Basing 2

Part 2

Right the bases should be left alone, time to tackle those figures.

At this moment in time I just concentrate on the front strip only, well we want to get our army out there as soon as possible.
What really counts is the base 'representing' a number of troop types. Last weekend I painted 4 units of goblins this way (12 bases), if I tried to paint whole units I would have only finished 2 units last weekend and my army would not have looked as impressive on Monday when I fought a battle.

Now the Gobbos are 'represented' I will move onto another batch of units, like the boar riders, which can be half painted like the infantry to 'represent' the cavalry. (these guys are not finished yet), as these are mounted side on, they do not look at good as the front rank of the infantry, but in my opinion this way looks better than 2 units fully painted and 2 units undercoated black.

Now I have the front ranks painted, I can fight my battles, and paint the rear ranks at my leisure, each week adding more rear ranks completing my units stage by stage.

Last Stages:

Once the rear ranks are painted, take them off the mount, if done carefully you should end up with your painted sand still glued to the front side of the strip.

This should be the cool bit, if planned well, when you glue the rear rank, the brown sand should merge as one. If they don't fit exactly, this should not matter too much, as the small gaps should be black and so will form part of the base texture, and the good thing is no painting needed, no accidents on the newly painted figs.

All that is left is to sand, and paint the rear of the second strip (the more you do the more efficient it becomes) whilst the glue and sand box is out, it makes sense to do as many stands as possible, rather than do 3 stands, then pack everything away.

Glue the rear strips on the stands wait a week, play a few games, paint a few more strips then finish off say 12/15 bases at once.

To end with if you still have the energy and you are not sick of bases.

Put spots of PVA glue round the base and sprinkle static grass (most GW shops stock it) at odd intervals. Not too much (as I done with my first few) as this won't look right. I then paint the base edges black, which I feel give a neat feel. If the static grass is too bright as some can be then a light dry brush of Bubonic Brown does the trick in dulling it, I found I did not need to with these figures.

Once the glue and static grass is fully dry I then spray varnish the figures and stands (if you are impatient like I was once and spray varnish before the glue has dried the static grass will no longer stick up like well err grass, but will end up a flat mound of green stuff).

I think I have rattled on a bit too much now about bases, and I am sure most people will say this is all a bit over the top, but if you spend some time painting your figures and are proud of them, the same effort should go into the bases, as these will more often than not be the icing on the cake when your figures are presented in their full glory.....

Time for some top tips.