After a long silence, I have some practical progress to report! The WW2 Desert Army for the Commonwealth is now fully based. There was much (laboured) cutting of 2mm thick plastic sheets to make bases, sandpapering the surface to make it 'take' glue from the models. Above is a pic of the standard British Eighth Army Infantry Division - 9 Infantry battalions/regiments, 2 Artillery batteries, an HQ, Recon battalion, and 3 motor transports.
The models in various stages - unpainted, base-coat sprayed, and with some details painted on pre-dipping.