Basing Tips

By Assistant Doc Chris

- Base before you paint.  This way you know it'll get done and you won't have to worry about getting base color on your finely painted model.

- think a bit about your army.  Does your background have your army fighting in a certain terrain a lot?  Do your Eldar fight on the frozen plains of Styggia Prime?  Do your Necrons fight o a lot on the volcanic plains of Vulcan?  If so, it may give you a good indication of how to base your army...ice and snow, ash and lava.

- One of the greatest inventions I have found for basing is spackle.  Yep, the stuff you use to fill the holes in your dorm room walls (no put the toothpaste down).  Spread it on the base with a small spatula or knife, and don't be too careful to get it smooth, you want it bumpy.  Gives a great texture.

- Painting your spackled base is also easy.  Depending on what kind of landscape you're army is playing on you can paint it brown and drybrush with tan for dirt, grey or light blue with a heavy drybrush of white for snow, ochre with an off white drybrush for sand.  Experimentation is fun here. 

- For a great volcanic look, paint white on your base where you want the red lava, laving the rest black where you want the volcanic rock.  After painting the white, let it dry and coat it with red.  work your way towards the center with narrowing bands of lighter reds, oranges and even yellows. For your volcanic rock, model train ballast works great and doesn't even need to be painted.  Glue it down to the black areas around your painted lava.

- Model train stores are a great resource.  Woodland Scenic puts out a great line of static grass, flock, snow, lichen and foliage products. 

- Base every model in your army in a similar manner.  Having one unit on sand and the other on snow detracts from the cohesive feel of the army.