Quick Basing Trick We’re Stealing for Our Next Minis
We love those little hobby moments when one person shows a finished detail, everyone goes “damn, that looks good”, and five minutes later we’re already discussing how to copy the technique on our own minis.
That was exactly the case here. It started with praise for Wilini’s sword, which came out really nicely after, as he put it, a bit of wrestling with it. But very quickly the conversation shifted to something just as important for the final look of a model: the base.
A simple basing recipe that looks great
Pegie asked what Wilini used for the texture on the base, and the answer was refreshingly straightforward:
- Place larger stones where you want them first
- Add fine gravel around them
- Once that dries, cover it with diluted basing glue mixed with water
- Let everything dry fully
- Only then prime the whole miniature
That’s it. No magic product, no twenty-step process, just layering a few materials in the right order and locking everything in before priming.
Why we like this approach
What we really like about this method is that it sounds easy to repeat and hard to mess up. The bigger stones give the base structure, the smaller gravel fills the gaps and makes it feel natural, and the diluted glue helps bind everything together so it survives painting and gaming.
Priming only after the basing is finished is also one of those simple-but-important reminders. It helps unify the whole model and base surface before painting starts.
Hobby tip worth remembering
If you’re building textured bases, this is a great sequence to keep in mind:
big texture first, small texture second, glue to seal, primer at the end
It’s one of those hobby tips that sounds obvious once someone says it, but it’s still nice to see it laid out clearly.
The eternal hobby truth: supplies are already on the way
Of course, the conversation also confirmed another universal truth of the hobby: once a good basing idea appears, someone immediately has an order incoming.
Pegie is already waiting for a delivery after ordering a whole basing set and some brushes last week, so we’re expecting to see this technique tested very soon.
And yes, there was also a recommendation for getting stones from Temu, which honestly feels exactly like the kind of practical hobby sourcing advice that gets exchanged in every group chat sooner or later.
Reference photo
Wilini also dropped a photo of the material used for the bases:
We’re definitely trying this
We’re always happy when a good-looking result turns out to come from a method that’s actually approachable. This one feels like exactly that: easy to understand, easy to test, and likely to make a big difference on the table.
Now we just need to stop pretending we don’t already have enough basing materials at home.