Warrior Ancient and Medieval Rules

[Chris Bump]

What do some of you use for your bases to build up around the
individual figure stands so that they look to be standing on terra
firma and not upon 3 or 4 little mounds atop the element?

I have been experimenting with spackle but am finding it difficult to
smooth to a terrain texture that I like.

So who is thrilled with what they are doing and why?
Thanks in adavance.
Chris

[Mark Mallard]

In a message dated 28/11/2005 13:57:01 GMT Standard Time,
davidsmith@... writes:

Hi Chris;

I squirt Elmers (straight-not diluted)on the base, level out the
glue with an old brush, and then swish the base around some builders
grade sand. After it dries, if I can still see the base, then I'll
add a little more glue, and then 'dunk' the base again. It provides
enough texture to make painting/drybrushing quite easy. The whole
process is very quick, compared to the aforementioned spackling/gel
approach....which I used to do, by the way.

Dave



**Have always used polyfiller type stuff, its not sticky so has some
advantages.

mark mallard


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

[Dave Smith]

Hi Chris;

I squirt Elmers (straight-not diluted)on the base, level out the
glue with an old brush, and then swish the base around some builders
grade sand. After it dries, if I can still see the base, then I'll
add a little more glue, and then 'dunk' the base again. It provides
enough texture to make painting/drybrushing quite easy. The whole
process is very quick, compared to the aforementioned spackling/gel
approach....which I used to do, by the way.

Dave

--- In WarriorRules@yahoogroups.com, "cncbump" <cncbump@v...> wrote:
>
>
> What do some of you use for your bases to build up around the
> individual figure stands so that they look to be standing on terra
> firma and not upon 3 or 4 little mounds atop the element?
>
> I have been experimenting with spackle but am finding it difficult
to
> smooth to a terrain texture that I like.
>
> So who is thrilled with what they are doing and why?
> Thanks in adavance.
> Chris
>

[Greg Regets]

I tend to like thicker bases than most people, especially for 25mm, so
I usually sink the figure base rather than build up to it. It sounds
like a lot of work, but it's really not.

1. After the figure is 100% painted and coated, lay them out how you
want them on the bases.

2. Pick up the figures one at a time and dip the bottom in paint.

3. Set the figure back on the base, which will stain in the area that
needs routed.

4. Dremel makes a router tool with a sink guide. It takes literally
seconds per figure.

An added advantage, is that you can use various sink depths (or no
depth at all) to even out figures that have inconsistent height. This
is coming in handy with my 15mm Early Byzantines using Museum
Miniatures. They don't make Huns, so I'm using modified figures from
several of their other lines, mixed to look like a motley band. Sadly,
Museum doesn't seem to know what height they want there figures to be,
so sinking is the only method you have to keep it from looking like
some of your Huns are riding Shetland ponies.

Hope that helps ... g



--- In WarriorRules@yahoogroups.com, "cncbump" <cncbump@v...> wrote:
>
>
> What do some of you use for your bases to build up around the
> individual figure stands so that they look to be standing on terra
> firma and not upon 3 or 4 little mounds atop the element?
>
> I have been experimenting with spackle but am finding it difficult to
> smooth to a terrain texture that I like.
>
> So who is thrilled with what they are doing and why?
> Thanks in adavance.
> Chris
>

[joncleaves]

Greg, that's a total winner of an idea....

-----Original Message-----
From: Greg Regets <greg.regets@...>
To: WarriorRules@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Mon, 28 Nov 2005 15:13:37 -0000
Subject: [WarriorRules] Re: basing/ terrain.


I tend to like thicker bases than most people, especially for 25mm, so
I usually sink the figure base rather than build up to it. It sounds
like a lot of work, but it's really not.

1. After the figure is 100% painted and coated, lay them out how you
want them on the bases.

2. Pick up the figures one at a time and dip the bottom in paint.

3. Set the figure back on the base, which will stain in the area that
needs routed.

4. Dremel makes a router tool with a sink guide. It takes literally
seconds per figure.

An added advantage, is that you can use various sink depths (or no
depth at all) to even out figures that have inconsistent height. This
is coming in handy with my 15mm Early Byzantines using Museum
Miniatures. They don't make Huns, so I'm using modified figures from
several of their other lines, mixed to look like a motley band. Sadly,
Museum doesn't seem to know what height they want there figures to be,
so sinking is the only method you have to keep it from looking like
some of your Huns are riding Shetland ponies.

Hope that helps ... g



--- In WarriorRules@yahoogroups.com, "cncbump" <cncbump@v...> wrote:
>
>
> What do some of you use for your bases to build up around the
> individual figure stands so that they look to be standing on terra
> firma and not upon 3 or 4 little mounds atop the element?
>
> I have been experimenting with spackle but am finding it difficult to
> smooth to a terrain texture that I like.
>
> So who is thrilled with what they are doing and why?
> Thanks in adavance.
> Chris
>








Yahoo! Groups Links






[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

My local train shop has these grass mats that you can cut up into the
size of the base and just glue on with elmers and then put the figures
on top of that. It works incredibly well and very fast and the end
product looks great.

Victor


--- In WarriorRules@yahoogroups.com, "cncbump" <cncbump@v...> wrote:
>
>
> What do some of you use for your bases to build up around the
> individual figure stands so that they look to be standing on terra
> firma and not upon 3 or 4 little mounds atop the element?
>
> I have been experimenting with spackle but am finding it difficult to
> smooth to a terrain texture that I like.
>
> So who is thrilled with what they are doing and why?
> Thanks in adavance.
> Chris
>

I base my guys and gals (Scythians have a lot of gals) as follows:

Epoxy the finished figs to a base (in my case acrylic laminated to a
magnetic) that has already been spray primed and then sprayed brown.

If I'm long on time (with a 2 year old, this is unlikely, but it has
happened) I add a little terrain--a rock, a tree stump, a dead body.

The epoxy (a 5-minute product freely available in hardware stores, comes
in 2 parts) does all the blending work for me. Credit to Mike Bard, by
the way. If you use more than you need, the stuff rounds itself and the
mounds are not perceptible.

Then, coat the whole base, including the bases of the minis, with PVA
glue. Dip in superfine sand. (I collected mine from a beach in
Greece--where Achilles landed to take Briseis, according to local
myth). When dry, water more PVA glue to bookbinding consistency (really
close to water) and paint the dried sand.

When dry, you have a sealed surface that is consistent across the whole
base and shows no base joins or bulges. And despite the long
description, this can be done very quickly.

Now paint the whole base your favorite terrain base color. At the risk
of getting on a soap box, virtually every region of the world has a
different soil color--sometimes quite a few! A little research (30
seconds on the web) will get the right color for your army for the base
soil color. OR if you have a theme color in your army, sometimes it
pays to choose a good strong contrast for your base. As an old friend
once told me, from the gamer's visual angle, there alsways a lot more
base visible than figure... it pays to get the base right.

Finally, I drybrush areas of the base 2-3 levels of color, and then
use woodland scenic flock in various colors chosen for either historical
correctness or visual appeal (or both) on only portions of the base.
This is a matter of taste (well, it's all a matter of taste) my
experience of large bodies of people moving over natural ground (vice
mowed lawn) is that they tear it up like mad.

Sometimes (see note on 2 year old above) I add a patch or two of
long grass.

Again, this all sounds really comlpex, but I can now do 20-30 bases
at a time in an hour or so.

Finally, just as a note, I've recently taken to doing my terrain
(hills, groundcloth, terrain bases for woods and brush, etc) in the same
EXACT colors as my bases. It really helps the whole thing look
organic.... well, on my side of table, anyway. : )
(Digression--painting bases and terrain can eat a lot of paint. I took
my chosen base soil color (A Foundry color) to my local hardware store
and bought a can of it (acrylic housepaint) mixed by them to match for
$10.00. The match is not quite perfect, but it's cheap, looks very
good, and will probably last forever.

Hope this helps,
Christian

>
>