All About That (Multi)Base
Bases are a very integral, but often unsung part of miniatures wargaming. Practically, they are the thing that holds up our painstakingly painted minis, and often the means by which we measure to and from said miniatures. Pretty boring, right? False. They are a frame for our miniatures that give them context in the teensy world that we’ve set them. They also afford us an opportunity to use a lot of unique modeling techniques, and push our armies to the next level by telling little stories within our armies.
The techniques and materials that I’m about to describe will apply to any types of bases, round or square, but I’ll be focusing on unit bases. For those of you that have been living under a pine bark rock (basing jokes!), multibases or “unit bases” refer to a base that is equal to the size of a full unit, i.e., a regiment of twenty infantry would simply go on a base that is 100mm by 80mm instead of on twenty 20mm bases.
Supplies
As with any hobby project, there are some supplies that you’ll definitely need. Most of these things will become staples in your hobby room and are pretty cheap to boot.
- Bases: (duh!) I use 3mm MDF unit bases from Tectonic Craft Studios, but any bases will do. There are about a million companies that make unit bases.
- Glue: I have 3 main glues I use for basing: hot glue, PVA wood glue, and CA glue (super glue). I’ll get into the uses for each later on.
- Grit: By grit I mean anything that adds fine texture. This could be sand, ballast, or even textured paint. The important thing is that you use different sizes of grit to offer a more realistic look.
- Rocks: Rocks/stones can be represented in a bunch of ways. Some people like using real stone like slate or garden rocks, but I prefer other methods that I’ll mention below. My primary reason for using things like cork and bark is that they can be pinned through.
- Cork: Cork is an invaluable tool for modelers. The sheets can be bought cheaply at office supply stores and are great for adding height and a little texture to bases.
- Pine Bark: Amazing stuff. When painted, it looks exactly like scale rocks. They can be found in your local hardware or garden store. Usually they’re sold in bags as potting materials for orchids. I buy a bag of bigger pieces and a bag of the smaller pieces for variety.
- Molds: Tons of companies make molds (you can even make your own) of all kinds of things. Recently, Rob Phaneuf has been using some pre-bought rock molds with resin and Apoxie Sculpt to great effect. You can also get molds of just about any other terrain feature you can imagine. A simple google search will yield all kinds of results.
- Other Terrain: You didn’t think terrain was just for fighting over, did you? Especially when multibasing, you can add little bits of terrain that really bring your bases to life.
- Magnets: How do they work? These aren’t necessarily required, but they are definitely a quality of life thing. When you magnetize your bases, you can fit smaller sized unit trays together to make larger units, or you can utilize a magnetized storage and transport solution.
- Power Drill: You don’t have a power drill? Why not? Go to Home Depot right now. I’ll wait.
My Process
The real process depends a lot on exactly what you want to do, but I do the same basic steps for nearly every base I make.
Getting Started
- It’s easiest to magnetize your bases before you even get started gluing. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve fully built and painted a base only to realize that I need to sink magnets into the base, which then inevitably results in drilling through a fully painted base. For plastic or resin miniatures, I usually just sink a 2mm x 3mm rare earth magnet in each corner of the base. This is usually plenty to hold it down. If you plan on having a lot of weight on the base in the form of rocks, metal minis, or liquid resin, you might need something a little more substantial. A little super glue in the holes, and you’re good to go.
Magnets: how do they work?
- From there, I usually plan out what minis will go where. Sometimes this isn’t necessary, but if you have minis with integrated bases (Reaper, Mantic Centaurs, stuff like that) you’ll need to think ahead about how these are going to fit on your bases.
- Start laying out the textures. I usually break off a few large pieces of cork tile, and dump a pile of pine bark and everything else I’m using on my desk in front of me. From there, I play around with placement. Remember, nature is random. You want to place stuff in a way that they might be found in nature to add realism. Use a variety of sizes, shapes, and textures of materials. You also want to be able to place minis on it when you’re done, so be mindful of that as well.
Here you can see the general placement I’ve decided on for this dwarf base. Adding a variety of different heights in your unit can really bring it to life and show off your paint jobs!
- Once I have everything where I want it, I hot glue the pieces in place. You can use PVA or CA glue, but hot glue dries super fast, doesn’t warp MDF and doesn’t soak into the bark or cork. You might be left with little lumps of it around the edges of stuff, but we can cover that up with our texture later on. Another benefit of it drying quickly is that you can immediately start on the next step.
- Now that the terrain is glued down with hot glue, you can start adding texture or grit to the base. This fills in gaps between the different materials, covers up flat MDF, and adds some great texture for us to drybrush later on. There are a million ways to do this, but I like to mix my different grits together in a spare blister pack with PVA glue and a little water to form a kind of paint-less texture paint. I can then spread it on the base in between all the cracks and anywhere that looks like it needs some dirt. You could also use your favorite pre-made texture paint (I like Vallejo) or simply apply some PVA directly to the base and add the texture on.
Here’s everything hot glued on the base. I ended up moving the ruin piece to the front. Randomness is key, so don’t be afraid to try tons of different layouts.
Notice that I added the mix in between rocks, cork, and other elements to blend them together. I also add a little bit on flat areas of cork to add a little bit of diversity in the texture. I also went ahead and primed the base with a rattlecan to make it a little easier to see the whole base together.
- Word of warning: I have noticed more warping on MDF bases the more PVA I use. Just be mindful of that. If you plan on having large, flat areas of MDF that are to be covered in PVA, try priming the bases before you begin. That can seal off the base and prevent moisture from leaking in and warping it.
- From there, assembly is done! Leave it to dry overnight and we can start painting it next!
Tune in next time for some ways to easily and effectively paint your bases.
