Basing Black Templar

[Brother_Gneecapper]

Title says it, looking for basing ideas. I currently have the GW paste for both the brown and the grey basing stuff, anyone have photos or anything that I can use to compare the two or personal experience on what would make the model pop more?

 

Part of me thinks the brown would make the black stand out more but I also think using a grey could either lead to the armor looking blacker by contrast or more gray by comparison.

 

The game mat I own is a moon world so it's primarily gray but I'm not married to it, I may one day purchase a brown one as well since that is easier to use with a wider variety of terrain pieces.

[Ciler]

I use astrogranite (the grey textured paint), feel free to check my gallery for what it looks like.

[Brother_Gneecapper]

I use astrogranite (the grey textured paint), feel free to check my gallery for what it looks like.

 

That's what I have at home, I will take a look since that is what would go best with my game mat just means I'll have to rebase my old models or accept they wont all be uniform in base.

 

I need to find a way to make basing exciting me, I have very little based because this seems like the least interesting part to me. I've bought a bunch of stuff like cork to learn how to do cool bases but I'd rather just build / paint or play.

[Kisada]

I've done the sector imperialis bases on a kill team for SWA and liked them enough to get some more for my planned primaris army

 

My Black Templars were originally started a long long time ago and i just used a mix of sand.  It looks a bit plain but I don't want to rebase ... all I've done to them lately is base extenders to make the 25s into 32s and added some tufts of dried grass

[Brother_Gneecapper]

I've done the sector imperialis bases on a kill team for SWA and liked them enough to get some more for my planned primaris army

 

My Black Templars were originally started a long long time ago and i just used a mix of sand.  It looks a bit plain but I don't want to rebase ... all I've done to them lately is base extenders to make the 25s into 32s and added some tufts of dried grass

 

I've picked up the Realms of Battle for my Primaris, it's from Fantasy it has alot of skulls and stuff on it but it seemed to fit my "moon world" better than the Sector Imperialis. I do like the look of those though.

 

Currently the ones I have based on sand with a brown trim. I dont think I'll rebase those but that's only like 20 of my 80+ marines. I have a few scenic resin bases purchased for commanders.

 

The Astrogranite looks good, I'll probably go with that so my guys fit with my board. One day Ill try and tackle building cork bases.

 

I have a really cool all skulls base that I want to use for my Primaris Chaplain (MOAR SKULZ!!!!) and one of my many Emperors Champion's. The Emperor's Champion I want to model holding the severed head of a Khornate Berseker. My idea is he is Marshall Almrich who died in GS series' spirit in the warp going into realm of Khorne to challenge their "champions" or finish his fight with that Bloodthirster.

[Marshal Wolfhart]

I aim for an urban combat hteme on my bases, i use astrogranite and whatever bits as debris, mostly from the GW ruins sets, as there are lots of parts left over to hack up.

For my Eldar i use stirland battlemire and drybrush it with lighter browns and add static grass, it's simple and works well on grassy tables.

[Marshal_Roujakis]

Same here, but the theme on my planet is a white concrete similar to Gondor but got hit by a Virus Bomb so everything became ashen grey...

 

This is the mat that I base my army around on...

 

http://www.deepcutstudio.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/wargames-terrain-mat-warzone-4x6-600x600.jpg

 

And these are my models based around that mat

 

It makes the black pop out more... I don't get overly criticized for Dry Brushing highlights, since the effect gives my Templars a more dusted look fitting for a concrete dust covered planet and it can be used in any urban design... I also avoided using turfs and grass, as the planet was stripped of all organic life... but the Templars arrived and there was an investigation... and zombies... lots of Nurgle Zombies...

well that's for me... I'd say you need a darker tone than mine for a moon field...

Edited September 16, 2017 by Marshal_Roujakis

[Honda]

I need to find a way to make basing exciting me, I have very little based because this seems like the least interesting part to me. I've bought a bunch of stuff like cork to learn how to do cool bases but I'd rather just build / paint or play.

A lot of people feel that way because, "Dude, I just spent XX hours painting those guys, I'm <exhausted/tired/want to play now>.

One of the keys to basing is that it needs to be easy to do, unless you are striving for some Golden Demon result. Again it needs to be easy to do because let's face it, your models aren't really done unless they are fighting on the Obsidian Planet in the Vulcanum system.

Now, from a basing perspecitve, things have come a long way. Back when I started modeling, when we had to carve our space marines by hand out of blocks of solid lead, there weren't a lot of options. So we had to get creative.

Things I have done:

1. Air dried clay - A very cheap material to apply to bases, in fact you can do a bunch of bases in one big batch and then pull them out when you need them. Just pull out a wad of clay, push it onto your base and let it dry. It will shrink, so you'll have to glue it on (use cheap craft glue), but a very cost effective option.

The silver ball is crumpled up foil, which is pressed into the air dried clay to give it texture. That's just one technique. You can also imprint other textures into the clay for different effects.

2. Cork coasters - These usually have a sticky base on them, so you can just put them on, break off the overhang to get a rough stone edge and et voila', you're ready to rock.

3. Cat litter - Really cheap, just apply PVA glue and dunk, let dry, then paint. I would strongly discourage you from trying to save more money with "used" cat litter.

Now, what's nice about this technique is you can use it with some of the other techniques above.

4. Epoxy putties - Usually you want something cheaper than Greenstuff, though that works. I've been testing out some of that Milliput White putty you can get at Hobby Lobby because it isn't too expensive. You can stick things into the putty to add a little variety. I'm including Sculpy and FIMO in this category because you can do things like bake up a lot of flat pieces then break them into your own homegrown slate.

Example of putty and cork techniques:

Sculpy "Slate"

5. Paint on "pastes" - This is quite a boon for people who hate basing. You can slather the paint on, let it dry, then dry brush a lighter color and you're done. If you're short of time, hate the thought of basing, I'd run with this.

6. Other materials - Sheet plastic or plastic building bits can be found pretty easily, cut up and then glued to your base in all sorts of patterns and shapes.

So, let's cut to the chase. If you don't base your models, you're not really done. It is astounding what the difference is between a decently based army vs. a non-based army and that's with equivalent levels of painting. If you ever get to a tournament where they have painting score, even the minimal amount of basing on table top figures will boost your scores over someone who has nicely painted figures, but didn't finish the job.

Just keep telling yourself, "I only have to base this figure once.".

You need to swim all the way across the lake. You've put so much effort into your figures, you owe it to yourself and them to base them.

Does it have to be elaborate? Nope. It just has to be done.

Here's another tip: Go get one of those "craft" type paints for the base ring. Buy it in bulk so that you'll always have some. In my case, I use FolkArt Wrought Iron. You don't have to use your expensive paints for the ring. Mine is a neutral dark green-ish grey. I use it for all of my bases.

It's cheap to acquire, easy to apply and very forgiving.

As a bonus, it also allows me to mix models from different armies as long as I'm not doing urban and snow from different armies.

Just bite the bullet and do it. You will thank yourself later.

[Acebaur]

I go with a brown sandy look with some tufts of grass similar to what was in the 4th book. I felt like it really popped and offsets all the black with some color. 

 

Here are some of mine

 

 

 

 

[Ciler]

I agree that a brown or sandy colour will contrast better than grey.

 

On a somewhat related note, Acebaur, do you have another angle to see the power field effect on that veteran power fist ?

[Acebaur]

Yeah, this is the best angle I have. I've since stripped him of the combi-melta(as they've fallen out of being as needed as much) and used a 32mm conversion ring to upgrade him to the new base size. I also originally tried to make the lightning go across the "bling" of the PF but it doesn't look right so I'm going to just leave those parts normal and have the power field on the sides.

 

[+Chaplain Matthias+]

I usually cut up the GW boxes to make tiles or bricks. Then I glue on sand and drybrush the whole thing with shades of grey for an urban look. 

 

 

[JAG Templar]

I've recently switched to a red desert/ Mars type base, and really happy with the contrast against black.

[Brother_Gneecapper]

I do like the look of the red bases, I also have some brown bases already and like that. My issue is the game mat I've managed to procure is a moon world, I'll post it to give people an idea of what I'm working with / suggestions.

 

[JAG Templar]

Ok, I may have slightly misread your original question. Coincidently I've just ordered a gaming mat, and really struggled to find red-desert mats that I liked.

 

In the end I asked the gaming mat company to customise an existing yellow-desert mat to a red colour. Preview image looks great - hopefully the real thing is just as good.

 

For your situation I would do a simple grit base with the following steps:

 

1. Cover base in PVA glue

2. Cover PVA in different sized grit/rocks (galeforce9 has a nice little basing set, or find things from outside)

3. Paint the whole thing a mid-grey

4. Wash with Nuln Oil (optional)

5. Dry brush a lighter grey

6. Dry brush an even lighter grey/ white

 

In my experience nothing is faster to base with that those self-cracking vinyl paints by GW.

[Brother_Gneecapper]

 

In my experience nothing is faster to base with that those self-cracking vinyl paints by GW.

 

 

 

How come? Does it dry faster or just looks more complete quicker? The PVA / Sand approach is what I used to do back in the day so I am familiar with it, I have the materials to do it but have never tried vinyl basing stuff myself.

[JAG Templar]

 

 

 

In my experience nothing is faster to base with that those self-cracking vinyl paints by GW.

 

 

How come? Does it dry faster or just looks more complete quicker? The PVA / Sand approach is what I used to do back in the day so I am familiar with it, I have the materials to do it but have never tried vinyl basing stuff myself.

Spreading the cracking paint on the base takes about the same time as spreading the PVA but it's essentially the last step. Whereas PVA plus grit then requires a number of other painting steps to make it work. Sometimes I do drybrush the edges of the cracks but that is really just 20 seconds per base.

[Jochteas]

I ordered a mold from Happy Seppuku

http://www.happyseppuku.com/Stamps.html

It was pretty cheap (8 bucks?) and they have a ton of variations. Basically you put some green stuff on the top of your base, press it in the base, and presto. Paint it up and it looks great. I was cheap though and got 'broken earth' because i could paint it brownish or paint it blueish to make it look like Ice. the molds are big enough you can print several places so no 2 of your guys would have the same print. 

[Honda]

I ordered a mold from Happy Seppuku

 

http://www.happysepp...com/Stamps.html

 

It was pretty cheap (8 bucks?) and they have a ton of variations. Basically you put some green stuff on the top of your base, press it in the base, and presto. Paint it up and it looks great. I was cheap though and got 'broken earth' because i could paint it brownish or paint it blueish to make it look like Ice. the molds are big enough you can print several places so no 2 of your guys would have the same print.

 

 

Wow, what a great idea. I had done some negative one-offs for an army I no longer have, but this is a lot better.

 

Thank you for sharing.

[Jochteas]

Certainly no problem! I discovered them while looking for something else completely and I kept thinking "Wow there is no way this works this well" but surprise it does, and I have very much enjoyed it and like to rep them when I get a chance because I think they offer a great product.

[Bukimimaru]

I always go for a comicbook style paintscheme, so i wanted something bright and contrasting for my Templars.

I've based them all with Martian Ironearth/crust.

[Link2edition]

My current basing method is to glue rocks and sand to the base and then paint them black. I follow this with a grey drybrush. It gives a very ash/charred earth look and it is quick.

Plus I figure it is appropriate for an army I generally use for deepstriking.

[sgtglenskovski]

I used to spend ages on making bases but cut it down massively and still keeping it looking awesome. So don't buy any stuff from gw, massive overprice for their stuff.

Buy bird cage sand! It's amazing and cheap, can get different grades but most have bits of shell etc ground up in them giving great contrast. So glue the sand on with pva and wash with watered down black paint and water (or watered down agrax or nuln if you wish)

Don't use too much or you will soften the pva up too much and the sand will start to move.

Then when that's dry a quick dry brush of deneb stone (no idea what the current paint equivalent is)

Glue on some static grass and another type of foliage of your choice for variation. I like using a third party fine moss.

Edited September 30, 2017 by sgtglenskovski