"Basic basing" Topic

Could someone please give me some tips as to how to start basing? All I've ever done is paint the bases of figures green for grass. Some sort of simple, idiot's guide is all I'm looking for – it really can't be in too easy terms!

I use a mix I buy from Scenic Express.
link I also use other ones. You can check it out. I add this to a container where I add fine brown railroad ballast, 3mm autumn shaded static grass along with very small gray rocks. You can find all of this at Scenic express. I then mix white glue with some burnt umber paint and apply it to the base. Then I dip it into my mix. Looks good and it's a one stop drop unlike many other methods. I use about a handful of each. You can tailor it to your own likes.

Hth,

John

Here's how I do mine:

link

It would help if we knew what style you are interested in for your bases. There are many options, so a little guidance on what style/type you are interested in learning about, would help. Cheers!

Sounds like I do the same as John Leahy. I vary the blend depending on the theater of operations. Quick and easy.

Clear plastic card from, e.g., the blister packs your miniatures came in

Scissors, x-acto knife, or circle cutter

Superglue

Small metal file

YouTube video about making clear bases

Follow the video's instructions

Post pictures of the results

Thanks gents, that's very helpful. Sgt Slag, mainly 28mm Napoleonics, typically 4 infantrymen on a plastic or cardboard base, I'm thinking of a grass/gravel type covering?

I started out using the same method as John and still do for many bases.

However, when figures have thick bases, I've gone to covering the base with Gesso/Sand mixture, to even out the base before putting the grass mix on it. This is really good for desert terrain as it takes a good dry brushing.

I've also tried filling compound instead of the Gesso/Sand mix. Not as happy with that though.

I adopted Matakishi's approach of dividing the base into 2 treatments; the figures look like they are moving from one terrain type to the other. I do mostly single figure but Matakishi does multi-basing like you propose which looks especially good. Matakishi's site is matakishi.net .
This is an example of his basing technique:

For grass or temperate basing, I undercoat Raw Umber (Medium Brown). This is so if your base treatment wears away, it just looks like a spot of bare earth. Then I paint approximately half the base with thinned PVA glue, and sprinkle on scale gravel (I use fine model railroad ballast but white playground sand can work too). When this is dry, I paint the other half with the thinned PVA glue and apply green static grass. The gravel I usually wash with Burnt Umber, then highlight with light gray.

For desert basing I do the same but with a tan undercoat and yellow static grass.

For fantasy underground basing I use fine sand instead of the static grass (so 2 gravel textures, no grass).

Matakishi's examples above use a tan undercoat but with green static grass. Before the base treatment, he uses a colored texture filler to fill gaps and even the base out. I do this as well but it's an enhancement and the technique looks good without this step.

I keep it simple, after experimenting with different styles. I paint the MDF base with Wood (PVA) Glue, then I swirl it into a pan with a mixture of 3-4 different colors of sand, and Model RR Ballast mix. It gives a rocky, durable, eye-pleasing base. Here is a sample on a 28mm Chariot, converted from Mage Knight to my fantasy war games.

I also play wargames with 54mm Army Men figures, mounted on 2-inch squares of MDF. For larger bases (Army Men and larger fantasy miniatures), I use two sand variants: one dark reddish colored sand (collected from the North Shore of Lake Superior), by randomly painting shapes with the Glue, swirling in one sand mixture at a time; then, when dry, I repeat the process with the other color mixture of sand.

Many, many options. Experiment. Try a few figure bases using different styles and techniques. See which ones make the 'sweet' compromise you are looking for: best appearance, simplest methods, easiest to do, etc.

Be aware that using water-based glues, you might experience warping of the bases, weeks, or even months, after you make them. Water-based glues will shrink, over time, pulling on the base material. Using stronger base materials, such as MDF, will avoid such issues. Cardboard is particularly susceptible to this problem. So, too, is vinyl floor tile pieces (was my favorite basing material -- not anymore!). I switched to MDF, around 2-3 mm thick.

MDF is all I use for base material, due to past experiences with warping… With 2-3 figures, per base, you may experience flexing of the cardboard, as you pick up and move the stands -- I did, and I still do, as some of my early mini's (1990's) are based on cardboard. Again, MDF is your friend. The thickness, and stiffness, of MDF, makes it easy to pick up the stands by the base. Thicker MDF would be even easier, but then it becomes 'too heavy', visually, IMO.

Water-based glues can usually be dissolved by soaking in water, overnight. The paint on the mini's won't be affected. This should allow you to remove the figures, safely, from base techniques you don't like.

Experiment! See what you like, and what you prefer. It is your table, your games. Cheers!

I tend to use the Reaper bases with a washer glued into it.

The extra height on the base tends to mean people will normally pick them up by the base rather than the mini with things, and the washer makes them decently weighed.

Only exception tends to be with some of the older mantic stuff with the deep plugs on them and kind of need to use their bases if you don't want to spend a long while carving it away.

For actual basing, if there's an integral base on the mini that isn't something that easily blends into the base, I use a bit of patching compound from the dollar tree that I water down to work into place and blend it in and let it dry after gluing the mini to the base. Then I use superglue to add sand and some decorative rocks (The rocks are another thing I got a pile of from dollar tree in a sack).

That's when I prime the mini and the base (normally using grey), then I tend to paint the mini before the base, and bring it back to a light grey when I start there. I use a thinned brown acryllic ink and let it dry, follow that with a thinned black ink, then paint the rocks and use washes on them. Then drybrush the entire thing with a light brown and a tan.

I follow that with tufts, flock, and other things with it. One I often use is some of the cheap brushes from the hardware store and dollar tree that look like tall grass or reeds.

You can use polyeurethane gloss for some marsh or water effects.

The end result is more of a wastes or swampy look which is rather easy to deal with.