How do you base your pulp miniatures?

[Cadet13]

Title says it all. I've been painting up some figures for some Pulp games in anticipation of the arrival of the Pulp Alley rules in the mail (my Christmas present to myself this year ) and I'm at an impasse as to how to base them. I've become dissatisfied with my old basing syle, and I'd like to know how others base their figures. Also, seeing as Pulp games tend to span the globe, I'm wondering if anyone does anything special with their figure basing to address changing terrain.

I'd love to hear what y'all have to say.

-Chuck

[FramFramson]

Probably going to use pennies. As for the texture, I'll probably go with the usual "sand with a few tufts to keep it ambiguous", only adding a few broken plaster chips which will look like rocks or paving stones to make it even more ambiguous.

[d phipps]

Title says it all. I've been painting up some figures for some Pulp games in anticipation of the arrival of the Pulp Alley rules in the mail (my Christmas present to myself this year ) and I'm at an impasse as to how to base them. I've become dissatisfied with my old basing syle, and I'd like to know how others base their figures. Also, seeing as Pulp games tend to span the globe, I'm wondering if anyone does anything special with their figure basing to address changing terrain.

Scrolling through this thread might give you some good examples of what some other folks are doing -- http://leadadventureforum.com/index.php?topic=58502.0

Although our heroes may be globe-trotting adventurers, we tend to play our games on the same table. So we tried to make our bases fit the table that we play on the most.

If you're planning to do most of your games in deserts/mountains/wilderness type areas, you can pretty much get away with a neutral earthtone. These are on 25mm metal washers --



Here's another good link worth clicking through. I think this will have even more examples -- http://leadadventureforum.com/index.php?topic=54250.0



And then there's our current insanity. Here are some home-made clear plastic bases we're thinking about using for our Vice Alley campaign. Rather than 25mm diameter, we made these 20mm (penny-sized).








Thanks for playing Pulp Alley. I hope you have lots of fun!

[Wirelizard]

Pennies all the way. You'll hear people say a 28mm figure won't fit on a penny, but provided you're OK with the occasional toe or heel sticking over the edge, every single ordinary 28mm figures I own is on pennies.

I even do cavalry, MGs and oversized monsters on multiple pennies with the gaps filled with putty, because I'm so used to reaching for the penny mug when basing stuff, and it works!

Canada has recently stopped making pennies, which could eventually be a problem, but I have an old cracked pint beer mug on a shelf over my workbench that's 2/3rd full of pennies so I'm set for years, plus the Yanks are still cranking out pennies and they're the same size as Canadian pennies!

Also, you can't beat the price. Every single 28mm figure I own has probably cost me about $5 in pennies, absolute maximum...

[pahoota]

I mount all my miniature figures on clear round pieces of scrap plastic, like the ones in Dave's pictures.  I usually then use wall repair tape and Durham's water putty to texture the base; I've never thought about just leaving the clear plastic as is.

[Cubs]

1p or 2p coins, roughly 20mm and 25mm diameter respectively.

Can't go wrong with generic grey/brown sand texture.

[Tom Reed]

I mostly use metal fender washers, 7/8" and up.
I can get a box of 100 for a decent price.

[pistolpete]

i use US nickels for 28mm figure bases as they're a little bit bigger, heavier, thicker than pennies.  i use pennies for 20mm figures.  dirt cheap and easy to find.  only draw back is you can't magnetize them for storage/movement trays.

i use pumice or rail road tallus as basing material and tend to paint it in neutral tan/desert yelow color.  some tufts are on my holiday list.

[magokiron]

25mm washers for me.

I fill the base with epoxy putty to conceal the integral base or to attach the "slotta" tab.

When the mini is completely painted, I paint the base a mid brown and then I glue sand and tufts to it.

In my town some craft stores sell several shades of sand, so I try to get the colour I like, and don't bother painting over it, as the raw sand works for me.

IMO that's "generic" enough for pretty much any setting we play on the table.

In my experience, once the bullets start flying, and your character punches his/her enemies on the face, you tend to forget about the actual bases. 

Best wishes.

[pistolpete]

a guy i know paints the bottom of his bases if/when they go down either accidentally or by game condition.

[Mad Lord Snapcase]

I use 25mm penny repair washers, £3.18 for 50 on eBay (http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/250624924587?ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1439.l2649)

Then I cover over with plaster repair, paint sand and add various tufts and stones. I like the thinner look to bases using a washer.

[MatrixGamer]

I use one inch by one inch wooden craft square (because I have a gazillions of them). And I use the same for both 25mm and 15mm figs. Makes for a nice consistency of look. Then I glue on sand, paint and dry brush.

That being said I'm not playing a commercial set of rules. If you are then do what works for them.

[Stepman3]

Fender washers, grey pumice, let dry, paint, highlight, grass tufts...

[Orctrader]

Various.  LINK

[Bluebear]

I am more-or-less in your position.  I've painted a bunch of figures (over 50) the past two weeks and I'm waiting to base them.

A number of the figures I have show figures with widely spread legs stretching out about 25mm . . . so I decided to go with that as a standard base width.  I then ordered a bunch (okay, 200) hexagonal 25mm bases from Litko.

When they get here I'll most likely use Ceramcoat's "Light Avacado" paint as my base color.  It matches my ground cloth almost perfectly but is also unobtrusive when placed on a "desert" color. 

Thus I would suggest the same thing that a previous poster did.  Think about the surface you will normally be playing on and try to match that.


-- Jeff