I was never concerned with the labor but I don't want to smash down the little tufts of grass and bits also and I have a firm hatred of foam for mini storage...too inefficient with space...

@SirWillibald Woot! Love your work so far man. I go to your site every time I buy a new ship. Just got my new Armada collection boxed and safe and sound, so nice to have the dials and bases all in one place to set up.

For my Daqan bases, I am planning to create a sort of ruins, paving stones, and grasslands look, like they are marching through some city destroyed in an ancient war. I hope to incorporate some of the parts from http://www.hirstarts.com/ molds I already have to make them a bit more 3D and add some perspective to the minis, as well as give them some anchor points to grab on to to pull up the corners a bit to pull trays away when I detach them from the formation. The figure bases will use some sort of grass and paving stones look I plan to achieve with impressions and some green stuff on the bases, covered in sand and dirt flocking. My alternative plan is to base them so they look like they are fighting on cobblestone streets in a marketplace somewhere, like a looted city.

For my Waiqar, I am still not entirely sure what I'm going to end up with, depending on exactly how much space we have on the base, but I'm hoping to work out some effect that makes it look like either they are walking through icy marshland or snowy swamps. I'd like to edge the bases so that they still join easily, but have raised edges to hold a bit of muck and plants in a way that breaks up a bit of the squareness of the tray, maybe a hunched swamp tree or rotten column or two for grappling points. Then the figure bases would be hillocks of mud and instant water so that it looks like they are wading through a marsh, then some crackle paint to make it look like they are wading with some broken footsteps behind them.

My major goals:

1) Make each faction unique in basing, so that you can easily tell which trays are which when looking down on bunch of units scrumming in combat.

2) Anchor points on each base to lift at least one corner of the tray, so that I don't need to shove a bunch of minis out of the way to lift each tray, while keeping said anchor from getting in the way of removing minis (dead trees not full trees, columns not walls).
3) Clear front arcs indicated with rune stones or other markers that are standard for each faction. Obvious but not non-thematic.

4) Since the figures come attached to the bases, I would prefer to keep them attached rather than remove and then reattach them, so I would like to create effects like them walking through the water instead of walking on ice if possible. This may be a ruled I have to break with the heroes and cavalry, but I would like to try. The Daqan are going to be harder because of this, I don't want them all to look bowl-shaped nor buried ankle-deep in mud.

5) Have all trays easy to clip together, and all minis still fit neatly into the trays when finished.

Yea, storage for this looks hard enough...

I'm probably not going to touch the trays, and put minimal, dark basing on the troops so they look ok placed into the black plastic trays. I have several warhammer/ Kings of war armies, and the thought of painting up new ones fills me with an existential dread... So the least amount of effort, the better

6 hours ago, Budgernaut said:

Daqan: grass and stone
Waiqar: swamp
Uthuk: sandy/rocky desert
Latari: leaves and grass

Swamp... he he... yeah... SWAMP ? Really ? S.W.A.M.P ? (Special Wireless Armed Mechanized Police) Oh Waiqar...What have you done to the world for us to deserve crawling in swamps like this... snif... ... ... jeez... I'll tell you, yes you, I'll tell you that after women, gays, Lesbians, transgenders and even Aliens, Terrorists, communists-capitalists Chinese I'll free the undeads from their social condition ! Yes I'll be among those who think that an undead has the right to live in a marvelous shining gold castle and not a garbage dump ! I'll show you that a skeleton is proud of himself and that he will kick your daqan ass like it has never been before you'll see...gnagnagna, pan pan, boom boom !

13 hours ago, Elrad said:

Swamp... he he... yeah... SWAMP ? Really ? S.W.A.M.P ? (Special Wireless Armed Mechanized Police) Oh Waiqar...What have you done to the world for us to deserve crawling in swamps like this... snif... ... ... jeez... I'll tell you, yes you, I'll tell you that after women, gays, Lesbians, transgenders and even Aliens, Terrorists, communists-capitalists Chinese I'll free the undeads from their social condition ! Yes I'll be among those who think that an undead has the right to live in a marvelous shining gold castle and not a garbage dump ! I'll show you that a skeleton is proud of himself and that he will kick your daqan ass like it has never been before you'll see...gnagnagna, pan pan, boom boom !

Sometimes I question if you drink even more than we Scots!

31 minutes ago, Muz333 said:

Sometimes I question if you drink even more than we Scots!

Sadly you are not the first to ask yourself the question. Many people having seen me saying that kind of... or acting a bit funny were wondering if I was sober or totally drunk... And to their own disappointment, I was sober and i'm still sober because I've got a diabet and then Alcohol is prohibited to me. i now diabetic guys who still drink a lot, but if I drink a single soft beer... I won't feel any better... so yes I'm totally clean while writing that kind of stuff

19 hours ago, SirWillibald said:

FYI, SirWilli is already thinking about Runewars...

And even more concerning, he's even talking of himself in third person, what a freak.

On topic: I was planning to base the trays, just because it looks way cooler. But now your concerns have me concerned, too...

The legend returns, welcome sir.

What about other drugs or too much insulin (just kidding I have diabetes too amongst other unwanted things)

50 minutes ago, Iceeagle85 said:

What about other drugs or too much insulin (just kidding I have diabetes too amongst other unwanted things)

drugs ? Oh my maybe when I was unconcious someday. Yes I drank alcohol before my mom's oncologist found out that I got diabet. So I haven't consciously taken any drugs. Even if, for my 21st birthday, my friends of that time wanted me to eat a space cake...the idea didn't become (thanks to god) not a reality.

And about Insulin, no I don't take any. my diabet is a type 2 or atypic. So I just take glucophage pills.

Yeah Diabet is not so terrible to me and I hope I won't have to go on Insulin treatment one day. No sugar, no Fat, no Alcohol... ... I think that's why i lost so much weight...