diff --git a/ansible/gold-master.yml b/ansible/gold-master.yml
index 7e9c67319682b374f66c5d3d9365667aa5cfd973..e279e03d7ec78f34d72ad782b715ab6cfc5dc30b 100644
--- a/ansible/gold-master.yml
+++ b/ansible/gold-master.yml
@@ -23,20 +23,8 @@
             type: nic
 
 - hosts: gold-master
-  tasks:
-    - apt: update_cache=yes cache_valid_time=3600
-    - apt: pkg={{item}} state=latest
-      with_items:
-        - vim
-        - traceroute
-        - mtr-tiny
-        - nmap
-        - strace
-        - sysstat
-        - hdparm
-        - pciutils
-        - zip
-        - unzip
+  roles:
+    - container_base
 
 - hosts: localhost
   tasks:
diff --git a/ansible/roles/container_base/tasks/main.yml b/ansible/roles/container_base/tasks/main.yml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..e21d4fa4c4144c046192552801a281498bf6104a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/ansible/roles/container_base/tasks/main.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,15 @@
+# These are the packages and customisations which should appear in *every* container
+
+- apt: update_cache=yes cache_valid_time=3600
+- apt: pkg={{item}} state=latest
+  with_items:
+    - vim
+    - traceroute
+    - mtr-tiny
+    - nmap
+    - strace
+    - sysstat
+    - hdparm
+    - pciutils
+    - zip
+    - unzip