My least favorite part of getting an army ready to play is figuring the bases out. I do not like gluing random sand and gravel to the bases, because no matter how securely I glue it some falls off and scratches paint jobs.
I don’t have the patience to do more complicated sculpting for dioramic bases, and I don’t really have the disposable income to stretch to resin bases for a whole army either. When I started thinking hard about building an Aurora themed Space Wolf army, the first big hurdle was figuring out bases that I liked, were fast to make, and relatively inexpensive.
Fortunately, I believe I’ve done just that, and this tutorial will walk you through the process.
Materials: Paint
You will want at least three shades of blue, ranging from very dark to extremely pale. I have chosen the shades shown here – Kimera Pthalo Blue (Red Shade), ProAcryl Blue, and ProAcryl Turquoise – but you can make any triad work out reasonably well.
You will also need an off-white color and a pure white. I’ve chosen Vallejo Model Colors for both, Pale Grey Blue and White.
Materials: Other
You will also need some UV resin for this project. You can get it off Amazon for about $10 for enough to do around 1000 points worth of bases. Many of these come with UV lamps, but you can also just leave the bases in the sun for half an hour and get them cured just fine.
You will also likely want some snow powder, and my preferred method of delivery for this material is Acrylic Gloss Gel, heavy bodied or solid. I got this tub of Golden Gel Medium about 15 years ago now, and I’ve used it to do dozens of different things in the intervening decade and a half. More than 50% of the container remains, so it’s not a bad investment.
Finally, you will want either a hobby knife or something metal/hard enough to scrape lines in UV resin. A paperclip will probably do at a pinch.
Painting:
To start with, I put the darkest blue in the middle, and then messily wet blend the middle tone blue around it before getting a small ring of the lightest blue on the edges. If you want to place little rocks or subsurface models in the base, now is the time. This base has one and a piece of masking tape as well, as the model this is intended for is a GW push-fit model that has holes in it to accommodate the easy build model.
Next, I take the Pale Grey Blue and water it down a fair bit before getting an old brush and blotching some texture on the base. This can be almost any kind of pattern, I’ve had no issues with most patterns I’ve tried.
From here, we start adding a little depth. With the same Pale Grey Blue, add cross hatch “scratches” in various thicknesses of lines.
Make sure to have some of these be more opaque (less watered down) than others. It will help sell the illusion of deepness.
On top of that, take the pure white and do the same thing. You can see in the picture below how the Pale Grey Blue lines look like they are pushed to the background just by applying a more pure white color on top.
Next it is time to add the UV resin. Please follow the manufacturers instructions for this, and wear protective equipment on your hands as UV resin can burn you badly if you get it on you and expose it to UV light without getting it all off your body.
Once completely cured, I take my hobby knife and go to town on the surface, making scratches of all lengths, thicknesses, and groupings.
To get this to show up better, I take some extremely watered down paint from the palest color of blue I used in the first step and dab it around the edges of the base.
I clean the brush, and with it still quite wet I push the pigment to the edges. You should see the solution of the paint start to break down, and individual pigment particles almost fuzzing out of the paint as you do this. That texture helps sell the idea that this is a frosted surface with texture.
Next, mix the heavy gel with the snow powder – about 1:1 by volume – and apply it to the edges of the base, leaving plenty of room for your figure to stand where there will be little to impede its placement.
I have been using the same UV resin that tops the base to “glue” my models to their bases. This helps prevent fogging, and has been fairly strong so far. A word of warning – you need to cure this for longer than you think you do as the resin farther in will get less UV light from an outside blast.
And that is how to make a simple ice base. It’s quick, pleasant to look at, and extremely effective at communicating what it is to the eye. Here’s a shot of a full 2000 point army with matching display board that I recently played at an event to give you an idea of what it can look like all together.
I very much hope this tutorial was helpful, and I would love to see pictures of any bases made using a similar method!
As always, thanks for reading, and we will see you next time.
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