Earlier in the year I went to the Warbases stand at Salute, hoping to pick up a bag of their casualty markers to try out. They were out of stock and the idea went out of my mind. At the SoA Convention last week, however, I got to see some of these casualty markers in action with David Brown's Vexillarius game. I liked the look of them and placed an order that arrived promptly a couple of days ago.
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| Several casualty markers on the table at the crunch point of last week's Vexillarius battle, blending in much better than the various other markers. |
Each bag contains parts for 5 casualty markers. Assembly is easy, requiring only a couple of dobs of PVA glue on either side of the central lug that connects the base and top, and round which the number wheel rotates. Using the wheel to help centre the lug when positioning it on the base makes sure of a neat outcome. The only care needed is to keep glue off the wheel piece.
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| Parts from one bag, lugs already glued to bases. The only oddity I have found is that with each bag opened so far, one of the cutout windows on the top piece is smaller than the others (see top right in picture). This is not a problem with numbers below 10 but may cause some uncertainty when showing 10 to 12 as parts of the number are obscured. |
I have bought the 30mm wide markers, the smallest that Warbases do. These are ample for 10mm figures and fit 20mm figures. For larger scale figures they do a 40mm diameter marker.
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| Measuring up against some 20mm figures. |
My original aim had been to make removable tops, so that Napoleonic casualties could be swapped out for Ancients, Thirty Years War or other eras as required - or to use them as non casualty markers when other things need to be tracked. Having now been able to look at their construction and size closely, I think this is feasible for 20mm figures. I will not glue the top plate to the centre lug but drill a couple of holes through this and fix a couple of pegs to the top that line up with these holes to hold it in place and prevent it rotating with the number wheel. The top plates as supplied can do for one set of casualty figures. More 30mm circular bases with a notch cut out can be used for other sets.
For use with 10mm scale figures, however, I think that these markers are going to look too bulky. Before any figures are placed on top each already stands 6.5mm high. Set against the thin metal sabots on which the 10mm Thirty Years War army figures are mounted I think the impression will be a bit odd. So, it may be the case that I make my own markers using the same principles but substituting stiff but much thinner material in place of mdf. How to do that as simply as possible is the next question.
Along with the casualty markers came an assortment of small bases and parts for a 15mm Roman city wall with a couple of towers and a gate, to use as scenery along the edge of ancient battlefields - and in time maybe expand into a full city for siege games. Instead of the expected city gate a villa gate came with the package. However, excellent customer service from Diane at Warbases has seen me fixed up to return the wrong gate and pick up the right one when I visit their stall at the Reading Wargames Associations 'Warfare Convention' next week. Doubtless there will be other swag to carry away as well.
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