"How to base 2mm Napoleonic infantry?" Topic

I've been thinking of starting a 2mm Napoleonic projects since i bought some time ago the very nice library of STL fines from Forward March miniatures.

I've been doing some print tests and I'm really happy how they turn out even on my cheap FDM printer.

the only part which I'm not sure is how to base.

I'm planning on using Blucher as the rules set, and buying some 9x6cm bases where i can position several companies within the same base.

I'm used to painting much larger scales so for the base i just put sand and flock but that would drown those small minis.

I have some fine turf from woodland scenics but I'm not sure even that is fine enough? Plus how do i blend the 3d printed plastic base with the MDF larger base underneath?

I've tried looking online but the tutorials do not mention the exact brand or type of sand/ flock or whatever they used for the basing.

Does anyone have any tips/recommendations?

With such tiny miniatures I'd base them on very thin metal – look at how Bruce Weigle does his 6mm figures.

I mostly use textured green paper from JoAnn's glued to matte board. The matte board is a "national color" for help in post-came sorting.

I use fine sand sprinkled onto thinned PVA. Leave to dry thoroughly, brush off excess, paint a dark brown basecoat & dry-brush a grassy green. Enough texture to give the impression of ground without overwhelming the figures.

I recently started work on some 2mm ancients for 'Strength & Honour' and had the same concerns about the size of basing material. To make sure the sand didn't overwhelm the figures, I used a simple technique – apply watered down PVA to the base and then add the sand through a small sieve. Very easy and the fine mesh makes sure that only the smallest grains get through. Just takes a few seconds to add and I'm really pleased with the results. Phil.

I just use the very fine Woodlands Scenic flock. It seems to work OK. I just take it up to the edge of base (the cast bases I paint a sort of dirty brown/grey so they blend in).

+1 Martin

Thanks for the suggestions. I'll try the different methods and see which one looks the best.

Be sure to let us know which one looked best to you and why. There may be several of us facing the same issue. (I am one.)

Thanks!

great thread, i recently got some 2mm minis from Project Wargaming – they were unfortunately not so easy to get printed given the fine details on them resulting in many services being unable to do it, but eventually found someone who was willing to do it.

but now that i have them i too dont know what to base them on and also how ever to paint them given how nano size they are

the Forward March ones i got too but havent gotten them printed yet because i have been unable to work out exactly what and how much of exactly i need to get, there are some many files in the package

I paint bases with Vallejo Brown Earth textured paint, and flock with 1mm static grass. It looks fine.

Incidentally, I think that Project Wargaming's files are much better than any others. You do need a resin printer and ABS resin to get the best results though.

@ Robert

I trust you restrict your figures to half move for poor terrain as they force their way through the 3 foot high grasses.

General thought on painting 2mm figs; this represents a man well over half a mile away when they are 3 feet away on the board. Go find some men at this distance, or move some larger figures to a scale distance, 28mm to 42 feet, 15mm to 22 feet and see what you can see in the way of detail. Paint your 2mm accordingly.

I have no idea what you mean

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I am experimenting with 3mm troops. I base them on thicker stands so you have something to grab onto beside the figures when moving them around. Right now, I am painting the bases green and leaving it at that.

Sorry, I meant to add that I put them quite thick bases. Artists mounting board with magnabase on the underside. Gives you something to hold onto and you can push groups of bases around, although much of the time they go in groups on magnetic sabot bases anyway.

@ Robert

I'm sure you do, if 2mm = 6 foot 1mm = 3 ft, but I see from the pictures that by painting the bases you don't mean the casting base but the additional mounting board and partly due to the height of the molded base it looks fine.

Strangely, because I claim to subscribe to school of 'good enough' painting, I've avoided 2mm because when I bought a few to test the concept I saw too much detail to paint for it to seem the quick option.

Bases as thick as the figures are tall don't look right. I'd be tempted to print off Google Earth shots of the ground from overhead, and paste them to sheets of plastic card. You'd get near nil thickness bases with photo-real in-scale grass, plough furrows etc.

Years ago I read an inadvertently hilarious article, I think in Military Miniatures, by some bloke who was using his wife's curlers as wargame figures. He'd snip each one along its length, unroll it, glue it flat to a base and voila he had a 400-man battalion of little spikes which when painted he thought looked like infantry. I don't know what he did about the cavalry. There was another bloke in MW a few years back who didn't have any figures at all. He just had an impressive, meticulously-acquired collection of unpainted MDF bases. Well, I suppose nobody can criticise his painting, although hilariously the formation depths were still off.

I greatly admire the patience of those who paint in these scales and the eyesight of those who game in them.

The thick bases are deliberate.
A few moment's thought should reveal why 😉

4th Cuirassier, interesting suggestion regarding pictures for bases. I saw some Second World War bases which would lend themselves to that.

The hair roller armies were from very early Miniature Wargames. I started with issue 7, so only saw references to them until I picked the first hundred or so as a bound collection.

If I remember right, there were instructions for making cavalry and artillery, although it seemed very finicky. With the cost of troops like epic armies, it doesn't really seem worth the effort, but horses for courses and all that.

Edit: all hail the internet. something from the US Penny Whistle blog: link

I am experimenting with 3mm troops. I base them on thicker stands so you have something to grab onto beside the figures

I have found the same with 6mm, thin bases make it very difficult to move figures around. Thus does depend how you base the figures but was certainly the case for WW2/Cold War and Ancients/Napoleonics. My guess is the same would apply with 3mm, probably even more. Just make sure you colour the edges, i use black but green or brown is ok as well, depends on the effect you wish.

My plan if I'd gone ahead was to use magnetic sheet. The stuff I bought can be printed on one side so Google overhead could be used and then the troops [with no more base than the magnet under the striup] could be maneuvered for a change of formation on the one larger base. I have no idea if it would have proved practical or not.