Six Steps to
Better Figure Basing

by Pat Connor, United Kingdom

Basing figures has never been my favourite way of wasting time. It's not that I dislike making scenic bases, just that I have never found one I have been happy with for more than a week. I have some figures which have been based six or seven times. Friends treat me with the kind indulgence normally reserved for a dotty aunt with a particularly nasty personal problem. Recently I have taken to playing with my little tanks, you know, the small lumps of resin which set you back a tenner for a model that used to cost you 50 pence, and you wonder why you threw them all out when you took up real wargaming. This rash move led me to buy the Verlinden magazine, well you have to see how the big boys do it don't you. The outcome of this four quid investment - and you should worry about the cost of this august journal - is that I have finally found the Grail. A variation on the basing used by large scale diorama builders which not only looks as realistic as you could want, but is also practical and simple to produce Here from start to finish, with occasional stops along the way is the path to enlightened basing. Step 1: Work up the base with some suitable material. I use Woodflex by Pollyfilla, but Tetrion or similar will do. This is to bring the ground level up to the edge of the figure's base. Small pools of water are added at this stage by making a suitable indentation in the plaster with the blunt end of a paintbrush. Step 2: Once the plaster is dry you can add any rocks you want, good ones are available from shops stocking 1/35th accessories. Now coat the base liberally with PVA glue, wood-glue works best mixed half and half with water. Sprinkle a few grains of railway ballast and coral sand to give some rough texture then cover the base with fine sand. Step 3: When this lot is dry, and give it several hours, paint it a suitable brown. I find it is best to use Plaka dark brown well watered down. This flows into the sand without destroying the texture. Dry brush with a selection of browns, you get the best effect if you vary the browns used. I work from a selection of Humbrol leather and sand and Citadel swamp brown and orc flesh with bleached bone for a final dusting with a dry brush. Step 4: Now the exciting bit, adding the furry flock - or static grass to our more discerning readers. As I have explained before the best way to add this to a base is to use neat PVA glue where you want the grass and push clumps of it on with a pair of tweezers. Leave the flock to dry and then turn the base upside down and give it a strong tap, this makes the grass stand upright. Step 5: Painting the flock requires some care. Use an enamel paint well thinned. I prefer Testers enamel greens. These are almost liquid in the bottle. The idea is to fill the brush with paint and let it bleed off into the flock. This way the flock remains upright, if you try to paint the flock in the normal way it will end up flat and splayed, although this can look effective around feet. This enamel sets the flock and allows the next stage. When painting the flock try using various shades of green. Step 6: Now that the flock has dried hard you can dry-brush with a mid green, I like the Colour Party green, and finally with a yellow. A word of warning, the paints will dry much darker than you put them on so allow for that in the highlighting. Finally if you want to add some bushes here's how. Take some lichen and snip off the very tops, the little bits that look like cauliflowers. Spray these black and attach them to your base. Liberally coat them in PVA glue and cover in flock. Use Foliage Factory flocks, they really are the only ones worth using. For the pools, paint the bottom with Humbrol French artillery green and put in a drop of gloss varnish. This method really works best for larger figures, although it can be used on 15s with some care. For a dedicated 15mm basing system a very quick and highly effective method is to cover the base in brown Basetex. Dry-brush with Humbrol leather and sand. Finally use Colour Party green and wet brush over the brown Basetext where you want grass. A final highlight of a dry-brush with yellow and it's done. On a final note, I know this is a magazine dedicated to Napoleonic wargaming but if the editor will indulge me this once. As you have gathered, I have started wargaming the Second World War, France 1939-40 to be exact. Having spent hours up to my armpits in every conceivable variation of khaki brown, is there anyone out there who knows what colours to use to paint British uniforms. Please save a wargamer from total breakdown and let me know via the editor. Back to Table of Contents -- First Empire #10 Back to First Empire List of Issues Back to MagWeb Master Magazine List © Copyright 1993 by First Empire. This article appears in MagWeb (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. Other military history articles and gaming articles are available at http://www.magweb.com