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Whether Infinity, 40k, or Warmahordes, why do you base or not base models? I personally am not a fan because I play on a lot of different fields. When I go to my buddy's house with my desert themed models, they'll look quite out of place on his urban board, or grassy plain. A good base can really make a model pop, but if it doesn't match the board it starts to look very out of place.

And why do some tournaments encourage it? Is it something to do with model>game piece?

Models that haven't been based don't look finished, simple as really.

The juxtaposition of one type of base with another type of table finish seems unduly pedantic to me. You need to suspend belief a bit in the first place to fully appreciate an attractive miniature wargame it's not a big step to ignore a desert base in an urban street.

Why does an unbased miniature look unfinished? If the model is painted to a good standard, isn't that what should be the focus anyway? What does basing add to it?

A good base can actually save a mediocre paintjob. I have a question for you, if you are NOT basing your miniatures what on earth ARE you doing?

Painting the base black or whatever color is was originally. Black is usually nondescript and doesn't take focus away from the board or the model.

I rather like black bases as well. But I do base to add some more visual interest. My models spend more time on display shelves than they do on gaming tables. It really unifies an army to have them all nicely based in the same style.

Also, making a nice black base if often more work than simply doing a scenic base. GW bases have slots or dimples that need to be filled/smoothed before painting them black.

But surely then a big black disk on your desert theme boards is just as "bad" as having a non-desert themed base?
You can get clear plastic bases you know, if you really have a problem with it.

For 40k stuff, I don't really base, I find black just looks better for large armies and basically, contrasts with any colour so brings out the paintjob and the board. Is also rather have a good mini with a neat black base than a good mini with a mediocre base, which is about what I can achieve.

Infinity and Deadzone I base as the terrain is generally a lot less varied and it's less hassle when you only need a dozen bases doing.

It's not really a problem for me- different strokes for different folks and all that. I was just curious about the reasons people based or didn't base their models.

As I said, a black base on a jungle board doesn't stick out as much as say a snowy base would.

For me personally, an unbased model just looks weirder than a model on a base that doesn't match the table, and a black base doesn't match a grass table any more than a lava base.

Even the weird goblin green bases of 1990s GW look better than plain black bases IMO.

There are probably ways to make a very plain base that would both look finished and only clash minimally with the table. But I do understand where OP is coming from.

 Pete Melvin wrote:
But surely then a big black disk on your desert theme boards is just as "bad" as having a non-desert themed base?
You can get clear plastic bases you know, if you really have a problem with it.

Black is the universal colour of something not being there. When everything else is painted up nice and colourful, a nice matte black tends to blend in to the background, where as a green grassy base will contrast and stand out against a sandy desert board.

Clear plastic... I've never liked it because it reflects light. The idea is obviously to look like there's nothing there, but instead the fact it's shiny and reflects light, it actually draws your eye to it even more. I paint all my flying stands matte black rather than leaving them clear plastic as it looks so much better to me, doesn't draw the eye as much.

I do tend to think most people who are saying a black base is worse than a snow base on a desert table haven't actually tried making a nice smooth flat black base to compare. As I mentioned earlier, GW bases come with slots and dimples, so if you want a nice looking black base you really have to clean those things up.

I personally couldn't care, but there's so much bias in the community against bare bases it wasn't worth the hassle to fight it. (In the Dakka showcase forum, people will report you for showing 'unfinished models' if they don't have scenic bases.)

 d-usa wrote:
For me personally, an unbased model just looks weirder than a model on a base that doesn't match the table, and a black base doesn't match a grass table any more than a lava base.
.

I agree entirely with this. For me, basing also helps to tie an army together.

 d-usa wrote:

Even the weird goblin green bases of 1990s GW look better than plain black bases IMO.
.

Well...I wouldnt go THAT far. Drybrushed green flock, yuck.

 d-usa wrote:
There are probably ways to make a very plain base that would both look finished and only clash minimally with the table. But I do understand where OP is coming from
.

Probably. i can't see where OP is coming from, but I play mostly historicals where floating black disks would look really odd, so what do i know.

I prefer black bases to really badly done scenic bases

when I was gaming semi regularly thye never bothered me at at all

but

I prefer reasonable scenic base to plain black ones

and if you're basing a mini with a tabbed base you've got to either putty the slot to match the rest of the base, or stick some sort of scatter over it anyway so you might as well go all in and decorate your base

I prefer based mini's. I feel like they can add to the "story" if you will of the miniature a bit. Rusted barbed wire, shell casings etc.

Baseing my army has been on the to-do list for a while now. The reason I started to actually do it was Dakka guilting me.

You win, Dakka, you win.

I’ve even drilled a few gun barrels. Been thinning my paints for years though.

Why do I create scenic basing? Simple - my miniatures are primarily display pieces that can also serve as gaming counters, not the other way around. I use basing as a unifying visual element,. Solid black could do that, but scenic basing can also serve to convey army fluff/theme.

I do, however, understand where the "black base" camp is coming from. We're trained to abstract black, beyond it simply being the color of nothingness - if we weren't, the blacklining in cartoons/comics wouldn't work. That's why I prefer black base rims, even on scenically based models.

When the situation is reversed - models are gaming pieces that can also be displayed - I base black. My Project Pandora and Dwarf King's Hold minis will only ever be used for those self-enclosed board games. They're receiving a quick (by my standards, at least) and dirty paintjob and will only have their small, round, integral bases to stand on. I could attempt to sculpt/paint space corridor/dungeon floor patterns on the bases, but solid black just seems cleaner and less intrusive, especially considering the impossibility of matching all the varieties of colors and textures on the map tiles.

It's very simple: I base all my models because I think it looks a lot better than models without scenic bases.

To me, the base is a part of the miniature; it adds depth and style to the whole picture. Especially when the models are ranked up together, coherent basing gives a nice unified look to the army.

I never used too base my models but I'm not the best at painting and once I tried it I noticed a big improvement. I've never considered not basing my models since.

Especially if I'm doing terrain specific camo, it really helps having a matching base.

It's super simple, quick and makes the army look much better.

Subjective opinion is subjective and all, but that's why I base my models.

 notprop wrote:
Models that haven't been based don't look finished, simple as really.

The juxtaposition of one type of base with another type of table finish seems unduly pedantic to me. You need to suspend belief a bit in the first place to fully appreciate an attractive miniature wargame it's not a big step to ignore a desert base in an urban street.

This.

Nothing more really.

Well, there's always the option for clear bases.

In theory, not basing models sound like a reasonable idea since you then won't run into the ice-bases on a desert world scenario etc.

In practice though; it's always worth basing your models IMO. Even a quick and easy basejob makes any model approximately 100% better looking. It makes it so much easier to suspend your disbelief and view the model as whatever it's supposed to represent rather than just a plastic/metal figurine.

If you don't want to base, clear bases is the only option that will not drag your painted models down several knots.

I base my minis because they keel over without them!

I do it because I've never considered it an option to not base them. Now that I know it's a thing people do, I really want to see photos of well-painted, black-based armies for comparison.

 notprop wrote:
Models that haven't been based don't look finished, simple as really.

Yup, this. I take all the time to paint them up really nicely, i want that nice model to look like its standing on something equally realistc. Also, i like sculpting / creating / painting bases.

I used to not base them(I used the same argument about based models clashing with the table, too), but after doing a couple armies, I really noticed how bare and unfinished the models without it looked in comparison, so I've been going back and redoing my bases.

I've actually found that now that I've started basing, the "clashing" terrain types doesn't bother me(I don't even notice it anymore).

A model bringing around his pet rock because it was added to the scenic base is absolutely hilarious to me. I actively try to find alternative models for Special Characters that include some scenery. I have an Illic Nightspear model that is really just a specific Ranger model painted in the distinct blue and yellow I avoided with my other Rangers. Just normal black or green painted bases for me. Most fancy is green flock but I haven't done that in ages.

"Everyone move up! Got your pet rocks or dead carcass? Alright, let's go! Wraithknight, make sure you drag that crashed Space Marine Land Speeder with you even though we're fighting Orks."

Why do I base my models?

Well, frankly because I enjoyed doing it. I had fun coming up with a specific scheme and colours that tied in with my armies, and represented them well.

(Use of past tense is due to me having been prized-out and grossed-out by GW)

 Pete Melvin wrote:
Well...I wouldnt go THAT far. Drybrushed green flock, yuck.

It wasn't even flock. It was sand PVA'd to the base, the whole thing painted Goblin Green, then the sand drybrushed Sunburst Yellow.

I'm of the same opinion as notprop. Unbased models, even if it's a black base tidied up, don't look finished. But that's just, like, my opinion man. I'm not going to convince you to do it if you don't like it.

My Haqqislam are based on desert bases. I've never once fielded them on a desert board. Once I fielded them on a grass board, and other times on urban boards, and never once have I ever actually cared that they're based different to the board. I did desert basing because their colours are desert sort of colours. My Tyranids are based on brown dirt with green grass, because all of our 40k tables wound up being grassy, but when we are at the FLGS we game on all kinds of boards. Playing them on an urban board didn't look weird at all.

If you're getting hung up about what their bases look like compared to the table they're on... I dunno. it's just not a problem I've ever had.