Is there an easy and aesthetically pleasing way to put letters on sides of bases?

[hd3]

I was wondering if anyone knew an aesthetically pleasing way to put letters and numbers on the side of round model bases?

 

To keep track of them during games etc. I was going to put a production number or names for fancy units on the side of the base but doing It with a label maker probably looks cheap and decals is too time consuming and expensive. Does anyone know a good alternative?

[Xenith]

Paint it white and then use a micron pen, steady hand and fancy writing?

[Rik Lightstar]

There are a few ways to do it that I've seen.

• @Xenith's solution works well
• Painting it on, again higher contrast is better so black and white is best for being legible, the key with this is spacing your lettering accurately
• Decals are definitely an option if you have a home printer you can buy decal paper for it and print your own
  • You'll need to find the right cure for the text so it fits the base size correctly but I'm sure you can find a tutorial online where someone else has done it
• 3d printed plates that you can then stick on
  • Commercially from somewhere like https://www.versatileterrain.co.uk/name-plates
  • If you have access to a 3d printer (or a friend with one) then you may well be able to design and print them yourself

With those suggestions made though, unless the text is very different between units or there's a very small number of models then it's not always that big of a help from across a table. Primary colour bands or stripes work better for this. An alternative that might look better is something like these really long Etsy link and they can be moved around between your armies as needed.

Rik

[LameBeard]

If it is *just* a number,  I don’t see it being that expensive for decals - you could just use one of the sheets with many numbers? Say like a Blood Bowl sheet? Or use a different symbol for each unit: skull/winged skull/laurel skull/crowned skull/lightning bolt/eagle etc are probably easy to get.

I have occasionally put a coloured sticker *under* the base as a way of checking in unusual situations  - hang on is this guy tactical squad A or tactical squad B? That is dead quick although they sometimes fall off.

With mk Iv I would distinguish 2 squads on the shoulder pad by (say) vertical arrows for A, horizontal arrows for B, rather than the base. Trickier for mk vi.

[Tallarn Commander]

All my Imperial Guard, World Eaters, Night Lords, Renegades and Heretics Chaos Militia, and my homebrew "Warpborn" CSM troopers (600+ models) have names painted on their bases. I still need to add bases to my Death Guard/Nurgle CSM. I do it more for fun and fluff than to track squads though. I rather enjoy tracking the exploits of individual troopers.

 

I just use a black background and red lettering for Chaos and yellow lettering for my Tallarn IG army.

 

Tallarns with names

 

 

Night Lords with names on bases

 

 

 

[LameBeard]

I think Lyle or one of the White Dwarf team used “découpage” (ie sticking on paper) on an Ork base in a recent White Dwarf. I can’t seem to find it though …

[andes]

Dry-transfer letters?

[LameBeard]

You mean like Letraset? Now you are bringing back memories. Could be a bit fiddly on the side of a base though.

[andes]

2 hours ago, LameBeard said:

You mean like Letraset? Now you are bringing back memories. Could be a bit fiddly on the side of a base though.

 

Yeah exactly, from back before the days of desktop publishing when the thunder lizards walked the Earth   Would be fiddly, but I think would look pretty good when done.

[Beaky Brigade]

Speaking of old school, what about Dymo labels / Embossing tape?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Embossing_tape

 

Ok the standard 9mm tape may be too wide but it's an idea :D

 

Edited October 29, 2022 by Beaky Brigade

[Noserenda]

You can always just write them on with a fineliner/micro pen? I assume they might be available in colours other than black but thats the ones i use for stuff :) 

An example :)
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