Basing miniatures

[IvenBach]

What bases do you use for your minis? Clearly the HQ bases for HQ is an obvious one but for other miniatures what do you use? I've only got Reaper minis from their 1st bones kickstarter and mantic minis. Do you rebase them on a 'standard' base that you use for everything? Just looking to get some ideas since I'll be getting some time shortly to paint and don't have anything in mind. I've seen the square bases with the slanted edges (GW if I'm not mistaken) and those seem to be the ones that I'm leaning towards.They are the most favorable from my perspective. Any pros/cons to those or alternatives that would be cheaper? Don't know how I feel about round bases but again I've only used HQ bases so far.

[knightkrawler]

I'll put all my proxy minis - those I paint and will play with - on Thantos' HQ replica bases. Including monsters that take up two squares. For those, I'll put two bases together with green stuff. For heroes, because of the given circumstances described in the next paragraph, I'm considering magnetizing them for use with HQ bases and round bases.

For further expansion factions (Beastmen, Lizardmen, what have you) I'll use round bases throughout.
They are dirt cheap and they look good. Think about facing your miniatures on the original board and you know what I'm talking about. You don't want square GW bases if you imagine any given situation to be played on the board. Also, you have two sizes then for regular monsters: 2.5 cm and 2 cm. Goblins will not look good on the larger ones, whereas most other monsters require the larger ones - and those are even bigger than HQ bases, so if you continue playing on the original board, reconsider... For the sake of all that's holy, choose 1' round bases if you deviate from HQ original style!
That being said, for minis that use more space than one square I'll have to write rules for round bases larger than 1'. But that won't be a problem. I do tend to consider trimming an edge and gluing two round bases together in such a way that the shape is that of an 8 for double square minis because there are no 1'x2' "round" bases to the best of my knowledge.

Another note on square GW bases: My sense of style tells me that those are meant for regiment style only, so you can easily align miniatures in rows and columns.
Round bases are for skirmishes. See Warhammer 40k: Round bases, because it's just a better style.
Now you can argue that HQ is grid based and therefore square bases fit better, but not in my eyes, no. I tried the styles on the board. It's just... a round base seems to make any miniature pop more. Square ones look too big and most importantly, ARE too big.

The Base Problem is the reason why I didn't even have to decide on when to base my minis - before or after painting. As soon as my decision on which bases to use and how, I'm gonna be able to paint and accessorize them in one fell swoop...
Well, we're talking hundreds of them, so that's gonna be a few fell swoops.

[Sjeng]

I base all my bones on HQ bases by making an inverted mold with instantmold of a HQ base, stuff in some milliput, stick in the bones model, smooth the milliput over the top of the base, let it harden, and voila! HQ based mini.
I also have Thantos's bases for other minis. My Mantic's could either be based similarly with milliput, or I simply put some milliput over their own square bases and add some structure on it, tiles etc. and paint that as is.

[Goblin-King]

knightkrawler, you had me at "magnetizing"!

I think in the grand scheme of things, round bases do in fact look best.
However, if you use the original HQ board, round bases (25 mm) are just too big for my taste.
I would definitely use either HQ bases or small warhammer square bases (20 mm).
You can also fit more on a 20 mm base than you'd think. I've managed to fit GW chaos warriors and bloodletters on those.

If you ever use any kind of direction depending rules (backstab, flanking etc.) squares win, hands down.

[knightkrawler]

I think in the grand scheme of things, round bases do in fact look best.
However, if you use the original HQ board, round bases (25 mm) are just too big for my taste.

Square one-inchers are way too big, HQ originals are slightly too big, round one-inchers fit best cause you can turn and angle minis all ways so they fit next to each other. That is the single most crucial advantage round bases have on an original HQ board.
Whatever personal taste may be, I'm having my German board printed (3cm squares).

[Goblin-King]

Yeah, I've always wondered how they could funk that up. The bases doesn't quite fit in your OWN game. Clap... clap... clap...

But where the HQ bases at least fit on one side, round bases overflow the square on all sides.
Of course a custom board solves all those problems

[IvenBach]

Ok. Thanks for your input. I'll see about getting some bases and seeing which style I like. I happened to have a single round 1" base and it doesn't look too bad. I just don't like how the reaper bones have the ground and flooring under their feet. Looked at the metal minis I have and it's to counter balance the weight. I'll just have to trim that off it seems.



KK if you are looking to magnetize I say go for it. My suggestion is to do it one of 2 ways. With adhesive backed magnetic stripping (http://forum.yeoldeinn.com/gallery/image_page.php?album_id=15&image_id=321) or neodymium magnets (great prices on ebay). The magnetic stripping is easily trimmed to exact dimensions and is strong enough to hold even the HQ gargoyle. The only note I have for it is it'll raise your mini up by its thickness. It looks kind of funny on my kobolds to me for some reason, the picture doesn't capture it though. Metal = Neodymium. Attach to underside of base and you're good to go. Wish I'd have waited on a metal for basing ideas. Took me entirely too long to grind a depression to get a magnet in there. That's what prompted me to ask about bases .

[Bareheaded Warrior]

Another note on square GW bases: My sense of style tells me that those are meant for regiment style only, so you can easily align miniatures in rows and columns.
Round bases are for skirmishes. See Warhammer 40k: Round bases, because it's just a better style.
Now you can argue that HQ is grid based and therefore square bases fit better, but not in my eyes, no. I tried the styles on the board. It's just... a round base seems to make any miniature pop more. Square ones look too big and most importantly, ARE too big

Couldn't agree more, but the only issue I have with the standard GW bases is that they seem too high profile, all base and no trousers. I was considering (but probably won't due to the work involved!) rebasing my minis on 2p coins, they are cheap and readily available (you can pick 50 up for a £1 in most good retailers), durable, low profile and the added weight on the base of the mini makes them more stable and gives plastic minis a little more solid feel, thoughts?

Also, as I have mentioned elsewhere on this forum, what about using Advanced HeroQuest board sections to give you a little more space but using the intersections between the flagstones (the crosses) as your stepping points rather than the squares themselves, this restores your corridors to single file?

[knightkrawler]

2p coins, they are cheap and readily available (you can pick 50 up for a £1 in most good retailers), thoughts?

No, no thoughts here, laughing too hard for thinking, I actually got your joke. The idea is a matter of taste, really. I prefer the slotta if the figure actually has a bridge. Safety issue, here. But the weight argument is very very valid, too.

Also, as I have mentioned elsewhere on this forum, what about using Advanced HeroQuest board sections to give you a little more space but using the intersections between the flagstones (the crosses) as your stepping points rather than the squares themselves, this restores your corridors to single file?

I understand what you're getting it, but talking for myself, I'm just too anal to actually implement such a thing. It's a shortterm solution for rare instances, I guess.

[Count Von Bruno]

For my HQ/dungeon crawling stuff I use 25mm round bases, clipping and shaving Heroquest minis and transferring them.

My WHFB stuff is on square/appropriate bases though.