Basics of bases

Every pewter miniature eventually finds itself a happy home on one of these. Basing is that extra little step to place your work on terra firma and a step that some try to minimize to make it to the finish line more quickly.

While there are numerous ways to finish and color your personalized bases, I'm going to run through a few of my personal tricks and habits on base work to hopefully broaden your own pool of tricks. Something to keep in mind for the duration of this article: I usually (although not always) do my bases separate from the model, and then pin the individual miniature to the base after both are complete. Larger pieces like a heavy Jack I will tend to attach to the base prior to basing.  All of these materials and techniques will work either way.

The basics

The most common element found in standard basing material is sand. Commonly, you will see store bought ballast glued onto a base with white glue as it can be the easiest and most convenient method. I try to avoid store bought "sand" or "ballast" for one simple reason: It’s too uniform and perfect. Walk around in a forest or other untouched scenery and you’re not going to find Mother Nature creating perfect terrain. My personal choice is agate sand used for mixing concrete. It’s random in texture and gives what I feel is a much more natural feel, too.  You will often find someone in your neighborhood mixing concrete in some form that is willing to part with a large cup full, more than enough to do your entire faction and then some.

To attach this sand to your base I just use Elmer's white glue (any other common white glue will do the job nicely). Take one of your old beaten up brushes and apply the glue directly onto the base where you want sand to be attached. I will usually cut the glue slightly with water, but not too much. A guesstimate of 2 parts glue to 1 part water should do well. Next, place the piece over a container filled with the sand and spoon the material over the glue-covered areas. After that, turn the base upside down and tap the bottom of the base with the spoon to knock off any loose sand not being grabbed by the glue. At this point look over your base and see if any sand is stuck where you don't want it to be (Like where a little glue went over the edge and your sand has now gone beyond the inner ring of your base). You can simply use your finger to rub it off or shove it back into the desired space. If you are gluing sand to a base with a miniature attached, you will most always get a few grains a little too high up on the boot or feet areas of a miniature. Simply take an Xacto blade and pluck off or push down these few grains for a much cleaner and realistic look.

Alternative surfaces

Sand is not the only medium to create texture on your bases. Another material that can be used and easily found is cornmeal, which works nicely with glue (it absorbs into the glue upon application).  Yet another good basing material is baking soda, which will create either a smooth sand surface or snow covered base depending on how you color it.

Larger bases also create a problem that often is overlooked: a perfect flat surface.  This is not bad when you’re trying for a man made look, but it does not resemble a natural terrain surface. On larger bases I like to take green stuff and build up a few smooth and gradual bumps to increase the natural look and feel.

Added Texture

Once you've done a few bases with just sand, the desire to add a little more something quickly follows. The agate sand will tend to have a few grains in it that are slightly larger and give you a look and feel of larger rocks on your bases, but if you’re looking for some slightly different shapes and sizes, try something like kitty litter. Kitty litter has a more hard-edged shape and more rugged feel than the rounded corners of the debris found in agate sand. Simply select some pieces, and then directly after you glue your base, place the litter on the base and then pour the sand on top of the entire piece as usual. You'll then have a more textured base with only one more very simple step. Often you can keep these larger stones the sand color that you already use on your bases or shift them slightly to almost any color to get a bit of contrast and liveliness in your basing colors.

Another means of adding more texture that is slightly more time consuming in the beginning is slate rock. I take green stuff and create a flat sheet from it about 1/16" think, via a metal rolling pin and some vegetable oil to keep it from sticking. After it cures for about 24 hours, I wash it off with dish soap to remove all of the oil. After doing that, you have a large sheet to snap off small chunks of and apply to your bases at any time.  More often than not, I'll place either a few pieces on top of each other to obtain a layered look or a single piece placed within a sand texture to get a more natural look. This sort of slate I always glue to the base prior to anything else. It can be painted any of a variety of rocklike colors and blends in nicely with any basing.  Some examples of good colors to use are a deep neutral grey or a light beige and red-brown scheme to emulate sand stone.

Foliage

Some of the finishing touches of a base can include a little bit of vegetation. One commonly seen version of this is static grass, a simple store bought product that can be applied with white glue. I like to mix up a combination of colors for a more natural look. Often I will select a main color, one lighter and one darker, and then combine them with the following formula: two parts main color, one part darker, and one part lighter. Using static grass is as simple as applying white glue with an old paintbrush and sprinkling it over the freshly applied glue. I use a small container that is full of my mix and stand the miniature in it, then use a utensil to do the sprinkling.  Once it is applied, I take the miniature out, turn it upside down, and tap it on the bottom with the utensil to get the excess off and back in the container. Then you simply blow lightly from the underside to get the static grass to stand up, let it sit for several hours to allow the glue to fully cure, and you’re done. Experiment with how much area to cover with static grass on your bases, from a small tuft or two to a full-blown field.  Remember, though:  Use it to add flavor to your miniature, not to cover it up.

Other alternatives that can give you the appearance of dead leaves and debris can be to apply ground tea leaves, oregano, and/or a mix thereof. Just apply it in a similar fashion as the static grass for a nice effect.

Colors

This is a trick as simple as three steps, but you'll need to figure out the three colors of these steps, as only you know what will work best for your current color scheme. More often than not, I use a lighter warm brown, then do a heavy wash of a very dark warm brown, and finally after letting that wash dry throughly, a light dry brush of a color slightly lighter than your starting color.  Often, I have this final color lean more to a yellow hue to richen up the overall effect.  The colors that you choose will need to vary depending on your current scheme.  Pick something that will show off your work, not bury it. Often, a contrasting color will do this well; even something as simple as a light versus dark theme can do the trick. Be willing to experiment to find the colors that work best for you.

Another of my personal habits is to pick out a few grains that look like small stones on the base and give them a small splash of color to break up the overall feel on the base.  This can be as simple as an extra dull red or navy blue placed on a few spots for some extra flavor.

Overall, your base is a very easy way to personalize your miniature.  Take the time to try out different things and add that flavor. It will complete your army and truly make it yours.

Until next time.

DD