When thinking of miniatures for Warhammer, Dungeons & Dragons or other tabletop games, one often immediately thinks of the stylish figure that is in focus. However, one fan has a trick for telling a powerful visual story even with a “simple” base.
What did this miniature enthusiast do with his bases? Reddit user BillMagicguy shared in the Warhammer 40k subreddit that he’d come up with a whole new way to design bases in just a few simple steps.
In a photo, he shows how his miniatures aren’t placed on the base as usual. Instead, the followers of his Genestealer Cult are crawling out of the base’s surface, giving the miniatures a truly unique, almost horror-like effect.
This is what the bases look like:
Creative way to give the ground some personality
How did the hobbyist go about this? The creator of these works doesn’t provide detailed instructions, but it seems quite simple. You cut open the base—preferably with a sharp scalpel—and remove the rest or fold it back. Then you can place a miniature inside this opening from below. In the hobbyist’s example, a claw and a face—or even several grimaces—peek out.
Keep in mind, however, that these must also be cut off at the bottom so the base can stand upright. Thanks to the rim, there’s about 3–4 millimeters of space underneath (I quickly checked this myself).
Here’s what MeinMMO editor and miniature enthusiast Caro has to say about it: I think the idea and execution by this fellow miniature fan are simply brilliant. All you really have to do is cut a slit in the base and place a spare figure underneath—one that’s probably just sitting in your “pile of shame,” begging to be put to use anyway.
Here’s a personal tip: If you don’t have any miniatures you can use under the base (or can’t bring yourself to cut up a mini that’s actually in good condition for this), you can fall back on an alternative. Citadel, Green Stuff World, and surely other suppliers offer skulls and creature remains that you can use to fill gaps in the bases.
I’m definitely going to try this out myself, because designing bases has become almost as much fun for me as the actual painting itself. I’m very grateful for this trick and just couldn’t keep it from you!
What do you think of this miniature fan’s bases? Do you want to try it yourself? Or do you have your own tricks for designing bases in unusual ways? Let us know in the comments!
I, too, got to work on the base for a particularly large miniature after having to wage a real battle with this scale during the crafting process. You can read here just how much this project tested my patience: My biggest miniature yet was more nerve-wracking than a giant Tyranid and failed in its duel with the cat
Your opinion is important to us!
Do you like the article? Then let us know!