"Using letter tiles as 25mm bases." Topic

I'm still relatively new to miniature gaming, so I'm just starting to build up my miniature collections. The problem is I live in a great wasteland of gaming, where there are no stores within at least a 3 hr drive that sell anything but D&D or Warhammer -- and nothing in terms of bases for 25-28mm figures.

So instead of ordering online, I came up with another solution. I found a set of 88 alphabet tiles retailing for $5.30 USD at Staples (Made by Eureka). They are 1-inch square (a hair breadth larger than 25mm), recessed, and made of thin, hard plastic:

link

I found they worked quite well with my figures. The back recess allows you to add some sand or other material for basing:

link

And if you have several figures that look the same, or nearly so, you can use the letters on bottom to distinguish them:

link

The tiles are white, but after basing, I just use a permanent marker to darken the rim. I'm happy with the result:

link

Cost is a plus. Compared to bases made for miniatures, these tiles cost 6 cents per tile compared to 25 to 35 cents per base from a gaming manufacturer. And they come pre-cut, so no spurs.

The downside is they are only good for human-size figures or smaller, and the recesses are not wide enough miniatures with very wide stances to stand with their fronts facing straight at an edge (i.e. the figures must be set diagonally within the recess.) To me these are only minor issues, though.

(PS. Be kind -- my painting skills are not particularly great.)

Note: Edited for spelling.

I should also mention the letter tiles don't have slots, but I guess that is obvious.

Looks good enough to me! Great find:)

TheCG

That is a GREAT idea! I just ran out of bases and was thinking of ordering some, but I think that I will pop down to Staples. Thanks.

Good idea!

Those look great. I see you are putting the letters down on the unpainted side. Your units can spell out hidden words. They can charge the hill to capture the triple word score.

Old Scrabble letter tiles work quite well and can be picked up on Ebay in bulk quite cheap for some reason.

If you ever want round metal bases,go to a DIY and buy a couple of junction boxes in the electrical dept. You can punch the knockouts and use the slugs. A 4" box was like 89cents,and it had like 17 knockouts,or potential bases in it.

<quote>Your units can spell out hidden words. They can charge the hill to capture the triple word score.</quote>

If you have a small cavalry, they could spell out CHARGE. Or, as usually the case with my side, RETREAT.

I should add that the bases can fit some figures a little larger than your standard 28mm human. I have a pack mule from foundry that fits just fine, although it is set diagonally.

Nice tip, thanks for passing it on. I'll be at Staples later today and will have a look.

Did you happen to try painting the tiles and if so, was there any problem with the paint sticking?

In the past when I've been unable to find 25mm bases, I've used basswood strip (in the same hobby display as balsa wood, but basswood is harder -- it's a similar wood to that used in craft / popsicle sticks ); I get the 1/8" thickness in 1" wide strips and cut it off 1" at a time using a hobby mitre box and razor saw. Then I bevel the edges with a file or sanding block. Definitely more work than using the above.

I've also heard of people using 1" square ceramic tile from the home improvement store. No doubt that makes a nice bottom-heavy base!

I didn't try painting them. Basing was no problem just using regular old white glue. And of course I use superglue for the miniatures. I used a black Sharpie marker to darken the rims, the ink isn't coming off. Even if it does at some point in the future, I can use a marker to darken it again.

The tiles themselves don't weigh much. I didn't have any problems with them flipping over though, even with figures that are a little unbalanced.

LOL, I think I was in my local Staples for an hour looking for the darn things (I needed other stuff too). No good. Must be regional.

I'll hit their web site first next time. (It's down right now as I write this.)

Sorry about that. You can find them online if you google "eureka letter tiles." They're also sold in tubs. (Also check a educational toy store.)

Damn- why can't they be 30mm square!

This thread is great. While looking for those I also found link these, they are 1" square and magnetic. Dunno bout quality.