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For 40K, all my models are on dark grey urban bases, and the trims are different depending on army while looking appropriate for the base. I paint my Chaos models with a black trim and my Imperial ones with a dark grey trim; when I get around to my Orks and Tyranids, I plan to do those in a muted, low-saturation green and blue respectively.

In Fantasy, I tend to use muted browns, with the exact shade depending on the army and the basing; my Tomb Kings have a paler, sandier tone than my Skaven. I tend to use muted browns on my RPG PCs as well, because I tend to use earthy bases there.

Ultimately, I say use something muted and unassuming. The trim should not be a focal point. Make it reasonably similar in palette if not shade to the rest of the model and the base. For the record, muted does not necessarily mean dark or even dull; the Wolves above have a mid blue tone which works great with the overall colour palette, and the result looks much better than black trims would on those particular models. The same shade on the Guardians, however, would look... silly.

 danpieri wrote:
I put a thin layer of white glue on the bases, being careful not to get any on the feet. After that, I dip them in real sand that has some tiny rocks in it. Heck, the sand I use I just scooped some up from the parking lot at my LGS, so I guess its an "official GW" material!

The OP is talking about the trim of the base not the base itself.


I paint mine black.

Another +1 for Steel legion drab. I have a desert coloured set of gaming boards, so want my mini's to tie in with that.

Someone said black is less obtrusive, I think it's the most stark contrast I could have against my board.

If I was good enough to paint display models then I would use black though, as mentioned before it does look, neat and clean and frames the models well. That's not what I want out of a gaming base though

Black is my personal preference, because it usually gives a large contrast to the model which stands on it, especially if it has been based.

I’m another supporter of black rims. Unless you are playing on the same style of table all the time, black makes a nice border between mini and battlefield.

Plus it’s slimming!

Mid browns for me. Either Vallejo mud or GW caltan brown.

I also like steel legion drab. Mournfang was too distracting and black is so boring. Plus why paint a black plastic base black. #pointless.

I paint my rims my favourite colour .... clear. Looks nice that way too.

I match the color of the basing material for mine. Leaving black makes the model seem unfinished to me.

Blam! It does draw the eye but it keeps things easy when I'm moving 3-4 blobs of guardsmen around the table.

 portugus wrote:


Blam! It does draw the eye but it keeps things easy when I'm moving 3-4 blobs of guardsmen around the table.

^

I'm one of the odd-ducks who's in this guy's party. Sometimes squads get close to one another or they're just a ton of minis. Having color-coded bases makes my life easy.

Temporarily black. Usually I paint them black until I have finalized the base. Only then will I decide what color they should be.

mine get painted the same time as the base including dry brush layers, I want the rim to blend into the rest of the base.

I think it is really cool that people have such diverse ideas on this... makes me happy

It makes very much sense to do unit colors even though it is not for me...

I use Citadel's XV-88 and I think the brown really compliments the earth tones that I usually use on the bases. Also, I think it helps bridge the gap between base and tabletop. I find that black can be a bit distracting when viewing from afar.

People may disagree but I colour code mine so I can tell at a glance who is in every sqaud even if they are mixed up in a combat or sqauds get mushed up by terrain
Ie tac sqaud white, black, green
Sternguard red
Jump packs blue
Honour guard\chomand sqauds yellow.
Officers gold etc.

Whatever happens I know who applies to which unit and such.

I rim in a neutral tone, and then add some details like a line or mark to show me the squad, and maybe a name for one or two of the members in the squad (sergant and what not)

Example: my sergant from my 1st howling griffon tac squad: steel legion drab (used a mud battlefeild as my base), Srgt. Corvus in red, and red/yellow lines of the opposing sides of the name.

Steel Legion Drab because that's what GW does



Also I think it looks great on fantasy models.

I used to like graveyard earth but now i prefer black.

This thread needs a poll!

Roger that, I really need to get to bed now but I will get a poll going tomorrow.

 granander wrote:
Roger that, I really need to get to bed now but I will get a poll going tomorrow.

Bed? For shame. You're a Dakkanaut, sleep is for the weak.

Steel Legion drab for me. Spent 15 years painting them goblin green - then overnight decided "That looks s##t."

I ran black for forever, and then switched to the rim being the same color as the base. The black caused there to be too much of a breakup between the surface of the table and the surface that the mini was standing on. It sort of broke 4th wall and reminded you that they were game pieces, nothing more.

Though I do also like that medium brown that GW has been using for the last half a decade or so. It's probably the least insinuating color, and the less attention that's called to it, the better.

If it ain't Goblin Green, then it ain't gak.




I do like black on my bases. It keeps em neutral looking.

My fantasy bases are all copper bc that's what color my movement trays are.

My 40k bases are black by default. Everything is going through The Great RePaint right now. I'll decide about the bases when I get to them.

I use a shade of whatever colour the majority of the base is done in, generally. So desert bases will have a brown rim, urban bases will have a grey rim and so on.

I paint the rims on whatever the models are based on. At one point I was really thinking about doing a kind of water/shore/lake type theme for my 'nids. I had planned on doing all my zoans different (I have one of the 5th ed?) zoans that has sort of that muddy lake bottom theme, and it has some sort of blue shade on the edge, I don't recall which.

Some of the earlier 'nids I've done have mournfang brown on the edge...as I'm working toward a jungle base theme for my 'nids now, it'll probably be some sort of brown color.

Orks I have no idea. I haven't decided how to base the orks yet..

At the moment I'm still reserving the space wolves for snow bases... (even though most space wolf players probably do snow bases).

I use Zandri Dust. I've tried white and black. White was too much of a contrast and I find that black makes the whole model appear too dark, as my Chaos models are pretty dark. Zandri dust is a nice inbetween and goes well with my basing technique that isn't "themed" to a certain army.

My upcoming Orks will have yellow trims.