Tabletop Basing Tutorial

Still working on getting that Death Guard Tactical Support squad and Character painted, but since I was waiting for some paint to dry, figured I would crank out that basing tutorial I promised.

To start, I used 2 spare 40mm bases that I had sitting around, and decided to work in 2 ways on the bases.  The first is a method I have been using for a while, and the other is a new method I wanted to try.

On the left, I used good old Elmers glue to attach some playground sand to the base.  This takes a while to dry, but leaves a nice, natural looking texture.  I use playground sand because it is cheap and plentiful, being as both of my kids are school age.  Besides that, you can pick up a 50 lb bag at Home Depot for like $4 - compare that to Citadel Sand for $12.  Sure the Citadel stuff is really fine, but to be honest, I prefer to have bigger chunks in my basing material.

On the right, I tried something a bit new.  I took some brown paint, from the old GW Scenery and Table Basing kit, squirted it into a smallish sealable container, and proceeded too mix some of my playground sand into it. I was trying to mimic the GW "Texture" paints.

Yes, looks like poop, but hey, it works.

After letting them dry for about a 1/2 an hour, I went applied a GW Argrax Earthshade wash to each base, again, setting it aside so it would dry (about a 1/2 an hour).

Once dry, I drybrushed GW Zandri Dust, followed by lighter drybrushes of GW Pallid Wyche Flesh, and then finally, GW White Scar.  Finding out that on either base, a full hour is NOT enough drying time for either the original basing or the initial wash.  On both bases, I had little chunks come off while doing light drybrushing.  Not an issue, as I would cover this with static grass later.

After attaching the static grass with white glue, I painted the edges with VGC Beasty Brown - needing 2 coats as I was painting over unprimed edges.

The one on the left is sand, wash, then drybrush, the one on the right is sand/paint mixture, wash, then drybrush. To be honest, I like the one on the right better - the paint mix gives a better area for the wash too hold onto, and throws more depth into the colors.  And to be honest, a lot of my armies are based the other way.  I won't rebase them, but moving forward, I will be using the new method.

No, all your base are belong to you - get to it!