Long Gunners and a Movement Tray

I have been working on my Long Gunners again. I last posted pics of them here.  They now have most of their highlights done and I am trying to get the cloth to come out.  The banner is the last thing to do.  It has intimidated me for a while but I am almost ready to give it a go.  Here are some recent pics of the progress.

I blocked in the major colors and the first hint of highlight.  There are actually two different units here, distinguished by the color of their skirt.

Here is a close up of two of them, pretty close to done.

On a different note, I have been playing around with the idea of creating a movement tray for them.  Warmachine does not typically have movement trays but I am getting used to fielding two full units at 10+2 officers.  With 24 mini's, I decided to take the plunge.

I went to my local craft store and purchased 1/8 x 4 x 24 piece of Basswood.  It was $2.99, not bad for a movement tray.  After WAY too long trying to figure out the best arrangement and the spacing to put in between the little guys, I drew out my circles on the board and started cutting.

I had purchased a Dremel Multipurpose Cutting Kit #565 but I had never used it before.

Turns out, it works great but it is very loud!  I was afraid my apartment neighbors would call the office on me!  I was out on the patio, which was good because of all the sawdust, but it was very loud.  I used the kit to create the holes in the middle, then I finished them out with a sanding band.  The sanding band was much quieter and was easier to control when I got next to my pencil lines.

You might notice all the pencil lines where I thought the holes would go.  Like I said, it took me a while.

This is what they look like in their new movement tray.  Notice the second board underneath.

I know it is hard to tell from this picture but the 3" blast template can only hit one mini when it is centered on a guy.  I lose about 2" on my back rank's range but I don't get killed with bombards either.  I also hope this will keep some of them out of charge range when it comes to that.

I considered making the tray magnetic but I already have the washers on the bases of the Long Gunners and I decided not to mess with it.  Maybe next time.

The smartest thing I did was use the board as a template for my next movement tray.  I certainly don't want to try all the crazy math and measurements I did on this one.

The dumbest thing I did?  Well, I started putting a unit in the tray to take a picture for the blog and realized I only cut 10 holes.  With the Officer Attachment, I am 2 short!  Dang it!  I will still use it, as I can always put two of the guys to the side or in a back rank.  Still, I am happy with my first attempt.

Thanks for reading!