I love the attitude of this series. I find a lot of people can be very "my way or the highway" about tabletop stuff- it's so nice to have a series giving good, solid advice while still acknowledging other people's tastes & preferences.

It's weird how infectious it gets. When I first started, I figured I'd get a handful of generic minis to represent all kinds of things and never bother with painting. Now mini painting is probably my primary hobby. I'm less particular about uniformity in my bases as much as I just prefer that all minis have one, and they all be circular. I agree with you that the pudding bases kind of irk me, but I'm okay with using the thin Wizkids bases and leaving them plain, especially if I'm doing a batch of mobs. Different terrain doesn't really bug me, and can even be used to accent the character. I played a Goliath Barbarian in a previous game, but finding a Goliath mini to scale is tough. So instead I got a good Reaper mini and based it on a layer of cork painted to look like a large rock. This made it stand taller than the rest of the party and gave the desired imposing effect.

Yes, my druid always is standing on grass, it grows around his feet He's not popular in taverns. Or churches. Or shops. Or castles. Or basically anywhere inside XD

Thank goodness I found this channel! Just starting painting minis again after a 30 year break. ;-) a bit has changed. What happened to the lead? Kidding, got me some Reapers, and excited to get started into some painting.

I have been painting on and off for thirty years. Even though I know most of what you are talking it’s still nice to get refreshers and even learn a thing or two

Another thing you can do with the Reaper Round bases - turn them upside down and mount the model inside of the well - you can have the model sitting on what looks like level ground is you do it right. (A bit of green stuff in the well, or even more sand and superglue.)

I like to buy a few of my character minis, and then do different terrain bases for them so I can just swap them out during gameplay. It's probably a little obsessive of me, but I love basing so it gives me an excuse to do more of it. Realistic bases just add so much!

Jeremy, as usual, I agree with your aesthetic choices! Probably this is due to the fact that we are both musicians inside ...

I'm not sure if you still check these but i LOVE this channel and finally got into a place where i can set up my painting area. The Base knowledge is GREAT!

I use a wooden dowel cut into similar size "slices" and use these discs as bases. Sand down the edges and decorate as desired.

I have a beetle "mini" that i did a pretty detailed base and it got me hooked on making crazy bases as it just accentuated the miniature and made it better

Hey BMC :D Thanks for your super helpfull videos! :D I have just taken up minipainting and you have no idea how much your tutorials help! I just threw on some smooth jazz, watched your guide on painting and bases and followed along :) I think for my first try it came out pretty decent! Keep it up man! Peace from Switzerland!

Thanks for the link! Just ordered some reaper bases from Amazon. I’m new to the world of miniatures and your channel is awesome!

I love finding new videos of yours and watching them. There always informational thank you

The confrontation 30 MM bases can be found for cheap on ebay and are a great option for those miniatures with larger bases that are too small to be used as large miniatures. They still fit pretty good on an one inch battle mat.

Just put in my order through Green Stuff world, can’t wait to use my rolling pin, thanks for all the good info!

Awesome installment to this series, full of great advice. I tend to agree with your thoughts on miniatures and basing; while its not necessary, I always highly recommend to people that they do it. Then again, I also really enjoy the process of creating bases for my miniatures; its basically (no pun intended) like building terrain/scenery on a much smaller scale and you do so much with it. Admittedly, I probably go overboard when creating my bases but its fun and it adds to the narrative of the miniature. Its interesting that you've had problems with PVA glue separating; the only time I've experienced this is when using washable glue, like the stuff tend to use in schools now, because its not really meant to be permanent. Everyone's experience are different though and in the end all that really matters is that your basing material gets stuck on nice and secure. If you're looking for really fine sand (emphasis on "really"), hit Hobby Lobby or any type of crafts store that carries supplies for sand art; I found this stuff, often referred to as "craft sand" years ago and its somewhere between finely granulated sugar and flour and makes really convincing scale dirt. Another great thing to keep in your "basing kit" (assuming you want to take it this far) is chunks of bark; they make amazing look scale rocks that, in my opinion, look a lot better than the normal gravel/ballast you normally see for dioramas and model trains. I've got orchid bark for smaller rocks and chunks of pine bark for really big rocks, and the nice thing about them is that you can usually find them at Outdoor/DIY stores like Home Depot in sufficient quantity to last you a *long* time (the pine bark came in a 2.2 cubic foot back which I didn't fully comprehend the sheer volume of until I saw it in person, if you will).

I made my own bases out of old metal bottle caps that I primed and painted. It is kind of like the reaper ones but have a little bit more weight and have a different shape. It is free and easy

Thank you broo...this video answer much of my questions about basing our minis...

Hey Black Magic, great video! I make my own minis and I make them with circular base that fit in 5 in game feet square. It doesn't matter the size of a creature, it always stands still.

Mini tip: use cork pieces on a base and paint it with agrax earthshade or some other shade to make a nice size effective log

Love this series

I use 1" fender washers for minis for tabletop, usually for Reaper Bones or WhizKids minis. It adds great ballast to the minis, I buy them in boxes of 100.

As a DM it's helpful to paint numbers, letters, or roman numerials on the side of the base. It helps to identify groups of miniatures, like my players are fighting 10 goblins or zombies, so everyone can see mob A, mob B....ect

Great video! Personally, I like to use US pennies for bases for most all my RPG minis. I like the 3/4 inch diameter and the weight they add to the plastic figures. Also, they only cost 1 cent each! Though it does often require some reposing shenanigans since so may are sculpted with a 1 inch base in mind. Larger figures or monsters that won't fit on a penny get the washer treatment. I'm surprised that you say you've had PVA peel off bases. I've been using pretty much only PVA to glue down sand and have been doing so since the mid 1990s and have never once experienced this. I wonder what we're doing differently.

You can also use green stuff to adhere the mini. Another great video.

I always base my players in a solid color of there choice it helps with me /them to be able to recognize the players quickly on the battle mat. also i always fill the bottom of my bases with hot glue, it adds some weight and adds grip to the piece.

I have that pirate! Yaaaargh! Just painting it up now. Timely.

Great series!

I use modeling paste to blend my mini bases right now, but I'm definitely going to try green stuff/miliput at some point.

Miniature paintings, the perfect hobby for the O.C.D.

Just got into painting my minis and I’ve probably watched the first four videos of the series 3 times each. Thanks for the tutorials and please keep them coming.

Great advice, the only thing I'll add is: using green stuff (or other such putty) to level out your bases (if you're leaving the pudding base on when you attach it to the base) before putting any flocking on can help make a more natural looking mini. If you flock with the pudding base on often that level difference between the flat base and the mini is quite apparent. You can also save a bit of money and use hot glue to level it out with a bit of practice! Regardless, great video!

Nice video, BMC. One comment....you are using a 25mm base for a 28mm mini. That, combined with the more dynamic posing that has in vogue, gives you the trouble you were on about. That's one of the underlying reasons for the larger scale of the Wyloch-style tiles.

I suddenly got this video in my recommendations while I've been trying to get into minis and it was super helpful! Thanks! ♡

Great video man

So many channels out there doing minis, same for crafting. Only difference is that your crafting videos have your own unique style that keep me coming back. So much of my terrain has blossomed from techniques I've learned from you and I sport many projects that scream "BMC". I hope this foray into minis doesn't take away from your actual crafting vids, I've been using them as a gold standard in my builds. Even though I don't have any hot wire tools I'm still able to emulate your designs for the most part. I really enjoy your builds, they are why I love this channel. But waiting around for a week only to find that you're doing another mini video is disheartening. I'm sure you are receiving praise for the mini related stuff, but it lacks the essence of what brings the majority of us back each video. (I hope I'm not the only one who feels this way)

Damn! You're almost as picky as I am! LOL Love what you're doing. And thanks for speaking as though I don't know anything about this, because i don't. Looking forward tot he next video.

The wizkids bases are great options for objective and similar things you might want to use. For those planning on the clear acrylic bases, be very careful with superglue. It can frost the base and ruin the effect if you aren't very careful. Some of the other clear drying glues actually work better for it.

knocks over easy (flicks mini like 10 times... finally falls over)... lol.. great video as always...

He is correct that it is a matter of personal preference. I would, however, like to offer the counter point for decorating bases and why I paint all mine black. Black represents negative space. It is easily ignored. Decorating a base looks cooler, but creates inconsistencies, as he mentioned in the video. A mini on a flag stone base during a fight in the wilderness, or a grasslands base while fighting in a dungeon, creates dissonance. My intention soon, is to use clear disk bases. I do, however, decorate monster bases for creatures I know will only appear in a specific environment.

If you're not going to base them and keep the "pudding"(first time for me to hear this term) base, is at least sand/file the bottom flat. I got one that I painted up for my niece, and it needed quite a bit of work for it to sit still.

I used super glue and baking soda on my warhammer miniatures the baking soda looks better then just sand because its super fine and more to scale as sand

Round bases still seem weird to me. My favorite bases were the (discontinued) 1x1 reaper square metal bases. The extra weight at the bottom helps keep the minis from tipping over, and they had a little well you could fill with a mix of PVA and sand/ballast to make it level. Reaper's square plastic bases are ok, but the sides are more tapered, so you have to trim the "broccoli" base more to fit. I actually found some Ral Partha metal bases the other day, which are pretty nice as well.

Something of the european Perspektive (just got this Series from KZfaq in my Suggestions): There is a British Company called "Renedra" which seams most of the time been used in the historical Wargamins Scene. They produce a own tipe of those Coin-Bases, not quite the same as the Bases Witzkids seams to produce, but if they are in a comparable Size this could work as well. (But at least I prefere the GW-Style-Bases as well, which I can order pretty Easily over a few Webstores here in Germany.)

The bases you choose matter a lot if you use terrain. Flat bases like wizkids don't grip terrain and slide and fall off any kind of slope. Elevated empty bases grip to terrain and flock a lot better and won't fall off as easily.

for gluing sand on a base, i usually use wood glue (white glue). After it dried i shove away everything that sticks to the sides, and afterwards seal it with watered down wood glue. Never had problems with sand coming off with that.

Yes, having uniforn bases looks really good. I need to admit.

Man I love the videos you make! Thank you from a newbie. I have always wanted to get into D&D but never had a crew. Well I made my own! This weekend I am starting a game with my wife and three kids. I picked up the starter set with the lost mines of phandelver and I’m hoping to work through that. My kids are 11, 10 and 8. Do you have an recommendations for a new DM with a team of all new players? Thanks again for all the content. I’m starting my builds this weekend!!! You made quarantine so much easier

I like to build a paste out of my grit when texturing a base rather than gluing it down. Typically I'll mix up two different sizes of grit with a bit of heavy gel medium, matte medium, and/or pva, mix it all up and then push it around the way I want it on the base with an old brush. Once it dries you get a nice texture without the differentiation between different individual peices of grain that you can sometimes get when just gluing it down. I'm sure a more industrious crafter could mix up a whole jar's worth ahead of time to maintain a degree of consistency across multiple bases if that's your jam.

Do you ever do magnetic base attachments or magnetic weapon attachments so you can kinda modularize minis? I'd love to see a video on this if you do.

I use othello board tokens they fit perfectly and you can use the white side or the black,plus they have some weight to them

For my standardized base, I use hardware store washers. They're thin but have weight and are readily available. I haven't tried pinning yet.

Rather than superglue, I use No More Nails to secure my minis to bases. Wall filler/putty plus sawdust and/or coffee grounds of various coarseness makes for great and cheap texture/filler. The No More Nails obviously take longer to dry/set, but it's a little more impact resistant because it's flexible.

I should have know that if I just looked at BMC, I would find a video that deals with exactly what I'm working on. Thank you for the information contained in this video. Now, I just have to work up the nerve to cut the miniatures free from their "pudding" bases so that I can put them on the new bases.

Standard base size is also great if you get into miniature skirmish games, like "Song of Blades and Heroes"

You can make multiple based for the mini if you use the pinning method but don't glue it to the base.

I’ve glued sand to plastic GW bases with PVA and my models are over 15 years old with no issues.

Do scissors work as an alternative for those wire cutters to cut the pudding base away?

What about using foam in or on bases? Any cool builds to do that?

Great video! Where did you get the electric pinning tool shown on 9:51? I see the manual one listed in your store, but didn't see this one. Is it any better than a standard dremmil tool?

My bases all cost a penny each, well 2 pennies, as i use a 2 pence coin to base all my minis on. The size is perfect but even better than that, they weigh the minis down, specially those plastic ones, though i prefer to paint metal minis as thats where my background lies. Once i have a tuppence glued to my figure, i bulk up the base with superglue and extra fine sand, simple paint job and the occasional grass tuft. This works for me as i only paint for myself really, i am not a gamer, just someone who likes painting fantasy figures =)

Where possible, dry fit the mini for basing before you paint, then paint the parts separately, so you can do cool things with both without worrying about them not fitting together.

I only use transparent bases which are more immersive on a dungeon floor.

It’s fun making decorative and scenic bases for larger models. Made a nice one for my Bones hydra that it could detach from and be used for other models if needed. By the way what size washer was that you used in the Reaper base?

So what about pewter ones? Do you suggest to cut those of too? If they're wobbly and not big enough is what I mean.

never had to mess with mini 's and bases. But I recieved a mini today that is smaller than the standard dnd mini size and has no base so it can't stay standing up. So I will have to look at trying to not ruin this mini. My last one had it's spear break and the glue we tried didn't stay in place leaving a V shaped top of a spear and big glue ball fists.

It would be cool to see a kit bash video. Tutorial or just a "hey watch me make something cool".

You named a link to Scotty's video, but I can not find it ...

Adding weight under your base is a good idea especially if your cats try to play Pathfinder with you.

Any thoughts to using air dry clay for some of the mini terrain building, at least in place if epoxy or the green stuff? It does have a pretty long work time and you can do a lot with it, plus a tub of the stuff is cheap.

can i use an bottle cap for bases?

Does greenstuff work for sealing gaps, etc. effectively on metal minis?

I have a dragon "mini" that has a huge base, I kinda want to add some terrain to it like sand. Any suggestions?

Square bases for life.

You mentioned Citadel slotted based as if they were the only options. Citadel mostly makes fully solid bases, both sold with their minis and sold in bulk. If you’re looking for continuity, I’d suggest those because they’re sold with all Citadel minis so if you’re going to throw AoS or Warhammer Fantasy minis into your D&D game, they’ll all look the same. Edit: also, you can just use texture paint rather than green stuff because then you don’t have to add anything and you can easily cover the pudding base, as you can glue the mini down and just slather the stuff on top.

Would applying the sand /dirt to a mortar/pestle help refine the grit?

Any suggestions for something I can fill the bottom of the base with? You had a washer in yours which is great for weight, but I won’t want people to see that when they pick it up.

I usually use Reaper metals. Any advice on how to remove the base if I have to? And do you base before painting miniatures usually? I always thought you should base after the mini is painted.

Would you recommend painting the mini and base before pinning/gluing the mini onto the base? Or is it better to pin/glue the mini before painting the whole thing?

How do you decide what diameter you use 25mm, 50mm?

I’ve been using 1” washers with as small inside diameter possible. They’re cheap, they weigh more and you can buy them in bulk.

Das air dry clay works in basing as well, and is relatively simple and inexpensive to do

What's the name of that little drill tool you use to pin your minis' feet?

have you ever thought about getting 1" round wood stock and cutting your own bases. Or filling your bases with resin

I was just wondering. I was thinking of buying a 4ft 1in dowel and cutting 1/4 in pieces off. and using those as bases.you can get 48 based for every ft. I've never done that, and is there any cons doing it that way? thanks

What if you have a larger miniature such as the demon lord minataur?

Great video. Quick question - I regularly use sand and PVA glue for miniature bases and never had the problem you described with peeling off. What do you think causes this problem and do you think there is a way to avoid it, but still use PVA and sand?

Do you paint the mini first then base it or put it on the base first?... does it really matter? Thanks.

6:14 Give it a blast from your spice weasel! Bam!

In one of your videos you gave the real name of green stuff. I can't find this video could you tell me what it's called please

Use E6000 glue then coat in sand.

I like plain black bases on my minis. If they are decorated, it kind feels to distracting and makes it seem like too much on one base. I can't really explain it plain black bases just look really good.

How do you guys feel about items on miniature bases?

If you have issues with the base on the mini, put the base in boiling water for 20 or 30 seconds (kids, have an adult help you with this, burns are not nice) and then press it against the bottom of a flat dish filled with cold water for another 20 or 30 seconds. It will reset the base to how it should have been. The same applies to warped swords and such. Also applies to more expensive models if they are made of plastic. Just make sure that they do not touch the metal with the mini, it will melt if you do. And for basing models with sand, you CAN easily use PVA. All you need to do is after it dries, so overnight. Put another layer or two of thinned down PVA, around a little thicker than the consistency of milk, it should be able to flow freely into all of the cracks and crevices of the sand without obscuring detail.

It matters to me for weird reasons I feel that

where did you get the mini at 1:51 ?

should have checked here first super glue not pva to glue scenic material to the base and I just started basing my first

The reason some minis don't fit is because they were designed to sit on a one inch square base diagonally. They are used in miniature wargaming.

What about thin cork ?