If like me you seem to spend more time pulling figures off bases and rebasing them than you do actually painting the damn things then you may be interested in some ideas to try.

Firstly, what do you base your figures on? I have tried almost every conceivable material. I have found that the best by a long way is 1/32 marine plywood which you can buy from most model shops. It is not the cheapest method but is reasonably thin, extremely tough and does not warp.

Many wargamers use a mixture of sand and wood glue for their basing. A much simpler method, however, is to use a suitable filler such as Polyfilla's Woodflex. Once dry, coat in woodglue and dip in sand. It gives a suitable texture for drybrushing and is easier to apply.

Once this is all dry you can add a grass effect in one of several ways. You can add some more glue on the areas you want to be grass and dip it back into the ubiquitous sand, use Basetex or, the method which I have come to favour, use static flock. These last two need to be added after the earth effect has been painted.

Before I go on, let me nail my colours firmly to the mast. I prefer a stylised basing rather than a totally realistic one. After all if that was what you wanted just paint it black with a touch of brown, after all that's the colour of a muddy field after several thousand men and horses have trampled all over it.

For a reasonable earth effect begin with Plaka brown. This is then drybrushed liberally with Colour Party brown - the same colour as their brown Basetex which also makes a good basing material, although a little expensive if you are basing a lot of figures. This is finally drybrushed very lightly with Humbrol matt sand. You can also use the Colour Party brown with a brown ink wash as the base.

Try experimenting with the drybrush colours. Matt emulsion testers, available from most DIY stores, can provide a great range of earthy colours.

Once you have got your earth painted it's time to look at the grass. Basetex can be quite useful, although I find it a bit insipid and difficult to get a good drybrush effect on it. This can be overcome to some degree by giving the Basetex a light wash in Paynes Grey to darken it.

By adding more woodglue and sand to the grass areas you get a more realistic grass effect which takes a better dry brush and it is easier to achieve a suitable green. Humbrol grass green is a pleasing colour and surprisingly the Colour Party equivalent of their Basetex, number 19, gives a much stronger colour than the Basetex itself.

For drybrushing, Humbrol yellow works quite well, although the brush has to be almost clear of any paint before you start. A more realistic method is to add a touch of the Humbrol green to the yellow before drybrushing, this gives a less marked contrast and creates a more subtle effect.

If this sounds like hard work then the answer may well be to try the static grass. This is in fact the effect I prefer. Carefully used it can create some very realistic results indeed. Most model shops stock a range of static grasses, this is the stuff they stick to railway grass matting. There are usually several shades of green to choose from so pick the one which suits you best although I have found that the dark greens tend to be a bit too overpowering.

If you have not used this stuff before a word of caution. You cannot add it to a base in the same way as normal flock, if you simply dip a base into static flock very little will actually stick to it. You need to add some wood glue to the area of the base you want the grass on. Pick up some flock using a pair of tweezers and push it into the glue, prod the flock around with the point of the tweezers and keep adding flock. Turn the base upside down and tap it gently, the excess flock falls away and you are left with a plush carpet of verdant greenery.