As suggested by krazynadechukr

Urban Debris. 2/3 of my armies use this style. It fits my gameboard, my IG's camoflague, and I like the 'gritty' feel to it. The Kommodoes have the standard green railway flockcommon to most beginner armies. I may re-do them in a scorched brown/static grass scheme if I ever feel the need to dig them out of storage.

Other: Pure goblin green tops and sides all the way

Mostly small stones because it's easy. I just glue on some gravel from the driveway occasionally however if I'm feeling like doing something fancy I'll put on city debris, but that's only for a single squad of Seraphim and a Vindicair so far.

Used to do "ash waste" with a little static grass... It was easy.
Since I've started resin casting; all my minis have custom bases. Now to go back and re-base all the others!

"Other" I suppose. It depends upon the army/models, but I choose a theme and stick to it. Usually I put a colour of gravel on first and then add tufts of grass of some variety to make it look a bit more mixed. When I did my Dogs of War I did light brown base edges with sand with green tufts on top to make it look like the Med, when I did undead and chaos I went for green base edges with black gravel and green tufts. When I finish my zombie pirates they will have pale sandy base edges with light sand on top to look beach-like, then I might put the odd tuft or jungle leafy plant on and maybe driftwood.

I don't tend to paint, but when I do I just leave the bases plain. if i've gotten as far as basing my model, then i'm not going to risk ruining it (so as it stands, only about 3 models are based, all with modelling sand).

Dirt and grass, forest-type for the marines. Tau are going to be based for a snow world.

Sand, paint, a little grass flocking.

Vehicles just get sand and paint.
Yes, I base my vehicles, too. I know I don't have to, but it helps when I use them in other games (where the owners of those properties don't actually care WHOSE stuff is used).

My basing is pretty mundane... just some gravel, grass, and (mostly because my based stuff is Khador) snow.


ugh... as I type this, I just realized that I forgot about my idea to use scenic bases on some Steel Legion Models.

So far I have used fine sand to base my models. I did buy some flock and gravel for basing but haven't used it yet.

On my guard units i paint the base completely black and glue semi transparent sand onto it. It gives it a weird looking effect that I like

Just started basing in urban debris as i wish to get into City of death, I used to base with sand and brybrush the old lighter greys but i've just branched out and bought resin sculpted bases from Back to base-ix they are great quality and really will take my army to hopefully an excellent table top quality one!

I usually go with urban grey sand/rocks/debris... but I'd like to start going with resin bases... and not entirely sure how this will work having urban-based Eldar with FW Specters on large jutting rock formations...

Since I just started my first squad I don't have many to comment on, but 8 of them are sand and alien crystal and one is sand and a missile pod.

Sand and small, i mean small rocks, so a desert look.

Sure, put in options for skulls, crystals and alien hive, but not sand.

I've only based a few of my Orks, so far. They're getting coarse sand basing, drybrushed up in grays to stand as gravel. Still undecided about how I'll base my marines.

I just leave it blank,nobody I know really cares about it.

Really depends on the army.

My orks are based as a desert force, rocks, no foliage, some battlefield debris from time to time.

My eldar are based in a city-fight scheme, black and grays with citiesque stuff. They're a very colourful army, so muted tones on the base stand to make them pop more.

Most of my Imperial forces are based on a mix of mud and grass. Just how I learned to do it first.

My Emperor's Children are done in a snow theme, because the white looks good offsetting their purple.

My Slaanesh daemons are the same as the Emperor's Children, in case they need to mix. My nurgle daemons are in a marsh, my khorne daemons are on skull bases, and my tzeentch daemons are based as if they're in the warp, with minor warp spirits floating around them.

I use tea leaf and scorched brown. I guess it is wasteland/jungle to a degree. Haven't quite decided if I am going to add anything like static grass or lichen yet. But I have experimented with various stuff, need to settle on something I like and works with my armies.

I usually use a mix of mud and mixed grasses.

I generally vary based on either my mood when I am finishing the piece I am working on, but I tend to stick to stone work, rocky terrain, or grasses.

Kind of a rocky/grassland type tjhing for most of them. Though I have done some snow themes too. But GW modelling snow is gakky, so Ive ended up just using white paint on my Ogres.

A mix of green/brown flock and cheap clay cat litter. (Not used, I'm no longer a disciple of Nurgle.)

I use decorative dirt (I had the luck of buying 500 g for just 1 euro) painted calthan brown to give it muddy look, and GF9 grass... and an occasional lost equipment (or ork arms ).

I base my Daemons with a mixed bag of several different ballast stones. Then Paint Codex Gray, wash with Badab Black, and drybrush Space Wolves Grey. Then I mix in some dead looking static grass, and some small rubble, and it looks like a ruined planet.

I use resin sand and add some gw sand flock and gf9 sand flock to add texture then after it drys pain scorched brown over then dry brush bestail brown then drybrush bleached bone over that

i use playground sand. it has sand + small stones that i paint to look like an alien desert-type thing. (black ink, scolfurious brown, drybrush dheneb stone. ((may be spelled wrong, dont have the paints with me ATM)) and then some bleached bone too) they fit with the Tau fire warriors that i use it on. they from the Tau home world.

I just use sand.

I like a sandy look then cover areas with a patch of green grass and maybe some brown paint to make it look dirty

Both my Ork and Death Guard armies are based using an "urban ruins/wasteland" theme,lots of gray/ash,debris...some pools of slime here and there for the DG..

The characters,DP's and dreads in both armies have more "elaborate" bases,same overall colors...but with more debris,bodies,slime,etc...

For my Praetorians...I've gone for a very simple "grasslands " look,using static grass and a bit of gravel.

Sand

Sand and above that grass, depends on what army i'm painting.

Sand for definite. With patches of dead grass and the occasional skull or two.

The snowy urban theme for me

You left off desert, so I picked small stones (sand).

I generally don't do bases on my models. Only certain ones, not the ranks. And when I do, I do sand/rock mostly. However I've debated doing some elaborate bases. The only problem with that is, I don't play an army that has big bases to do so.

As some have described: I use sand/gravel, painted, washed, and drybrushed, and then I selectively apply flocking. This is specifically for my guard.

When doing other things, it depends on the mini's, but I always do a finished painted base of some sort.

Being a glutton for punishment, I glue textured plasticard to my bases.

I am doing my daemon bases with the remains of other armies' units.

For example, my Bloodthirster is stepping through the back of an ork, and my Daemon Prince of Tzeentch holds the torso of a Death Company (with the back ripped out) up in the air, and the head and the arms lie at the Prince's feet.
My Skulltaker's Juggernaut base has heads and skulls from all armies.
My fiends will have eldar and DE bodies once I get to them, and my Forgeworld Greater Unclean One will have the remains of a Swarmlord on his custom base.
Finally, when I can get the money, my Forgeworld Bloodthirster (which will serve as my Skarbrand) will have the remains of a Landraider about his base.

Just a simple mix of Elmer's glue and a big jug of mixed green flock from Woodland Scenics.

I picked "plain dirt" but it's actually 3 different drybrushes and a wash over sand. I usually throw in a helmet, lasgun, or some such on larger bases. I do this for all but my Necrons.

Necrons, I do sand, black, drybrush 2 lighter shades of grey up to space wolves grey, then badab black wash. Rarely any non-necron debris, but I do crystals of the translucent green that the rods come on (monolith sprue is great for this).


I shaped some of my own crystals into a silicone mold so I can recast my crystals in different colors. So far I just have translucent rave green, though, but might do more colors later.





Automatically Appended Next Post:

Avatar 720 wrote:I don't tend to paint, but when I do I just leave the bases plain. if i've gotten as far as basing my model, then i'm not going to risk ruining it (so as it stands, only about 3 models are based, all with modelling sand).

I actually do my bases and my models seperately just for this reason. I glue the models to a temporary base to hold while painting with a tiny speck of superglue on one foot only, then when finish, snap them off (or cut them if it has delicate ankles) and put them on my bases.

I actually leave them plain most of the time. That way, it just looks like a "shadow" and the model looks like it is simply standing on whatever board you are playing on.

However, if I feel like it, I will go outside and glue some dirt and tiny stones to the bases. Dirt is pretty much anywhere, so it doesn't look out of place on most boards, and it looks really great on desert boards, which I am a big fan of for some reason.

It depends on what I am basing for. Orks, I generally do rubble, Salamanders I'm thinking lava wastes etc, Eldar, maybe green grass or crystally stuff and Tau... I'm not so sure. Just a suggestion to people who are prepared to pay a good price for quality bases try "Back 2 Base-ix." NOt advertising or anything but they look pretty good

I paint lava on my WOC

No mud?

I leave mine plain black, because I think it looks really odd when the bases don't match the scenery. I treat bases like a frame around a picture, rather than a part of the mini. When I look at minis on the battlefield I find it easy to just ignore plain black bases, but i might experiment with painting patterns on my bases.

doubleT wrote:No mud?

Spaceship corridors for me, you never know what is around the corner!

Brown/dirt with clumps of static grass

Necrons- These i based by using hot glue to make what looked like moving lava, and then fine black sand with static dead grass.
Space Wolves - Same fine sand this time painted a muddy brown. Then snow flock, dead grass and a few ice elements.
New Custom space Marine Chapter - I just barely started work on these but they are a fleet based chapter so I am making it look as though they are on their ship waking across grills in the hallways and other parts of the ship.

I sand them and use a kinda ash-waste effect - chardon granite drybrushed with greys and bleached bone. Then I add a mix of water, pva, and gw snow, and paste dollops on the base. When they dry I overbrush these with a little skull white, and then add some sprigs of desert grass.

Same as HAZZER.

Grass with Snow. Trying for the Tundra look.

EDIT: I am might be tossing in some ruins as well for the Tundra. On my IG.

Well ever since I have so many armies. My wanderers have desert like ruins. Then my eldar same thing.
Storm Crusaders have a jungle feel.

I used brown and grey gravel basing stuff, but realised that looked a bit naf, so now I just leave them black, I'm sure they'd look better with basing, but until i've got the hang of it, I don't want to spoil my models.

My Imperial Guard have a Codex Grey base with GW sand on it, they don't look too bad lol.

Yeah i like grey/stone urban debris.

The nice green grass you see doesnt really speak "war" to me. I always figured the SM will primarily be fighting defending imperial space (forge worlds, hives, shrines) so i figure lots of rubble and stone makes more sense than nice green grass like they are fighting on the North Yorkshire moors or something.

I voted leave them plain because that's how most of my models are now. If I ever FINISH them, they'll be sandy desert

Fine grain sand and green grass on top of the sand.

For my deathwing I make tech bases (other) like a space hulk or manifactorum place. My space marines and necrons are dirt/grass, and finally my eldar are wraithbone floors (alien hive) and finally my guard are city ruins.

I tried snow for the first time recently and i loved it

Some brown sands first, then I scatter some burnt grass on it, like a scorched ground effect on cities I guess.

I use desert sand with rocks here and there for my Ulthwe Eldar. Striking contrast to the black. Then my Thousand Sons are just a rough ash black sanded basing.

My IG use an ash wastes look. My GK's are based with a bloodtide look and my DA have a dungeon floor look.

Warhammer elves and WOTR elves have a static grass flock.

Shards of slate from the garden i break up cave man style on a larger rock ^^
Then add sand, paint up from a chaos black undercoat with snakebite leather base, then keep adding skull white until the desired affect.

Glued on citedel sandy stuff, painted scorched brown, dry brushed snake bite leather, then dry brushed bleached bone. Then I glue on patches of citadel dead grass.

Green/Scorched Grass for my WHFB models (except for the dark elves who are based with snow)

And sand for 40K models.

ash or sand desserts

My Dark Angels were the first army I made, so they have green flock/grass. I'm a better modeler than that now, but the army is done up like that, and it's a pain to redo it. My Eldar are going to be sand painted in grey wasteland/desert.

My WHFB Empire will be brown with maybe static grass and my Dark Elves will be on snow terrain.

My Orks have a desert thing going on, so yellow sand there, and the Tomb Kings I'm building now get a grasslands/mountain base with grey paints and Citadel Glade Grass.

my eldar have red moon desert (mars?) bases

typical sand stuff then a 3:1 mix of ogryn flesh and vermin brown painted over the top, followed by a quick drybrush of blazing orange.

I use sugar.......seriuously. A guy that used to be in our gaming group suggested it and like all good ideas the rest of us ripped it off. Pva glue it on to a base and paint grey to give the impression of rubble.

Urban for my IG, bought some sidewalk like plasticard from a hobby store, add in a bit of stone and every 1/4 or some some cut up sprue and what not as rubble. They have a sorta urban cammo/city fight theme. Alot of grey, most likely to much but it works well enough.

For the tanith guys I'm working on, thinking a mud and debris theme. My eldar just all got stripped so nothing planned for them as still debating selling em off.

I base my orks in a dark brown, somewhat muddy dirt, with bright grey rocks and boulders scattered around, then tufts and patches of winter grass.

ergotoxin wrote:I use decorative dirt (I had the luck of buying 500 g for just 1 euro) painted calthan brown to give it muddy look, and GF9 grass... and an occasional lost equipment (or ork arms ).

I base similarly, but my dirt/mud is lighter and I use smaller patches of grass.

I do a mix of dead grass, small stones, and dirt.

Desert should really be added on the list imo. Or wasteland or something to that extent. I use that myself for my Blood Angels to simulate the planet Baal.

Bare. I happen to like plain old black.

My IG has grass/sand while my Salamanders have a black sand with purple alien crystal.

I'm new and I just use a dirt base color cote and that's until I get dirt and gravel.

For larger bases, like heavy weapon bases I try to match them a bit with the figures on it, but mostly some earth with patches of grass, stones, and some other rubbish like jerry cans and fuel drums.
But the infantry bases I mostly leave just plain, but that's actually because I don't feel like basing ALL those figures.

Urban - ish, jagged rocks, skulls, guns + bits, and charred ground...

Scorched Brown paint, GW sand and pebbles, mixed colors of static grass with some flock mixed in.

I do an urban debris style, as I prefer to mix old unusable bits into my basing 'solution'. This also is generic enough to fit my varied color schemes.

UG

Unluckyguardsman wrote:I do an urban debris style, as I prefer to mix old unusable bits into my basing 'solution'. This also is generic enough to fit my varied color schemes.

UG

This.

I use a sparse urban grey style, but mix in odd bits and add rocks and rust etc to get a 'rubble' feel.

I also have a few pre-made bases from back-to-base-ix and paint them in the same style:

Im still using the small stones from blackreach, even though im now at 3x tac squads, 10 tactical terms and 10 assault terms, 6 sternguard and loads of devs. I add little tufts of green grass to break it up.

For characters they either get chips of shale built into a rock formation or resin base, although leaning away from resin in future.

yeah,
My new DarkEldar army will be mostly on clear flight stands, hellions and venoms.
So to make the guys on foot match the rest of the army, I'm using clear bases for them.
You can check out progress in my blog Purple Rain



I'm also starting to see the benifits of this style of base as they will match any table they play on... I might never switch back!

Panic...

cool but why are you using clear baces?is it to give the impereassion that they are standing up by them selfs?

yeah,

HAZZER wrote:cool but why are you using clear baces?

dude read the post!

Panic wrote:...My new DarkEldar army will be mostly on clear flight stands, hellions and venoms.
So to make the guys on foot match the rest of the army, I'm using clear bases for them.

It's so the army has a matching base scheme. but it has benifits, they now match all tables urban/ashwaste/green/red...
Also I'm likeing how quick they are to base

Panic...

That does look pretty cool Panic - its a good idea.

I like to mix it up. Depending on how I'm feeling and the model it can vary from a sculpted pewter / resin insert, to a texas dirt w/ grass patches to gray graveyard soil with some special bits added on.

I use volcanic ash. No, really. My dad for some odd reason had a coffee can full of ash from Mt. St. Helens. I don't paint it, I mean how do you paint volcanic ash to look more like volcanic ash than actual volcanic ash?

But it fits in pretty much any terrain I'm in, especially Urban.

I use sand (painted and drybrushed in browns), small grade gravel (painted and drybrushed in blacks/greys) and fall static grass. Extra leftover model bits are also added from time to time.

Classic goblin green plus flock for my sw and snakebite leather + sand for my orks.

snowsnowsnowsnow, snowsnowsnowsnow

Other. I'm going for a desert look to my bases. Little cacti and sand.

My default has been sand of varying weights (mostly fine with some larger rocks in there), glued on and then inked brown to darken, then drybrushed (usually vomit brown; lighter and kind of orangey) for contrast and to lighten. Then static grass added in patches. That's the main method for my primary 40k and WH armies.

I've also added some resin bits from GW's 40k basing kit onto some of my larger 40k models, like Terminators and Oblits.

My new BA army has that, plus torn corkboard painted grey, washed, and drybrushed to represent large rocks, plus resin bits, plus Tyranid body parts painted in Hive Fleet Kraken colors.

I have a mix of gray talus and green grass, and snow for my future Eldar army.

Cork, bark, sand, static grass, plasticard... Usually a terra-cotta desert look, but tech and urban bases as well

My Orks bases have a swampy feel to them, half grass and half mud.

I use sand and i don't understand why it wasn't one of the options all my friends and my brothers friend use it for the majority of their models

Just some railway ballast (unpainted) and static grass

I like to mix it up. But for the most part I do a parched desert stone look.

I have done a few marsh style basis and a few tile floor's as well.

I'm cheap when it comes to flock, so I usually go to an arts and crafts store like Michaels and buy the big bags of fake sands and stones they provide for dioramas which are rather cheap for how much you get. I mix the bags together and then go from there, it gives the texture of ashpalt that is rough and worn which I like since I like my armies to look like they fight in urban areas mostly.

I use custom bases (currently using Temple Bases from Micro Art Studio), and Jawabases.

I mix it up - some grass, some small stones, some ruins, some urban debris, some wargear...

Hologram wrote:I use custom bases (currently using Temple Bases from Micro Art Studio), and Jawabases.

Jawabases? I can probably accuratly guess what that means but for the others?

dalsiandon wrote:

Hologram wrote:I use custom bases (currently using Temple Bases from Micro Art Studio), and Jawabases.

Jawabases? I can probably accuratly guess what that means but for the others?

A buddy of mine plays Blood Angels and fell in love with Jawaballs, a blogger and painting enthusiast...we found out he sells resin bases, 10 for $10. Very nice deal if I do say so myself.

http://www.jawaballsproductions.com/index.php?act=viewProd&productId=61

also the main blog

http://warhammer40kbloodangels.blogspot.com/

Desert style sand is what I use for my bases.

I use snow since my space wolves are from fenris, which is an artic planet. But then ive only based five models.

I use Modelling Sand on all of my BT and DA, and I use Dead Grass on my Guard

I use a mix of green grass and small stone on my bases it matches the table io made last year.

I do mine a type of grey-ish rock/dirt mix with some patches of static grass.

I want to do my new army a swamp theme though but I think it will be pretty difficult

Urban bases for my 40K and sand and grass for my WHFB.

According to the force and fluff, however, I dont mind if the basing adds a bit of height to my minis...

All my armies have thier own base "themes" My skaven are on marshy grass, the lamenters are on a mix of desert and urban rubble, my guard are on grey rock and my ogres are on a open grass plain.

my armies get also their own themes, my IGs are muddy, the Sm of my oldest son are based on selfmade lava bases and my own SM army will be one far away day get their bases made to look like a desert wasteland...

I have a sand base I apply with larger rock bits, giving a desert feel to my Blood Hounds

I used to use sand or grass but decided that it just gets everywhere too easily. I stick with just painting them green/brown/grey now.

I use snowflock but I can't get it to look cool so i'm thinking of changing to another scheme.

Like I said (What fells like enons ago!) I use sand heres an example:

It depends which army it is. For my main army, Dark Elves, it's snow, sometimes over grey sand. Of my three Space Marine colour schemes, one has the same as the dark elves, one I'm going for with large grey stones, a dark green grass and barbed wire ( so, urban rubble-ish), and for the last, I'm going for a wasteland/desert look with a slightly red sand. For my fledgeling Empire force, maybe a red sand kinda thing, to represent red dirt, with some normal coloured static grass and some snow, since it's a force from the Nordland, in the Empire's north. Not decided on the Eldar and Night Lord forces, since they're both 1 HQ and one other unit each, so not really gotten off the ground yet.

Although I said plain dirt, I use a black ballast material I get from a model train store, since it looks like some kind of pumice/scoria. I play Salamanders, and I think it looks appropriately volcano-ey.

urban debris, rubble, rocks, and tyranid infestation.

Picked "plain dirt" for my answer, as my current army project (the Jagdmacht) are on mud bases. My small Dark Eldar force from 3rd Edition is on urban bases. My Dark Elves for Fantasy are on green grass.

This is such a great poll question. One because it applies to so many people (not one game or genre setting/system), two; the variety of choices allows for interesting information to be gleamed. Better than a yes/no question. There should always be this many options or more.

Who knew that at least 32 people on Dakka use nothing but skulls for their bases, rock on!

Quite often I go for a desert look

"Other," I guess.

Just now starting to paint my Empire army and am going with a mix of (green) static grass and patches of modeling sand (painted as "dirt").

I generally paint the base with codex grey, but then carve in bullet holes and bullet burn/skid marks on the ground. i go over the holes/marks with black wash to make it look more worn. Generally I do it on my Orks to keep things simple. However, I may re-base them and do a more desert brown color.

My "big" models like my dreadnought and heroes etc I usually do a mix of codex grey, scorched brown, khaki, and graveyard earth or snakebite leather. I add a bunch of washes too. It makes the ground look dusty, like an abandoned urban environment/ruins that has been overgrown with shrubs and sandstorms etc. This reflects the sort of Road Warrior / Outback / Mars look my friends and I have for our board at home.

-VardenV2

sand and dirt mostly but have done many others like lava

Some basic sand and grass is what I use for most of my non-showpiece models.

Each army gets a different treatment: desert, mud, cathedral(work in progress), snow and grassland. After the cathedral stuff I plan on doing swamp bases for a new gaurd army.

Blank for the moment

I have half my bases snow and half undone. I've reasured myself that I will get them done some time...

I go for a mix of small stones or flint and GW baseing sand.

Depends...on my Dark Eldar i have sand and on my Orks i have Lava.

My Vampire Counts use water basing; my Spehs Mereens have grey ash. So, other.
Also, 36 people have their models on bases made entirely of skulls? ._.

Sand and very small rocks.... occasionally some debris sticking out of said sand.

Snow.
I star by gluing construction grade sand to my bases (this stuff generally contains little bits of rock and random detritus in it as well, or at least my stuff does) and generally has a nice effect all on it's own. But I like snow.
So I paint all of that chaos black. Drybrush a couple of shades of grey on it, then wash it in badab black. Then I add the snow slurry.
Snow- PVA glue, white acrylic paint, baking soda. Mix it up, spackle it on. after it dries hit it up with a quick dab of skull white to help defend against any future yellowing and presto, snowy wasteland.
The white on the grey/black is striking, but still grim-dark. Like so many others have said, the green grassy field base is just too peaceful and pleasant for a wargame.

usually a mix of cork, ruins and sand, painted in a dark sandstone colour.

Normaly I use either dirt of somethin that resembels concert, since almost all my armies have a city figting theme to them.

Sand, glued before painting. It's primed and painted with the rest of the model, with grass added afterward. Sometimes, I go scenic on the base with added materials to make it look cool.

Used to do Sand on my Nids and a mix of reen flock and sand on ny Marines and GK. But the last few models and all from here on use Texture Paint.

Sand, Bit O' Grass

Mixture of Urban and living grass, so overgrown ruins.

I base my models like on Peleliu in the Pacific Miniseries, with dead trees and destroyed buildings etc. With an ashy feel

My friend told me to do a desert base but i thought he said dessert base, so now my models have hundreds and thousands on them.

It all depends on the army/model - I use Scibor bases a lot though...

Wrote 'other,' as I cover them in sand, paint it brown, then use tufts of static grass to make it less boring.

I base most of them to look like a desert, but the other one I do a lot of is death world ground like Krieg since it's usually orange dirt.

It depends on the theme, some of Armies are Urban Camo, so I will put them on Urban Terrain bases (make's sense right?).

Others like my Ironhands, I put on Steampunk/ Industrial / Tech bases to compliment them and contrast a bit with Rust and oxides, so it's not all silver and gun metal. . My German Field Army for Pzr.Lehr is in Green Camo, so are on fields with "knights who say Nee" type shrubberies.

I don't think doing the same thing over and over is applicable to all forces.

EDIT - I also cheat because I use resin detailed bases, it takes alot of effort out of life, and all you have to do is drill the base and the feet of the Miniature and then pin them together, makes it immensely sturdy and resilient to damage.





See what I mean? It depends on contrast and theme.

Like on Mars. I have access to the sand found on Earth which resembles sand on mars the most, so it would be foolish not to use it ;o)

I like to base mine as if in a desert as I think it matches my tau scheme best, matches my board and it is quick. Have done some on lava as well though for some OSL

I'm making post apocalyptic bases for my Orks, Grey Knights, Sisters of Battle, and maybe Mahrens.
The aesthetic is more or less ripped from Fallout 3/Fallout: New Vegas. Small based models are getting ruined roads and landscape littered with junk. Termy bases get stuff like broken roads with rebar supports sticking out, ruined street signs, knocked over mailboxes, etc. Dreadnought bases and larger are getting little scenes modded on. Everything is gonna be corroded, dirty and in disrepair.
I'm writing a story behind it, that's all about survival on an Ork infested world, where you're completely cut off from any reinforcements or supplies for decades. The whole thing may culminate in a narritive event( or events) ran by the Tomahawc.com crew. We're still talking about it.

Photos will be up of the test models next weekend, I think.

beastmen i do forest floor my renegade guardsmen I do urban ruins and my scavvy gang trash strewn streets

Nearly all of mine are covered with sand before undercoating, and then painted in P3's Battlefield Brown, drybrushed with their Hammerfall Khaki and finished with a scattering of flock. For my beloved Malifaux models, I go the extra distance and buy some very nice resin flagstone bases off an eBay seller called geronimo_jones

Ben

Other: Wasteland terrain ,small sand and various garbage such as everything.

I usually mix grass with either sand or "cobblestone".

Mud is my favorite. It's on my white scars. For the most part I do have dread grass mixed with green grass because it was allot faster to bases 6k pts of chaos with that. Still makes me sad to see them all standing on flat ground.

I use rocks from my parking lot as sand. It gets primed black and then various dry brushing with dark brown, codex grey, and skull white. The sand areas are a mix of dark brown, graveyard earth, and then turf green flock.

I use sand and small stones and paint it to look like urban rubble. Primed black and dry brushed lightly with bleached bone works wonders. Simple, yet effective.

I use bestial brown around the base edge then apply pva and heavy ballast in clumps, to form rock clusters. Then pva and GW flock grass around the rocks, turning the model upside down to get rid of loose grass I tap the base whilst the model is upside down. This causes the grass to stick up (or rather down!) and it dries in this position and adds to the effect.

I use small gritty stones, covered in blood coloured blotches, and the rest in slimey green. Nurgle daemons

I generally base my forces individually. My Word Bearers are mounted on cracked lava bases. My Raven Guard are based on urban rubble / gravelly bases.

I have a Protectorate of Menoth army from WARMACHINE that I based on cobblestone.

I use snow, mostly because it goes GREAT with my gritty/rusty snow-camo Khador. Snow camo makes Khador look way more badass than the normal red.

I'm trying to do a desert/ reddish dust/ outskirts themed base for my newest project, but I have to set that aside for after I finish up with dark Vengeance. *sigh

I based my salamanders with sand i haven't decided for my eldar yet i tried static grass but i didn't like it.

I base my models with battlefield debris, fallen enemies or their weapons and dirt. I also weather at least the models' feet.

i usually just base coat with a brown (Delta Ceramcoat "Raw Sienna"- i know, i am cheap, lol) then glue beach sand onto it. all of my minis have it

I like cold weather my units and bases reflect that.

Snow and grass here. I'm not a great painter as it is, and I'm fairly lazy, so I usually just slap a coat of paint on the base (same color as whatever I'm putting on top of it) then flock it.

This is my latest base, a bit flamboyant I know but the model required something a bit special!

I've switched from the gravel/grass over the standard base to using entirely resin bases purchased online. It's a helluva lot more expensive and my models are all higher for LoS considerations, but I think the end result is worth it as the bases all match one another excellently, are very well detailed, and really just make the model pop.

Currently I use Back 2 Base-ix's Celtic Ruins for my Necrons and will be using Secret Weapon Mini's Bone Fields for my CSM/HH Emperor's Children army.

I currently use a skull base that I got from secret weapon and some grassy pieces here and there.

Green Paint, goblin green or whatever's handy. Some of my Eldar have grass on the base, but that's it.

Scorched brown sides with a green flock surface. I always embelish it with small shrubs, rocks, debris, patches of bare earth etc. Its quick, easy, cheap and a common basing sceme brings all my armies together even if they are in totally different scales and paint schemes. Everything from Warmachine Warjacks to Epic Guardsmen to 15mm British Rifles look 'mine'.

I do vary occationally though. My Heer Grenadiers are on snow bases and my Tau are on sand.

So.... One of the suggestions is alien crystal but a simple desert is not amongst the options to choose? ^^

"Mars" style red desert made from birdsand with small grit and stones in it. THE sci-fi "alien planet" surface stereotype for me.

My board is green grass but I also have a rubble/grass overlay for it. All my models (except 'Nids) are based with a rubble/grass mix so they fit both nicely.

My 'Nids are just blackened rubble with the smallest hints of grass remaining.

Temple ruins for me. Very easy to paint. Fortress gray, gray wash, codex gray, gray wash, white, final gray wash. Done.

Sad that there are 110 people that answered 'I don't paint'.
Missing out on so much of the hobby, IMO.

I base mine with hot coals and cement slabs

Depends on the army and the theme.

E.G. my Tau have grassy bases because my Battle Board is grassy but my Wood Elves have snowy bases because they're a Winter Themed Army.

Cat litter. We have two cats so there is always a lot of cat litter at our house, and it looks great as rubble or gravel.

snow over static grass or rocks for my SW. still trying to decide for my dark eldar, but dont know whats fluffy enough for them

I enjoy the Citadel Texture paints, Stirland mud with a drybrush of Steel Legion Drab fits my Guard's kit really well and looks great on half the tables at the store I game at.

Polyfilla for a rough ground look then green paint over

Sand, thinned PVA glue to seal, wash of agrax, drybrush lightly with zandri, then little broken up pieces of cork drybrushed to look like rocks with a bit of grass thrown in for good measure.

I have a small glass jar with some sand from a playground, some static grass and some brown flock in it. Basically all my models get to bathe their bases in that stuff.

I glue on some sand, then paint and highlight brown and lastly add some static grass patches on an some alien-looking shrub.

Mainly gravel and/or sand, sometimes with static grass, sometimes without.
Then it depends on the theme of the army or (for single models) on the idea itself.

On some models, "less is more" (as for many other aspects of modelling); on some others (which, tbh, I haven't finished yet) I plan to sculpt (well, sort of..) or to build a small scene...

On a base, depending on the model, anything can go:
collapsed rubble from a wall, a bent hatch on asphalt, a small cairn/pile of rocks

As for material: sculpting clay, green stuff, (grinded) nutshells, bardboard, plasticard, twigs, little slabs (or chips) of stone, corks, bark, baking soda, 'hot' glue... actually anything

I paint mine on a barren-deserty look. Glue modelling sand, paint armageddon dust and then finally drybrush ushabitit bone.Simple, not too detailed, but effective and quick

A mixture of sand and small stones. Which I also prime and paint. It gives it a more natural feel

I use clear bases by Litko.

How is alien crystal an option but desert/badland not?

Needless to say, Other - Desert


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I guess "small stones" sort of covers that

Urban for SF, Plain Dirt for Fantasy in general.

personally it depends on the theme of the army. like for my salamanders i did lava bases. for my khador i did frozen bases. and for my nids its gonna be wasteland.

Mud always mud. Doesn't matter where you are after a few days fighting there will be plenty of mud.

Sand, there's plenty of it so I don't have to buy/find it, looks great, comes in all colors and it matches friggin everything.

Seeing as my campaign is on a jungle planet....

Aye, basic sand, with some actual proper basing sandystuff mixed through it. Also grey ash type grain as well for other models.

Loving the idea of cat litter now though, didn't realise I had a fortune in scale rocks just sitting gathering... well you know.

I never needed to head beyond goblin green and flock. It works, its cheap and its sort of standardised so it seldom looks out of place.

Mine isn't in there for some reason. Sand repainted as dirt, with some static grass and/or tufts to break them up.

I have no idea what to do for my 'nids. I'm thinking regular ol' sand, but I'm not 100% sure yet...

Paint them either brown or green, then I base them with sand/flock/static grass/rocks whatever.

The way it complements the model/warband theme.

[other] I like to use a desert sand look.

Plain flat Green to match my Green felt tabletop for my Marines, but go with Flat Black for my I.G. and Sisters.
I think certain bases just look so out of place if played on different tables. Eventually I will make my Marines with Black bases too! Look good on most any table.
T

I unfortunately started my space wolves on the path of resin bases which looks great but is pretty lame when it comes to running out and having to wait for more to arrive, not to mention the cost. Again, still looks great but am debating wether worth it or not.

I use grass flock, although I would love to make some wet/puddle bases.

Woodland Scenics ground cover and a few tufts.