Basing for Raven Guard

[The Red Angel]

Hello!

 

In dire need of some help. I cant decide on a basing style for a raven guard force I'm building.

 

I've done a world eaters force which is based from istvaan 3, so no foliage, just dirt and rubble and the odd stone. sort of brown grey colour base.

 

Now I'd like to do more of a scenic style base and add maybe grass tufts and bits, however i'm not sold on it.

 

would raven guard be fighting in such an enviroment? 

 

anyone have any other ideas? like to avoid snow and mars red. and I dont feel green foliage comes off well

 

Any and all help is appreciated

 

Cheers guys

 

 

[Kierdale]

I'd love to see, and think the black would really go well with, Raven Guard on white marble. As if they're fighting in the ruins of a temple. Chips of stone littering the floor, columns pitted from gunfire...

 

Not easy to paint though ;)

 

Grass and woodland is good too, and probably easier.

[Kizzdougs]

Just about anything goes, including woodland style bases. Personally I prefer desert/urban bases because I feel that they both look the best and are the most appropriate for 30k/40k. I imagine that most battles are either fought in wasteland areas, scourged of all life by orbital bombardment or nuclear disaster, or in urban areas where most habitation centres, seats of government, strategic infrastructure and high priority targets are located.

 

I also like these setting because they're often dusty, and dust looks great on minis, particularly minis in black power armour... ;)

 

http://i1122.photobucket.com/albums/l522/kizzdougs/DSCN4298_zpsqbxsyag5.jpg

 

http://i1122.photobucket.com/albums/l522/kizzdougs/DSCN4299_zpsj7whxgkr.jpg

 

If you use a light coloured powder it can really add some depth and character to black power armour, which can otherwise be a bit plane/flat.

[Shrieker]

urban tarmac does not contrast so well with mostly black models, in hindsight i'd pick a 'bright' base for my rg force (pale grey rubble, light brown earth)

 

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[Cornelias]

Being a shattered legion maybe the new GW mechanicum bases to represent ship to ship boarding actions?

[1ncarnadine]

As Kizz mentioned, black can go with just about anything. I think anything goes with setting, too. The Raven Guard would fight anywhere that they need to, and the XIXth are pretty likely to be found in extreme environments to accomplish their secretive operations. Even more so after being shattered and scattered through the galaxy at the Isstvan system.

 

In general it's a good idea to go with complimentary contrast colors for basing because this pleases the human eye. But the Raven Guard are pretty monochromatic and that makes it a little trickier. If you stick with monochrome bases the minis just won't look interesting on the board. Not being paid attention to is normally what the Raven Guard want, but hey, we still want to impress people dammit. 

 

One thing you can do is to add a little bit of color to your black. For example, instead of just highlighting with a grey, you can highlight with a blue-grey, or green-grey, etc. There's a great tutorial by Andy Wardle in the Initiative eMag (issue 3?) that I really recommend. It's very affordable and well worth it. The point being that adding a little color opens up more complementary color options for your basing.

 

You can also play with contrasting between matt/flat colors, gloss and metallics. Metallic silver ship decking contrasted with matt black marines, for example. Rust on the decking could add color (and therefore interest), or maybe some copper alloy trim that's oxidizing, or both. Or instead of decking, maybe a marine stalking through a marsh with some glossy liquid effects. With that example, murky water or mossy tree detritus could add more color without using grass tufts. Very interesting! Just remember that it's not a good idea to make your bases more interesting than the models displayed on them, which is a real danger with black. Ideally it all works together. 

Edited July 16, 2017 by LetsYouDown