I’ve always liked the basing my mate Steve Shann does. And I’ve benefited greatly from Steve’s work when he’s worn his pro painter hat and painted figures for me. Now Steve’s hung up that hat…
So I’m learning Steve’s basing technique! It might not be unique and it might not be the easiest, but in my opinion it really makes the figures pop and is worthwhile.
Steve set out his method which I popped into a document with a photo of one of my artillery bases Steve did.
Out with the old! I’ve been using this tub of grout for basing for literally decades! It was probably long overdue being thrown away.
And in with the new. Very similar product. Funny how easily it spreads when it’s not over 20 years old!
I’ve not used Vallejo paints before, but if I want to achieve the same look then best to mimic as closely as possible.
Steve gave me a tub of the sand he uses. To represent stones on the ground, he uses fine talus. Talus is something else which is new to me. I have used small aquarium pebbles for year, but very much prefer the look of this stuff.
I think that it’s mostly used by model railway enthusiasts. Why are they enthusiasts and we’re just plain old wargamers? In model making, "talus" refers to small, natural rock debris used to simulate rock piles, slides, or blasting areas, particularly under rock outcroppings, rocky hillsides, or embankments.
If you’re seeing highlighted text, it’s cos I lifted the
description from the internet. And it has defied my
attempts to get rid! New fangled AI that Google has.
My first attempt to copy Steve’s method. The Napoleonic civilians are getting the treatment as they’re just newly painted. And need finishing. The late 17th century gun crews are also newly painted, and seemed ideal candidates to see whether I can copy Steve’s basing. Without the guns, the bases are big and open. So it’ll be easy to see whether I’ve succeeded or not.
The photos above show the grout spread on, patches of fine talus sprinkled on and then the sand. Then to leave overnight…
In an old pot, I diluted Chocolate Brown paint with water in roughly the way Steve recommended. It spread easily and the colour was still strong. It wasn’t a wash.
Bases all covered. I wasn’t precious if a little went on legs or shoes. Looking at the state of my boys’ shoes, what chance was there for clean shoes in the 1600s?!
Once the bases had dried, the texture created by the talus and sand was clear to see. They need to be left overnight again…
Orange Brown paint. Steve recommended a fairly heavy drybrushing.
A decent drybrush with the Desert Yellow is how Steve put it.
Then a light drybrush with the Buff.
Hmmm. I compared where I was at with the artillery base Steve did. The photo doesn’t show it very well, but my painting was soooo much darker. Top photo before I did the drybrushing again and bottom one after. Sorry, I know it’s not really clear looking at the photos.
So I did all the drybrushing again. And…
Hmmm. Still too dark. Ho hum. I’ve gone ahead and stuck the static grass and tufts on anyway. I know where I went wrong for next time. The “fairly heavy” drybrush with the Orange Brown needs to be much heavier than I did it. And the “decent” drybrush wuth Desert Yellow needs to be far more generous. Darn it. It’s like when a recipe says a “pinch of”?!
Once the glue had cured, I removed any loose static grass. I got a new bag of static grass at Vapnartak. I chose 4mm long. It looks ok, but it’s clearly longer than either Steve uses or that I’ve previously used. I’ll get some shorter stuff and just use this 4mm long static grass sparingly.
The finished pieces. I’m not at all disappointed that I didn’t get this basing method quite right first time. As you can clearly see in the last photo, I got the application of the colours slightly wrong. The texturing went just fine. Steve did the artillery base on the left.
I’ve always considered myself a copyist and think I’ve done a pretty good job of copying here :-)
I’ll get it right next time. I’ve two battalions of Danish foot to paint next.
For your entertainment, photos of the new Napoleonic civilians watching government troops marching through Gorey in 1798.
Thanks for reading! Hope you’re all doing well getting new figures on the table.
Chris
WWG in exile
