A long long time ago in a land...

I did have many a painted mini, unfortunately even if I had them now they were all fantasy and I am looking for some modern.

However in the mean time I have a ton of cardstock standees that I need to base.

Folded over works fine, but some plastic bases would be better, particularly if they were not some insane price for a dozen pieces of extruded plastec that cost less than 0.1 cent to fabricate.

So, anyone know of some contacts stateside that carry something like these:
http://www.dice.co.uk/fs_hobbyacc.htm

Card Stands

20mm rounded (A)
20 x 18mm (B)
A= Clear moulded PS - also available in colours

B= Extruded - White or Black

Either kind or both of somethigng similiar besides printing up a bunch of cardstock sign bases from UM:BoM and then commencing to cut all those little ba*%t#$ds out.

Yep, you want Steve Jackson Games. They have really cool bases for their Cardboard Heroes range of release. They are a bit pricey, and it's very frustrating that they are no longer available in clear or black... but currently you can still get white, red or green.

Here is the link, as long as it's okay with WWG to post it... otherwise please remove this sentance:

Arabin

Well, I have looked for this sort of thing for quite some time, and have not discovered the mother lode yet. I have been tempted by the products you listed Sly. Hobby Accessories does not sell to us common folk, but do carry them.

I suppose 1lb for 20 isn't a bad price, but I'm sure the shipping from Jolly Old England would make a small order rather pricey. I like the 20mm round bases because they come in loads of different colors. That makes it quite nice if you wanted to say, have a gang warfare game. As you outfit your gang, you find the best cardstock mini that fits the profile, and then slip it into a certain color base, and your opponent(s) do the same using different colors. Makes it easier to remember who is who.

I was angling for a big batch of colors because of zombie gaming. In Xtreme Zombie Hunter there are four different types of zombies, and a handy colored base would be better than placing a marker next to each so you can tell the difference.

could be the way to go if you only want one color, and a LOT of them:

Scroll to the bottom then click on the image of the dominoes and other bits (like bases) to get a pdf price list. Two different styles, but prices range from $46 - $52 because they only sell these by the CASE, and a case holds 1,000.

Better still and my favorite is

They have more styles of bases, plenty of color choices, and they even sell in small quantities than 1,000 (click on Prices for Smaller Quantities). I was all set to place a nice order with these folks and then discovered that while they will sell in smaller quantities, the minimum order is $100. That is a LOT of bases (or other items, this is a very cool site - I am drawn to the spinners for some reason, must be fond childhood memories of games with spinners).

That's the best I can do Sly. Too bad I don't live in Texas (or you live up here in Washington). We could maybe come up with $50 each worth of stuff and not have to fork over the full $100 minimum.

Steve

Thanks Thomas. That was an interesting read, and not something I've come across before.

I think it's time I took a few piccys of how I base cardstock figures and posted them. It will become my project for the week.

Steve

Regarding "needing" so many bases, it's more a function of having a wide assortment of colors than needing 200 bases in one game.

Take for instance. There are four types of zombies: Crawlers, Roamers, Howlers and Runners. Each has different properties (movement rates and damage capabilities). Some have special properties (Howlers for instance start howling when they "spot" you, thus bringing nearby zombies with them).

The rules suggested for ease of identification to color-code the bases of whatever minis you use: green for crawlers, yellow for roamer, orange for howler and red for runner. and some have special abilities). Or you can place a marker next to every zombie (but that can quickly become a lot of markers).

The number of zombies you are likely to run into during a typical game will vary based on the number of players and how often "reinforcements" arrive, but a good rule of thumb might be 15 per player. The number of zombies placed on the table is based on the flip of a normal playing card (with the suit determining the zombie type). Face cards are worth 6, number cards are worth half their number rounded up.

Back to the bases. This means I'd probably want 25 each of those four colors, just for that one game. I doubt I'd ever need all 25 of a particular color, but that would give me elbow room if I ever wanted to modify the rules and try a game with more of a certain type of zombie (maybe either red suit results in a runner, so more zombies are faster)!

So that's 100 bases. Now what about a color for the hunters/survivors? And that is all for just one game. What about other zombie games? Maybe all the zombies in other games have the same stats, so I might want 50 of one color so that all zombies have the same colored base.

So I can see getting 25 bases of maybe 6 colors, and then add an extra 25 more for two of those colors. Now I'd have enough bases to play any zombie game I can think of, and also have a wide variety of colors for playing other tabletop games (Combat Zone, Necromunda, Gangs of Mega City One, whatever) where each player can have their own color for their figure bases.

So I can talk myself into 200 bases, but even then, at about $6 for 25 bases that only comes to $24 for four colors, and about $10 for 50 bases in two more colors, that brings the total up to $44 for 200 bases.

A long way from a $100 minimum order!

I've thought about the EM4 bases too. At £1.00 for 20 (call it $2) then I could get 40 of six colors (12 packs) for $24 plus shipping. Not bad. Even with shipping from the UK it will still be far cheaper than the $100 minimum.

But ... I wanted 25mm round bases, and EM4 only have the 20mm. The 20mm bases are solid plastic on the bottom. The 25mm have an indentation underneath, and I was planning to glue a fender washer in that indentation to give the base the weight it needs so that a sneeze doesn't send your paper minis flying. I could always glue the washer to the flat bottom of the 20mm base, but I wanted the 25 and so far, haven't decided to "settle" for the smaller size.

Steve

To be honest, I have no problem paying $5 for 80 GW bases (or whatever the going rate is). With the amount of money I end up spending on ink and cardstock and craft supplies, the money per base is immaterial to me. YMMV.

I much prefer a "real" plastic base to a cardstock base for my standees.. it gves them more heft and lifespan. It also lets me store them haphazardly and not worry about them being crushed...

The main reason I have been interested in bases like this is to hold up temporary cardstock walls. Take for example, the basketball court fence from Bits of Mayhem. If I have clear plastic feet (bases) I could use the fence when I need to... but without them, I had to glue the fence to the tile. This makes the whole tile really hard to store without destroying it. It is stable enough in the game, but not ideal for storage. Ideally, I would want clear ones in straight lines and also some corner pieces.

Arabin

Interesting idea Arabin! I think that would be an excellent use for things like chainlink fences printed on transparencies. I think for that you wouldn't want the typical round bases because the transparencies would probably buckle/tear trying to wedge them in. But the round kind come colorless.

You probably want the rectangle ones where you pinch them open, and then release them to close once you have inserted the cardstock/transparency. They are shown at the bottom of this page .

Unfortunately, this is once again the EM4 UK site, and so shipping could become a factor. Also, the pinching kind do not come colorless. Still, I think a black one would do fine for fencing without distracting from the overall look. But are they heavy enough to keep a fence from falling over?

Steve

grrr... well crud.

Game day is this weekend so I'm in a bit of a tight spot.

Im looking at some alternatives:

These are quite stable but really way too large as they cover about 30% of the standee. (handles removed of course)


Considering what they are and what they are not. These are probably what I will go with. I already have a stash of them around. Not quite as stable as the smalls, but they cover a bit less. (about mid calf on a 25mm standee)


Though these are visually the best of the clips, they are not stable at all.


As stated, remove all the handles and it works. not wonderful but works...and they can be bought in multi color packs.

I have a huge quantity of the "small" size and didn't think they worked very well at all (well, great for clipping papers, lousy for cardstock minis). Even made of metal they were too skinny (about 5/16" thick) so if the table gets bumped a little, they topple. Can't imagine the even smaller "mini" or yet still smaller "micro" sizes working out.

Don't know if you have a supply of GW slotted round (or square for that matter) bases, but that has been what I've been using so far. Not really happy with the overall look, but they do work great holding the mini with no tippage.

I'm going to take a few piccys and post them, and return to edit this with a link in just a bit.

Steve

[EDIT: Click to link to an album I just created showing how I use slotted bases with cardstock stand-up figures. Hope this link works!]

[EDIT: Forgot to add, one of my initial projects was to print out some Mayhem ground tiles on full-page mailing labels (so they would have a sticky back) and then peel them off and stick them to the top of the slotted base. Cut a slit in the proper place and insert the cardstock stand-up as shown in those photos. Great idea, and it would have worked too except for a slight miscalculation on my part. You see, 25mm round bases are that dimension at their base, but taper up to something less than that on the top. Having a sticky "Mayhem" disk overhang the base was not good. I need to get a 3/4" Marvey punch (ideally I'm looking for something that will punch 21mm circles) and try again!].

Just out of curiosity...are these standees from elsewhere, or WWG standees?

I'd like to know if the basing techniques we're using for our default standees are working well for you guys, and doing what is needed...especially the A-Frame crowd.

Those standees were some I found on the net somewhere. Was from some modern type game. US soldiers and Al Quida.

The style was a 3 panel edge fold. Had a front image then a back silouette and the third panel just had the name I think. I don't recall now.

I use slices of wine corks (the artificial kind seem to work better than natural, but both work), scored partway through. for thicker standees you might use the coping saw instead for a wider slot.

They come in a neutral tan (with some being wine-pinkened and the odd yellow one notwithstanding) but could be dyed or stickered for variation.

For all my miniatures metal and cardstock I mount them on 1/8" x 1" fender washers. Fender washers have a very small hole in the center that disappears when you put the mini on. They look good, weight the figure nicely, and are perfect for use with magnets which I use for most of my games.
I get them in bags of 8 at Home Depot for $.98.

Hmmm... gives me an idea.

I put my plastic and metal figures on fender washers, and I have a bunch of 3/4-inch magnet discs. I could stick the a-frame figures down onto washers with the magnets.

honestly, though, I much prefer flats glued together. I don't use them with others, so there's no fuss about their thinness or their looks, so I'll probably keep on with the cork-slices.