MDF bases... Rebasing in general.

[syph0n]

I've been toying with the idea of rebasing the army I have since returning to the hobby. It's not a huge amount of models, but in terms of overall cost, I don't want to spend money on something that's either unnecessary or bad quality. 

Has anyone used the ebay mdf bases? I'm looking at about 20 cavalry ovals, a dragon base (what size) and I can find out the size needed for a hydra and chariot by looking at the Anvilgard box. I've got 30 small square models as well, but they're not a case of rebasing so I might just use proper GW bases. 

Any pics? Comment on quality and durability? 

[stato]

Im not a fan of MDF bases so cant comment on those, but when i rebased my bretonnians to rounds i used a mix of cheap slotted GW rounds for the infantry and then bought some of the shattered dominion oval bases for my knights.  As they are detailed all i did was cut the horses off the tabs of the existing bases and glue straight onto the new base, most are even only on one point of contact (hoof). Dead easy to paint and look awesome. Can be bought through 3rd parties to reduced cost too. For my elf chariot i bought 120mm oval and a shattered dominion large base detail kit to keep the theme the same.

For sizes check here, or check for similar model on the GW site.

[Lysandestolpe]

There are, as said, third party bases from Asia that has the same look as the GW base. I believe they are about one mm taller than GW bases but essentially you cannot tell much difference. If you're not keen on MDF, you can google yourself to find some cheaper plastic bases

[syph0n]

Spent a good 30 or 40 mins going through the options here. 

10x32mm (heroes and some spares) 

30x25mm (darkshards and dreadspears) 

20x60x35mm (cavalry) 

3x105x70mm (monsters and chariots) 

3x60mm bolt throwers

Standard GW bases would be £36 for the quantity I need. Cut off sides of existing models, stick to rounds, cover edges. Quicker, and official. 

Shattered Dominion would be £40, plus I think a further 6 for bases that aren't in the kits. I'd have excess bases unused I could sell, but I also think these would be harder to rebase without damaging the feet of the models and so on. Lovely looking though. 

MDF is very cheap. £14.50. Same principle as before, cut the base sides off existing bases and stick to MDF, make good the gaps and paint the edges. Only concern is the durability of the material.

Resin is way too expensive and also hard to get all the ones I need in the same range. My experience is that resin bases can be inconsistent quality, height etc too. 

Going to have a think. Abandoning the roller idea as well. 

[syph0n]

Well, nothing cheaper than a friend with a laser cutter and some 3mm MDF. 

Cutting out the best part of probably 100 bases. Worth trying for the low cost of free! 

[Deadkitten]

I'm a big fan of MDF.  It's cheap, easy to work with pretty versatile and you can get it in all sorts of sizes.

[syph0n]

Yep, I'm impressed so far. 

[AGPO]

I like MDF and have used it for other games, but in general I use GW or third party plastic for rebasing my AOS mostly for consistency reasons. The MDF bases I've found tend to be thinner than the ones I'm used to. This makes my minis shorter which I'm not a fan of. On top of this most have straight sides and many I've tried have grooves going around the edge. This makes them stand out from a distance against standard GW bases.

My advice would be to consider the 3rd party bases from Asia, which look pretty indistinguishable from GW plastic ones.