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Sorry for the delay getting the vote up. December is doing its thing.

This month is our topic was All Your Base Are Belong to Us - A model with an extravagant base. Or a model that is part of a military base or is adept at infiltrating or destroying such bases. It could also be a model of a conqueror such as Genghis Khan or even Julius Caesar who once declared "I came, I saw, all their base are belong to me!" - or something along those lines. Noise Marines or other units armed with sonic weapons are also acceptable entries since all your bass are belong to them. Also models with high pH’s. You could also do a price of terrain to act as a base (preferably with rivets and found objects)

As always, you're free to hand out as many votes as you like, and for any entry you feel deserves recognition, based on anything from technical proficiency or model choice, a neat conversion or a cool take on the theme, or anything else! You're also very welcome to leave some feedback here for the entrants, and many of the images click through to the Dakka gallery if you'd like to give out a vote or two there as well.

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Ezki - Artillery Witch


Daia T'Nara - Brother Gatekeeper


inmygravenimage - I Am No Jedi


Pariah Press - Deathblow class heavy droid


Mothsniper - Dwarven Cannons


Captain Brown - Eldar Tower


Katzzone – Noise Marine


tzurk - Silt Strider


Nevelon – Spiritseer


Mr Nobody - Krootox


JoshInJapan - Catachan Jungle Fighters


Geifer - Captain Lysander


Midget Gems - Fortified Manor Tower


Maharg – Elf and Fish


Vejut – Gold Dragon


Peterhausenn - Construction Vehicles


Gulgog TufToof - Hernkyn Yaegir



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As always, if you notice I’ve missed something, let me know. Poll will run for 5 days

Love the terrain work, and how the bases tie the mini together.
Awesome attention to the bases and the terrain makes me happy

Ezki - For the win! And double win for the speed, crushed it man.

Daia T'Nara - Always value your freehand and creative bases, good work. Stomping space elfs is a bonus.

inmygravenimage - Epic base for sure, like the grimdark star wars and the lighting on Darth Vader. Would of love to see neon paint on the lightning.

Pariah Press - Well painted as usual, I like especially the little tree that is trying to get out of the way of the deathblow

Captain Brown - Very cool and a successful Eldar terrain! love scratch builds. If you have a near by DollarTree, at my local one in the craft section I recently saw very cool mdf hex cut platforms there, might be very useful for more towers

Katzzone - Love the color scheme and the contrast, works very well. Would of loved to see something cool for the bases. And glad to see your work, and hope to see more on the next round

tzurk - Good call on the plants addition, that one plant adds so much to the bleak environment, I can picture the whole world. Cool scheme is cool too, reminds me of heavymetal. Environment is always more important than the character.

Nevelon - Simple but effective base, that is not baking soda is it?

Mr Nobody - Awesome paintjob as usual. I'll never get tiered of cool bases, very cool piece. Did you free hand the pattern on the armor plates?

JoshInJapan - Love the use of plastic plants, adds so much to the environment. Now I want to make my own jungle terrain!

Geifer - Epic base for epic man. Awesome paintjob, love smooth transitions on the armor, and the contrast.

Midget Gems - Very cool piece, this must of been fun to work on.

Maharg - Very crispy! Love the contrast and the color scheme, bases cool too. Did you dry-brush the silver or inked the green?

Vejut - Classic sword and sorcery dragon, Larry Elmore would be proud! Speaking of, if interested, I ordered his signed art book from his site, and it is worth it.

Peterhausenn - Absolutely love scratch builds and toy bashing. Even though I have not see the show, I can appreciate the build. Imagine an ork stompa but with those round claws instead.
DrToys is quite inspirational for me, and maybe you will find it interesting as well for ideas. https://www.youtube.com/@DRToysCreations/videos

Gulgog TufToof - Rock and Stone, sry 1k hrs in DRG! A dwarf entry is automatically a superior entry, obviously! Cool mini with a cool base. Is that Lichen for the plants?

 Mothsniper wrote:
Love the terrain work, and how the bases tie the mini together.
Awesome attention to the bases and the terrain makes me happy

Mr Nobody - Awesome paintjob as usual. I'll never get tiered of cool bases, very cool piece. Did you free hand the pattern on the armor plates?

Thank you for the compliment! Yes, that is a little freehand. No transfers for kroot, so I need to decorate them the hard. I'm not very skilled at freehand, so I kept the shapes rather simple. I hope to one day build up to the level where I can replicate something like one would see in Iroquois textiles.

I'll try and exert some attention span to get some comments written soon. As always, there were some great entries.

Crispy, It looked like the job of those nail-stamping tools.

Iro is cool, Haudenosaunee and Inca rugs are good resource for inspiration as well.
Freehand geometrical patters is the most challenging, has to be perfect or it looks off.

 Mothsniper wrote:

Nevelon - Simple but effective base, that is not baking soda is it?

Woodland Scenics soft flake snow and PVA glue. Make a paste, get it where it needs to go, then swish through a tub of the flock while still wet to get it nice and fluffy.

 Mothsniper wrote:
Geifer - Epic base for epic man. Awesome paintjob, love smooth transitions on the armor, and the contrast.

Thank you.

 Nevelon wrote:

 Mothsniper wrote:

Nevelon - Simple but effective base, that is not baking soda is it?

Woodland Scenics soft flake snow and PVA glue. Make a paste, get it where it needs to go, then swish through a tub of the flock while still wet to get it nice and fluffy.

I got Woodland Scenics grass flocks but not the snow. That is way simpler than I though.
Have you tried GreenStuff - Liquid Frost ?

Ezki - My goodness this is beautiful. As usual, you have blown the competition out of the water purely on painting skill. The textured cloth, the duel light source, the highlights and shadows. It's all superbly done.

Mothsniper - In terms of basing, I think this is the best submission this month. A wonderful variety of materials makes the base a treat to look at. And the little details, like the gourds the broken wheels and the work bench really help tell a story. A war late into the season of harvests. Someone pity the poor farmer!

JoshinJapan - Aquarium plants are a perfect materials for jungle fighting. And no better jungle fighters than the Catachans. Are those the OP metal Catachans? If so, well done making such outdated sculpts look so good.

Geifer - Captain Lysander is a solid sculpt and you have given him a solid paintwork. The yellow is nice and solid with just the right amount of grime to make it look well worn. Is that a spot of gold filigree is see in the cape? That is some incredible freehand!

Maharg - I personally liked this one. The beach bases are fun to look at. And I like the highlights on the fish going all the way from black to a lovely teal.

Time for some winners.


In 3rd place with 17 votes is JoshInJapan's Catachan Jungle Fighters in their native environment.









And probably angry that their aquarium plants were stolen, Maharg's Elf and Fish take second with 19 votes.








Blasting their way to gold are Mothsniper's Dwarven Cannons, chock full of all sorts of fun details.









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Another fun month down with lots of great entries all around. Topic was a little weird, but fun to see what people did with it. Now get on with painting your December entries!

My lack of painting skills was effectively compensated with terrain bits this day.
Glad to be part of the challenge, good job everyone.

Blast it! I missed the top three by a single vote! I new I didn't bribe my nephews enough money...

There was a 3 way tie for 4th, just one vote from the podium. Competitive month.

It was a great month. Really enjoyed everyone's entries.

Great job, everyone! I'm proud to share the podium with such great models.

Great work y'all. Congratulations to Mothsniper; you inspired me to buy some more stuff to use as basing material.

Congrats to all the participants and laurels to the winners. Great work, everyone!

Congratulations to the winners and good job everyone getting something painted.

 Mr Nobody wrote:
Geifer - Captain Lysander is a solid sculpt and you have given him a solid paintwork. The yellow is nice and solid with just the right amount of grime to make it look well worn. Is that a spot of gold filigree is see in the cape? That is some incredible freehand!

Thank you. Yes, I had the wonderful (read: stupid) idea to put a freehand on the inside of the cape, as if the model wasn't already large and detailed enough to run into trouble with finishing him inside a month. But I wanted something a little flashier than a mono-colored cape. So I went with a look that's similar to cape I gave Captain Taelos when I painted him in the way back when.

Thank you for the comments Mothsniper and Mr Nobody! Much appreciated.

Congratulations to the winners. Very well deserved!

Congrats to the podium, and everyone else too!

 Mothsniper wrote:
Daia T'Nara - Always value your freehand and creative bases, good work. Stomping space elfs is a bonus.

Thanks I don't feel like the base was that interesting really - which makes it a poor contender for this challenge - but I was committed to finishing the dread anyway for my local group's painting challenge (November was vehicle/monster month), and at least it's got something going on. As always, the freehand is very rewarding, even if it does often wind up a little wonky when I finally take photos and get to see it up close in crystal clarity.

Congrats everyone and thanks for another great contest!

I would not have been anywhere near as productive this year without this challenge.

It's a bit late, but here's my take on everyone's entries!

Ezki - a fantastic mood piece - literally said "wow" when I unspoilered the pics. A beautiful sculpt that you've more than done justice here with the OSL and muted palette.

Daia T'Nara - lovely freehand and muted metallics. You've done a great job at differentiating the red armour from the red earth of the base - you could have easily gotten lost there. The pop of colour from the defeated wraithlord is a great touch too.

inmygravenimage - a great little vignette! Really nailed the theme here with the scenic base. Some clever work with the competing colours/light sources and I love the literal framing device of the lander-base corners.

Pariah_Press - angry robot is angry! Goblin green base rims will always hold a special place in my heart and there's an interesting mix of things going on on the basetop. I don't know if he's meant to blend in with his ork friends but I like the nod to their skintone on his "face" and hands.

Mothsniper - I think I commented in the WIP thread, but these are glorious and a well-deserved win. So much happening, they have really brought the minis to life - even while they're still grey!

CB - inspiring work as always. Would love to see your classic Eldar army fighting in and around a settlement of these bad boys.

Katzzone - neat take on a classic colour scheme, the pop of blue on the topknot is gorg. Would love to see him get some more loving down the line!

tzurk - beautiful, no notes

Nevelon - feels crisp, understated, and Christmassy all in one. Great work on the snow - seems crystallised and fluffy underfoot.

Mr Nobody - the flowers do a lot of work here in telling a story about the terrain underfoot and the guardsman's skull is a great touch. A really lovely mini between the skin tones, the pops of colour, and the weathering on the shoulder shield - great job.

JoshInJapan - a man after my own heart with the aquarium goodies! The tentacles are a friendly reminder of the unfriendliness of the jungle. Love the skintones. Are they on bigger bases for display or are you running them as a proxy killteam for something bigger? Congrats on the podium finish!

Geifer - I hate painting yellows, and you've done a great job here to sell it as battle-worn without looking uncared for. I like the mix of metallics and the filigree on the underside of the cape is very well done.

Midget Gems - hell yeah, terrain! Very characterful piece and your paintjob picks out all the highlights - love the verdigris on the door upstairs and the variety of tones on the roof tiles.

Maharg - gorgeous transitions on the fish's fins, lovely coloured metallics, and beautiful detailing on the bases make these a clear winner. Great work.

Vejut - layering colours of the moss was a good call. Between that, the stonework, and the dirt, there's a nice mix of textures on the base here. I like the contrast of the brightly coloured wings too - very regal and befitting of a gold dragon!

Peterhaussen - these turned out great. Lovely build, lovely colours. Vroom vroom.

Gulgog TufToof - I think you said you were rushed this month and couldn't go as far out as you like but you've got a solid, moody figure here. Can picture him striding across the outcropping kicking tumbleweeds out of his way on the way to some treasure.

Merry Christmas everyone - I'd better go and get a start on the December entry

 Daia T'Nara wrote:
Congrats to the podium, and everyone else too!

 Mothsniper wrote:
Daia T'Nara - Always value your freehand and creative bases, good work. Stomping space elfs is a bonus.

Thanks I don't feel like the base was that interesting really - which makes it a poor contender for this challenge - but I was committed to finishing the dread anyway for my local group's painting challenge (November was vehicle/monster month), and at least it's got something going on. As always, the freehand is very rewarding, even if it does often wind up a little wonky when I finally take photos and get to see it up close in crystal clarity.

I hear ya, I like when creative materials are used to good effect or there is a narrative in the terrain.
Also, I have been using dusty pigments for bases of late, and think it is a cheat code for terrain like (nuln oil) was or (speed paints) are for the model. Try getting a wild color calk or pastel, crushing it and doing selective dustings as a test.

The pictures so truuuu
But its purpose is to read well on the table not necessarily live as an image on line.
Also, the eye should and does the blending. Good example is the old masters art, like Peredvijniki or John Singer Sargent to name a few, up close it is abstract mess, but step away and it is almost photoreal.

Respect to folks who do masterful smooth blending and perfect freehand, they are on another lvl, but any free hand I encourage and love to see it.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

 tzurk wrote:
Congrats everyone and thanks for another great contest!
Mothsniper - I think I commented in the WIP thread, but these are glorious and a well-deserved win. So much happening, they have really brought the minis to life - even while they're still grey!
Merry Christmas everyone - I'd better go and get a start on the December entry

Thank you, and I agree, the bases did turned out very nifty. Although for me Ezki won, just too good.

Terrain does the heavy lifting in alot of my work. And I have a bit of a design philosophy about it, that I believe to be true, consider this:
If you have masterfully painted model sitting on the coffee table - it is a toy on a table
If you have a cheap plastic army-men toy in a masterfully crafter diorama - it is an epic battle scene
Diorama carries the toy significantly more then the model carries the coffee table.

I believe the environment is always more important than the character because A) it gives justification and context to the character and B) It is much more effective at immersion (suspension of disbelief).
So, in miniature, novels, computer games, art, for me environment is king.

Merry Christmas to you and your family. Cheers.

Thanks, everyone, for your comments.

Mothsniper wrote:JoshInJapan - Love the use of plastic plants, adds so much to the environment. Now I want to make my own jungle terrain!

I wasn't sure how well the aquarium plants would work, but they've grown on me.

Mr Nobody wrote:JoshinJapan - Aquarium plants are a perfect materials for jungle fighting. And no better jungle fighters than the Catachans. Are those the OP metal Catachans? If so, well done making such outdated sculpts look so good.

These are, indeed, the original metals. I remember them being TOTALLY AWESOME when first released, and kind of shocked at how wonky they are to my eyes today. That said, the grotesque proportions make them really easy to paint.

tzurk wrote:JoshInJapan - a man after my own heart with the aquarium goodies! The tentacles are a friendly reminder of the unfriendliness of the jungle. Love the skintones. Are they on bigger bases for display or are you running them as a proxy killteam for something bigger? Congrats on the podium finish!

I'm glad you liked the tentacle plants. They seem to fit the lore on Catachan. I put them on bigger bases so I could fit more plants-- their original 25mm bases are tiny, especially compared with their roided-out physiques. I'm not sure if they'll ever see tabletop duty, but they are fun to look at.

 tzurk wrote:
Geifer - I hate painting yellows, and you've done a great job here to sell it as battle-worn without looking uncared for. I like the mix of metallics and the filigree on the underside of the cape is very well done.

Thank you. Yeah, yellows can be and usually are troublesome. I'm pretty happy with how this turned out, and even though it's eight layers I think, I could see myself paint this on an army level. If, of course, I were still doing army projects.

Also I say this too rarely, thank you and everyone else who took the time to comment. I appreciate these comments, and I'm sure everyone else does, too.

Yes! Thank you Mothsniper and tzurk, for commenting on each entry!