30 FREE wargame basing materials TESTED | Can you guess what they are?

[@MidwinterMinis]

If you feel dizzy after watching the turntable for 10 minutes, imagine how I felt editing the video for 2 days! PS: some of these things aren't TECHNICALLY "free", but you either already have them, or they cost less than a penny per base. Don't be a pedant ;)

[@oliverp3545]

Didn't you already say that in the beginning?

[@daasbuffy]

As someone who knows a lot of people who do and does crotchet themselves, wool comes to mine as something I have a lot . Sunflowers seeds, dried flowers, bi-carb, aluminium cans, thread, toy stuffing, flour, sugar, salt, peppercorns, magazines, newspapers, there are so many things that can just be lying around the house that you could use.

[@Crybaby-Media]

I love that you call out the nitpickers lol

[@Josh24861]

Calling out the nitpickers

[@rasmusolesen5307]

Nothing is free...... Great video ;)

[@provenelk]

Guy I want you to know you've inadvertently created a psychedelic experience. After watched this video for 10 minutes my vision is all swirly, I feel like I'm tripping out on revolving bases!

[@hiFunko]

Me too! I went back to the YT homepage and everything was swirling

[@thomasnelson8254]

Same! I almost lost my lunch while looking at my screen after this video!

[@Centurian128]

Same here. I go from the video to reading my email and all the words started circling like going down a drain.

[@nivoupolis]

same, i had to watch a few times to something else

[@Ammonitemare1711]

I thought I was going insane

[@nox471]

If you watch the hypnotic spinning bases for a while and look away the world continues to spin

[@KoWahiKit]

Yeeeep. Made the mistake of watching this while working from home. My computer text is spinning like crazy.

[@kylekneeland8986]

Yep...sure does

[@Wertgeber]

really trippy

[@Velcraft]

DIY acid trip for free as well!

[@HardRockinAmigo]

trippy as f

[@EverianKalim]

My Eyes have gone weird now after watching that. The World Spins.

[@slang7905]

its rly bad actually hahhaha

[@undine1476]

Holy crap, I was freaking out checking what I ate today to see if I had something I'm allergic to.

[@radekvamowski8092]

yea.... fun at first but it gets old very fast XD

[@blazingknight.]

Yeah, so weird haha. Took me some time to realise why everything is spinning :D

[@ArstKoben]

Same bro, same

[@kevinpope9014]

I'm blown away at how well she did at guessing what they're made from.

[@lukepowell3582]

no way she done that well, he was giving her silent clues

[@chubby0815]

@@lukepowell3582 i guess she just saw many of the things he took into the mixer and took educated guesses on that basis... either way it's a fun video for us :)

[@JohnxInfinity]

"Beard Trimmings!" This sounded like quite a proud moment, as if waiting to do this for the longest time. Only to be told its digusting lol.

[@The_Keeper]

Could be worse, could be, ahem, "other" trimmings...

[@codykrueger796]

Too bad since it was such a cool effect

[@NikkiTheOtter]

It makes me want to shave my husband and use his beard bits to make straw for my bases. He has REALLY coarse straight beard hair that, painted right, would look like dried alfalfa.

[@BlackMagicCraftOfficial]

To avoid shrinkage, do not put your bases in the pool before showing them to the wife.

[@cannon0wood]

I understood that reference

[@michaelspitz9151]

Ohhh Seinfeld

[@jherazob]

"It shrinks? I have no idea how do you base with these things"

[@AvtrOfWoe]

@@jherazob LIKE A FRIGHTENED TURTLE!

[@ChewiePainting]

hahaha you just won the internet

[@elliotlancaster7323]

The turn table is giving me a visual illusion when I look away!

[@cannon0wood]

Yeah I'm very dizzy

[@cannon0wood]

Yeah I'm very dizzy

[@benmetherell8118]

Just a heads up MDF particles are pretty toxic when the wood is sanded/cut so I'd imagine putting it through a grinder isn't a great idea of you aren't wearing a mask.

[@p-thor]

Penny is such a gem. Never let her go Guy!

[@julesmartin6972]

She sounds unamused a lot but I guess that could be unintentional and she is actually enjoying it

[@p-thor]

@@julesmartin6972 What, really? To me it doesn't sound like that.

[@dinkledord7026]

lol. lmao

[@p-thor]

@@dinkledord7026 Yeah I know lol

[@matthewbaus203]

I LOVE the corn starch powder one! You should do a full video or at least a short on that one!

[@GearPirate42]

I know the beard trimmings were sort of a joke, but damn that's actually a pretty great texture for fallen pine needles

[@KoWahiKit]

I’ve used cleaned beard trimmings for gross clusters of Nurgle tendrils! I have a bunch bursting out of the face of a plague marine’s hood. If you take the conical filings from cleaning up sprues you can make gross snail eye stalks too which are surprisingly effective.

[@catfish552]

Looks kinda like a trampled field as well, like fallen wheat stalks or something like that.

[@shadowbird25]

@@catfish552 Trampled meadow*

[@LordOOTFD]

Using longer 6mm+ static grass instead might be a good synthetic analogue. I never really though of mixing it into the basing paste before.

[@wkool9430]

I think you can just use fallen pine needles instead of hair to achieve that effect then? I am putting needles on my list of potential materials now, thanks!

[@BB-pn2qv]

That interaction and guessing between them was so cute.

[@Pintyhet]

Finally, a basing video I can watch outside the UK.

[@harbl99]

??? Are there severe restrictions on such inflamatory content as mini basing?

[@Daggerdan78]

I nearly choked on my tea when Penny said "Crap on the ground, that's not an instruction" 😂

[@zephron28]

Several of those would make good chitin or carapace for 'nids environments.

[@stewartnicolson9139]

Poor Penny. I imagine her getting on with her life doing Penny things (like vacuuming the babies, teaching marmosets to tap dance or taking over a Fortune 500 company) when she hears the voice from the study. "Penny, could you come and have a look at this?" Deep sigh. Put the babies back on the shelf. Gather wits. Shoulders back. Bright smile. "Yes Guy ... what delights have you for me now?"

[@Tinblitz]

I'd love to see a follow up of this where you use the best of these, and paint them with other colours to see how effective as basing materials they can be.

[@Kehy_ThisNameWasAlreadyTaken]

I'll be attempting to use very finely chopped fabric/yarn bits. It's how flocking itself was made originally, but I'm certain mine will have a much different texture. And I'll be the first to say I've got an... abundant amount available

[@MrOffwhite]

Really cool bases, I'm gunna have to try some of these! *The rotating did that optical illusion thing where when you look away stuff is twisting lol

[@gnometroll1717]

I just came to the comments of anyone had the same effect. I looked to my window and the tree outside was moving.

[@harbl99]

Swirly hynotic imagery, abstract music, disembodied voices: this is the most Manchurian Candidate MWM video yet.

[@markwhickman351]

I walked into a wall afterwards...

[@bettsdn]

Glad I'm not alone. I was freaking out for a sec.

[@The_Keeper]

Funny thing is; The spin is the other direction than the video was spinning. Your brain is trying to stabilize what you're seeing...

[@Raging_goblin]

I like how Penny calls the characters "posh people" ❤

[@MrTpimms]

I love the accusatory way Penny says ‘your people’ when talking about gluing the mini to the base!

[@HistoritorJimaldus]

“Whaddaya mean, ‘your people’??”

[@Mulletburner]

The cornflour at 18:52 has worked a treat on the base of my Count Binface mini. Cheers!

[@CthulhusDream]

after watching this full screen for a few minutes everything in my vision is spinning

[@astrozombiac3535]

This was interesting experiment. Personally I can't really a few of these working solely by themselves, but any combination of these with different color schemes would make for some amazing bases. Definitely and inspirational video Guy.

[@kaytaffer]

Love the corn starch one! The ridges gives it a gigery biomechanoid look. I could see a tyranid ripper swarm moving over that.

[@Centurian128]

13:53 Could be good for some kind of organic growth. Painted in flesh tones or purple-ish akin to Zerg Creep from Starcraft. Perhaps inside a Tyrannid "ship."

[@clockworkpotato9892]

I was thinking it could be good for carpet on fantasy ghost models

[@johnfarscape]

The cornstarch one I could easily see being a great basing material for Mars bases, I'm guessing you could easily alter the thickness of the paint to alter the amount of cracking and height of the ridges, looks great even in black and white. . . Next video some of these painted to look like forest floors or waves or Mars maybe?

[@durzod2052]

I've been using a mix of parsley flakes and oregano for basing my jungle/forest floor bases. $2 at the Dollar Store gives more basing material than I can use in a year. Never thought of mixing it in with paint for a texture paint. I normally just glue it on the painted bases and then hit it with some watered down PVA to fix it in place. The best part is it doesn't need painting, though you could in a pinch.

[@durzod2052]

I've used baby powder mixed in with cheap craft paint for mud on vehicles. Start with the really thick mix and gradually dilute it for thinner mud streaks.

[@Heliodan326]

This is one of the reasons I love your work. 2 nice people talk about easy DIY model making. Perfect

[@the-white-eye]

staring in the middle of something spinning creates an optical illusion where, when looking away your whole vision will spin the other way. normally yt videos portraying this phenomenom are like a minute long and difficult to focus on the centerpoint because it is only a black dot or smth. this effect, combined with the music may have made this video the trippiest experiece ive ever had sober

[@simonmears4073]

You put you’re beard trimmings on a base, now that’s dedication. You did get some awesome texture though, definitely some I’m going to experiment with. Great video.

[@Bluecho4]

Might be good painted as hay, like on the base of a horse, barnyard animal, or villager.

[@Micsma]

all that's left is to use blood in a paint on some khorne models.

[@Bluecho4]

@@Micsma Ineffective. Blood turns brown when it dries, due to oxidation. Although I suppose if you varnished it really fast...

[@bericgarrett3282]

Definitely stealing the birdseeds for eggs. I'm working on terrain using pistachio shell Tyranid eggs and those will fill in the games very well, thanks!

[@silverfischdotnet]

I recently started a Drukhari army, and I've been doing their bases in an alien planet theme. First step is Permatex Plastic Welder, which is a 2-part epoxy, mixed and spread over the base. Then I go over it with various shades of purple, and when the paint is dry I add some of Gamer Grass' pink and blue alien tufts. After watching this video, I'm definitely going to have to add some bird seed eggs to the next base.

[@NhomSawyer]

Timestamps: 4:46 - Bird Seed 5:06 - Twig 5:22 - Leaf 5:38 - Tree Bark 6:00 - MDF 6:24 - Sprue 6:59 - Sand 7:10 - Slotter Base 7:45 - Cardboard 8:12 - Polyfilla/Spackle 8:39 - Mortar 8:57 - Sawdust 9:29 - Plastic Tray 9:55 - Sock 10:45 - Pasta (Penne) 11:09 - Herbs (Mint) 11:49 - Teabag 12:12 - Cork 12:48 - Rice 13:17 - Chickpeas 13:52 - Kitchen Roll/Paper Towel 14:26 - General Spices 15:06 - Spaghetti 15:28 - Eggshell 16:03 - Toilet Roll 16:27 - Wet Wipe 16:47 - Cat Litter 17:35 - Toothpaste 18:12 - Cornstarch Powder 18:58 - Hair

[@arranferguson8865]

I found that sand mixed with elmers glue and any paint works great

[@YanniCooper]

Love it! Consider sifting some of these materials after grinding with a screen to separate the thin from the coarse (spagetti for example) and also strategically mixing some depending on what you're trying to achieve.

[@PureMetalDragon]

Me: *Just finishes basing all his minis after trying and trying to get a nice urban rumble feel* Guy: *Releashes the greatest basing tutorial that makes you dizzy*

[@oldmanofthemountains3388]

I really like the cornstarch effect! This could make a really interesting organic / living terrain!

[@MastaDRD]

Anyone know how well that material would hold up? Any chance of decay?

[@alexrowe9957]

Cool! I love the water effects, I'll be using those for my underwater dnd campaign! I use polyfilla for absolutely everything: rocky terrain, and if you water it down you can spackle it onto bricks to work as mini morter

[@hewitttribe5536]

Quite an interesting video! Would a video doing a follow up in a month or few to see if anyone of them have deteriated or prahaps a stress test? Great video btw!

[@52Miniatures]

Love it. Great video on how to keep things simple. Thank you G & P!

[@92Chembo]

Is it just me or did all the spinning bases make all the non-spinning shots look like they were spinning?

[@catfish552]

Come on Penny, the litterbox is a cat's bathroom. It makes total sense!

[@Darkreaper1982]

13 & 30 are my fav, especially 30 with the veins and cracks. Made me think of the Tyranids, the base looked liked it was alive at some point before dying, drying out then cracking.

[@Kubrzesz]

It would be awesome if you had a blog or pictures where you'd detail all the bases and what they're made out of, side by side to compare. That would come in handy during planning stage for any project. In the meantime, I'm saving the video

[@RuffStuff420]

After watching this video I went out and bought a cheap coffee grinder. I do not regret it for a second. All my spare sprues now get chopped up into small bits and tossed into it for basing materials. Pretty amazing. Grind them for a little while and they turn into really beat up bricks, a little more and they are rocks, a little more and you can get some fine gravel. I love recycling, and I love it more when it saves me money.

[@lolsniped]

The wine bottle cork looks like some melted metal/ ore deposits Might look very nice in gene stealer bases

[@thaliahelene]

Wouldn't they make lovely gold nuggets?

[@joshuaturnquist5538]

My favorite basing material is beach sand. I live rather close, so it's easy. Depending on what part you take from (fine sand on the side of dunes, rougher sand on flat areas where fine grains are carried off, larger bits and broken shell near wave action) you can get a lot of sizes and textures. Just be sure to not grab any flotsam.

[@BarokaiRein]

Bloody hell I thought I was fainting or something,was just prepping for an rpg session but I legitimately cannot do any work on the computer right now because my vision is swirly when I look at screens.

[@Perfict1]

The foam blocks that are used by florists in constructing floral arrangements are an excellent material for these purposes. The foam will crumble under finger pressure from the whole block to small blocks, to little chunks, all the way down to a fine powder with a bit of grit to it. It is not hydrophobic like some plastics are, and so mixes with acrylic paint. However, it is not absorbent, so there is not a problem with shrinkage or workability.

[@Maxmillion77]

I was a little confused at first why the images of the raw materials were also spinning and now I feel a little queezy. Totally worth it for all that basing knowledge 😵

[@alex1sebel]

Everything is spinning now!

[@DonNorway]

Now make a video in which you blend ALL the materials together and make a stupidly diverse base :)

[@paintandplayminis328]

Some unexpected results here! That corn starch one is the nemesis to the cracking texture paint

[@gs6103]

Oh neat, I have a coffee grinder that I haven't used in a year or two. I never thought of putting other stuff in there.

[@shadowsaver04]

Love how supportive your wife is of your hobby! Keep it up

[@KrippledKracka]

Though I truly value your work Guy, I could listen to Penny every day! You are a lucky lucky man! Cheers!

[@numberboxgamer]

An alternative to the beard hair is old toothbrush bristles! The ends fray out similar to hay or really old pine stray, and has a similar kind of thick fibrous look to them!

[@sageoussupercat4304]

The spinning bases are mesmerising...

[@dualwieldsoftware]

This is extremely inspiring. I need to take some small containers to the maintenance shop at work and snag some sawdust and maybe metal shavings next time one of the techs cuts a piece of metal. Got access to all these basing materials, and I didn't even think about it!

[@MrSJPowell]

I love the birdseed for Tyrranid or GSC bases, or for anyone that would burn down Tyrranid worlds. That Cornstarch and the spackle were also super good.

[@kgoblin5084]

This is great, & going into the permanent reference watchlist :). A couple of my own basing pointers: 1. You can pre-make basing sections by using PVA instead of paint. Add a bit of baking soda to add extra grit, & isopropyl alcohol to help add durability (lets the PVA penetrate the basing material, ESPECIALLY when combined with the baking soda) 2. One great basing material I've found is shavings from an electric pencil sharpener especially nice since it's already ground up & has a range of subtextures 3. Overlooked sources of basing material - dried acrylic paint, superglue, & PVA. I've gotten to the point where I deliberately let paint dry on my palate instead of washing it, because it's more economical. 4. Eggshell is actually a giant PIA, the membrane beneath keeps the shell bits connected, it stinks to high heaven, & IMHO doesn't actually look that good mixed into a texture paste. Sadly, individual bits of shell, carefully placed, look amazing... but that's hella work. 5. Bear in mind you can double up on texture... applying the old standbys of spackle, flock, sand, or baking soda on top of the basic paste. This can smooth edges & create additional effects. Eg. all the effects you all called out as good options for water would also be good options for rougher, grassy ground. 6. Not gross source of 'hair': Dolls. More feasible than you think too, if you're buying up toys from the dollar store to make into custom terrain/monster kit-bashes.

[@Zaprozhan]

Cheap, simple, and fun to watch! You've created a great catalogue of base effects, and having Penny in to guess the material also sparked my imagination of what it was, and what it could be in the miniature world.

[@Kennythesamuri]

I am going to have to try the con starch for basing for a future project, thanks!

[@JonathanUsmar]

This video would have saved me so much money if it had existed when I was first learning basing.

[@FrankieRogersArt]

Guy you've accidentally created an optical illusion! After watching the bases spinning for a bit, if you look away other stuff keeps spinning. My fiancee did not appreciate it when I screamed at the site of her face looking like a whirlpool. Great video as always btw 😂

[@DonNorway]

I want to live where you live where you can simply go out and pick up birdfeed, mortar, and pasta for free! I'm only kidding, really good video - there are probably limitless possibilities even within my own apartment if I was only creative enough, and not quite as lazy. You make me want to be creative, so kudos to you!

[@BB-pn2qv]

Wow, she guessed a lot of these amazingly

[@chrxunleashed7654]

The corn starch looked awesome. I'm gonna use that right now

[@justincase7420]

That penne/Penny pun was past a joke. I'll see myself out.

[@vyanesh6487]

These are all really awesome ideas for bases! Though I wasn’t expecting to have my vision start behaving so bizarre after watching this for a few minutes lol. Ah well, it’s just an added bonus!

[@peterlavalle]

.... waaiiitttt; there are MidWinter Birbs and we've never seen them!?

[@peterlavalle]

... AND ... MidKitty?

[@MorganScott82]

From the kitchen Alum, Salt (both course and fine), baking soda, wheat four, lentils, tapioca (both ground and left in its little sphere form), various breakfast cereals.

[@TheShelbyTheShelby]

Oooof. I second all the 'my vision is swirly' comments.

[@xenoserum]

Be a good ref sheet. Ok one from each section: Kitchen-coffee Garden-brambles Diy-wall plugs (the thing screws go in to secure them) Hobby-dead paint brush Bathroom-cotton ear bud

[@Stunnedape]

Honestly, Penny has been amazing at guessing - I would have probably gotten a negative score lol

[@Mushicus]

8:15 - Spackle - Fine Powder Dust 9:30 - Plastic Tray - Warped Metal 12:13 - Cork - Rubble

[@RochelleHasTooManyHobbies]

To me, the cornstarch one looks like it could be made into a FANTASTIC tree root texture. Build it up nice and tall, and once it's dry, just paint it brown, dry brush, and throw some small tufts between the roots. Any elf or ranger would look right at home.

[@it_buddy]

I think the best one was cornstarch!

[@NinjaTurtle-qh1xy]

The cornstarch powder one looks the best imo, can do alot of different scenes with it depending on how you painted it, very versatile

[@JontysCorner]

My desktop background is just a high res photo of the milkyway. I highly recommend watching this then looking at a galaxy photo or something, the trippy effect is awesome. Oh, great useful video too as well. Thanks

[@CorvusSeraph]

I used tabletop minions idea of using superglue and baking soda to texture my bases before priming. I use it for sandy bases but he's gotten plenty of different results

[@balazszsigmond826]

And while we are at cyanoacrylate... If you touch the surface of uncured superglue with toothpicks dipped in acetone, you will learn how geecucks did the old school obliterators. Didn't try to mix plastic cement and superglue yet. Gosh, I need time to experiment...

[@kevinw3671]

You already did coffee grounds, which I liked. This certainly gets me thinking about other materials. How do you think dryer lint would fair? Or, the stuff sucked up in the vacuum?

[@tomusannonymous]

Some great ideas here. Since stirland mud is so expensive I mostly use premixed coloured grout. It comes in a squeezy bottle and is essentially paint with lots of fine sand in it. I stipple it to make it more rough. With the black one I can just scrape onto a base with a spatula and its looks just like bitumen. The bottle is 500g and i doubt it would be cheaper to mix it myself. Its the kinda situation where you end up spending more to do things more cheaply long term, but really its so much easier to just buy a bottle, its great value anyway. For dead leaves i use dried basil and put gloss varnish on it if i want them to look wet.

[@Temporal_Assassin]

I have a 120mm Kaiser Wilhelm, so I placed him in the garden of on of Berlin's palaces. It has a knee high hedge with flowers behind and the pathways are clay. So I glued three square dowels together, one offset to the rear to represent where the trunks would be. I then used Mod Podge to glue chopped up sage in 2 coats. Painted dark green, heavy wetish brush with medium green, and dry brushed downwards with the light green so I have dark green shadow, mid green under the leaves and light green top of the leaves. It looks quite good. Added dry flowers and painted fine dirt for the walkway. "Inspirational Misuse of Materials"

[@julianwarren7770]

I’m intrigued how “solid” these bases are, and how they’d stand up to tabletop play. Also would be cool to revisit these in a year or so to see how long lasting these are!

[@metagames.errata7777]

I'm been told corse/chunky sand makes a better flock than cat litter because cat litter doesn't always like to stick to other materials. Haven't tried it though. I have tried broken up cork bits. They seem to be holding fine, but since I could only get each piece down to the height of a character's foot, they are not at all the style I wanted. So I'm here looking for basically anything else. Lol.

[@j453]

Cornstarch was the real interesting one here. But also really interesting is that just about anything can be used as rock basing material.

[@simonhughes2902]

my mid grit sand and a suspicions bottle only labeled "liquid adhesive" has always been my go to

[@davidj3841]

Why do the beard trimmings look unironically good? I could imagine it as forest floor in a taiga or a pine forest cuz it looks quite similiar to that.

[@TheShelbyTheShelby]

You should make an infographic chart thing of all of these - would be super useful!!

[@nox471]

Get yourself on the Patreon and you can have just that

[@TheShelbyTheShelby]

@@nox471 ...well then...i suppose i will! Thanks for the info!

[@xam7536]

Man, you are always infinitely more creative than I am in this hobby. I never would have thought of using most of these materials. These are amazing.

[@seanmalloy7249]

If you can't get sand -- and getting some dirt, sieving it for size, and drying it in the oven is certainly cheap enough -- you can get bags of model railroad ballast; mixing different scales -- N, HO, and O -- will give you a variation in texture.

[@Glorfindel_117]

Suggestion for the next basing video: slow down the rotation of the base, and alternate which way they rotate with ever one. We're all getting sick watching this hahah. Some of those are pretty cool though, great use of some stuff here!

[@TheSalamander_]

Good cheap sandy gravel is baking soda mixed with paint, tends to swallow some of the colour so you need to paint it on, let it dry, spray it with sealer then paint it again, but it gives a nice smooth sand texture, or gravelly road.

[@Wijkert]

A lot of textures look like the are made out of metal. Interesting effect.

[@NinjaTurtle-qh1xy]

I think alot of that is to do with them being painted silvery grey, with the light highlight

[@danmorgan3685]

That corn starch is really cool. Probably what GW uses with pigment added.

[@TheMrFishnDucks]

Fantastic video. Hopefully you paint and put minis on these to see how they hold up over time. Keep up the good work.

[@elleofmusic]

I've used perlite for rocks and boulders! They're nice because they're super light and take superglue well. They drybrush really well too. And coconut fibers make good wood debris and dirt. My failed attempts at growing succulents weren't a total loss after all lololol…

[@TheLonelyBrit]

By staring at the bases turn for so long, when I finally looked out the window it looked like the garden next door was swirling clockwise. Unintended trick of the eye you have there. I think I like the watery & the volcanic rock looking ones most. But also the toothpaste & cornstarch ones too.

[@peterlavalle]

I think that I'm going to end up basing ALL my Imperium minis like this :P