Dînadan:
So, what do people think of the news that Marines in Power Armour are now being changed to have 32mm bases?
Thommy H:
They look nicer. I don’t think it makes a lot of difference to anything mechanically but I’m sure there’s already a 308-page thread on Warseer where people are arguing about having to rebase their armies.
Dînadan:
Ruleswise, it shouldn’t change anything, but I think it will have a small impact on gameplay, e.g. less marines fit under templates now. Can’t be arsed to work out the geometry, but I think it may also change the number of marines who can fit around an enemy (and vice versa); although how big that impact will be I’m not sure (and games are probably varied enough to render any such impact negligible).
Wouldn’t be surprised if there are massive threads out there with people moaning about having to rebase entire armies, with those people overlooking the fact that such gripes are meaningless unless GW scraps the ‘use the base it came with rule’ (and even then, that only applies if you only play in GWs or with arseholes). And talking about people moaning about rebasing, on my club’s forums one guy has come out and said he’s refusing to base his new minis on the new size because he doesn’t want to rebase his existing one (as in he only has a single mini painted so far and doesn’t want to rebase it).
torn:
That has just got to be a sales move. No real other logic behind it, unless it is to make space marines even better which is a long term marketing strategy.
cornixt:
Hopefully the new marine models will be closer to the size they are described in the fluff.
Geist:
I am surprised GW waited this long to put out 40k toys on bigger bases. As soon as the blight kings came out for fantasy it was a warning gong. Bases that have been used to define unit types for years now matter not. It is a move on GW’s half to change rules and sell the ever lasting hell out of old ranges.
Bloodbeard:
It looks nice. The miniatures fit much better on those 32mm bases. And compared to the small imperial guard (took me 3 tries - kept writing infer…) it makes perfect sense.
I don’t know a single 40k player that’s not playing highly competitive and in nasty competitive environments. But I don’t think anyone will demand them changing bases. There are space marine, witch hunters, chaos marines everywhere. No one want to invest in new bases and certainly not paint and pimp them.
I am surprised GW waited this long to put out 40k toys on bigger bases. As soon as the blight kings came out for fantasy it was a warning gong. Bases that have been used to define unit types for years now matter not. It is a move on GW’s half to change rules and sell the ever lasting hell out of old ranges.I disagree with this. Sculpters have done there work and bases have been made to fit. The Blight Kings are massive nurgle warriors - every one of them a hero. The miniatures would suck if cramped on small 25 mm bases - would be a hell to line up. So they go on 40 mm bases and are still infantry. No problem with that.
Geist
Thommy H:
Bases have never been used to define unit types - in Warhammer infantry has had two different base sizes since forever and monsters have always been inconsistently based. Same with 40K: Terminators are infantry and they’ve had larger bases for years now.
Grimstonefire:
Hopefully the new marine models will be closer to the size they are described in the fluff.Wait, are they actually resizing the models as well?
cornixt
That seems idiotic and extremely expensive considering how much of their range they'd need to remould.
Dînadan:
I doubt they are - from the White Dwarf cover with the new Blood Angels on it they look like they're the same size and it's only the base that's getting bigger.Hopefully the new marine models will be closer to the size they are described in the fluff.Wait, are they actually resizing the models as well?
cornixt
That seems idiotic and extremely expensive considering how much of their range they'd need to remould.
Grimstonefire
Admiral:
It looks better, but is it obligatory hor players to rebase old Marines?
Thommy H:
Well I’m not changing mine.
Admiral:
I probably won’t either. It’d be a bit harder to pull off my Squats as proxies for something else than Marines if I did. 
Dînadan:
It looks better, but is it obligatory hor players to rebase old Marines?Not sure - the current rule is use the base it came on, so old minis get to stay on 25mm bases, but if GW decide to repeal that rule then you probably will have to if you want to play in GW stores/tourneys (but at home it's up to you as always ;) )
Admiral
Admiral:
GW stores or tournaments. Ah, there’s the key. Other tournaments probably won’t check it, and my Forgefathers would be banned in an instant anyway at a Games Workshop event. 
One point of irritation for customers will be if GW does not replace 28mm bases with 32mm bases in existing kits (not those already out in stores, though). People like consistency and uniformity. As long as bases of the different sizes are available on their own it will dampen annoyment, however.
cornixt:
I figured the resize of the base was just preceding a model upscale too, I've not heard anything about it. Seemed like a typical money-grabbing way to encourage people to get new models - make their current ones look tiny!Hopefully the new marine models will be closer to the size they are described in the fluff.Wait, are they actually resizing the models as well?
cornixt
Grimstonefire
I hope GW at least let people swap out the bases from sets they are buying now that don't match the new size, rather than forcing them to buy the new bases out of their own pockets.
Geist:
Bases have never been used to define unit types - in Warhammer infantry has had two different base sizes since forever and monsters have always been inconsistently based. Same with 40K: Terminators are infantry and they've had larger bases for years now.You are rather wrong on this fact.
Thommy H
When I started playing back in the late 90's bases were used to tell you what was what.
Example:
20mm infantry
25mm infantry
25x50 cav
40mm swarm
50mm monster
Then as time went on we got
50x100mm for chariot
Then the first release of the giant with the following bases:
50mm
50x75mm
So you saying that bases were never used to determine base types isnt just wrong is painfully wrong.
Zuh-Khinie:
Weird, my Great Taurus and Lamassu came supplied with a 40mm base, I didn’t know they classified as swarms…
Basesize was more a guideline than law for GW when determining the unit type, though most of the time basesizes corresponded with the unit types as stated above.
I would think twice before saying Thommy’s wrong, 90+% of the time he’s dead-on right.
On-topic: I’m curious to see how many people’ll rebase their entire army… everyone I know that plays marines redid their terminators, but an entire army? Ouch!
Thommy H:
So you saying that bases were never used to determine base types isnt just wrong is painfully wrong.Um...
Geist
20mm infantry
25mm infantry
Geist
Fuggit Khan:
I figured the resize of the base was just preceding a model upscale too, I've not heard anything about it.I was thinking along these lines as well. In addition to GW models I also build military models in various scales from 1/72 to 1/350 scale. I've noticed a common trend among the big model manufacturers (Tamiya, Bandai, etc) over the past 10 years that more and more models are being issued in larger scales. The smaller scales are slowly falling by the wayside, whereas 1/72 used to be the most popular for aircraft models, most new releases are in a very large 1/32 scale. And where 1/700 was the standard for ship models, more and more are being issued in a massive 1/350 scale. They cost quite a bit more naturally (and are much more detailed), but talking to local hobby shop owners, they all say the same thing: people are still spending the same $, but buying one big kit versus 4 smaller kits...so the stores still make the same amount of sales, but with a smaller inventory. My guess is that GW has not ignored the trend among larger model companies to slowly up-size models to capitalize profits (GW may be the biggest gaming model manfacturer, but they pale in size and dollar comparison to the likes of Tamiya, Bandai, Revell, etc). Let's face it, bigger models are eye catchers, thrills new hobbyists and makes people say Oooh! Ahhh! And sales stay the same with smaller inventories.
cornixt
Even Peter Jackson owns a model company, Wingnut Wings, which makes exclusively larger (and expensive!) 1/32 WWI aircraft models (and they are beautiful models!)
Weird, my Great Taurus and Lamassu came supplied with a 40mm base, I didn't know they classified as swarms...Excellent points ;)
I would think twice before saying Thommy's wrong, 90+% of the time he's dead-on right.
Zuh-Khinie