Bases for all terrain. Neutral bases

[Ethelred the Almost Ready]

Thanks for the replies.
For some reason I thought metal figures needed pinning clear plastic due to the small contact.  I also thought cutting away the integral base would take time and be difficult.  I did a trial with just clippers and as file on a spare figure - no problems.

Clear bases it will be.

[eilif]

Thanks for the replies.
For some reason I thought metal figures needed pinning clear plastic due to the small contact.  I also thought cutting away the integral base would take time and be difficult.  I did a trial with just clippers and as file on a spare figure - no problems.

Clear bases it will be.

Just know that a tumble to the floor will knock a flat footed metal figure off of any base. If you're a careful gamer that's no big deal but it's something to keep in mind.

I don't pin, but for nearly all metal figures I cut the integral base or slotta tab down to a peg under each foot and cut holes for those pegs in the base.

[Daeothar]

I've been doing the following for years:

About a decade ago, I had a liter of wall paint mixed to approximate the then current GW Graveyard Earth (which basically is a slightly desaturated raw umber). I use this paint as the base on the ground surfaces of all* my terrain projects, regardless of setting and background.

It is neutral enough to go with anything really; desert, grassland, jungle, urban; you name it.

The same paint I also use on all of my miniature bases. But I do make a slight difference between scifi and fantasy/historical bases; the scifi ones get dry/dead flocking/static grass, while the other settings get a more verdant treatment. The same is also done on all of my terrain pieces.

This means I can use the same tabletop with all settings, and can even change out terrain pieces without them looking out of place.

My method is one of the long view, but I'm pretty happy with it, as nothing is too specificly based to stand out on/next to any of my terrain.



* Not all; my recent arctic tabletop and accompanying buildings are completely snow covered, so these form the exception to the rule

[Malebolgia]

For my fantasy I went with neutral grey stone bases. I like the look and they look great on all surfaces IMO. First I went with Renedra:



And now mdf bases with Miliput, textured with Green Stuff World texture pins:



Really happy with how they look on the table.

[Dolmot]

I have used the "slightly brownish highlighted sand" recipe for my whole pulp/gangster/mythos collection since 2008. It may not fit absolutely everything, but it doesn't look that distracting in any of the common settings either. The exact combination of washes and highlights has varied, but the general look hasn't. Sometimes I may use more brown or grey a mix if some mini seems to benefit from a specific tone, but more often it's just pseudo-random, depending on how much brown or black ends up in the washes.

As a curious detail, the bases themselves are actually thin, 23mm-ish magnetic base inserts, which would fit a 30mm lipped base or maybe the top of a 25mm GW round base with a matching metal sheet. However, I don't really use any extra base there. The insert itself is just fine and minimal, further reducing the attention to them.

With varying amounts of sand it's pretty easy to cover any flat or broccoli bases or slotta tabs of minis as needed (if not cut off). You can even build it up with something like a penny and/or more sand to address an odd height difference here and there.

To save a thousand words, maybe a random LPL season collection comes in handy to show various examples of characters, manufacturers and settings.

https://leadadventureforum.com/index.php?topic=101985.0