So, on to discuss miniature basing themes, as everyone loves a good based mini!
There are a few different mindsets on this one, choosing it based upon:
– Paint scheme
– The Army/Faction
– The overall idea you had for your army.
– How it works with the display board you may have created for it
– What you like for basing, regardless of how it looks with the army (hey, if you like it, you like it)
– In the case of a single model for display, how best to accent your model, and show it off to it’s best potential. Examples of this:
1. An Ultramarine Tyrannic War Veteran mini, on a Tyranid themed base.
Here’s a great example from coolminiornot: http://coolminiornot.com/239762
2. A Necromunda model sneaking through a cut away of a sewer.
Here’s a great example from coolminiornot: http://coolminiornot.com/189225
3. Pirate Queen Skarre upon a section of ship deck. (yes this is a link to an E-Skarre mini, the one that comes on that type of base)
Here’s a great example from coolminiornot: http://coolminiornot.com/232580
4. A reaper miniature, say, townspeople in a town.
Here’s a great example from coolminiornot: http://coolminiornot.com/index/whatm/Reaper/id/158397
5. Malifaux miniatures, say opposing masters dueling.
Here’s a great example from coolminiornot: http://coolminiornot.com/index/whatm/Wyrd/id/240574
6. Blood Bowl figure in the middle of a pitch.
Here’s a great example from coolminiornot: http://coolminiornot.com/index/whatm/GW/id/206940
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So, now that you’ve decided where your idea has come from, maybe even an idea as to why they are in the location they are (meaning what type of world/location you are trying to portray them fighting upon) let’s talk about themes.
The 4 Seasons (Winter, Spring, Summer, Fall)
This theme idea works extremely well for wood elves. Many other armies can pull this off quite well also, but if you have see any of the wood elf models, this is the first thing, in my opinion, that comes to mind when the 4 seasons are mentioned.
A breakdown of the schemes associated with this:
Winter- Typically this type of basing includes flock snow, rocks, possibly a bit of basing grit dry brushed with grey and maybe even a barren branch, and some ice (water effects) all applied typically over a base that has been painted space wolves grey (GW)/Frostbite (P3) or any other variation of a light blue grey.
Spring- Typical basing includes glade grass, tree leaves, mud effects, a few rocks and maybe even a twig or two. Water effects can also work well here, both to assist you in making mud, and a standing pool of water (think jungle)
Summer- Typical basing includes burned (colour) static grass, long static grass (representing hay, tall grass, jungle terrain), light brown/tan drybrushed basing grit. Water effects can also work well here, at your discretion.
Fall- This can be a fun one, typically seeing the browns, yellows and oranges working into these bases bring out an amazing look once they are all together on the table. Using the autumn flock works well, in small patches, with lots of brown drybrushed basing grit. Trees would be barren, with a few patches of the autumn flocking strategically placed on various branches.
Technology Based Theme
This is a broad category, encompassing ships, buildings, facilities and other areas of the like.
Have you ever thought of models:
– on a ship decking base, possibly getting ready to load into a transport, getting ready to teleport, or working their way through Space Hulk’s many corridors? This could work out many different ways, including: using textured plasticard, metal base inserts, resin bases, various basing kits, green stuffing them, and more. Also, this is where lots of sprue bits can come in handy. Examples will come later on in this series.
– Working through a building, clearing it out room by room, searching for the foes. Or even in a friendly stronghold, getting ready to battle the enemy? This could include textured plasticard, balsa wood to create planking, green stuffing cobblestones, metal base inserts, resin bases, basing kits and more (again we will go over resin bases and plasticard later on in the series). This idea also works for fantasy as well, wood floors, taverns, medieval building floors (cobblestone works well) and the like.
Battlefield Theme
This could be anything you could possibly imagine. Maybe you have a particularly hated foe, an ancient grudge, or a fluff based reason, maybe even just lots of little bits and such that you want to use up out of your bits box. It could be walking through an old battlefield, finding pieces of empty armour and skeletal parts, or a current battle, bloody arms, freshly dead enemies and more. You could also model it as though you’re going through a mine field, being thrown back by a shot, and more.
Also, another idea falls into this category, rubble bases. These can be made with anything from resin rubble pieces, bits of sprue, bits from the bits box and more. Basically these type of bases show your minis walking through the rubble of a city, building, castle, or other structure/area that has been destroyed.
Chaos-esque
Okay, this one I know looks a bit unusual, but hear me out. If you want a chaos wastes look, or something that looks very unique, this one’s an interesting. You can find resin warp flame bases from epicast (Warpfire I believe), as well as simply putting a blob or two of green stuff on a base and sculpting something that looks like it’s ooze from the warp and more. Your imagination is the limit for this one.
There are also chaos bases now available from a wide array of manufacturers such as Micro Art Studio’s chaos rock bases.
Lava
This one is fairly straightforward as well. There are a plethora of companies that make bases that you can simply paint without having to try and figure out how to make this one work out, or you can make your own. I prefer to make my own, with a blank base, and a few chunks of plastic card. I take the model, look at it, decide how I want it to be on the base, then glue the pieces that are representing rocks onto the base. A bit of chipping and notching with a hobby knife to the plastic card, and voila, rock! A paint job later, it looks like grey rocks with lava flowing through it.
