u/xXTurkXx

Hey all, relatively new to the hobby here. I've got a solid group that meets twice a month or so in the far southwest burbs, and I'm looking to expand—ideally picking up weekday games too. Currently running Dwarves, but I'm here to connect with more players and get more games in. Im located near Berwyn and sometimes Bolingbrook.

Hey all, I'm building a Barak Varr themed Dwarfen Mountain Holds army (Clan Barak Kharl, "Sea Lords") and I'm trying to find thematic basing idea. Would love opinions, especially from anyone who's actually executed something similar at army scale. Collection is around 200 models so whatever I pick I'm committing to for a long time. My three ideas below (all are honestly incredibly hard to execute cleanly to be honest)

Idea 1: Rocky cliffs with sea underneath

The dramatic one. Models elevated on cliff-style bases with crashing waves below, dwarfs holding the high ground over the gulf.

Pros: Looks incredible on display. Strong Barak Varr identity (the hold is literally carved into sea cliffs). Centerpiece-worthy.

Cons: Raising the models has real LOS implications in Old World, my gunline becomes easier to see and shoot over screens. Ranking up cliff-based models next to flat-based characters gets fiddly. Storage and transport gets harder fast. And executing this consistently across 200 models is a serious time investment.

Idea 2: Units ranked as if they're on ships at sea

Models sit flat on standard bases, but the movement trays are built up into ship hulls — bulwarks, masts, the works. Each unit is its own vessel. Sea water sculpted on the tray base around the models.

Pros: Visually unique. Tells a strong narrative, the army arrives by fleet. Movement trays carry the storytelling so the model bases stay simple, which is great at scale.

Cons: The ship hulls lock the formation. Old World units reform, lose models off the back rank, change frontages, get joined by characters who sit adjacent — none of that works cleanly when the unit's "tray" is a sculpted ship. I'd basically be fighting the rules every game. Probably better as a centerpiece treatment for war machines and one or two units rather than the whole army.

Idea 3: Drydock / shipyard

Models flat on bases, but the bases and trays represent the working drydocks of Barak Varr, stone basin floor, timber scaffolding, iron rivets, sawdust, tar puddles, with shipyard props (rope coils, tools, barrels) scattered around. The army as the engineers and marines moving through the dockyards.

Pros: Solves the problems of the other two, flat bases, no LOS issues, no formation lock. Strong canon hook (Barak Varr's drydocks are famous). Leans into the engineering/gunline identity of the army.

Cons: Hard to execute cleanly on small bases. A 25mm dwarf base has very little real estate for shipyard props once the dwarf is on it, and I'm not sure the theme reads at tabletop distance without becoming visual noise. Might work better as a contingent (Engineers, war machines, Burlok, Bugman's, Anvil) rather than the whole army.

Any other cleaner ideas maybe? I love all the ones above thematically but i dont know how realistic they are within the rules of the game.

Thanks in advance!

GW basically says to proxy longbeards. Which is fine, but honestly id rather proxy my much cheaper warriors lol. But if i didnt want to proxy and i wanted to build a unique unit, what's an acceptable way to kitbash?