Quick Basing Tutorial

I was working on my 1st century Celt army this weekend, and thought I might post a tutorial on basing for anyone with an interest.

First off, I super glue the fig to a 1" square metal base. I've been doing this for years...mostly to facilitate storage, transport and ranking up figs into units. The metal base is magnetic, and all of my figs are stuck to magnetic stands.

So...to quickly base a fig, spread around some white glue.

Dip the base into a tub of sand...this is the stuff from GW; crushed walnut shells and all.

Let this dry.

Next, slather on some Scorched Brown paint, then let that dry. As you can see, this process is good when you're doing a lot of figs at a time...by the time you're finished the last in the batch, the first one is dry and ready to move onto the next step.

Next, I dry brush on some Vomit Brown...but of course, any orange-brown will do.

Next, dry brush on some Bleached Bone...or any off-white. As you can see, the base that the figure is on pretty much awkwardly stands out from the 1" metal base. Never fear...that's where the static grass comes in.

Finally, dab on some splotches of watered-down white glue. Make the splotches irregular in shape, but cluster them around the joint between the figure base and the metal base...this will hide the "seam" between the two bases. Then sprinkle on some static grass, tap off the excess, blow on it to get it to stand up as best it can, and presto...the fig is based and the seam is really tough to spot, especially on the game board.

Here is the current state of the Celt army project. Stuff is mostly painted, except for the details, and basing is underway. Sunday was a big production to get the shields finished off. Shield finishes are a mix of Warlord, Wargames Factory, Little Big Men and hand painting.

'Til next time!

Century Mark

So...this blog recently ticked over 100 followers.

Two things. First, I want thank everyone who has joined the Hobby Table. I sincerely hope you've found something interesting or entertaining here.

Second, I wanted to do something a little different to mark this milestone. I've been collecting and painting my first Warmachine army, Menoth, on and off for several years now, and the collection stands at just over 100 pieces. Appropriate! Here's a photo essay of the collection. Enjoy!

First off, the whole thing...

Warcasters...from the Harbinger to Amon.

Heavy 'Jacks. Don't have enough of these finished yet!

Light 'Jacks. OK, plenty of these. And as to what possessed me to build three Devouts...well, I have no idea.

My faves...the Paladins.

Cannon fodd...I mean, Zealots with Monolith Bearers.

The Menoth staple...Choir. Scroll decals are from an internet store called Gnomish Workshop.

Daughters of the Flame. You go girls!

A couple of units of Knights Exemplar and their Seneschals.

Vengers.

A near-complete unit of Temple Flameguard with attachment.

Menoth solos. The Vassal seems to be the most cost efficient.

Some merc solos that are part of the Menoth collection...mostly from Mk. I play.

The ubiquitous Wracks.

Wrecks...they get too much use!

Half-done models...some base colors and shading on, but these really need to be finished off. Epic Kreoss is just too good!

Models just underway. Most of my epic casters are in here, along with a unit of Bastions.

Well, there's the first of my Warmachine armies...in it's current state anyway. Still have some pieces to assemble, but most of the army is represented. I like playing them...lots of good strategies to use.

Next, I'd like to do an update on the Celt project.

'Til next time.

Cryx Terrain...Repaint

About two months ago, Miniature Building Authority had a clearance sale on their website. I picked up some stuff...one of the pieces I thought could be repainted into a cool Cryx-themed "pod" (for lack of a better term).

This repaint uses the same colors and weathering methods I've been using for my other Cryx pieces.

I used a new Army Painter product on the base. You can probably see the longer brownish grass tufts. These are the 6mm turf bits being sold by Army Painter. I've got to say they are easy to use and look pretty good for little effort.

'Til next time.

Bane Lord Tartarus & Wrecks

More Cryx...

This is Tartarus, a Cryx solo that works well with Bane Thralls. Gotta say this is probably my least favorite Cryx sculpt. It's like the sculptor just took a pile of fiddly bits and stuck them all onto one figure. Oh well...if you need him, you need him.

Heavy wreck marker.

Light wreck marker.

There's a lot more Cryx on the table, but I have to get back to that damn Celt army!

'Til next time.

Bane Thralls

Continuing on with my Cryx project for Warmachine...

This is a unit of Bane Thralls...undead weapon masters that produce a dark shroud around them, reducing enemy armor values.

I've got to say that I love these figs...except for the goofy big axes. The figures are very well designed with good poses and animation and detail...love 'em. Very evil-looking. But what's with the axes? So over the top. I wasn't going to replace them, however, so I embraced them and just went to town on the blood and gore. A satisfying exercise in the end.

Commander and grunt.

Two Thralls.

Final gore shot. I put a lot of rust on the axes as well to get them as textured as possible.

I've painted these guys using the same weathering method as my other Cryx models...lots of MIGS weather powder and paint chipping.

'Til next time.