Crystal Bases from Epicast

It's always nice when a manufacturer listens to their customers. For instance, here's an excerpt from a recent announcement by Epicast:

NEW LINE OF BASES!!!

We have taken suggestions from customers and the review we received on The Miniatures Page.

Our cast master Doug has now changed our bases into a 2-part pressure mold: the results are fantastic! We now have close to zero bubbles in the castings and the bottom of the bases come out flat - i.e.: no sanding is required. We are retro fitting all our bases to this standard and all new bases will be produced this way. Way to go Doug!

Dave Whelan has also sculpted some more variants of the 40mm square skull bases and is also working on round 40mm skull bases. Additionally, we have added a flying bases (both large and small) to the urban rubble series and we have a new line of Battle Bases - Crystal!

Well, when I read that, I knew I had to get my hands on some of the new-and-improved bases. Serendipitously, Epicast had some of their improved Battle Bases already in the mail to me...

Flipping the bases over to the bottom side, you can clearly see the difference between these new tech-style bases the and older ones. The new process gives a flat surface to the bottomside. As the photos show, the only imperfection on some of the samples was a slight lip along the rim - visible in the samples as a light grey seam. This shows up on the samples primarily because of the color difference, and when painted would be invisible; in a few cases with our samples, minor filing could improve the appearance. But the bottom line is - these bases work fine without any further work, just paint them and go.

Now, let's flip the bases back over and look at them right-side-up! We received two sizes of the new Crystal Bases - Round 25mm and Round 40mm. (The size refers to the diameter of the bases, not the size of figures to be used with them.)

Perhaps you were expecting these bases to be cast in a crystaline material? Well, no, they are called Crystal Bases because each base has a large crystal molded into the terrain...

The bases have a "rocks and sand" texture on the top, with smooth tapering sides. Unlike previous Battle Bases, these samples are evidently not made of Plastisteel (i.e., they don't adhere to magnets).

From experience with previous Battle Bases, I can tell you that attaching figures to these bases is easier than it may look. With slottabase-type figures, you paint the figure, then cut the slottabase "bar" so that two "pins" remain (beneath the figure's feet). You can then test the figure against the base to see where it fits best, then mark and drill holes to take the pins. I was worried about how my first figure would "sit" among the textured terrain, then found it worked out fine without any special work.

So - the new technology is a nice improvement, and the Crystal Bases are a wonderful option for your next Wizard Lord or crystalline alien race...