Thank you to Wargames Atlantic for providing the 25mm Textured Bases for review
Bases are often an afterthought in the tabletop wargaming space. You use whatever comes in the box, maybe order some MDF bases or movement trays if you’re playing a game that requires them, and call it a day. Wargames Atlantic is aiming to change that by releasing a series of plastic bases with features aimed at making basing your models an easier and more pleasant process.
Dual-Use Bases
The first product we’re looking at today is the 25mm “Dual Use” base set from Wargames Atlantic. They come in packs of 60 for 15 USD directly from WA, and I’ve found that to be a pretty great size for basing Saga warbands and other small-mid sized games. The 25mm round bases are currently the only ones being offered, but there are plans to produce 25x50mm pill bases for cavalry and 40×20 rectangular bases for small scale and multi-basing needs in the near future.
While you can use these bases for any kind of model, they shine most when used for historical miniatures or any others that have integrated “puddle” bases. They sink into the base, leaving the model’s feet even with the top of the rim. This makes basing them pretty easy as you can just fill the base up with your basing material of your choice and everything looks nice and integrated when you’re done.
For this model, I used some ProAcryl Golden Earth texture and used some Luke’s APS Base Ready Pine Forest Ground Cover to give it a darker, scarier look. One of the tidbits I came across when researching how I wanted to paint the new Victrix Rus mentioned that they often skirmished in forests so I wanted to emphasize that.
The base made it dead simple to accomplish that scheme, you just spread the texture paste around to the top of the rim, wait for it to dry, and then put white glue on and dip it in the ground cover. Easy-peasy, the hardest part is waiting for everything to dry.
The bases also have a great convenience feature in a premade 3x1mm magnet hole. Magnetization is my personal favorite way to transport miniatures these days, and it’s really nice that these bases make that simple and prevent me from having to do any kind of eyeballing or measurement work to figure out what kind of magnet fits best on the underside of the base and won’t either stick out past the lip of the base or be too small to make good contact with the magnetic surface and hold securely. And once they’re magnetized, you get to do fun things like throw the models on your fridge.
The bases fit in movement trays perfectly well, but make sure to get 2mm thick trays to match the depth of the base. I only have 3mm thick trays around and as you can see, the bases leave a bit of a gap. It’s not HUGE, especially once the basing material is on, but you can tell when looking.
“But Matt”, you say, “my miniatures don’t have puddle bases. What should I do?” Well, you can flip the dual base over and use it as a normal flat base, but I would encourage you instead to check out the next product we’re covering today, Wargames Atlantic’s textured bases.
Textured Bases
Currently only available in 25mm, the textured bases come 48 to a box for 15 USD directly from Wargames Atlantic. They have plans to release 50mm textured bases in the near future. I find the base sizes a bit limiting here. I’d love to use them for quick, simple schemes for Warhammer 40k or Age of Sigmar, but there are very few units that go on 25mm bases anymore in those games, and I’ve found similar issues in a lot of other games I’ve looked at. 32mm seems to be the minimum size for bases outside of historical games these days, and they’re not currently offered by WA.
The bases have a nice texture to them, and the little rock formations are unique for each base on the sprue, so you’re getting 4 copies each of 12 designs. They’re super easy to work with, the texture is deep enough on the bases that it’s really simple to just do a basecoat of whatever color you want, and then do a dry brushed highlight or two to finish the base off. You could easily base an army in an afternoon with these.
Throwing tufts or other details on the base is still a good way to give the bases a bit of height and interest. I used a tuft from Gamers Grass on my test Tyranid here to get a bit of a pop of color that fits with the model overall. The sculpted-on rocks look good, but they’re pretty small and depending on how you painted them, might not stand out much.
Final Thoughts
Both of these base products are very simple, but they both excel at what they’re meant to do. The dual use bases make basing historical models dead simple, and you don’t have to worry about trying to blend a big integrated base with gentle slopes of basing paste so it doesn’t look like each model is standing on personal mounds of dirt. The textured bases let you base up a squad in minutes, and the bases look good and aren’t simple repeats of a couple of designs over and over again so nothing will look too similar, especially once you’ve added some tufts or a bit of static grass or whatever. If you find yourself unsatisfied with your current basing methods I highly recommend trying out whichever one of these products fits your needs.
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