Finished Bases in Battle

 

 I really like these new bases with their added depth, It now means figures have more room to be placed and a line can become quite ragged. This is a vast improvement to my old basing where figures were in straight geometric lines. Also, as mentioned many times before, these deeper bases can now house fallen and wounded characters, adding to the atmosphere of the game.

Finished! Time for War!

You can see on the picture above that I have dry brushed the tufts with yellow Ochre to dry them out and add to the dead grass look.

The rocks are now dry and give off that Devils Den look.

 

 A staggered firing line struggles to hold formation under the withering fire of the enemy.

 "Give'em the cold steel boys, give'em the cold steel!"

 

 

Finishing Touches and Tufts

 

  So the three layers are now dry. The dry looking base layer, the layer of dry looking stones and the third layer of 'Meadow grass'.

 This looks good enough to go with as it is, but recently there has been a flurry or excellent basing products to the market that can really add a little extra something to a base. mainly grass tufts from MiniNatur and Silflor. Other companies have copied these products now and they can be found in a number of good hobby shops and Websites. After all these added extras there is no chance of seeing any figure bases anywhere!

 

 I like to use the winter variety of tufts, as these can be dry brushed to fit in with different seasons. For example, for these ACW bases I will dry brush them with an Ochre yellow, so they look dry and parched. I learned this gem of BigRedBat.

 

 The granite base coat dry, I then dry brushed them again using Foundry's Granite 'C' colour paint. I also found some undergrowth flock and parched static grass on the Flames of war website. I have been trying to locate 'yellow' static grass for ages and finally tracked it down.  Both these products were added to a selection of bases to add variety.

 

 'Parched' static grass made by 'Force Nine' was added to areas of the base in small patches. These were little finishing touches that helped create that American feel.

Basing with Flock

 

 Now that the PVA glue is dry we can paint those slate rocks.

 

 I chose Foundry's Granite 'A' colour to do the first coat. I also covered some of the surrounding gravel with the paint to blend the stone work into the base.

 

Another huge attraction for me rebasing these old figures, is the chance to add little dioramas to them. Fallen comrades, rocks and small bushes all add to the playing pieces and set the mood and style of the war. By mixing up the poses of characters, a real struggling battle can be achieved.

Third Layer

 Above you can see the first two layers, everything looks quite dry. It's time to add a little bit of life to the base.

 The next layer of flock is one called 'Meadow Grass Flock' from Gaugemaster. It's a common flock found in most good railway hobby shops.

I also manged to track down and buy some yellow static grass which was added on top of the meadow layer once it was dry.

Second Layer

The first layer being dry, It was time to add some light stones to the base. I wanted to leave lots of base colour on the stand, so I just applied the PVA glue in tiny patches around it. If I saw a metal figure base showing, I would cover it with this layer.

The flock and gravel colours are quite similar and blend well together. I don't like painting gravel so I looked for a nice natural colour that wouldn't need a layer of paint to make it look realistic.

To add a little variety to the army of bases, I added a few splinters of slate to some bases. This again helps to achieve the American terrain look. If you ever want to fight the battles of Gettysburg (which I do) then this look is for you.
Unlike the small patches of gravel, I will paint this larger slate pieces to detail them. I got the slate pieces from a guy off eBay.

First Layer Done

 

 So the first layer has been flocked.

 I found with this sawdust like flock, the PVA glue would show and soak through the flock. A second dunk in the flock tub just made sure the base was well and truly covered in colour with a nice thickness to it. Any mistakes or patchy areas at this point can be covered over in later stages so do not worry about details. Sometimes the metal bases of figures can still be seen easily after the first layer, but do not worry.

The great thing about flocking bases is that it allows you to do whole armies in one go and quickly too.

Step by Step Basing the easy way

 

 Here is a step by step lesson in how I base and flock my ACW figures. These figures have been rebased to fit with the Regimental Fire and Fury ACW rules. My figures were originally based in threes but I liked the idea of having deeper bases to play around with. Also the rebasing gives me a chance to update the painting on a lot of old models painted back in 1997.
In those days my only experience of historical gaming had been 15mm and so I based figures three to a base but in the same pose. Time for a mix up and a change.

 

 I have always been a lazy baser and would speed through basing to spend more time creating masses of troops. Over the years I have developed a simple style of basing that looks good but is very quick and easy to do. I have been asked to share this basic approach to basing so here goes, I hope someone out there finds it useful.

 

 I did a bit of research into American ground colours on a trip to the States and from ACW books. The ground is quite dry looking with a lot of dead grass due to the climate. So first I searched through my vast flock collection to find a suitable 'dry' colour. This will act as the base colour from which to hang everything on.

 

Over the years I have collected a massive collection of different flock colours. These have been horded from model railway shops and the like. The name of this flock has been lost to history but it had the right colour to it and also I had a large quantity of it. We were off...

Once the three figures were based on their new 45mm x 30mm base (from Warbases), I painted PVA glue on the base and dipped them in the first round of flock.

Blew coat recruiting in Milton Keynes

Recruiting in the delightful village of Milton Keynes.

Take a shilling and make your mark...NEXT!

Campaign in Milton Keynes

If anyone is going to 'Campaign'  the war games show in Milton Keynes this weekend, do come and find me and say hello. I've volunteered to man a recruiting stand for the Prince Rupert's regiment of the Sealed Knot and will be strolling around in armour all day. Standing all day in back and breast plates with tassets and helmet will be a new experience for me, I think I might take a chair :).

 If you love history and like getting out and seeing historical buildings and places why not try it for yourself. I love dressing up in armour personally and connecting to the past, but a lot of people just join for the social side of things too.

That's me in the middle with a borrowed old coat and helmet last year at the Naseby memorial march. I have my own kit now and have even passed my sword test, which means now I can carry a sword on the field...joy! I will be proudly wearing it on Saturday so watch out!

Anyway, If you're around come and say hello and get to try on some kit, get drunk and wake up in a cart bound for Oxford with a shiny shilling in your pocket...Joking aside do come and say hello, Simon.

Speed Basing the American Civil War

As I have hundreds of bases to rebase and knowing that after about a week or so I will probably go on to something else, I thought it important to speed up the process of basing to give myself a chance of completing anything.

The rebasing also gives me the chance to touch up the very old paint jobs on my Civil War figures. I have found that by highlighting the nose and cheek bones, the old black ink shaded skin makes a great stubble colour.
It also gives me a chance to update all the old repro flags for new beautiful versions. Things have really moved on from when I collected my ACW forces back in 1997 and they are all crying out for an up date.

 

Dixon, Foundry and Redoubt miniatures are mixed to add variety on the bases. Dixon figures get a bad press but I like the character they bring when added to the mix. Also, they can be ordered separately from the website, which is a god send when ordering certain poses.

Above is a base of large Renegade miniatures I based earlier in the year, their base was done the long way. Sticking sand to the base by PVA glue, then painting highlights on to it, then flocking with grass flock.
This is a very popular method but for me with my armies of new bases, it would take me forever to get regiments completed. So I came up with a quicker method by using just flock of different shades.

After studying the American grass and undergrowth colours while out there, I found a yellowish looking flock colour, this works great for dead or dry grass and it would form the base layer.

On top of this yellowish base layer I added spots of green grass and patches of light stones. Finally long grass tufts were added and dry brushed yellow so they looked dried out. This may sound like a long process but It's not.

The only worry at first is that the first layer is quite thin and the figures bases can still be made out clearly. However, If you see a base edge you have two more layers of flock to cover it after the first layer has dried.

On some bases I spent a little extra time and stuck small slithers of flint on them, this looked good when coloured up with granite coloured paint. I looked at a lot of Gettysburg illustrations to get inspiration. So the two bases above look the same, but one was done in a fraction of the time of the other.

A mistake with the camera lead to a period Civil war photo.

It's nice to see all my old figures, who I had many fond memories of finally getting a revamp. Nice new bases, highlights on the skin and clothes and brand new standards as well from GMB Design.

Basing up Union Troops for Fire and Fury Regimental

Well I have returned from a work trip to America full of inspiration and  energy. While I was out there I took note of the ground colours and vegetation. Knowing that when I got back, I would have a mountain of ACW troops to base up.

I have been looking at Regimental Fire and Fury for a long time and have decided that this is the rule set for me. My figures were already mounted on bases of three so I thought that would make my life easier.
However, after discovering to my delight that Warbases have up dated their web site and now you can order any size base you like, I had to order some of the right size bases for the game and start the long process of re basing my old collection.

 The old cavalry bases from GW worked well but I always liked the staggered troop lines I saw in the rule book and the little dioramas just proved too much for me. The rules are written for 15mm but the scaled up 28mm base size is 40mm by 30mm. I thought about this for a while and decided to give myself an extra 5mm on the width, knowing that I have a lot of giant Redoubt and Renegade miniatures to base up later. The main thing is the new depth of the bases, now I can have character in them I always wanted by including fallen wounded etc. There is also more room to stagger the troop line as mentioned before and rifles and bayonets don't get damaged when the troops form column formations..

Odd Jobs

Here is a lovely Dark Elf captain causing trouble as usual. The moment I leave the room for just a minute, she starts making war on the locals...