"Base Thickness for 15mm Figures" Topic

Looking for advice on the thickness of bases to use for 15mm
I am looking at wood bases that I can get cheaply in bulk, and can be had in 1mm, 1.5mm, and 3mm.

Anyone have preferences or advice?

Looking for advice on the thickness of bases to use for 15mm
I am looking at wood bases that I can get cheaply in bulk, and can be had in 1mm, 1.5mm, and 3mm.

Anyone have preferences

I prefer 3mm myself. That way people can grab the base edges instead of the figures.

I agree with skedaddle.

I have used 1.5mm ply for many years, but have recently started using 3mm mdf bases, which seem easier to come by. I prefer the look of the thinner bases and haven't noticed that thicker ones encourage people to pick up figures by the base, rather than the figures. Best way to discourage the latter behaviuor is to replace cast pikes, lances etc with very sharp thin pins!

3mm for me

I am in the minority as I still cut triplex bases with a metal straight edge and X-acto knife.

Purchasing a large sheet of 1.5mm thick board (50cm x 25cm)is advantageous as I cut exactly what is required for DBX bases; no excess stock or a late delivery.

I do purchase round bases of similar thickness as that is beyond my skill level to make.
link

I use either 1.5 or 3mm depending on the project.

1.5mm. Personal preference but I prefer as thin a base as possible and, in my opinion, 3mm looks terrible and proportinately worse, the smaller the figure. YMMV

I use 1.5 mm mat board (actually 1/16") that I cut myself or 1.5mm pre-cut ply for figures in all scales. Like Timurilank, I always buy circles in 1.5mm ply. I toyed briefly not with 1mm but 0.75mm ply but this was too thin for anything but 6mm. I get my pre-cut stuff from either Litko or Warbases and I've never had a problem with warping. This is not the case with mat board which can warp and so, for larger pieces, I use plastic card in the appropriate thickness.

Steamingdave47 is right about picking up figures and relative base depth.

I should point out that I started out, more years ago than I care to remember, cutting up beer mats for bases!

Where do get 1mm and 1.5mm wood?

For a base, of these options, I agree that 3mm would be best.
For wood, you will need to consider that it can warp:
link

Think is a bit better to avoid this. But seal both sides, ideally at the same time. Or mark sure neither side is sealed. (this is hard to do if you mount figures to the top)

Card stock and plastic are less likely to warp, and metal really never does. This is why these are often used for bases.

DyeHard – My mistake on the 1mm. They are actually 0.8mm, 1.5mm, and 3mm.
My source for the bases is Litko litko.net

I initially thought that the 3mm bases just looked too big, but for some of the smaller figures, they help add a bit of stability.

I use 3mm Litko, for the reason Skedattle said. They're quite reasonable if you buy in bulk.

3mm ply bases aren't going to warp unless you leave them out in the yard.

They can look big, but painted and trimmed nicely in coordination with your playing surface, you really don't notice.

I have no notion why anyone would want to use those
Flames of War bases.

I also settled on 3mm (1/8").

Originally I preferred bases to be as thin as possible so they would blend into the terrain better, but when I started playing horse & musket games with big units of multiple stands, I discovered that it's much easier to move units and change formations if the bases have sufficient thickness to mate together along straight edges. I find 1.5mm thick bases only barely sufficient for this, and if they're thinner than that they tend to suffer too many accidental overlaps.

FWIW, I pick up my own miniatures by the figure, not the base.

- Ix

3mm here as well

If you need magnetic bottoms, also consider B Company Bases Cracker Line Minis. I hated trimming and sticking the weak, ill-sized magnets that Litko sells separately for this purpose, so I just buy my bases magetized right out of the box now.

- Ix

I base on steel. I prefer thin. Then storage, trasnport and ovement trays are made from very thin sheet magnet, if at all.

I think the "grab the base and not the minis" is 90% myth.

Sure, on turn one when they are at the edge of the table. But by turn 6, in the middle of the table? Not a chance. Spend time actually watching any set of gamers you like. Or better yet, film them. 90% of the time they grab the minis.

3mm here. I do spend a lot of time texturing my bases.
When done well,the thickness isn't noticeable. I may not always grab the bases, but with 3mm, I USUALLY do . . .

I prefer thicker bases, I use artists mount board with magnetic sheet on the bottom. Never bothered to measure it, but it is at least a couple of mm.

Base must be as invisible as possible, so I use thin metal sheets from cookie's boxes. Also good to store troops on magnetic strips.

I am about to base my first sets of 3mm FIGURES. My 15mm FIGURES are based on thin steel bases which I would again prefer but I can not imagine being able to pick up 3mm FIGURES by the figure let alone by the base. Has anyone put 3mm FIGURES on steel bases?

I use thicker balsa bases so I can put labels on the back, here are some 15mm Old Glory Napoleonics:

28mm Old Glory Napoleonics:

The back of the base is cut at a 45 degree angle so you can stand above the units and read them. Also allows for easy storage and organization.