Painting and Finishing Wargaming Bases - Tutorial

I've had a few inquiries about how I paint and finish bases for my miniatures, so I thought I'd post a quick lesson on it.

After I hot glue the figures to the base (I always use hot glue as it makes it easier to rebase them later if needed) I then add the white spackle to diminish the step from the miniature base edge to the wooden base.

(This shows the base before I added GW flock)

At this point I might use some coir from a mat to add some plants. I like the old school look it gives to the miniatures. It reminds me of basing back in the day!

I then use a 1:1 mix of water and Elmer's white glue and brush it liberally on the base. A quick dunk is all it takes to get the Games Workshop sand to stick.

After drying I begin the painting sequence:

1. A dark, chocolate brown color (Scorched Earth, Doombell Brown, etc.) is mixed with equal parts water and applied and left a few hours to dry
2. A dark, burnt orange is heavily drybrushed
3. Drybrush with a pumpkin orange at a medium intensity
4. Drybrush lightly with a canvas ivory
5. Finally, very lightly drybrush with white

After that I use white glue to add patches of flock and add a few Silflor tufts (I might drybrush some ivory onto the tufts). That's it!

A quality base adds a lot to an army. It elevates an okay paintjob to an impressive result! The beauty of basing is that it doesn't require a lot of skill to get a good result.