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Maybe it's becasue I have over 300 (possibly over 400) bases of models to finish (between 40k, FoW, Infinity, and WarMachine), but I have no desire to spend more money on sceneic bases or the time on basing them myself. So, can I just NOT base them? Or is there a way to pant a normal base to make it look nice?

I refused to for the longest time, until I was voted 'best painted' at a local tournament but couldnt get the prize because my Nids werent based.

So I just based them in black basalt. If you take a butterknife and spread glue then dip/shake/whipe, you can do them that way en masse about 1 mini every 15-20 seconds.

But yea I dont like basing because of the variety of maps out there, snow bases look silly on jungle boards, etc.

Well there's that too, I wanted to get really cool looking deck plate bases, but they'ed look strange on a grass board or desert board.

But that still involves finding the sand to do that with. I swear I'm not lazy, I just hate basing and wanna know, is ok not to? I can't recal many armies that aren't...

No matter how you base your models (or not base them), your armie's bases will always stick out like a sore thumb on some tables.

There are a lot of ways to base them in ways that are cheap and easy. I myself glue flocking, Sprat a sealer (over the whole model and base) and then drybrush on top of the flocking so that it looks like my army is walking across a firld of flowers. This is in the fluff of my army considering the 2 different flower colors and some have metioned different theme psychological reasons such as there is hope even in war and crap like that.

what I would do is consider the fluff f your army, the tables that you play on most often, your color scheme and so forth and just go with what works for you. An army whose entirely of bases match looks better. i wouldnt worry overmuch about some being scenic or not. the oveall them of them is what matters.

I don't really get to play, at all. I was thinking I could just cheat and paint the bases either light green or tan (to simulate grass or sand)

For years GW bases were just mono colour affairs (typically green) - yes even those Evy-Metal guys used them.

So you can do it and when organised together in an army its ok. Basing is a skill like all things though so you might find once you've based a few you might find its easier to do than you think and quicker provided you get a good methods thats simple and not overly detailed for the bulk of the army (ergo troops)

Well I just counted, and I know I skipped some stragglers but I have at least 428 minis that need to be, painted, half need to be stripped and my 120 zombies still need to be finished assembly. and then I have about 200 robotech RPG tactics mnis comin in....I like the "paint the base" idea a lot.

A bit of PVA glue and some flock is also quick - or even fine sane - then a quick coat of paint and you're done. The flock/sand gives a little texture.

If the 'painting appearance' of your figures has a value to you, I'd urge you to consider putting the effort in. To me, a nicely based figure looks twice as good as the same painting on an unbased/ badly based figure. The only unbased figures that I've thought looked good are those based on clear laser cut perspex, but that gets you the extra cost and effort of pinning anyway.

For quick and easy I'd go with PVA, sand, Paint, wash, drybrush, varnish, done. Effort per figure would be about 5 mins max excluding drying times, and done in batches it would be well worth the effort IMHO

I may just paint the bases for now, and then once my horrendous backlog is cleared I may base them like that.

Doesn't painting the bases take more time than PVa + dip in sand method? i mean if you're doing the paint thing, you might as well base them.

My gaming store sells clear plastic bases in all the standard sizes, and I've seen a few armies use those exclusively. Seems to me like thatd be a good way to go. Most people would be totally fine with these, as it's clear (haha) that you intended for blank bases, and weren't just being lazy.

It's like they're wearin' nothin at all! nothn' at all! nothin' at all!

You could paint the base in textured paint, GW do a handful... but for 400 bases a pot of citadel isnt going to cut it, Artist supply brands like liquitex ,windsor and newton etc etc do textured acrylic mediums, you could mix those with a desired colour, and simply wash and dry brush them all quickly.

http://www.artsupplies.co.uk/item-galeria-black-lava-texture-gel.htm

250ml of that might well do all of (if not a large chunk) of your bases.

Even cheaper might be to mix sand into paint and spread that onto the bases.

 McGibs wrote:
My gaming store sells clear plastic bases in all the standard sizes, and I've seen a few armies use those exclusively. Seems to me like thatd be a good way to go. Most people would be totally fine with these, as it's clear (haha) that you intended for blank bases, and weren't just being lazy.

It's like they're wearin' nothin at all! nothn' at all! nothin' at all!

Thats awesome.
I tend not to base any of my armies because it's boring. I know it looks better but still. The only minis I'll base are those that are for a painting comp or if I know a tourney needs based minis. Then I just do sand before primer, lightly dry brushed grey (for an ash-type effect)

Personnaly i base my models with gravel/stones, no matter the evironement there is stones everywhere.

How do the models stay up if they're not on a base?

HairySticks wrote:
You could paint the base in textured paint, GW do a handful... but for 400 bases a pot of citadel isnt going to cut it, Artist supply brands like liquitex ,windsor and newton etc etc do textured acrylic mediums, you could mix those with a desired colour, and simply wash and dry brush them all quickly.

http://www.artsupplies.co.uk/item-galeria-black-lava-texture-gel.htm

250ml of that might well do all of (if not a large chunk) of your bases.

Even cheaper might be to mix sand into paint and spread that onto the bases.

I've bought the lava texture gel and it's good, but there is not enough 'lava' in it and I'm now looking for a bag of small slate pieces to add to it to make the texture better, I also have been playing with colours to add to it and the lighter the colour the better it seems as the darker colours overwhelm the 'lava' bits

Will look better with a few big bits of slate and some static grass on it as well I think

Really?

Personally i love basing the model more than painting the model itself. Its not that expensive unless you use salvaged bitz to add a "warzone victory/battle" look. I may do that for bigger models at some point but in general i just use cork plate, sand, flock, and paint. Even the bases i have that use some plasticard or plastic piping only cost me MAYBE a couple dollars MAX per base, and thats probably way higher than most of them.

Pva glue, gritty stuff, wash or watered down paint, done. Maybe 2 minutes per base? You'd be done in a weekend, with some level of dedication. If you wanted to be really fast, textured paint would get the job done very quickly - drybrush, done.

It's not 'wrong' not to base, but it completes an army IMO.

I don't see anything wrong with not basing a model as long as it isn't covered in paint scratches from when you were painting it. As long as it is a solid colour it's fine to me.

I don't get why people base really. Sure it looks cool, but from a playing standpoint it serves no function, and depending on how extravagant you go just serves to give your opponent more Line of Site on your model ><

Tazay wrote:
I don't see anything wrong with not basing a model as long as it isn't covered in paint scratches from when you were painting it. As long as it is a solid colour it's fine to me.

I don't get why people base really. Sure it looks cool, but from a playing standpoint it serves no function, and depending on how extravagant you go just serves to give your opponent more Line of Site on your model ><

Yeah I tend to touch up the black after I've finished painting

I go all out on my bases as i love it more than the model! BUT my friend has never based his models. They look fine but his tournament army he just painted the bases white as a snow theme. Which looks worse than the black it used to be.

Keep it black or put effort into the bases. Those two will have the best effect.

I like building nice bases but just can't be bothered anymore. Ive started switching my armies over to clear bases. Rather spend that time makeiny nice terrian.

I just base all my models using rough sand.

It's cheap, easy and quick to do, and the result looks good on my desert themed terrain.

Bigger bases can be livened up with tufts of foliage and bigger rocks.

This is the fastest, easiest way by far.

Lay out all of your bases and at one time spray paint them with this...

http://www.tcpglobal.com/SprayPaintDepot/ItemDetail.aspx?ItemNo=KRY+18202&gclid=CKHths_41rsCFSEV7AodH2cAvA

Glue the model to the base and then paint the side around the base black. (Or any color you want, but black will always only need one coat.)

Done. And it looks good.