LETS TALK ABOUT BASING!!

Ok, so it's not that exciting, but every little soldier you paint needs a base. A few people (ok, 3) have asked me about my basing techniques, its not particulary revolutionary, in fact, it's incredibly simple, which is actually the entire point; If you have an army of 100 figures, then you might well go for something more complex, but if you want to base lots of figures, quickly and easily, then this is as good a method as any. So here goes:

All you need:
Basing is pretty important, over the years I've done it all; those first Airfix plastics stuck on beermats painted gloss green, the radical move to neat mounting board, Tetrion, Basetex, green paint, brown paint, Miliput, Flock, static grass, pre-cut alluminium, you name it, I've done it....In the end its all bollocks...like everything else, if only I'd known, I could have saved myself a lot of time and grief and rung up Peter Gilder and he would have pointed me in the right direction from the word go.
The secret is 1.5mm plywood.
Basing has come a long way, most folk these days make a decent fist of basing their kit, but I'm still staggered by how many people dick about with all manner of bizarre materials which look bloody awful! Or who embark on incredibly complicated processes and make their life unbearable with unnecessary nonesense to little effect.
What I've learned is keep it simple.

First off...Thickness. A toy soldier on a piece of 4 or 6mm thick card, MDF (or the most hienous of crimes: The "Slotta base"), whatever, does not look good.
The base shouldn't overshadow the figure. I spent a lot of my working life in theatre and opera, and when a critic said the set was really impressive you knew he felt the show was crap, its a bit like that with bases, when someone says "Nice Basing!" you always think: " Why didn't he say nice painting?"
I've seen SO MANY figures on absurdly thick bases, just....don't.... do... it...1.5mm ply can be bought from a woodyard, £20 will buy you a 5' by 5' sheet which will base A LOT of figures (or you can nick it from the workshop where you work like I do). It can be cut easily with a Stanley knife and won't warp, curl, chip,..the corners won't look rubbish 6 months later. It's simply brilliant, and if you use anything else, frankly, you are a plonker.

So, get your little men and super-glue them onto a bit of 1.5mm ply. Super-glue is fine, you don't NEED to araldite or weld them to the base, super-glue will do the business.

Then, smear PVA wood glue over the base and up to the bases of the figure. Don't water it down, bung it on thick, (it's not expensive, for God's sake!) it will take out the height difference between the wood and the base of the figure, it will do the job just as well as laboriously building up the surface with Milliput, Tetrion or Green Stuff, the only difference is it takes a fraction of the time.

Next, dip the base into a tray of a mix of fine sand and something coarser, I tend to steal my sand either from the fire bucket in the garage up the road, or get it from the beach (Warbleswick has some lovely dunes where there is amazingly fine, dry sand). Fine sand isn't enough, however. It looks very boring. Pet shops sell "Budgie Grit" which I believe is made of crushed sea shells, this stuff is brilliant, and adds some nice "big bits" to the sand. Mix this in with the fine sand to taste, experimentation is everything here, so you are on your own. Then press in a few bigger bits of small stone, some folk use cat litter, but I always feel this looks like...well...cat litter...the stuff above is Railway modelling ballast, slightly rounded rocks in pale brown. I'm still quite fond of bits of carved cork bark, but anything that looks like big rock is fine. Again, personal taste in the end.

The PVA then needs a few hours to go off and set hard, and it does set hard. It helps stick the figures down, which is why you don't need Araldite etc. The water in the glue reacts with the super-glue and strengthens its bond even further. I must have based somewhere up to 10,000 figures like this and I could count those who have come unstuck on one hand. The first bit of colouring I use is an oil wash. "Burnt Umber" well thinned down with white spirit is sloshed over the base, including the exposed edges of the plywood, it soaks in. It just needs to colour it, no need at all to get a solid colour, you just need to tint the sand and grit with the dark brown.

This needs an hour or so to dry, if it needs more than an hour then you are putting on too much paint and not enough thinners, next step is easy, a nice big softish brush and dry brush on a tan acrylic onto the sand, highlighting all the texture you've put on. Currently I'm using Vallejo "Green Ochre" but any tan paint will do

Straight away, you can do the last paint touch, dry brush on white acrylic.... Yes, WHITE...pure white. It took me a while to believe that this wouldn't look pants... but it works, if its slightly off-white thats ok, but the brightness picks out the texture.

Finally, blob on a few dots of PVA where you want the grass to go. I gave up painting bases green a long while ago, green paint doesn't look like grass....it looks like green paint. I found this very fancy grass from a German company a while back :

http://www.fredericus-rex.de/shop/index.php/cat/c85_Wildgrasbueschel-lang.html

Its a bit pricey but worth the cash, I used to use sisel string pushed in when the base was wet which I could then paint green and highlight but frankly this stuff is much better.

Don't worry about splodging on the PVA, being the wonder material it is, it just disappears.

Then just place the grass clumps onto the PVA...easy...

Hey- Presto! The PVA has dried and vanished, and this is the finished result. Like I said, its not rocket surgery, I've just read so often how people seem to make basing a really complicated exercise, and a chore, which it really doesn't need to be.

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Guard? Yes, I've got some, and incredibly, some of them are Old Glory

OG Old Guard (stiffened with a Connoisseur officer)

Old Glory make some truly horrible wargames figures, but, occassionally, they make some really good ones as well. I have 2 40 man btns of these fellows and found a bag containing another 48 the other day, so they are on the painting list. then I can use them as 4 x 32's or 3x 40's or 2x 32's and a 48...(you get the picture) 4 btns of Grenadiers should do the business ( Johns' got another 4, anyway) I didn't realise just how nice these are, LOTs of different poses, they are extremely animated, and VERY "shouty" which usually doesn't work with OG stuff, and is often their downfall, but somehow it works for these guys, some extra officers were required, from Connoisseur, (the Guard officer with his sword in the air is just such a great figure) plus a mounted colonel who is a Willie figure.

OG Light infantry (I think)

One young guard uniform I've always really liked is the Conscrit Chasseurs, they weren't around as a unit for very long; only from 1809 to 1811 but I always thought they looked "way kool" (as the young folk would say).
Very tricky to find figures for them, and in the end I plumped for Old Glory. I think they are Line light infantry flank coys. Again, light on good officers (Front rank and Foremost, this time), and a bit of a mental high porte pose but I like them.

The final piece of Old Glory Guardsters is this 40 man regt of Polish Lancers, the heads are a little big, but they are quite sweet. The big advantage of OG is that the quality of the metal they use is rubbish...???...which means they are very easy to bend and perform head twists, arm bends etc. As you may have noticed I like my cavalry units to be as varied as possible, so this is a bit of a help. Also, they used to (not sure if they still do) have a policy of only selling cavalry in packs of ten. Which is frankly, pathetic. Who actually buys cavalry in tens? About the only unit it works for is, funnily enough, 40's of Guard under Grand Manner ( coincidence?), but for 24's or 32's its pretty useless. If...no, when, I do the Dutch Lancers, I'll probably use Elite, as the trumpeter figure drawing his sword is REALLY nice...although the Connoissuer ones are still lovely (and the Elite ones are a straight copy of them)
The only other OG figures I've bought are a load of their generals...they do HUNDREDS, so you can get all sorts of stuff, I painted a load up one time for Gerry...lots of Pussians and Russians.
Anyway, the next 5 days will be spent in front of the telly watching the final test and painting Victrix Italians, so I should have them finished over the weekend.

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Painting Break: The first Victrix

Victrix French as Italians

I've now finished the 5th Wurtemburg Battalion for Noel plus a foot battery, so before I embark on the final 6th unit, and maybe a cavalry regiment, I thought I'd have a little break and do some of the Victrix French I bought at Salute. To be honest, the other major reason is that I've run out of the right blue paint, so I can't do any more until that arrives (Don't worry Noel, its in the post).
When I'm doing new figures I'm not familar with I quite like just to do 6 skirmishers just to "get into" it. So, having finally plumped for painting these fellows as early Italians I knocked these out yesterday.

Hedges by Irregular

All in all I was impressed, the kneeling figure is a bit vague in it's detail around the back end but apart from that they paint up fine. One thing I did have trouble with was information on the Italians which suprised me, theres not a lot on the web and my own books were a bit vague and contradictory. In the end I used a lovely book I've had for a long time which has the prints from the "Otto Manuscript",most of the subjects are French but there are a few Italians, all drawn by an eyewitness in Hamburg in 1807. Ultimately this force will be about 6 line batallions plus a load of dragoons. Not sure about the Italian Guard but we'll get the line kit done first. I'm sure I will,as I think either Perrys or Victrix will eventually do French Guard infantry (which are right for Italian Guard)

Fancy grass from some German firm

So, I quite like these, I've already started on the first line btn, (the fusileer figures are actually easier to paint). I hope to have them finished next week or so, though I'll have to wait for the flags from GMB.


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More of John's Russians...Mostly artillery

A Russian half battery defends a rather spiffy fleche

As promised, a few more pictures of Lander's Russian stuff. He has an AWFUL lot of artillery. I honestly don't know how much. I THINK he has....2 x line horse batteries, 1 x Guard horse battery, 1 and 1/2 Guard foot 12lb, 2x line 12lb, 3 x line 6lb...which makes for 51 artillery pieces, that sounds about right, I remember we once worked out the frontage of them all, and it was pretty scary (the above would be about 10 foot!).

On top of this he has quite a few limbers, pontoons, caissons etc which are nice bits of "fluff".

The first 2 pictures are of an Elite miniatures battery occupying a scratch built redoubt, John was rather keen on converting a lot of his artillery units, here the Elite crew have been tweaked to have them changing a damaged wheel as Connoisseur French infantry advance on them.

The Fleche is quite clever,made of aircraft engine filler (only about £400 a tin!) it sits on top of an existing hill and is moulded to its contours...then the hill can be used seperately.

12 lb foot battery: The backbone of every Russian army. Bicorne pontoon train in the background

Above is a 12lb line battery, this is made up of just about everything apart from Russian artillery figures! As I've said elsewhere one of the beauties of a lot of Connoisseur figures is their versatility. John has included French, British, Prussian, Spanish and ACW figures in the crews.

He hasn't done a lot of work, just changed a few heads, Russian shakos, added a few plumes and implements. The officer pointing with his sword is an ACW officer in a frock coat and sash. A new head, replace his Navy colt with a pin sword and suddenly he is a Russian officer.

Another view of the same battery, limber in support.

The mounted battery officer is the venerable and still great Connoissuer French infanty officer, berating a Spanish officer figure....you just need to be able to see the possibilities.

Russian Guard horse artillery

Finally, a view of some Guard horse guns, these are pretty much out of the box except for the officer which I think (can't really remember) is the Connoissuer French Marine of the Guard officer!...well, hes a bloke in a fancy uniform and a big hat, good enough, paint him green and there you go.

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A return to Napoleonics

Elite minatures Jager Battalion beautifully painted by Dave Docherty (when he could still paint, before he discovered what his penis was for).

Got to spend the weekend at Lander's where an enjoyable time was had by all. We spent saturday afternoon mucking about with the Napoleonics and then a crossfire WWII game on sunday, trying out some ideas for John's demo game for Salute next year. Somehow my camera ran out of battery very quickly so I have no pics of the WWII game, which is a shame, as it looked cracking and I couldn't record my tactical prowess (cough!).

Subsequently (and I know you'll all be upset over this), we'll have to have a look at few napoleonics instead. I took a few pics of John's enormous Russian collection, we had a strange moment when we "lost" some 16 battalions of Russian infantry. Looked everywhere for them.... very odd, then we discovered an entire shelf full, that we had overlooked....phew! all was right with the world.

THAT'S a cuiraissier division. Elite and Connoisseur figures

John's stuff is fairly tidy, he does enjoy the whole conversion aspect, so there are few of his units which don't have some major work done on them. Swords replaced, head swaps, and quite a lot of major conversions turning figures into completely different ones.

Although the vast majority of his Russians are Elite figures he uses a lot of Connoisseur stuff for his conversions, the simplicity of a lot of these figures lends themselves to this. He also used to occasionally do his own conversions on Elite figures and then get Pete Moreby to cast up whole units for him. The Russian Guard cavalry below are a good example of this:

One-off Russian Guard mounted Jaeger.

There is a companion unit of Finnish guard jaeger to accompany these, again, one-off conversions cast up by Mr Moreby (he got to keep the moulds)

Finns present

More of John's stuff later in the week...more cavalry, infantry, and a few of his 50-odd Russian artillery pieces!

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In place of the weekend

88 flak gun (why did I even bother with that description?) Panthers lurk.
I'm more than a little cheesed off this week-end. I was intending to head up to Mr Lander's in order to have a bit of a laugh, take lots of napoleonic pics and get in a game of crossfire with John's 1/35th collection. However, John had to unexpectedly work this weekend, so we've put it back to next week. Subsequently all you napoleonic fans will have to wait for the planned pictures of John's Russian collection. As a substitute I've put up a series of pics from a game we had a few years ago now, at the WHC using John's 1/35th kit. Many of you will be familar with his stuff from seeing the 2 demo games he has put on at Salute in the last 3 years (Sword beach and Market Garden). This was a prelimary game to D-Day where we tested out some rules and was an excuse to get the toys out. John wanted to try things out on a bigger table, so asked Gerry if we could come up and try it out there. Ged was champing at the bit to get his hands on some big panzers so off we went and the ensuing battle of Cagny was the result.

Panzer IVh and flak
To be honest I don't recall a massive amount about the game, although it went fairly historically, The Germans were kicked out of Cagny, then put in a heavy counter-attack which in turn bogged down the British, who managed to hold the town but by the end would have had to withdraw. I do remember it being a brilliant game

Whermact infantry jog through Cagny-the only troops I painted! Everything else is John's fine work
John wrote this up for an article in Wargames Illustrated in April 2006, so there are more pics there if you can find it, and detailed account of the game.

Shermans wait for the order "Driver Advance!"

John's talents (and some would say; obsession) with his 1/35th stuff is pretty extraordinary. I really keep working hard to get him back on the path of Napoleonic righteousness, so far, not much luck, but I will....just you see.

Britsh "O group" in Cagny as the Shermans roll past

It's not just the figures and vehicles that are John's work here, he did all the buildings from scratch as well. I've put in some B&W versions so you can see just how realistic some of this stuff is.

Recce regroup

Right! after that amount of arse-licking if I don't win the game next week, I'll give up!

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Some WWII bits and bobs, Nazi porn

Britannia 20mm flak, homemade emplacements
Just thought I'd sort through some old WWII pics, a lot of this is relatively old kit which I've had a while, this is all for the Germans in the med, mainly Italy and Tunisia. Theres a lot of Britannia stuff, which is "sturdy"..thats being polite for a bit crap, but they are robust if nothing else.

Generic Tigers, they will do for anywhere.
The obligatory Tigers are Hasegawa kits which are VERY simple and great value, with Lammercraft crews which are excellent. Hairnet cammo nets.

Panzer III's: again good for anywhere.
These panzer III's are mainly all Fujimi kits, I got quite quick at doing them after a while, (despite the individual track links) Again, they are primarily for Tunisia and Italy, I'm sure they will crop up in Russia from time to time. There is an accompanying panzer IV btn knocking about somewhere.

Stugs: The're great.
Finally some assault guns, these are a mix of Mili-Cast and.....eeer...some metal ones, Friend or Foe miniatures, I think. They are very nice albeit bloody heavy, plenty of crews and stowage finish them off. Good for anywhere (apart from Tunisia)


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