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basing

Basing Normans in the South

Having explained my latest approach to basing I should say that my wargaming choices are very modest. In fact the whole plastic figure thing was aimed at “keep it simple”. And that goes for painting and finishing – simple acrylics mainly block painting and gloss varnish. my figures are intended to be handled and mostly viewed at 3 feet or 1 metre away.

Even my Wars of the Roses 28mm figures have received such treatment although I did some flesh/clothing washes here and there. And they felt a bit questionable – “was the effort worth it?” well thats more about my painting skills/impatience I think and not the technique being worthwhile.

And when it comes to plastic I seem to have moved to the point  where a bad Plastic Soldier Review will encourage me to buy – maybe a paint job can rescue a poor figure. The question is can my painting rescue the figure or actually make it worse? Beauty as they say is in the eye of the beholder.

And I have found to my eye that a base I like significantly enhances my figures – when looked at on the table at about 3 feet of course.

So actually close ups on screen are probably not that helpful in some cases. Anyway here goes.

Strelets 1/72 Normans from a mixture of their boxed range at about 12 inches or 300mm

Essentially I based the figures on 80mm x 60mm laser cut MDF from pendraken miniatures, daubed on pva glue, emersed in a tray of budgie grit, shaken and set aside to dry. A day later, inverted to shake off the last loose material, it was out with the paints.

the budgie grit tray – the grain mix works even for 20mm figures

Then base paint. Now this base is the result of several attempts to get the right colour. I could say at this point I spent hours rerunning the La Vuelta vids poring over the helicopter shots for the right ground look but I would of course be fibbing or maybe not………

trials…….

I found I could get some wacky colour outcomes and actually the ones I thought would be too bright I decided would look better for a mediteranean location.

I discovered an old revell acrylic pot of “rust” was the best base colour (need to source an alternative as I don’t know anyone who stocks revell acrylics now given the dominance of vallejo and citadel).

And the ochre and then either ivory or white highlight came from B&Q and Johnstones sample pots. And then some final decoration.

I finished the base off with some greenery taking a cue from La Vuelta again and using bright green foliage. Lots of railway model suppliers provide a range of foliage plants.

And that wraps it up for now. I think the extra steps taken here are worthwhile and enhance the figures. I plan to do all my mediterranean medievals this way. Next problem is getting the table top to match.

Hope to see you soon.

Categories
basing

Do bases matter that much?

Do bases matter that much when it comes to miniatures used in wargaming? By current standards they clearly do with plenty of trade offerings available and a wealth of DIY advice online.


Also the preference for elements without individual figure removal permits more imagination to be applied around a base. Perhaps the exception is skirmish gaming but even here you have the option of sabot bases providing the individual figure movement while retaining the convenience of the larger element base which can still be given varying levels of decoration.


My basing journey has been pretty basic. Back in the dim and distant past I painted desert or green paint onto cardboard bases. I still have them and they work after a fashion. The figures are 25mm. They look a bit tired though.


I think this figure is a citadel adventurer from the 1970’s when my painting hand was patient and my eyes still worked! note the ageing gloss varnish.

Then I started a 15mm phase and actually paid for painting including basing. The quality was good but somehow they did not grow on me. They look accurate but……

15mm Essex Byzantines professionally painted with matt finish and understated basing!

I did some of my own and I was even less happy!

And then I caught the plastic fantastic bug and returned to simple painted bases for some 1/72 scale figures.

Zvezda Russian Cavalry cruise past some positively ancient 20mm minifig french napoleonics and giant 25mm tradition russians

In the middle of this phase I moved into 28mm figures and thought they needed something extra. As it happened despite all the wealth of offerings and advice in all the various magazines and books I had collected, I stumbled across the humble warhammer guide in one of their rulebooks – maybe shieldwall – where they recommended simply gritting the bases, basecoating and drybrushing once. Somewhere I found a suggestion to use budgie grit. I tried it and painted it up, except no dry brush, but added some static grass and…… I was still underwhelmed. There is no pleasing some people.

Perrys 28mm Continental Burgundian Pike on DBA bases

I then had another surge of plain painted bases when I reworked more of my old 25mm metals.

You can see them next to the Zvezda Russians above – Minifigs French circa 1972? and Tradition Russians from the mid 1970’s. The bases they replaced were very dark green painted airfix box card – the figures have been transformed in my view, although unbelievably garish – they cheer me up!


And then I decided to do some mediterranean normans. Coincidentally I had watched both British cycling, Le Tour and La Vuelta races and the penny dropped. All my scenic basing had generally used dark green/dark brown earth (or grey brown for 15mm) colours – and I had not recognised why I liked the bright green bases beyond their simplicity. British cyclists rode through dark earth countryside with bright greens but La Vuelta cyclists went through fantastically bright coloured soils of many hues and even with brighter green shrubs and trees on top. (well except in the picos mountains in the north).

So I got my paints out and started experimenting – and so I have now found what I want for my Normans. Well until the butterfly lands on the next flower…..

In my next post I will share the results.

Categories
basing

Basics ugh I mean start with basings!

Do bases matter?

All History is bunkum, only the future matters

— Henry Ford or something like that

Back to basics or is that basings? Most wargames today have taken from boardgames the token or counter principle and many miniature figures now find themselves stuck to a base with some others of their kind.

Yes there is another strong theme of individually mounted figures although, because of gaming time, this will usually reduce the figure count on the wargames table. So if you want to show lots of figures and still finish a game then multiple figures on one base is the way to go.

First up are some posts on my current struggles with basing style.

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wargames blog

Erratic wargaming

What its all about………

This blog will be erratic simply because when it comes to wargaming I am the proverbial butterfly, the world is full of the next nectar stop. So pop in now and again your always welcome.