Painting Bases – Elrik’s Hobbies To The Rescue!

Painting bases for miniatures is something I’d not done in my days of focusing solely on aircraft. I’d build a model airplane, and let it stand on the shelf as-is. I’d seen plenty of nice displays by other aircraft builders, but I never really had the urge to do one myself.

When I first began painting gaming miniatures, the need for a base was obvious. Most were simple enough – some earth texture, a little dirt, paint and a wash. Every now and again I’d sprinkle some rocks on, and perhaps a tuft of grass.

I wanted to have more sophisticated bases, but my old enemy time kept rising up. I never had enough of it to focus on learning to build detailed and interesting bases.

Until I discovered Elrik’s Hobbies

Painting bases made easy

I’d seen a link to their site on a Warhammer focused channel. Looking through their catalog, I was impressed with the variety and size options available. All were gorgeous single piece casts. No assembly would be required. And the amount of detail packed into them was outstanding.

I ordered several, both for projects I had going at the time, and with an eye towards future projects. And they aren’t expensive at all, which surprised me. Of course, the best part is going from “no base” to “just paint it” with a click of the mouse. (And some work by the postal service too… 😉 )

This video looks at painting and weathering a 100mm round base from their City Ruins collection. It certainly didn’t break the bank to order either, being priced at a very reasonable US$9.25.

While this base will be used for a Warhammer 40K Armiger Helverin, I think the scale could also work perfectly with 1/20 scale Maschinen Krieger projects. The sizing of the elements on the base are nicely propotioned to be right at home with that genre. The only change I’d probably make is removing the skulls, which would be a tad too tiny.

I also did a review of Elrik’s bases back in my pre-YouTube days.