How to base 10mm and 15mm armies on multi-bases

To base a 10mm or 15mm army, glue each unit's figures onto shared stands, usually 40 mm wide with a depth set by troop type, then texture, paint and flock the whole stand as one piece. Check your rule set for the frontage, the depth and how many figures go on each stand before you glue anything, because the stand, not the figure, is what the rules move and measure. This guide covers the common stand sizes, how to lay figures out on them, and the finish we use on the stands in our own studio.

Time

An evening for a unit, plus drying

Level

Beginner

Stands

40 mm wide, 15–40 mm deep

Plates

Movement Plates, free with our 10mm and 15mm units

Why are 10mm and 15mm figures based in groups?

At 28mm each figure has its own base and a unit moves on a movement tray. At 10mm and 15mm a single figure is too small to handle and too light to stay standing, so the figures of a unit are glued in a group onto one stand, called a multi-base or element. Several figures to a stand and a few stands to a unit, and an army of a few hundred figures becomes a few dozen stands you can push around the table quickly.

It also looks better. A stand of figures with shared ground under them reads as a body of troops, and at arm's length the eye sees the whole block, not each figure. That's the scale's main appeal: big battles that look like big battles. If you're still choosing between scales, see 10mm, 15mm or 28mm.

What size bases for 10mm and 15mm?

The most common frontage for 15mm historical armies is 40 mm, the width used by DBA and the rule sets that grew from it. The same 40 mm frontage is common at 10mm too, so one set of stands can work across several rule sets. The depth then depends on the troop type: shallow for close-order foot, deeper for loose foot and cavalry, square for elephants, war machines and command.

Our Movement Plates are 40 mm wide in four depths, 2 mm thick like the usual card or MDF stands, with a shallow slope round the edge. They're their full size where they meet the table, so neighbouring stands line up edge to edge, and the flat top is 38.4 mm wide.

Base sizes by rule set

Rules change between editions, so treat this as a starting point and check the basing page of the edition you play:

For 10mm, check what your rules say for that scale: some use the 15mm sizes, some their own. If you play several games, 40 mm frontage stands are the safest bet, and Litko publishes basing guides for many historical rule sets if you want to compare.

What do you need to base 10mm and 15mm figures?

Step by step

1. Plan the stands from your rules

   Work out how many stands each unit needs, which depth each troop type takes and how many figures go on each. Write it down per unit before you start: it's much easier than prising figures off later. When you order our 10mm and 15mm units, the plates are already picked for you: 40 × 20mm for foot and 40 × 30mm for mounted figures, enough for the whole set.

2. Prepare the stands

   Our plates ship washed and cured on their print sprue. Snip each one free with flush cutters and scrape the contact points smooth with a hobby knife. MDF stands only need the fluff sanding off their edges.

3. Decide when to paint the figures

   There are two good ways. Paint the figures on a handle or their strips first and glue them down afterwards, which makes it easy to reach the faces and the back rank. Or glue them to the stand first and paint the stand as one piece, which is quicker for big units. Figures cast or printed on strips suit the second way, because a strip is already a group.

4. Lay the figures out

   Dry-fit the figures before any glue. Keep everything inside the flat top so the stands still butt together, and keep the front rank close to the front edge, where most rules measure from. For close-order troops, two neat ranks; for loose troops, stagger them so no two line up. Put a command figure in the middle of the front rank on a general's or leader's stand.

5. Glue them down

   A small drop of superglue under each figure or strip is plenty. Work on one stand at a time, and check the stand from the front before the glue grabs: a figure leaning forward shows across the whole unit.

6. Fill the gaps with texture

   Brush PVA into the spaces between the figures, right up to the footplates and strips, and dip the stand in fine sand. Build it up slightly against the strips so they sit in the ground, not on it. Kallistra's guide for its 12mm figures fills the gaps with dark wood filler mixed with silver sand, which hides strip edges well too.

7. Paint the ground

   Basecoat the ground one dark earth colour, wash it brown and drybrush it lightly with a small soft brush. Keep it simple: at this size broad colour does the work. The full recipe, with paints, is in our basing guide.

8. Add grass in patches

   Dab PVA in two or three patches per stand and sprinkle static grass or flock over it, then tip off the loose fibres. Leave some earth showing. Big tufts and 28mm basing bits are too tall at this scale and hide the figures, so keep to the smallest tufts you can find.

9. Paint the rim and label the stand

   Paint every stand's edge the same colour across the whole army: it ties the force together on the table. Once it's dry, write the unit's name on the underside, which saves a lot of guessing when the army comes out of its box.

Which of our models come with plates?

Our 10mm and 15mm units come with free movement plates, picked by default when you choose the scale. Wakes Emporium's 10mm figures come on strips 36.5 mm long, two to a 40 × 20mm plate; Ten Kingdoms' 10mm and 15mm figures stand on small footplates that glue straight on. If you order a set Tabletop Painted, it arrives mounted and painted on its plates.

• See all 10mm models, including our 10mm fantasy range
• See all 15mm models, such as Ten Kingdoms' 13th Century European Crossbow Foot
• Whole armies at once: army bundles