Swappable Infantry

I've been asked a few times on Facebook how I've used magnets to create hot-swappable infantry on my bases. Since this seems to be an interesting subject people want to know about I thought I'd come up with a tutorial on why and how I do this.

Why I do this

I like being able to have my opponents know which base has a Panzerknacker/Flamethrower/Panzerschrek/etc. by just looking at it. Having to ask the opponents which bases contains which gets rather old, and this helps speed up the games I play (at least in my opinion). Utilizing magnets helps solve this problem.

How I do this

Here are the components you'll need for this task:

• 10mm x 2mm rare earth magnets
• 10mm x 2mm metal washers (make sure these will stick to a magnet!!)
• Flames of War base
• 1/4" drill bit
• Variable speed drill
• X-Acto or Utility knife
• Superglue

Step 1

Mark on the base where you want the figure you intend to be swappable on the base. Use the drill and go completely thru the FoW base like shown below:

Step 2

Use a X-Acto  or utility knife to enlarge the hole -- do NOT make the hole too big - this is why we don't use a 3/8" drill bit. You basically want to make the hole just large enough where you can force the magnet into it creating a rather snug fit.

Step 3

Flip the base over, and apply superglue around the circumference of the magnet and set this aside to let it dry. We want the superglue to seep inbetween the magnet and the base.

Step 4

Figure out which figures you'll want to be able to swap on these bases. Is this example I'm going to work with my DAK Flamethrowers.

Step 5

Superglue the metal washers to the bottom of base on the figures and set these aside to dry.

Step 6

Base your figures as normal but leave a gap in your basing material where the magnet resides. This will allow contact directly between the washer and the magnet. As you can see below, if I want to swap out those pioneers for flamethrowers I can. I just need to lift up on the figure and replace it with a respective flamethrower figure.

I hope you all find this how-to useful, if you have any questions feel free to leave them in the comments below.