[Darkzephyr]

Hey Everyone.

I'm considering going out and looking for some basing materials, though I don't think I'll be buying any of the GW made basing materials. Instead, I was hoping to find materials that cost less and come in greater quantities.

So, I decided to start a thread to come up with ideas.

There are already a few obvious ones, like gravel or sand that you can get from numerous places.

But I'm currently trying to think of what would work well for Grass. The only things I can think of right now are broom straws, moss or actual grass, but I'm not sure how easy those would be to set up on a base. I'm guess you'll need to cut up the broom straws or grass, and then attempt to glue those pieces to the base, but that seems like a very messy and painful process that could look pretty ugly.

But maybe I'm wrong. I hope some people here have experimented with alternatives to the over-priced GW products. Any ideas would be extremely appreciated.

 

[Seraphim_Guard]

This website makes amazing basing kits that I would really recommend if any of them work for your theme, and they also sell individual tins of pretty awesome stuff like cork boulders (which is cool because you can pin to it! Something you can't do to real rock). Very reasonably priced in comparison to GW, as well.

Hopefully I can link stores like that...

 

[cheeky plague]

speaking of basing material i found a really cheap alternative the 5 quid pots of basing sand gw do its called sharp sand get it from wickes for nearly 2 quid for 20 kilos its good needs a bit of practice as its finer but it works

 

[STUGSTUGSTUGSTUG]

Rocks = Cork. I work in a Restaurant that keeps all its wine corks for some reason. Now I have hundreds of them, more then I'll ever use. Get the natural ones, the synthetic ones don't break apart like real cork does - giving that jagged rock effect.

Other than that, I get everything from Woodland Scenics. Way way way cheaper than anything Citadel, and better quality if you ask me.

 

[Leech]

You can try herbs and spices. Herbs come from some sort of plant, many different plants, or so I'm told. They could make useful alternatives to grass and general plant matter that is found on the ground. They will smell a fair amount though and the price will vary. Some will be massively cheap and others will be very expensive.

I suggest that for when it comes to sand and grit that you look about. There are often different types of this stuff about and different textures and sizes in the stuff may make it turn out very different once you've put it on a model's base and painted it.

 

[Mayor Quimby]

My favourite source for basing materials is Antenociti's Workshop (link) which has tons of quite cheap, great materials for basing.

I bought from them plastic sheet paving, embossed styrene sheets and ivy leaves (fallen leaves), and they are great.
The scatter materials and the grass look good and quite cheap too, but I never used it.

Another great source of bits for basing are plastic terrain kits.
My favourite are the Gothic City Ruins from Pegasus Hobbies (link) and the Chemical Plant from Imex (link), which can be used for great themed bases.
With a single set you have basing bits for a whole army.

For DIY bases, strips of balsa wood are perfect for plank bases, while thin cardboard (like the one used for cereal boxes) makes good rock slates and paving when cut in small pieces.

Hope this helps!

 

[Spittle72]

FreeBasing101

 

[Darkzephyr]

Hey everyone!

Thanks for all the suggestions.

I have some good places to get started now. Though I'm still not sure what would make the best grass material. I guess I'll give herbs a shot. I can just imagine Oregano Orks!!

I took a look at some of the sites, but since their prices are listed in non-USD amounts, I'm not sure exactly how good those deals are. I'm definitely not familiar with the Quid.

Anyways, I was more looking for Free or very Cheap basing materials that I could get for a buck or two and basically it would be enough to base my whole army (i.e. A small bag of aquarium gravel or sand).

At any rate, keep the suggestions coming. I'd be glad to hear more ideas for grass.

 

[cheeky plague]

sorry quid is british for pound lol

 

[omgitsduane]

I recently made plaster my new material for basing. just layer some on top of the base itself a thin layer of course. swirl it around so its not totally flat and its done. I don't have any good pics of it but here is one I made and painted. added some flock and a bit of spikey bits and yeah...