on the base before it dries.

Go one base at a time. Put a small amount of spackle on the base and spread it out thin. Once you do this press each miniature into the spackle until it rests firmly on the stand. The spackle will fill up and over the base of the miniature thus making it look like it is level with the ground.

I dont think I have to mention this can get messy. KEEP THE SPACKLE AWAY FROM YOUR FACE and resist the urge to scratch areas of your body that are a no go for this stuff to contact. Once you place the miniatures in the spackle on the base you can move them around gently and pose them the way you want to make the stand look energetic and action oriented. Move that to the side and proceed to the next stand. The DryDex will turn white when it is dry so avoid moving the stand until this happens.

When all is said and done this is your goal:

Usually when a stand is dry I will write on the bottom of the stand in permanent marker what type of unit it is especially for the vehicles. When you have a large metal army the units start to blend in and you may forget what is what.

Like I said this is just ONE way to base your Flames of War miniatures. Others may put the spackle on after the figures are glued to the base but I like to use the spackle as the glue and not have to work it around in between the bases etc etc.