To magnetize or not..

[CrimsonGuard]

I will soon be building my first 40k army (waiting for my order to arrive) and I'm trying to decide if I should magnetize my army. Weapon choices and edition changes are a lot more prelavent in 40k than I'm used to and I'm not sure how to make sure my army is future proof. Do I magnetize everything? Or just 1 weapon? Or just characters and squad leaders?

I'm also planning on outfitting a lot of models with jump packs whenever possible, should I magnetize those to? Some input on this matter would be greatly appreciated.

[ThatOneMarshal]

Considering that as of right now we only have an index that will soon be surpassed by a full codex i would most definetly magnetize certain things.

 

People tend to magnetize:

 

Special weapons (For example, for a tac squad magentizing a guy to have options for plasma, melta, grav etc).

 

Melee option such as power weapons ( assault termies so that you can give everyone either lightning claws or thunder hammer)

 

Tank weapons like on dreads or on the predator.

 

And jump packs for units like the death company or vanguard veterans who have the option to go without jumpacks.

 

I would reccomend NOT magnetizing every single tactical marines bolt-gun.

 

Hope this helps

Edited June 17, 2017 by ThatOneMarshal

[Crimson Ghost IX]

Magnets are definately your friend and will save you in the long run. Use them as much as you can stand too.

Sometimes I just would rather have it glued to be honest on many models as I hate things falling off and getting misplaced.

 

I think he meant to advise NOT magnetising every boltgun. Perhaps I am wrong, but I would not.

 

Vehicles in my army are highly swappable. Sgts and a couple elite units also here and there.

Other than that I break and do it over every now and then when the edition changes and I want something special.

 

I highly recommend them if you are inclined but dont let it stop you getting on the tables too much.

That is also the only way you are going to decide what YOU want to have swappable.

 

I think you are of the right mind in considering where to use them.

Don't go to nuts but use them to your comfort level is my advice.

 

Maybe start with the things that are obvious to you and decide after that where your comfort level is.

[Arkhanist]

Magnets are basically a money and time saving thing. It takes a bit of time and effort to magnetise stuff certainly. But then you only have to paint the weapon/arm swaps, instead of an entire extra model to change your squad loadout. And of course, you can then use all those options on the sprues without needing to buy as many bodies to put them on.

 

I magnetise special weapons at the right wrist, sgts and veterans at the shoulders and/or wrist, and jump packs on squads that can remove them. For heavy weapon troops I magnetise the heads at the neck, so they can go in a tac squad or dev squad (blue helmet!), but not the weapon itself. You can do the same with assault troops/vanguard/company vets, swap yellow helmets for gold.

 

Turrets you can away without magnetising at first, just don't glue them down! Magnets will make them more secure though if you want. You will need to magnetise side weapons.

 

Dreads weapon arms, you can just use the existing shoulder peg and don't glue. The faceplate can be held in place pretty well with a big blob of blutack on the inside.

 

I don't tend to magnetise characters much; they're either mono weapon loadout anyway, or I want to make them a bit more special with the pose for the specific setup. Maybe a wrist magnet so I can swap a pistol.

 

It does come down to your comfort level with a drill though. I personally use a pin vice drill so it's hard to screw up, but then I'm also old skool

 

Last tips - once you've magnetised your first guy, use him to get your magets the same polarity every time on a particular join, i.e. shoulders are always done the same way. That way you can swap arms between models for certain. You also want the strongest magnets you can get for joins that can 'droop' - nothing sadder than everyone's guns pointing at the floor!

Edited June 17, 2017 by Arkhanist

[CrimsonGuard]

Thanks for your input guys, I really appreciate it! Which size magnets would you advise?

[Arkhanist]

I use 2mm x 1mm for wrists. 3mm x1mm for shoulders, and 3mm x 2mm for packs and heavier arms, N52 discs; N42 are cheaper but weaker. I'm sure someone else can say how that converts to inches! You'll also need drill  bits the same diameter as the disc; 2mm and 3mm in my case.

 

Magnetising arms guide with some more tips; you can use the sam principles for wrists with smaller magnets.

Edited June 19, 2017 by Arkhanist

[TheHarrower]

I magnetized a whole bunch of my stuff. Jump Packs, Special Weapons, etc. I'm totally redoing my army for 8th and honestly I don't think I'm going to bother except for vehicles and maybe special weapons on sergeants. Jump Packs are just a mess. They spin around and all that. Doing it works and does save you money and gives you flexibility, but in the long run it's not a perfect solution.

[Father Mapple]

TheHarrower makes a good point about spinning stuff. That's more a problem if there's only 1 contact point, like jump packs. Usually for fiddly bits, I also do a very small pin of a paper clip to stop the rotation.