Thematic Basing Tips and Materials

This article will focus less on the how to side and focuses more on what sort of things you can do to a base when you let your imagination run wild.

Aside from a well painted miniature a finished base can add a sense of completeness to a miniature. When one is basing a large army with tons of miniatures it can sometimes feel like wasted effort to embellish the bases but it takes little time or effort to add even small items to the bases of your miniatures to make them stand out. For the more adventurous hobbyist however I encourage you to put the extra time and effort into your bases. If you are playing one of the newer skirmish games going all out on a fully customized base can be very rewarding and bring out a whole new feeling for your force.

For this article I will be using the miniatures from the MERCS miniatures game. I will be using models from the CCC, USCR, Kemvar, Sefadu, and FCC Megacorps. Aside from this the other materials used in the assembly of the bases are as listed bellow.

• Cyanoacrylate (standard hobby glue akin to P3 or Games Workshop glues)
• Metal tubing
• Plasticard
• Plastic rods
• Plastruct I-beams
• Small Gauge wire
• Balsa wood
• Plastic Sprue Bitz
• Spare Model Bitz
• GW Razor Wire (although you can also make your own)
• Games Workshop Plastic Tree Branches
• Cork sheets
• Ballast (small grit rock or other similar material)
• Bits of small broken self leveling cement patch
• Pegasus Hobbies terrain Sets

So now that we have our list of supplies used lets take a look at the various bases I worked on and ill explain a bit about each set. As we look at the sets I will talk a little bit about each on in the order they appear.

CCC

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The CCC were the first of the MERCS I based I wanted to go with a theme that was simple yet obviously battle torn.

• The Heavy Assault was a mix of plasticard, sprue bitz and ballast.
• The Sniper was based on a piece of hardened cement patch.
• The Leader was based on a pile of skulls that I didn’t use from Epic Denegrha who is a warcaster in the warmachine game.
• The Incinerator I used a flame base inset from a accessory package that wyrd miniatures sells.
• The Medic is on a base made of cork board, Ballast, and GW razor wire.

USCR

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The USCR were models I received already based however it was very simple scheme with just ballast. I wanted to add a little bit of identity to the basing scheme and since the USCR are slow moving and tend to stay more in the open I also wanted to keep their bases less cluttered. so working with this idea in mind I only added a single item to each base to give them a bit of diversity like the very outskirts of a battle field.

• The Medic model I just added a simple small off cut of brass tubing
• The Booster I added splintered balsa wood to make it look like he had kicked something into pieces.
• The commissar received a length of broken plastic chain
• The sniper received a piece of cement patch that looks like a nice flat rock
• The Monkeywrench received a simple plastic skull
• The Behemoth did not receive anything as he is already on a piece of scenery. However as I found his melee weapon to be a bit to prone to bending I cut it off drilled through his hand and into each end of his weapon and replaced it with a length of brass rod. The Brass rod however felt a tad on the small side and was far to plain so I took a very thin gauge of wire and wrapped it tightly around the rod gluing it at both ends to hold it in place.

Kemvar

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The Kemvar are where I really started to go all out and try some new ideas for my basing. Some of the bases are quite unique. I tried to use similar terrain features on all the bases to tie them together a bit more.

• The Leader I placed leaping off of a piece of plastic metal siding from a Pegasus Hobbies terrain set. The rest of the base was a bit of plastic sprue and ballast.
• The Sniper I have hunkered down behind a  a metal mesh wall buried in gravel. Items used  were ballast and bits from a Pegasus Hobbies terrain set.
• The Demolition is standing on a bit of damaged metal mesh wall that has fallen onto the ground. Items used ballast an bits from a Pegasus Hobbies terrain set.
• The Monkeywrench is running up a piece of the same metal mesh that has fallen on a beam in the dirt. Items used are ballast, balsa wood, and Pegasus Hobbies terrain set pieces.
• The Assassin is standing on a hatch cover from a Pegasus Hobbies terrain set. However I also cut out the bottom of the base so you can see through to the table bellow.
• The Heavy Assault is standing on more of the Metal Mesh however similar to the Assassin his base has been hollowed out so you are able to see through it to the table bellow.

Sefadu

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I wanted to give the Sefadu  a feel of moving through a damaged section of wilderness or a large destroyed city park than blasted city scape. So to achieve this I used less plasticard and more cork and other bitz to achieve a more natural feel.

• The Sniper model is standing on a tree branch section from a GW plastic tree that is buried in ballast.
• The Berserker is standing on another piece of tree branch. this one is resting across some small pieces of concrete patch and ballast.
• The Leader is  lunging up off a branch resting on more concrete patch and ballast. I also replaced his spear shaft with brass rod.
• The Gunner is backing up along a fallen branch that is resting on some large pieces of torn up cork which work great for rocky surfaces.
• The Grenadier I have tilted back bracing as he takes a shot with his grenade. As you can see more cork, ballast and GW tree bitz are used.
• The Medic I have simply moving across a fallen branch buried in ballast.

FCC

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The FCC has a unique in-game ability known as debris crawl and considering they are somewhat akin to a terrorist organization I wanted to give them the feel of being surrounded by rubble and destroyed cities.

• The Liaison I used a mix of Mesh from the Pegasus terrain set, Snapped Balsa wood, plastic sprue bitz and ballast.
• The Boomer is standing on another mish mash of plasticard, balsawood, plastic sprue cut-offs, Pegasus terrain bitz, GW razor wire and ballast.
• The House Member is standing on a slightly raised piece of Pegasus terrain set mesh walkway, with bits of rubble made from cut-offs of the piece, as well as some plastic rods, ballast, and a thin piece of cement patch for a rock.
• The Housemaster has a unique pose and I wanted to use that to have her resting back on a piece of scenery. In this case I used a plastic I-beam which I scored up and made look battle damaged before drilling a hole through it to accommodate a bit of brass tubing, I then placed another bit of wider tubing over that one to give it the effect of a section of pipeline. There is also cut-offs of a Pegasus terrain set, Ballast and even a section of a Metal MERCS model tab that I will paint to look like a sign.
• The Chem Engineer is stepping down from what looks like a ramshackle fortification. It was made with bitz from a Pegasus terrain set, GW razor wire, Balsa wood, more of the thin concrete patch and ballast.
• The Pack Rat is another mish mash of plasticard, cork board, Pegasus Hobbies terrain set bitz, plastic sprue chnks ballast and another MERC miniatures tab.

I would say doing all this basing in one sitting took me about  one and a half to two hours. I didn’t keep ideal track of time as this was done at a hobby night at a buddies house so the time just flew by. As you can see each force has some elements which make the member of the squads fit together but they also allow for variation within the squad itself.

I really hope you found this informative and I look forward to showing you these all once I get them through painting.

-Geist

Tags: Basing, CCC, FCC, Games Workshop, GW, Kemvar, MERCS, Sefadu, Terrain, Thematic bases, Theme bases, Tutorial, USCR