Poll - basing my Genestealers and other stuff

[weismonsters]

Hello.

I have just aquired the first edition space hulk set. I have a genestealer cult army and some marines and various other Rogue Tradery stuff. I am wondering whether to do everything on sulaco bases (I have the Fenris ones in mind) which could be used with the space-hulk tiles and also with some possible city/spaceship scenery for wargaming. Alternatively i could do them all with sort of gravel bases so as to be generic, but then they would look funny on spacehulk board. Or i could do a mix of the above. At the moment i dont have any gaming table or anyone to play with, so i am edging towards the sulaco bases route.

Any feedback would be good.
Thanks.

[harleyface]

Hello

Have based a terminator squad on fenris sulaco bases
they look great
works extremly well for space hulk
im not playing 40 k anymore but still love space hulk
For me it was a perfect decision...

[aliensurfer]

clear bases?

[Mason]

Generic all the way for me.

In fact, my boards are going to stay generic so that as many things as possible work.

Just chuck some sand on the Space Hulk board when you play.
It could be a crashed hulk where sand has gotten inside...

[Michka]

I say go with all Space Hulk bases. I ended up going with a flat streaky grey style base for all my science fiction and modern stuff, purely so I can mix and match. It works most of the time, but occasionally I wish I had something sexier.

[beefcake]

Aliensurfer has it right. Clear bases. Fenris sells them as well. If you were set on specific bases though I'd go all battlefield but seeing as its a genestealer cult base the stealers on ones that look like roading or concrete. That way they will fit a battlefield or a spacehulk, or I guess they will fit neither. :\

[Vanvlak]

clear bases?

I had a similar dilemma, and this solution was suggested - I haven't tried it yet, but I agree that this could be the best way out.

[Cosmotiger]

My compromise solution for sci fi bases is gravel painted in shades of gray. Sort of works for interior and exterior, and matches my urban rubble terrain pieces.

[Modhail]

My (fledgeling) Space Marine "army" and my (nascent) Genestealer Cult are both offshoots of my Space Hulk project, here's what I've done:
-Any item that is expected to see regular use inside the Space Hulk (i.e. all Terminators and Genestealers, Genestealer Hybrids with weapons that occur on the SH blip list) get fully Space Hulk bases.
-Any items that won't see regular use in the Space Hulk get bases with a mixture of Ash Wastes (like Cosmotigers shades of gray) and parts/elements from the Space Hulk bases, as a sort of debris/wreckage. The ratios of debris to ash vary, according to how likely the unit is to be found inside a Space Hulk (so for example, a Techmarine or servitor gets more debris and less ash, where scouts and bikes get mostly ash with maybe one or two bits of debris.

This way I get to do all Space Hulk bases, and still tie the army together thematically through their bases.

[weismonsters]

Thanks for all the suggestions folks. I am in a state of extreme indecision atm. Acrylic basing is an interesting idea but I am a bit wary because it may be hard to avoid the minis being top heavy and also some of the older minis feet do not fit flush with the base and need either some basing material or some straightening out to make them look right.

[Cosmotiger]

-Any items that won't see regular use in the Space Hulk get bases with a mixture of Ash Wastes (like Cosmotigers shades of gray)

I tried using 50 shades.
But that got too weird.

[Commander Vyper]

Fenris Games sulacco bases FTW!!

[weismonsters]

Well it is neck and neck at the moment, as we go into the final furlong.

I am still firmly in the undecided camp.

[Connectamabob]

There wasn't a poll option for what I'd do.

I kinda mentally treat minis as an extension of markers rather than literal snapshots of that unit in the actual environment. So with characters/heroes I approach basing the same way I would a the background in a renascence portrait painting of the subject, rather than as a part of the gaming board environment/terrain. With mooks (or armies) I like something that fits the theme of the unit rather than that of the game/board/terrain. Like roman coins for legionnaire bases, or the federation seal for Starfleet spaceship bases.

For GW space marines that'd mean a seal/medallion of the logo for whatever chapter I'd be painting them as (probably just a single laser-cut one I can use as a putty stamp to make as many identical bases as I want). Genestealers don't have iconography, so for them I'd use hive-y organic bases, like these:
https://www.coolminiornot.com/shop/bases-2/microartstudio-bases/hive-bases-round-25mm-5.html
https://www.coolminiornot.com/shop/bases-2/secret-weapon-miniatures-bases-1/beveled-edge-25mm-alien-invasion-10.html

My logic is unless you only play one specific game in one specific setting, no base that tries to replicate/blend in with the tabletop can ever really satisfy. It's n obvious impossibility. You can deal in terms of what the most likely terrain will be, or what games/settings you play most often, but the moment you step outside those conditions your desire for terrain-matched bases will hurt you instead of help you. Forcing yourself to match terrain is building a box for yourself, ensuring failure. So rejecting that "need" and converting the inevitable contrasts to a stylistic asset is the way to consistent happiness. The standard "tufts and-sand" bases sort of try to do this, but fail because they're wishy-washy: they're still fundamentally trying to be the tabletop, and as such they predictably fail. At best they "succeed" like elevator music: by failing in a uniformly inoffensive way instead of having satisfying/disappointing highs/lows. By going iconographic with your bases, you solve the problem completely.

[phreedh]

My compromise solution for sci fi bases is gravel painted in shades of gray. Sort of works for interior and exterior, and matches my urban rubble terrain pieces.

What cosmo said... just do that.