Tutorial: City Bases!

Today I want to show you a quick and easy way to get stunning city or rubble bases for your miniatures. This technique can be used regardless of the gaming system you use – dirty cities and war-torn environments exist in the far future as well as in the fantasy settings. The Tutorial is very easy and most importantly – also very fast. I recommend priming you bases on the sprue if you use Games Workshop scenic Bases and you will have dozens of amazing bases in no time. Hope you find this useful! if you do – please let me know in the comments! 

1. Prime Black 

First Step is pretty easy. Just take your black primer and prime in all over in an even coat. You might want to do two thin coats rather than one thick. But I guess this mantra has finally arrived even with the last hobbyist – if you are new to the dance you might want to try this. 

2. Citadel Dryad Bark

In the Next Step you cover the whole base in citadel Dryad Bark. Again you might want to use multiple thin coats to get an even finish. You aim for a completely covered finish. This step is important for the overall effect because a lot of this step will be showing on the end result and you don’t want to have a messy or blotchy finish. Take your Time and let each coat fully dry before you do the next. If you do multiple bases you can just start with one and come back to it once you coated all the others. 

3. MIG Pigments P234 Rubbel Dust

In This Step yo are coating the whole base in P234 Rubbel Dust by MIG Pigments. if you never used Pigments before its quite easy. I think everybody has a slightly other way how to apply them but I mostly cover my base completely in water, the I take an old brush, dip in in water and then take the pigments with it out of the pot and apply it to the base. You could also pour a little amount of pigments onto your palette and mix in with water there. Aim for a complete coverage of pigments on your base. The magic happens in the next step.

4. Use a damp towel

The final step is just taking a damp towel and wiping the base(es) unit you are satisfied with the amount of pigment showing. Naturally the pigments will more likely stay in the deepest areas and getting removed where the highlights would be. The more you remove the more „clean“ will the end result look. Just test it out and settle on a finish you like most. I don’t use pigment fixer or varnish since it would destroy the effect at least partially. Just super glue the mini of your choice on top and you are ready to go. If you like you can add some burned tufts. Don’t forget to paint the rim of the base black. 

And thats it. I really like this method because its easy and produces nice results in a deadly speed. You might say the base looks a little boring but after all I see my bases as frames that should not dominate the miniature on top. So a less brightly painted base will step back and let the miniature do the talking.