By Keith Pogue

Greetings! Miniature bases can be quite a hassle, but the pay off is so worth it! Here is my method for making bases quickly that look darn good. I hope you find a tip or two you can apply to your modeling and painting immediately. For this article, I am using a Dire Boar from Reaper miniatures.

I have placed the boar on a larger base and used some kneadatite to wed the base to the figure. At this stage it is not critical that the kneadatite looks all that great. It just needs to form a gentle sloping surface to fit in with the miniature's base.



Texture the green stuff to match the rough base of the dire boar.



The boar has been painted and now the entire base is base coated black. Glue sticks work better to paint than primer or bare metal in my experience.

Next, paint some glue onto the base employing a cheap brush.



One can generally find large packages of these cheap brushes at Walmart and other places. Buy a bunch and abuse them. I use Tacky Craft glue and squeeze it onto a surface. In this case, I used a miniature's blister packing. I paint the glue onto the base with my cheap brush to get a uniform coat of glue. I do not water the glue down, although some modelers do so in order to gain more uniform and thinner coverage.



Next, the model is placed in a dish full of sand. The sand should come from outdoors preferably. Get some from a long jump pit at the high school or from your kid's sandbox. The advantage of the outdoor sand is that it is rarely uniform and has some dirt mixed in. This non-uniformity gives the model a more natural look when you paint it.



Let the model set in the sand for a few hours to allow the glue to set hard. Then take the figure out and give the base a good brush with a large soft brush. Careful not to damage your paint job!



Painting the sand will make your ground cover look more natural on the table top. It seems counterintuitive that painting sand would make it look better, but trust me - you will appreciate the results. I use a basic ink mix of two parts brown, one part orange, and one part water. The citadel inks are my favorite, and I was lucky enough to buy them when they came in dropper bottles. I constantly refill the bottles because I love dropper bottles.



As you paint the ink onto the base you will notice a wicking action. This is the sand and dirt absorbing the ink, and it takes very little effort to cover the entire base. Do not be concerned if the coverage is not uniform, as this will add to the natural look of your base.



Allow the ink to dry fully on the model. This usually takes less than an hour. The nest step requires some decision making on your part. What do you want the soil on the base to look like? Are you shooting for a rich loam or perhaps a red clay? I decided to go with a dry dusty look. I employed a mix of Vallejo Model Color Plague Brown and Beasty Brown. This was dry brushed over the base rapidly.



Allow this to dry completely and then seal coat your figure. The base is not quite finished, but occasionally when you add static grass and spray sealant on the figure, the sealant can form drops on the static grass or change its appearance.

Static grass makes a base look good, especially when used in patches. Paint a few glue spots on the base and then tweezer heaps of static grass onto the glue spots. Let it dry for an instant and the blow the excess off while blowing the grass. It is really hard to screw static grass up, and I encourage you to try it. It looks so good and it is really easy.



The last step is to dry brush the static grass a little to match the soil type you have chose. I think static grass tends to look a little shiny and dry brushing it makes it look more natural. I chose a dusty looking soil, and so I decided to yellow the grass a bit with a mixture of Vallejo Game Color Gold Yello and a dot of plague brown.



Now the figure is done and the outstanding base really helps it stand out.

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Keith Pogue (pogre) has been painting miniatures since 1981. Although a fine painter he is no where close to world class. However, he has taught two other painters who have gone on to achieve fame as figure painters. A teacher and a coach, Pogue is a recovering attorney who really enjoys his summers off. Pogue's goal for his series of painting articles
is "to provide tips anyone can use at the painting table tomorrow."