Basing tips needed

[KGatch113]

So I am putting a variety of Oathmark, Fireforge etc miniatures on round bases. I am not going to be cutting the integral attached ( puddle) bases off.

What's the easiest and hopefully cheapest way to fill in around the tab so the miniature does not look raised up??? I will be using 25mm round bases that I already have and will not be changing.

Thanks!

[Pattus Magnus]

I use pumice gel (acrylic paste with pumice sand mixed in. It gives a gently rounded “hill” effect. It isn’t perfectly flat, but I find that with a bit of dry brush and flock the bases blend visually into the table.

[Ogrob]

I'm fairly unbothered by minis being a little bit raised, so I just use pva to glue sand down. After paint and some grass tufts the puddle bases hardly stand out.

[Silent Invader]

I thought that Oathmark and Fireforge were on puddle bases rather than tabs. 

Anyways, I treat both types of base similarly, by cutting back to either remove excess diameter of puddle or excess height of tab. Stick to the round base with superglue, then ‘mound’ sand around from the feet of the mini outwards, also fixed with superglue.

If your preference isn’t too cut back the excess base then depending on its type you’d have either a wider mound or a taller mound.

Bloody Miniatures on puddle bases:





Hasslefree Miniatures on tab bases:

[zemjw]

I'm starting to feel like the annoying person who keep trying to tell you about their favourite TV show, but I'm popping up again to throw recessed bases into consideration

From this thread, some basing escapades with Foundry skeletons and a completed Female Frostgrave soldier. Her original base is still fully attached.



Major Gilbear found Miniature Heroes selling plastic versions - link

[Silent Invader]

For the OP that might actually be the best solution, because it’s probably the easiest way to seamlessly hide an intact base (for those that don’t want to mutilate their minis  )

[ced1106]

Annoy away!

Take a look at lipped bases. These aren't Reaper, but I know Reaper had these bases which you could use either end up.

You can also use a flat base, put the mini on the base, and build up some greenstuff around it. Add some texture to the greenstuff while you're at it!

[zemjw]

my (personal) issue with the lipped bases is that the edge is curved out. Mixing and matching that style with the straight edged standard slotta is a fingernails down the blackboard situation for me

I also found the indent on those bases is pretty tiny, generally under 1mm. Most integral bases are between 1.2 and 1.6mm thick

Upside down slottas sounds interesting, although I feel that would trigger me as well

When slottas first came out I hated them with a passion. I used to clip off the tab, make a blob of Miliput and push the feet into that, so emulate the standard base type of the time. Now I seem to do everything possible to put everything on slottas. I fear I may be getting weirder as I'm getting older

[Major_Gilbear]

my (personal) issue with the lipped bases is that the edge is curved out. Mixing and matching that style with the straight edged standard slotta is a fingernails down the blackboard situation for me

Same for me - one base style for an army. Different bases for different armies or games? No problem. But no mixing within a an army!

I also found the indent on those bases is pretty tiny, generally under 1mm. Most integral bases are between 1.2 and 1.6mm thick

Fenris Games do some deeper-recess ones: link.

When slottas first came out I hated them with a passion. I used to clip off the tab, make a blob of Miliput and push the feet into that, so emulate the standard base type of the time. Now I seem to do everything possible to put everything on slottas. I fear I may be getting weirder as I'm getting older

It's always been a complete mystery to me why puddle/broccoli bases and slotta tabs continue to be a thing... It's usually just wasted metal or plastic mould tooling. Instead, I reckon figures should have 3mm diameter posts on the bottoms of their feet - easy enough to drill any base of your choice and drop the model in that way, with no need for pinning. Plus, if you want to clip the pegs shorter or even off, it's dead easy to do so without damaging the model. Ah well.

[Hobgoblin]

One thing I've found handy to disguise thick integral bases is to add some stones (aquarium gravel or small stones from the garden) to the base. If you add one or two at the edge of the integral base and then put pumice gel or whatever around that, you can avoid the impression that the figure is standing on a small hillock. It's also a handy technique for mixing and matching slottabased figures with integrally based figures (e.g. if basing both on slotta-type bases). Essentially, because the stones form the highest points of the 'ground', they draw attention away from any central mound.

[Onebigriver]

I use a ring of flattened modelling clay, shape it with a clay sculpting tool, dab on some superglue, cover the clay with the glue using a cocktail stick.

[snitcythedog]

Stick to the round base with superglue, then ‘mound’ sand around from the feet of the mini outwards, also fixed with superglue.

+1 on this method.  Works a treat, is quick and is cheap. 

[Elbows]

Yep, I just do the "basing material" to hide the puddle base, and don't notice it much myself.  However, everyone has their own peculiar bugbears about what annoys them in the hobby.  For the people who can't stand the puddle base "rise", I think the lipped bases make sense.

[Major_Gilbear]

To be fair Elbows, it depends on how big the rise is as well; thin 1mm stuff is not too bad at all, and you can even trim it away without much effort if it bothers you; but thicker ones are often much harder to hide or remove, and those huge lumpy broccoli bases that Reaper have favoured over the years are @%$#ing awful. 

[eilif]

I used to mix sheetrock paint texture with brown paint until it got really thick and muddy. It's cheap and you can mix it into any paint. You end up with "Magic Mud"  that textures and hides cast-on bases in one step. And since it's already colored, you just give it a quick drybrush to highlight.