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I don't like painting plain, flocked bases. With an intricate model, they seem to me to take away from the miniature. The tufts of grass don't add much for me either.

I want to use DIY or resin bases. So far, I like lava-flow bases for Salamanders, which seems decently thematic for Nocturne. I see a lot of those, which makes me think that this is a good choice, but it also makes me wonder if it will be just repetitive.

Other options I like would be
Decking (like Sector Imperialis, but not necessarily that one)
Ruins
Rocky outcrops

What would you base a Salamanders army on?

As a Sally player myself I am not terribly by the idea of lava-themed bases for them. Sure, it is thematic, fluffy and (if done right) pretty cool, but eh... It seems a tad bit overdone. But, by all means, choose, what you like! Although I can definitely see the danger of repetitiveness...

I personally enjoy urban themed bases, as they tie them together with my guard and most of the table I play on tend to have urban scenery.

Its definitely over done.

But it is cool.

Id be more inclined to keep it simple and use those gw city ones add some rocks debree and use black or grey pigment powder to make it all look charred to keep with the theme.

Personally, if there's an option to buy resin or DIY, I prefer resin. It just looks sooo much better. Especially if you are after something more fancy.

Like these

I did my salamanders DIY.

but since they're your army, to quote Digital Underground "do whatcha like".


I used Valejo lava/asphalt basecoated black drybrushed with tamiya deck tan and tamiya white. then many many coats of orange, red and yellow for the actual pyroclastic flow.

I have yet to see a really nice looking resin base that I would use, if anyone knows of one, please post a link.

I do all my bases lava bases for every army (I like uniformity, even buy gamemat.eu lava mats). Don't need to resin or anything. I buy cork panels (cost like $5 each from dollar store for 30cm squared), break onto GW black base to like (glue with pva glue).

Undercoat chaos black
Paint over Eshen grey
Dry brush on edges etc dawnstone

Lava
I do Mephiston Red, wet blend to Wild rider, wet blend to troll slayer, then highlight middle with Yriel yellow. Bam done (takes stuff all time and looks good).

Hope helps

Everyone and his pet dog puts Salamanders on lava bases.....they do fight on ice worlds, hulks, deserts, forest worlds and iron worlds as well....same as any other chapter

doc21 wrote:
Everyone and his pet dog puts Salamanders on lava bases.....they do fight on ice worlds, hulks, deserts, forest worlds and iron worlds as well....same as any other chapter

Yeah, but the contrast with their armour makes it look better than Ultras(on marble), Guard(on mud), etc.

it does look weird when the 18th are on desert or other light colored bases.

doc21 wrote:
Everyone and his pet dog puts Salamanders on lava bases.....they do fight on ice worlds, hulks, deserts, forest worlds and iron worlds as well....same as any other chapter

I just kept thinking: if the Salamanders are fighting on Nocturne then something has gone horribly wrong; the imperial fleet and the Salamanders’ battle barges have failed to defend the planet.

So, then, what is thematic for the Salamanders? Well, everything.

I guess it comes down to which bases I like best.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
I think hat what I really like about lava bases is that they add two features that are uncommon on bases: vertical definition, and high contrast.

So I think that’s what I’m looking for in a base. That’s probably why sector Imperialis doesn’t grab me.

Cork is so versatile and resembles broken slopes between flows. If you DIY every base can be unique!

I've decided to go with Sci-Fi decking from Dark Art Miniatures. The pieces look really good to me and I think they should fit, thematically with a few others I like, such as the SkullForge Scenics Industrial bases which I like even better, and maybe the Micro Art Studios Pipeworks bases

This should give me lots of variety and lots of detail. I think I'll end up being quite happy with these ones. My only concern is finding one that will fit an Imperial Knight! I'm hoping that the bases will be thematically similar enough to Sector Imperialis that I can use the large-base detail kit to solve that problem!