Superb Recessed Bases from Secret Weapon
April 19, 2011 by beerogre
Following on from their line of decorative bits for decorating your base, the guys at Secret Weapon have designed these innovative recessed bases, complete with inserted relief detail. Perfect for covering with water effect to produce some cool swamp or blood effects with the minimum of hassle.
Good job guys!
BoW Andy
That is exactly what I need !
Now if only they’d make some square ones…
BoW Romain
Thanks! I’m actually just waiting for my square masters to get out of the mill 🙂
I hope to have them ready before winter – which probably isn’t soon enough for you but at least you know square bases are coming.
BLOOD FOR THE BLOOD GOD! SKULLS FOR the bases of khorne minis.
Heh – and with the “Sack O’ Skulls” product you can just go nuts!
wish i wouldve waited to build my dkok troops now :/
Me too 😉
Of course if you have a trench themed army this would make a nice compliment!
The skeleton Bases look awesome.
Many thanks! I actually expected the “Bone Fields” bases to be the easiest I’d ever made – just putty and bones, right? – but they turned out to be the most intricate and difficult set I’ve ever sculpted. I learned some quick lessons on just how tricky it can be to position skulls so there’s very few undercuts and all of the detail can be preserved.
The care shows. It’s quality work !
BoW Romain
Many thanks. By the end of this set I was ready to cry every time I sat down to sculpt. The fact that I still need to do the 95×120 and 25×70 bases, when they get here from the mill, is something I try not to think about 🙂
But you managed it very well. I know what you mean. Have the same problem with the basing. Were to put what for the best result.
so are these resin plastic or metal?
Pressure cast resin.
damn. i thought so. i hate working with resin and its always so expensive
i swear, it boggles my mind that there is a market for cheap plastic sprues of textured bases and noone seems to be jumping on it. id love to field an army on designer bases but the resin ones are always a little more than i expect to pay.
I’d love to make my bases using injection molded plastic – but with a minimum $20,000 per set cost to me I’m sure you can see why it hasn’t happened yet 🙂
It probably wouldn’t change the cost much either – in the same way that you can find resin models for the same price as injection plastic models because the company needs to cover the high start-up costs. It’s really a trade off.
Wow these bases look amazing, great work!
do you have a distributor in germany ?
they dont but its only $3 to $8 for worldwide delivery which is brillant value
None yet but I’m working on it. Shipping starts at just $2.99 if you order direct though and it seems that all of my orders turn out to be less than $20 after I calculate things for customs. Coincidence, I’m sure.
I must say.. Tops to misterjustin hanging around the chat, answering and responding to our thoughts and questions. Its always nice when you can get some feedback from the creators. The Bases look bloody amazing! Great job! Going to make perfect bases for my Champions in my Chaos Renegades army.
Many thanks – and, hey, this is one of my two favorite parts of the job. The other is answering hobby questions. Everything else is actual work 🙂
I am definiatly going to invest in a few of these for my bigger bids, maybe een my ripper swarms
nids not bids 😛
Are you thinking the Blasted Wetlands or Bone Fields? I suspect the former but I’d really like to see how the Bone Fields looked with ‘Nids on them and maybe a purple or green goo instead of blood…
i like the idea of the green goo, would look awsome.
i like the idea of the green goo, would look awsome. I just gotta learn how i would make the green goo. Would have to use the pva glue and alot of green paint
I find Games workshop Water Effects (or better yet, Prince August’s) mixes well with green ink, or vivid green paint such as scorpion green. For blood, I use a mix of red ink, black ink and a tinge of brown ink with water effects.
It works quite well… Mix it before applying !
BoW Romain
For blood and green goo I recommend UHU glue mixed with some Tamiya clear in the colour of your choice. I use the Tamiya Clear Red with a tiny drop of black paint to get my blood and gore. I picked up some Clear Green yesterday to have a go at the goo. I’ll get some pics up on the SWM blog when I get a chance.
@Romain: I much prefer the Woodland Scenics “Realistic Water.” It’s an excellent still water product. Their “Water Effects” can actually be sculpted into ripples and such as well. I tried experimenting with the “Realistic Water” and my Ruby Secret Weapon Wash and got a good effect. Also fooling around with adding Dark Sepia and Heavy Body Black to see what colours I can get.
@nova3k
I have my entire Eldar army and Infinity guys on secretweaponminiatures bases. Only $1 per 25mm base, not bad at all. Especially when I figure the time I saved by not dong a fancy custom base. And only very little flash (if any) to scrape off the edge of the base. No filing or sanding was required. And very easy to drill into.
All in all I’m a big fan, and mrjustin has always been very quick to respond to questions.
Wow, what a great endorsement – thank you!
I was very tempted to get some while i was at salute but i was out of money. Maybe another time 🙂 Maybe for my grey knights. Hmmm yes, theres an idea! YES
Looks like you’ll be taking more of my money Mr. Justin…curse you!
But those bases look absolutely amazing. Honestly, you’ve struck gold on these. Beautiful.
For those who are looking, an Australian company called Back-2-base-ix has been making these recessed style bases for some time. They only do blanks (no insert details), but at least it allows you to detail them however you wish:
http://www.back2base-ix.com/index.php?_a=viewProd&productId=37
There are actually several companies selling beveled round, round lip and square bases in the recessed style. My favorite refers to them as “deep dish bases.”
Fortunately for me I’m the first to actually offer themed hollow bases.
But if folks are looking for just the blanks I’d be happy to recommend a number of companies as I don’t expect to sell them myself.
the skull bases are awesome!
Thanks – I think so too… but I might be biased 😉
Hi, are these bases the same as the ones GW use on their minis in terms of the edge, I’m not keen on the rounded edges of other companies but I can’t tell from pics.
If you go to the website you will see they are beveled edges like GW bases.
He’s got it – these are the beveled edge style that GW uses. I will have round lip versions available later this year though for those that do like them.
more skulls like the impereal guard ones
@misterjustin… have been drooling over these all week… any chance you could get a couple of shots on your site that show minis on appropriate sized bases? Your DKoK and Kharn seem to be or 40mm?
The DKoK and Kharn are both on 40mm bases — but I’ll see what I can do to get some appropriate minis in place. Of course given my schedule I suspect that one of my customers will beat me to it 🙂 As with all of my bases these were tested with multiple models from multiple companies to make sure they’re usable with appropriately sized minis. The “Bone Fields” are the first that will leave some gaps under the feet — given the nature of the rounded skulls — but if you’re filling it in with gore you’ll never see… Read more »
hmmm. . . I’ve decided to start some infinity and I think I’m gonna get some wasteland bases and some of the long grasses from secret weapon, will the long grasses (from the scenic grasses set) stick into the water effects or should they be glued onto the base first?
I would recommend gluing them to the base first – and you’ll be happy to know that we’re putting the finishing touches on a wetlands scenic kit.
thanks, I’ve ordered the blasted wetlands 25mm bases, the grasses set and a mud and water refill pack for the water effects =-)
just a side note – it would have been useful if you sold the ‘realistic water’ effects by itself but still I can’t wait to get experimenting with water effects bases 😉
ps. would mixing devlan mud or dilute games workshop paints help muddy up the water? (I don’t have any others and now I’m all outta money XD )
Thanks for the order. Unfortunately my agreement with Woodland Scenics prohibits me from selling the individual products outside of a bundle. As such the wetlands kit will include Realistic Water – it has just been delayed while we wait on some of the products to get here. You can add a bit of tint to the water with any washes or inks you have – but I’d recommend trying one base with just the clear to what you think. The paint you use on the mud that’s sculpted on the base will show through and you’ll get some colour that… Read more »
great, thanks for the fast response – 5 star service =)
Just got the blasted wetlands set, sack o’ skulls and the human skeletons! all are great sculpts! the only things that really need to be done to these are a quick bath in warm soapy water, removing the flashing (which there is very very little of) and a little bit sanding down the bottoms of some of the bases that came out of the mold funky (but thats to be expected with pressure molds.)
Great items, I can’t wait to make another purchase from secret weapons!
I’m glad I came back to triple check for new comments — many thanks for the kind words on your purchase!
We do our best to screen out funky bottoms on the bases but, as you said, it’s inevitable with pressure casting. Still, improving our molds is one of the top priorities here and I’m constantly trying new techniques and materials in an effort to get better and better casts on the market.