Forge World's new Basilisk model is gorgeous. I don't play Fantasy, but I love this model. This thing is so cool looking. I don't know how effective it is on the table, but it would be worth fielding just to look at it.
The trouble is, what if I don't want him on those rocks?
Lots of times, it seems like larger models (like this beauty) come with a little bit added to their standard base. It's a nice feature in most cases, but what happens when it's not what you want to use? What if you've established a nice, solid basing theme and "rocks" just don't fit in with it?
If the model is attached to the basing element, you're left facing lots of work to change it. I'm betting most of us are going to do our best to find a way to incorporate it into our existing theme. Maybe if we're lucky, the model can be extracted from the element in question and we can build our own piece to set our monster on top of relatively easily.
Sometimes you get lucky like I did with this model I did a long time ago. The dragon started out perched on the rocks. I was lucky that it only took a little bit of cutting to get him removed from the rocks so I could turn him around and use the base in another way.
This is why I love dreadnoughts
These are the perfect size and they don't come "attached" to their base theme. You can replace the standard base with anything under the sun in terms of resin or you can make your own just as easy.
You can put them on a blank base with nothing more than some sand or you can go all out and use the one they come with and add elements as you wish.
In this case, all I did was use the standard base and add a smaller element on top of that to fit in with my friend's existing basing theme.
The beauty of resin bases
Resin base manufacturers have gotten really good about providing us players with larger bases that are themed to match the smaller ones. This makes it super easy to match our larger models to our smaller ones and keep our basing theme consistent. As long as your monster doesn't already come attached to his terrain.
It could be worse I suppose with no base provided
Even though I'm complaining about models being attached to their basing elements and having to surgically remove them if it's even possible, there are models that don't come with bases and you're forced to build your own (or try the resin route if you can find something big enough).
This guy (Forge World Bloodthirster) doesn't even come with a round base. He had a square one, but that wasn't going to help me. I ended up building one to create the whole theme of the army. This can be as much work as trying to get him separated from any little element he might have come attached to in the beginning.
What's the point of all this?
I appreciate the manufacturers giving us a little bit extra to put our models on. I just wish they weren't permanently fixed to them. Maybe include the base elements as extra that we can use if we want and it fits into our existing theme. Otherwise we have a blank canvas to work with so that our new centerpiece monster blends in perfectly with the rest of our force.
How am I going to do silly things like this if I have to cut away the attached basing theme beforehand?
And one last note:
If anyone has one of the Basilisk models and it does come separate from the rock outcropping, please don't tell me. I don't want to know about it.
As an update:
Apparently some of the new Vampire Counts models (in this case, the Wight King) are partially attached to their bases.
Image from Games Workshop
This was brought up in one of the comments below and I remembered seeing this model the other day. It didn't register at that point, but after finding it, I can see how this might be a little problematic for those folks looking to mount a simple infantry model on a resin base to fit the theme of their army.
I suppose resculpting a foot can't be that hard, but it's the fact that I'd have to do it if I want this guy on a different base.
Make sure to check out these posts as they might help:
Creating custom oval sized bases
A link list of a handful of resin base manufacturers
