Basing tips?

[Murrdox]

Hey everyone.

I have all these minis, and I'm getting pretty good at painting, but I've never done any basing. I have a ton of minis that are already painted that I could get to work on.

I've read a few tutorials... pogre's is great... I wish the pictures worked.

I don't have any supplies for this sort of thing either, so tips on supplies would be good. So far it sounds like I will at LEAST need

1) Elmer's Glue
2) Sand
3) Grass (there are different types and I'm not sure where to get it. The grass I see in hobby shops most times is just the little green fluffs... but I've seen straight tall grass on some based minis too)
4) Green Stuff? I don't have any of this, seems most people employ it on their bases
5) Bases themselves... most people glue their minis to some kind of base... my minis are mostly reaper minis with their own small bases, so that they do not have a "slot" to glue into a plastic base. What kind of base should I purchase for these types of bases?

Finally - when do you base a mini? After you prime but before painting? After painting is done? After you matte it? Do you matte the base?

 

[rgard]

Hey everyone.

I have all these minis, and I'm getting pretty good at painting, but I've never done any basing. I have a ton of minis that are already painted that I could get to work on.

I've read a few tutorials... pogre's is great... I wish the pictures worked.

I don't have any supplies for this sort of thing either, so tips on supplies would be good. So far it sounds like I will at LEAST need

1) Elmer's Glue
2) Sand
3) Grass (there are different types and I'm not sure where to get it. The grass I see in hobby shops most times is just the little green fluffs... but I've seen straight tall grass on some based minis too)
4) Green Stuff? I don't have any of this, seems most people employ it on their bases
5) Bases themselves... most people glue their minis to some kind of base... my minis are mostly reaper minis with their own small bases, so that they do not have a "slot" to glue into a plastic base. What kind of base should I purchase for these types of bases?

Finally - when do you base a mini? After you prime but before painting? After painting is done? After you matte it? Do you matte the base?

For supplies, here are some more possibilities:

1. Tiny bits of gravel from the driveway or street. I have half a cup of the stuff and it's free.
2. Games Workshop sells tubs of static grass (stands up) and green flocking (doesn't stand up). They also do snow (white flocking). GW's stuff is expensive ($7.99 for a small tub.) Flocking is actually dyed and sifted sawdust so if you have lumber mill or home depot around you can ask them for some. Then dye or paint it yourself.
3. Slate bits work great in building layered sedimentary rock looking bases.
4. Plastic plants you stick in aquariums.

For the bases, I use GW's 1 inch (25mm) bases. I have some Reaper minis too and I just superglue the mini to the base. It makes the fig a bit taller, but I don't have the patience to cut out the middle of the plastic base to make room for the reaper figure's base. If you did take the time, you would use the green stuff to fill in the gaps in the base.

If you don't mind a larger diameter base, you could use Dark Ages or Warmachine's 30mm bases. These have recessed middles that can fit most medium (in D20 game terms) figs' bases. Dark Age is cheaper than Warmachine per base.

On a green stuff note, I would wait until you get happy with your simple basing work (flocking, dry brushing, etc) before getting fancy with the green stuff.

I do the basing right before I do the matte finish on the completed fig. That way you have the opportunity to touch up and make corrections if any of the basing material gets stuck to the fig.

I hope this helps.

Thanks,
Rich

 

[Murrdox]

Thanks a lot for the tips!

If you just GLUE the reaper mini to the top of a base, how do you make the base look like it is not a "base on top of a base" without using Greenstuff?

This is what I'd assumed I'd need greenstuff for - that and gap filling, like you'd described if I cut into the base.

 

[Tolen Mar]

For that, you'll probably have to add more ground cover around the place where they join (be that sand, or flocking, or more gravel). The trick is doing it without making it look like you did it, which is why greenstuff comes in so handy.

One trick you might try (on a mini you dont care for first to see if you like it) is to run a bead of elmers around the point where they meet, and then a layer of grass or sand. Then another layer of glue and grass, real thin layers until you've built up the area smoothly. Takes time, and greenstuff will make it go quicker, but we are talking about an in-between method.