Easy Muddy Bases for your Miniatures!
Hi everyone! I thought I'd do a little blog about making easy muddy bases for your miniatures.
This is aimed beginners, with the hope of showing how to quickly and easily base for your mini on a muddy or swampy battlefield!
To do this I'll be using a combination of GW paints (feel free to use whatever you like though) listed below:
Main Base Coat - Citadel Texture Astrogranite
Shading - Citadel Shade Athonian Camoshade
Dry Brush/ Highlighting - Citadel Base Steel Legion Drab
Step One
Apply the Base Texture Layer
For this guide I'll base a Plague Marine mini which I've finished painting. Since the Death Guard are all about Disease and Rot (charming aren't they) it seems fitting that they would be at home marching through a Swamp or a muddy Battlefield.
The first step is to apply a textured paint to give the base some... well texture really. There are a couple of easy ways to do this from applying PVA glue to the base and dipping the base into sand or small rocks to give a texture then paint the sand or rock once the glue has dried.
Now I like this method but when you have a massive pile of models you are trying to get based this can take a loooong time and be quite messy.
To speed things up and keep things a bit less messy I'm going to use a texture paint called Astrogranite (basically thick grey paint with bits in it) to texture my base.
I simply paint the paint straight from the pot using a fairly large brush to 'shovel' the paint onto the base and work it around the feet. I use a smaller brush to work the paint into the smaller gaps (such as under the heel) remembering to clean my brush in water afterwards.
Once you are happy with the layout of the paint on the base.
* Don't worry if you get a bit on the feet you can wipe off larger marks but as we will be dry brushing over the feet later its not a big deal.
Leave it to dry for 5 - 10 minutes, I usually sit them onto of my computer as it is warm and helps to dry the paint.
Step Two
Shading
Ok once the texture paint has dried or is mostly dry we can move onto shading the base.
For this I'll be using Athonian Camoshade which is a dark green shade. To apply it I'll use a shading brush but any model paint brush would work really.
Shade paints are very much like ink and the idea is that it pools in all the little crevices on the texture base.
You can really load up your brush with the shade and like the texture paint work in around on the base. of course the more you use the longer it will take to fully dry!
Step Three
Highlighting/ Dry Brushing
Once the Shade has dried it is time to move on to the highlighting step.
For this step it is best to use an old brush to do the dry brushing.
If you are not familiar, the technique of dry brushing is to basically apply paint to your brush then wipe off nearly all of the paint using a paper towel or similar. You then quickly swipe the brush head back and forth over the area of the model you want to highlight. The bristles of the brush catch on the raised parts and transfer a small amount of the remaining paint from the brush onto the surface.
I dry brushed Steel Legion Drab over the base to give the muddy look I was looking for. I also dry brushed over the feet and sections of the legs. This gives the look that the mini has been walking or moving through the mud and blends the model and the base together.
Now we have a muddy looking base! Next we can move onto tidying up the base by painting the ring around the outside black (or any colour for that matter) to create a crisp transition.
you could also add extra details at this point to give the base more character if you wish. For me I'm going to apply a little extra by using Citadel Technical Nurgle's Rot paint to add a little pool of... something green to the base. This is applied just the same as normal paint but it works like the shade. It will pool and dries to a glossy sheen giving the effect of a liquid. I like to apply this to tentacles as it gives a slimy sheen to them.
Hopefully this quick little guide will be of some help!