What is on the Bottom of Your Base?

I am an old skool gamer. As such, a large portion of my figure collection is made of metal. Over the years, I have added more and more plastic models, but I found that I really disliked the feel of moving the lighter pieces around the table. 

If you have ever played chess, it is the same notion--Heavy/weighted chess pieces are more enjoyable to use during a game: they are less likely to move/topple over if the table is bumped; and a heavier chess piece feels like a higher quality piece.

So I weight all of my plastic/resin figures. (even tanks!)

Example of different ways to add weight to a figures.

Description of the examples above, From right to left:

1. Aeptus-B uses small bits of lead (like fishing line weights), fills the remaining space with putty, glues on a piece of paper, then paints it.
2. For 40mm bases I will clip everything off the underside of the base and glue a thick metal washer
3. For 25mm bases, I also clip off the underside of the base, but glue a penny to the bottom. I dimly used to use small washers, but they were costing me more than one cent!! Duh!
4. This base isn't weighted, but I had glued a piece of plasticard to the bottom as it seems to sit better on our heavily textured Necromunda terrain.
5. This is a large flying base weighted by 4 pennies. it is magnetized for a Tau Devilfish. This both add weight and lowers the center of gravity.

A penny might not seem like much weight, but it is really hard to tell the difference between a typical human sized metal figure and a weighted plastic figure.

Do you weight your bases? If so, do you use a different process?

Resin Bases Review Redux

BioTech Bases-- There are 12 sculpts in the range.
(click on image to enlarge)

These are 25mm BioTech Bases from Micro Art Studio's vast range of bases and figures. I picked them up in late January along with some Iron Brotherhood miniatures. I only picked up the 10 bases and 8 figures-- not enough to make a squad in 40K or a gang in Necromunda. These will be used as future NPC encounters in our Dark Heresy campaign.

Micro Art Studio is a boutique company in Poland. They have a nice looking website, but I found it a little difficult to navigate at first. Once I got my order processed, shipping took 23 day-- more that I expected, but in hind site, it was acceptable.

The bases themselves are great! The bottoms are sanded flat, and there is no flashing. I have not found air bubbles anywhere-- a top notch product all around!! I highly recommend you check out what these guys offer!

I tend to prefer a more flat texture/detail to my bases, but I love the look of these bases. I will be using these bases with the Iron Brotherhood figures. So with 2 extra bases, I should be able to match figure to base without too much hassle.

Resin Bases

I have never used resin bases before, but decided to take the plunge! Recently, I received 2 shipments of resin bases to add to my existing Necromunda gangs. I wound up shopping at 2 different companies to get the styles of bases I was looking for-- Tech-Deck from The Dragon Forge (for my Goliaths) and Scrap Yard from resinfx (for my Scaavys). About a year ago, I also purchased some Swamp resin bases from Kerr & King for a Warmachine Cryx force that Laertes bought me.

On a side note, both The Dragon Forge and resinfx shipped their products relatively quickly (for crossing the pond)-- they arrived in about 11 business days. When I opened the packages, I was pleasantly surprised as both companies sent extra bases (a 60mm base from The Dragon Forge, and five 25mm bases from resinfx).

The Dragon Forge bases are crisp and free of bubbles. The bottom of the bases have not been sanded, but it will be unnecessary as they are already smooth and flat. There is a little bit of very thin "flashing" that easily flakes off with my finger. Overall, these are an excellent product!

A few of the 25mm & 40mm bases from The Dragon Forge

The 60mm "freebie"

The resinfx bases need a little bit of clean up. While the bottoms are sanded flat, the base edge has some "over cast" along the ring that needs to be sanded and/or scraped off. I noticed a few bubbles, but they are very minor. I am very pleased with these bases.

A few of the 25mm & 40mm bases from resinfx

The 25mm "freebies"

The Kerr & King need the most clean-up. The bottoms aren't flat, and will need a fair bit of sanding, and there are multiple bubbles on nearly every base. Also, there is a fair amount of "over cast" on a number of bases. I want to be clear that I do not think these are an inferior product-- they are perfect for my Cryx warband, but in comparison to the other two companies' products, these bases can't be used as-is..

A few of the 30/40/50mm bases from Kerr & King

I also ordered a pair of wreck markers from Kerr & King. They have a selection of large and small wreck markers for all (most?) Warmachine factions.

Static Grass

I tried to use static grass years ago, using a bottle of Woodland Scenics' Wild Honey Static Grass Flock. I didn't like the results at all and shelved the material and idea for years. What I later figured out was I should have mixed different colors together to create a blend. About 2 years ago, I picked up some of Games Workshop's Glade Grass Static Grass. I tried it and didn't like that result either - the color was way to bright for my taste. Then I decided to try to mix my own blend.


The Glade Grass, is not just a mix of greens - there is also rust, orange, and tan among others. Since it was already a rich blend of colors, I started with Glade Grass as my base, and added Woodland Scenics' Burnt Grass and Wild Honey.

I ended up with a muted palette, but it still had depth. The ratio is approximately 50% Wild Honey, 25% Burnt Grass, and 25% Glade Grass. The result is what I now use on my Tau bases.

Back to Bases pt 4

This is truly a first for me. I have dabbled with green stuff before with minor conversions, filling in gaps, or completing a simple existing element on a figure, but I have never "sculpted" anything from scratch.

Last week, Laertes and I were talking about what base style to use for his tyranid army. I suggested a kind of Gigeresque bio-alien ground covering, and was inspired to mock-up an example.


This was surprisingly relatively quick and easy to sculpt. I am very pleased with how it turned out.

I started with a small ball of green stuff and flattened it into a rough shape that I liked. Then I pushed in the pod holes. Once I was satisfied with the those, I added small grooves on the interior of the holes, and stippled a light texture to the exterior. Finally, I added a few beads (pods) in some of the pod holes.

There is one pointer I can offer. In the past I have used water to keep my tools from sticking to the green stuff. The problem is water only works once or twice, and then it is necessary to dip your tool in the water again. A while back I came across this tip on the web (I apologize to the original poster for not remembering who)... but KY Jelly is more viscous and lasts much longer, to allow you to freely keep sculpting.


I painted the exterior with Scaly Green, then a mix or Scaly Green and Bleached Bone, and finally blending to pure Beached Bone. The interior is painted with Macharite Red, then a mix of Macharite Red and Bleached bone, and then blended to Bleached Bone.

This is the 4th style of detailed bases I have recently worked on - I'll call it Alien Ground. I don't think they will see use in Laertes' army. But even if that's the case, I think my modest pile of genestealers will eventually be running across this ground!

Previous Posts in this series: Back to Bases Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3

Back to Bases Showcase: Deck Plating & Sandstone Tiles

I completed a minimum squad's worth of bases for 2 of my custom base themes - Deck Plating and Sandstone Tiles. I tend to do very well with assembly line painting, and actually prefer working on at least 2 similar models at the same time. That coupled with usually not remembering how I accomplished something a few weeks down the road, mass-producing these bases has not been a huge challenge.



For my Necromunda Goliaths, I will need a total of 21x 25mm and 2x 40mm bases for the gang, another 3x 25mm bases for Hired Guns, plus a few extras for future additions.

I plan to keep most of the bases very similar to the 6 above, but the 40mm and about 4x 25mm bases will be "exotic" with more detail or a "special scene".


I am still not sure where I will use these bases, but will probably do at least 4 more regardless of where I end up using them.

Previous Posts in this series: Back to Bases Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3

Back to Bases pt 3

The fourth installment to my themed base project is called City Streets. I will definitely use this style of base on my Adeptus Arbites.

This is a very simple and quick conversion.

I covered one-third to two-thirds of the base with a piece of 1/16" plasticard. Then I glued 150 grit sandpaper to the plasticard and 100 grit sandpaper to the other part of the base. I used a small piece of standard window screen to make the storm drain.

I painted the asphalt Chaos Black and drybrushed Shadow Gray. The sidewalk is based with Ash Gray (Reaper Pro Paints) and drybrushed with Fortress Gray. The storm drain is Tin Bitz with a little bit of Dwarf Bronze. Finally I painted the grooves in the sidewalk with Armor Gray (Reaper Pro Paints) and Fortress Gray.

See the first two installments:
<Back to Bases pt 1> and <Back to Bases pt 2>

Back to Bases pt 2

Here is the third sample of my basing experiment - Deck Plating. The first two tests can be found at this post: <Back to Bases pt 1>. I like how these turned out, and I will probably re-base my Goliaths in this style, rather than use them on some newer 40K models. I never liked what I did originally with my Goliaths - I used sand and painted it blue.

I made these bases with 1/16" plasticard and plastic canvas mesh. I used a small file to add panel grooves, and 1/32" dia plastic tube for the rivets.

I have considered resin bases in the past. There are a bunch of really great options out there. In fact there is a toxic waste set (cant find it at the moment) that I am (was) really close to getting for my scavies.

Back to Bases

I have not been the type to go all out on my bases. partly because I would rather spend the time painting another figure, and partly because I like the clean look of just simple sand. However, lately I have been experimenting with different coarseness of sand/ballast, and mixing custom blends of static grass.

Because my house is the central gaming hub of our group, I have been the GM in out RP games for the last 10 years, and I am the most prolific painter of our group, my figures are usually the ones out on the table. In the past, even if a figure screamed to be based a certain way (say for example on a stone dungeon floor or a wood tavern floor) my fantasy figures are based the same way (from my khorne army, to my D&D characters, to my Talisman figures).

In some perverse OCD requirement in my head, all my fantasy figures have to be based similarly so all the PC's and all the monsters "match". I'm not sure why I don't have this hang up with my sci-fi minis. However, I still never go too far from ballast/static grass.

So, this weekend, I worked up 2 sample "themed" bases - "Urban Wasteland" and "Sandstone Tiles". Ones that I could repeat as needed.


Now, I almost never model a base before the figure is painted, and even more rarely do I do it before the figure is even ON the base. For me, this was a very strange process. It will take some getting used to. I really like how the "Urban Wasteland" base looks, but I'm not confidant how a figure will look on it - the surface is very uneven. I'm not sure how I am going to mount a figure on this...

I also worked on a third style of base I thought would be easy, but turned out to be more difficult than these two. It will be a split of deck plating and metal grating.

The Chaos Fleet Enters Dry Dock

After the move now the damage assessment begins. Breaking out my Chaos fleet for Battlefleet Gothic, after a number of years and perhaps far too many moves, I have begun to see what it takes to bring them back up to fighting trim. There seems to be minor damage at least all around: masts snapped, pegs broken off of flying bases, turrets now falling off, paint chipped, etc. It looks like the only choice for a flagship at the moment is the Quietus, a Murder-class cruiser you can just make out in far upper right. Not shown are some escorts still in the box, and a couple of the more badly damaged larger ships. My Repulsive-class grand cruiser is in pieces but looks eminently repairable -- I'm afraid I'm hesistant to say the same about my Despoiler-class battleship, that seems to be missing some pieces for her bridge! I shall have to redouble my efforts to locate those pieces and hope that I didn't just dismiss them as a general bit of left over somewhere.

I'm not quite so confident when it comes to figuring out what to do for the flying bases. For my Necron Destroyers in 40K, I'm going with a modified version of a magnetic flying base that I first saw mentioned on Fritz's blog. I will cover my version of that in a future post (dealing with the Destroyers), but the basic idea is a small machine screw in the model and a replacement post bearing a magnet on the flying base. Should work fine for most of the jetbike-type of models, as they're fairly light and made of plastic. But what about the heavy metal ships? I don't think the same method is going to work quite as well, and, of course, they're the ones most likely to snap their flimsy stock flying pegs. Any ideas?


If you'd like to check out the Battlefleet Gothic rules, including the descriptions and stats of the various ship classes that I've mentioned, you can view the rules and supplemental PDFs here.