Call to Arms: A basing picture tutorial

Soo, this is going to be the first tutorial on my blog. I've done some tutorials before, and the main thing that in my mind makes a tutorial easy to follow is pictures, lots of pictures! So I'm going to do my best here :-D

On my warhammer models I've used all kinds of different techniques, some as basic as just putting static grass all over the base or some as difficult as doing rocky outcroppings or tiles. Since I'm currently painting a lot of miniatures to get set for some serious playtesting I've decided to go for the middle road. The main colors of my gameboard are brown and green grass so thats the same I'm going for with my bases.

This is the finished product I'm going for (way to go showing off my first archer :-)

Sooo, lets get started!
First, lets talk materials here. You will need:

- PVA glue
- Static grass
- Grinded down cork (or just sand, or anything grainy enough to give a nice texture)
- Brown paint (I use citadel bestial brown/mournfang brown)
- A smal, cheap brush, since it is going to be used to apply glue (still, if you wash it out thoroughly you should be able to reuse it)
- I usually use a little tray to catch all the excess flock
Optional: Some decorative bits like tufts of grass or little rocks.

First, we start out with a clean base, make sure you cleaned it, because PVA glue tends to creep from the edges if the base is too greasy from fingerprints etc.

Next apply the PVA glue on the base:

Now cover the base with the base-flock. In my case I use mashed cork, since it is lightweight, takes paint real good and I got a lot of it dirt cheap. You can also use sand if you prefer. I use the little tray to gather any excess flock and put it back in the jar, that saves you a big load of flock in the long run.

Let the PVA dry so we can get to the next step.

Now, make a mixture of water, brown paint and PVA glue. I usually use about 10 parts water, 2 parts paint and 1 part glue. Use a brush to gently 'pad' the mixture on the base-flock. If you brush you will probably brush some of the flock away, so just use gentle padding to apply the mixture. The amount of water in your mixture will make sure that the base will become saturated easier. It will also save you a lot on paint since you will only need a small amount of it.

Once the mixture is dry (give it enough time) the paint and glue will have cemented the base-flock firmly and we can continue.

Now, we could first drybrush the base-flock with a lighter color like bleached bone (citadel), but since I've used cork there already is some color differentiation going on. If I'm doing a larger base I will usually first apply a drybrush though.

Apply little dots of PVA glue on the base-flock. Don't overdo it, because you will want about 60/40 for your dirt/grass ratio.

Now freely apply static grass, again gather the excess flock and return it to the canister. You can tap the model to the side of the tray to lose the excess flock.

Now I usually think the base is a bit too boring without some little additions to it, so I add a tuft of grass to each base. On the bigger bases I use the hairs of a big wall-brush to provide some little bushes, check the cavalry in my gallery for examples of those.