Basing your Miniatures

[diehard]

OK, I'm ready to primer my first batch of UMW minis. Now, I've been gaming and painting on and off since the late eighties and have had many miniatures from many different lines. Which goes without saying, many different base styles also. Now, as much as i prefer the nice rounded Warmachine type bases over the GW beveled type, either that I have used it always struck me that the lengths you go to paint your miniature, give it a decent base, and perhaps make some nice terrain, and when you play the effect is kind of spoiled by these black circles around everybody.

Granted, some games use the base to designate things like field of vision, front and rear arcs, facing and so forth so there is that to consider. But then all your scenery has to account for that when you consider placement of your models. You can't stick a Warmachine base anywhere but on the main path of the old GW foam cemetery piece, but the slight size difference of the GW round base allowed you to place figures throughout the piece.

So I've decided not to bade my SA minis. The integrated bases are nice enough to fit in pretty easy and the figures stand pretty good so far. While I might use washers for troublesome ones and things like the tombstones I think I'm going to take the minimalist approach here. And while I have a bit of the GW fantasy scenery (the only stuff of theirs I like anymore) I do plan on some special ieces for SA so I think this will benefit me their also.

And so, thinking of all this, I wondered what others preferences were, so I decided to ask. And anyway, we need more conversations going on, let's liven this place up a little. Ftaghn baby! 

[Mathyoo]

I base mine primarily on 25mm slotta bases (and I never played any of GW games ), I like the added height myself and I never liked lipped bases, those are just too large.

I use 25mm for anything human sized, then anything from 30-50 for others...mostly by the feel but I was having a problem deciding on a base size as some games are really strict about it. Once you get in your head to new options, there really isn't anything preventing your base to be whatever size you find best. My flying nightmare is based on plasticard, but other than that, its mostly slotta bases.

[von Lucky]

I also like the GW round slottabases, painting it all in the same colour (never been a fan of the black edge, but I can understand why you do it when you've been gaming for years and want to keep the collection consistent).

I think round 25mm washers would solve your issue - allowing all models to get the same treatment (difficult ones or not). In the end it's your choice - there is no one right way to do it.

[Mason]

Over theyears I have probably used every type of base going, from slottas to washers to coins, to MDF etc...

I now mostly use either two pence coins or 25mm washers for human sized figures as I want my figures to be as multi-use as possible.
My entire SA collection has been based this way, with the larger creatures on 2mm thick MDF bases to blend in.

I will stick with this method in future for most of my projects but will use other stuff where it is more appropriate or where I already have a system in place.
All of my figures for Mordheim are on standard slottas, for instance, and I cannot face rebasing them all, so I will continue in this manner when adding to them.

The same goes for my 40mm Hellboy stuf.
They are on various sized lipped bases, which I liked at the time but almost hate now for anything else.
They do seem to work for 40mm scale, though.
Weird!

Everything else will be flatter bases, coins or washers or MDF in future.

[pacarat]

For Pulp and SA I'm planning to do 25mm slotta bases for human sized figs, and ovals of various dimensions for larger or four legged creatures.

For zombie / post apoc it's a combination of 25mm slotta, and 1.5mm plywood circles (for those figs like BLue Moon that have full bases already).


I have a large order in to Litko, and waiting patiently for that to arrive so I can get my creatures based up...

Having said all that I see that Reaper' Bones KS now has a new (to me, anyway) style of one inch base. Flat recessed top with thin raised lip, no slot. I'm backing that, so will be picking up a bunch of those. Been looking around for a while for just that style.

[has.been]

Over the years I too have used lots of different bases. Now I tend to use 1p or 2p coins for most things as I mainly skirmish with 28mm figures.
If I am updating my basing (older figures getting a facelift or 2nd hand figures being tarted up) I use slotta bases (Either round for skirmish or square for units) BUT I like them upside down, because:-
Increased height means 25mm match in better with 28mm figures;
the black edge is much less noticable as you look down on the table;
the character's name can be put on the base (I use a white gel pen) and it is (partially)hidden;
the 'hollow' nature of the base makes it much easier to show things like puddles/swamps/ toxic pools IN the base.

[smokezombie]

I use 25mm slota for my SA stuff and Mordheim... Mainly because I have a tonn of them still.
My EOTD is going on lipped bases because I'm trying to be fancy

[D@rth J@ymZ]

All I use are 25mm washers now.  I keep a large bin of every other type but never use them, I just give them to friends when they need them.  Washers provide a low profile and have a weight that keeps minis balanced on the table, especially when placed precariously on certain scenery.

[EndTransmission]

For my skirmish games I am slowly switching over to clear Perspex bases without any other basing so that they can be used for any terrain. It just seems odd to be standing on a grassy mound while in a dungeon, or cobblestones on a space ship

[D@rth J@ymZ]

I just used some clear bases as an experiment as was quite pleased with the result.   
"They may still be of some use..."

[Connectamabob]

It depends on what you do with your minis and how you perceive their role, I guess.

If I were an army builder, I suppose I'd favor the GW-style bases or coins/washers for consistency. If I perceived my minis as just a means to the gaming, I prolly wouldn't care too much how it looked, as long as it was cheap and did the job of holding the mini upright.

I kinda take pride in my minis though. I enjoy building/painting them as a hobby in it's own right, and so to me they're more like display pieces you can also game with than game pieces you can also display, if that makes sense. As such I find most of the common basing solutions (plastic bases, resin bases emulating the plastic bases, coins, washers, etc.) to be ugly and incongruous.

To me the the base's rim is basically the 3D equivalent of the frame of a painting. If your hobby was oil painting on canvas, would you frame your work in a classy wood frame before hanging it, or would you just slap a 2$ plastic poster frame 'round it?

So I'm constantly looking for stuff to use as a "classy" base that fits aesthetically to a given figure. Best general use solution I've found is agate and hematite rings like these:




(Note: I'm not endorsing the vendors those pics are from, they're just images I picked out of a Google search) These are a bit irregular in diameter and height as bases, but they look great and are usually only like a buck each. Hematite goes good with everything (because black, duh), but agates come in all kinds of colors and patterns and such, so if you dig you can often find ones that compliment a specific paint job. Sometimes you can even find magnetized hematite rings.

Put masking tape across the bottom, and fill them in with epoxy (glue, not putty) to about 1mm below the rim, and from there the procedure is the same as for a plain DS-style resin base.

But I'll  use other things too, depending on the figure and what I can find. Like an antique-looking watch bezel for a steampunk figure, say, or a wee Japanese porcelain inkwell for a geisha. My only rule (apart from "must look nice") is it has to be something I can use with a natural finish: if it's painted or has to be painted, it might as well be resin, and I lose that classy picture frame thing I'm going for.

I've never built an army, but if I did, I think I might use coins appropriate to the subject, and leave them unturfed so the actual coin itself would be a framing motif for the figures. So, say, for an army of Roman soldiers, I'd source a pile of identical replicas of a period Roman Empire coin and use those.

But that's merely how I roll personally. YMMV, of course.

[smokezombie]

Top reply that man! I like your ideas. Especially for steampunk stuff. Those colourful rings would work well for bloodbowl.

[Bergh]

Clear transparent bases are really appealing too me!
I'm just to lazy to cut and pin all my miniatures.

I'm using 25mm plastic bases from Renedra as standard, sometimes slottabases.

[Tas]

I use different basing for different game types, reflecting difference preferences over the years, or for functionality.
- For example my Blood Bowl figs are all on GW slotta bases which fit nicely on the pitch.  No brainer.
- My Dark Ages figures are all on 20mm square magnetised bases, both for storage and to cling to movement trays if I want to do massed battles.
- Now I have started placing my 'premium' figs (for SA, and the like) onto those lipped bases everyone else seems to hate.  I think they are classy fr the small handful of figs required.

Whatever you do, good basing makes an average fig good and a good fig great - well worth the effort and expense on extras like grass tufts etc

[superflytnt]

I use 30mm Armskeeper bases for everything that they will fit on, 40-50mm for larger. I try to envelop the entire model's outline, weapons and otherwise, in an imaginary cylinder that extends from the base diameter upward so that any models that are base-to-base will never have any part of them touch another.