bases-large and small

7/27/2019 Bases-Large and Small

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To some players, a miniature's base merely serves as a

mechanism to keep the model upright during play.

However, to the avid hobbyist, the base represents ablank canvas for his creativity. These plastic surfaces

provide an opportunity to do something truly cool that

separates a finished model from the crowd. Larger

bases present an even bigger canvas for your ingenuity.

It's almost a crime not to work with all that flat space!

This article is all about large bases and what you can do

with them. Here, we showcase a wide variety of

environmental looks that you can achieve with ease.

We even show you a few ways to link your scenic basestogether. In addition to this barrage of hobby-based

material (Ha-ha get it? "Based." Oh, forget it...), you

can check out a gallery of cool models with interesting

bases attached to 'em. Get started by clicking one of the

links below.

Chad Mierzwa's impressive

Chaos Giant has an equally

impressive base!
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Note: We usedWoodland Scenics materials to flock the examples below.

RUINED WOOD FLOOR

To create the old floorboards, cut balsa

wood or basswood into thin strips. Breakthese strips to create a ragged edge and

then nick them up with a hobby knife

(watch your hands). Line up the strips in a

floor-like pattern and glue this floor section

to two support beams (running

perpendicular to the planks) with super

glue. Trim down this floor section to fit

your base and glue it down. Add coarse

sand and flock as normal.

FLAGSTONE

The easiest way to create quick-and-dirty

flagstone floors (such as the moldy typeyou might find in some forsaken dungeon)

is to find some linoleum or wallpaper with

a suitable pattern imprinted upon it. In the

example above, we glued wallpaper to a

base with super glue. We trimmed it to fit

and added a little course sand with white

(PVA) glue.

MUDDY BANKS

Add several piles of green stuff to the base

and smooth them into a close

approximation of the final shape you want.

Once the putty has begun to set, take a

sculpting tool and hobby knife and add the

tiers and other muddy details. In theexample above, we used the new Gnoblars

to add the footprints (we made sure the

plastic was wet before we used it this way).

Once the putty dries, add coarse sand in the

channels to suggest a stream bed. Make

sure to use a gloss varnish after you finish

ROTTING CARCASS

Take some appropriate skeletal remains

(we used a Tomb Kings steed) and bisect

them with a hobby knife so they will lie

flat. Add green stuff to the remains to

imitate chunks of rotting flesh. When

painting the remains, make sure to use deepreds along with gloss varnish to get the

right look. For the example above, we also

used Catachan Green and Rotting Flesh on

the carcass's flesh to convey decay. Eww!
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LAVA FLOW/ASH WASTE

Making this base is easier than you might think. Plastructmakes plasticard sheets

shaped like a crater field. Take a square of this sheet, turn it upside-down, and press it

into a bed of green stuff (no glue needed). Once it dries, clean up the sides with ahobby knife. If you can't get Plastruct, trypressing a rough, wet stone into the putty.

As for painting the example above, we used Chaos Black with a Codex Grey

drybrush. For the lava, we built up from Blood Red to Blazing Orange, with a few

Chaos Black lines added afterwards to suggest cooling fractures.

SANDSTONE COURTYARD

Cut out a very thin slice of insulation foam (really watch your fingers) and glue it to abase with white glue. Trim the edges to fit the base. Draw out a pattern with a felt-

tipped pen. Trace over these lines with a hobby knife and then a dull pencil to widen

the incisions. Press a rough rock into the foam to transfer the texture. Add small piles

of debris made out of gravel and sand. Seal the entire base with watered-down white

glue before priming the model to avoid melting the foam with a spray paint.
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WOODCHIP ROCK

Black Gobbo fans will know this tip already wood chips make excellent "rocks" for

scenery. Find an appropriately sized chip and glue it to the base with super glue. Add

some sand and gravel to the chip to give it an earthy look.

The beauty of wood ships is that they are perfect for drybrushing. Just work your way

up from dark to light.

SCORCHED EARTH

The goal of this base is to look like it has been ravaged by fire or has suffered an

explosion. Add sand to your base like normal, but also add a few scrap-metal style

bitz over the sand. Paint the base as you would normally. Then, go back over the

burnt areas with a heavy drybrush of Chaos Black. If you want to take it a step farther,

give it a coat ofMMP Soot Black Weathering Powderto enhance the scorched look.
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SMALL STREAM

You can add a small stream of water to any base with a little green stuff. Just add a

pair or parallel, raised ridges to create a channel. To get a more natural feel, consider

pressing a few large pebbles into the banks, along with other detritus in the stream

bed. As for the water, you can imitate a thin trickle with gloss varnish. Just add a good

amount of the varnish to the channel and allow it to dry. For the example above, we

painted the stream bed with Fiery Orange to get a wet-clay feel.

PARCHED DESERT

Press a flattened sheet of green stuff onto your base. Smooth out any fingerprints now.

Take a sculpting tool or hobby knife and make a series of lines in the putty like thatshown above you're going for the cracked-mud look. Adding a bleached animal

skull will help hammer home the parched-earth look. For the example above, we

drybrushed the base with Dark Flesh, Bubonic Brown, Kommando Khaki, Bleached

Bone, and then Skull White.
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DECAYING TREES

Similar to the "Snow-Covered Field" base shown on the previous page, this base takesadvantage of twigs to simulate fallen trees. Break them down to fit on your base and

glue them down with white glue. Flock and paint the base as normal, though you don't

have to paint the logs as they look pretty good already. If you don't like the "au

natural" look, you can stain the ends of the wood with Brown Ink to bring out the

details. Then, drybrush the entire log with Catachan Green to suggest lichen and other

forest rot.

TREE STUMP

Cut down a stick or twig to look like a stump. Place a lump of putty on the base and

push in this stump shape the putty to blend with stump and look like roots. Add

small snakes of putty so they radiate from the stump and shape them into a root

system. Make sure they look like they're plunging into the ground like a normal tree.

Cut them with a wet hobby knife to look like bark. Once the putty dries, flock and

paint the base as normal.


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MARTIAN LANDSCAPE

This base style is ideal for the home of the Adeptus Mechanicus, but it could work for

a lot of other red-hued worlds as well. Painting is the key here glue on sand andgravel as you see fit. For colors, we stared with a drybrush of Scorched Brown over a

Chaos Black basecoat. Next, we drybrushed Dark Flesh and finished with Scab Red.

To vary the appearance, we stippled mixed coats of Tanned Flesh, Fiery Orange, and

Blood Red.

ASH WASTELANDS

Ashen wastes tend to be cluttered with loose rocks and other debris. You

want to mix up a very diverse blend of sand, gravel, and pebbles and glue it

to your base. Parking lots can be a good source for this blend, but watch out

for broken glass. As for paint, you will want to do a progressive series of

drybrushes with greys. When finished drybrushing, go back and pick out a

few stones with dark shades of grey or maybe Kommando Khaki.


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CHAOTIC REALMS

Like everything it touches, Chaos warps terrain and scenery. You can illustrate this

corrupting influence with weird trees, breathing rocks, buried faces, or completely

mutated patches of living earth. In the end, you want your gaming friends to say

something like, "Uh, why does the rock on your base have a face?" Be equally chaotic

when it comes time to paint your bases!

JUNGLE SCRUB

Forested bases can really enhance the theme of your army especially for

Catachans and Wood Elves. Design and paint your base as you see fit. Next,

find your local pet or craft store and grab a few small aquarium plants. Clip

out the plants and glue 'em to your base (don't forget to leave enough room

for the model). Half the time, you won't even have to a paint the plants!

Presto a jungle-themed base. Note that some craft stores have other types of

leaves, so you can duplicate pretty much any forest type.
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COMPLEX THEMES: You can really take the theme concept a step further. This

example demonstrates how you can link your bases together to make a diorama

scene. In this case, we made an Empire roadway from putty, balsa wood, and a fewmiscellaneous bitz. One of the key things to keep in mind with a project like this one

is how each base interacts with its neighbor. Sketch out your diorama ahead of time

in order to determine exactly what will be on each base. You'll save yourself a lot of

trouble, and you'll be very happy when you bring it all together, and it matches.
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