All About That Base - Basing Gallic-Celtic Cavalry

May 2020

Something which has been gnawing at me for a while is how best to base my growing force of ‘ancient’ miniatures. I have over the years established quite a variety of different basing practices, and inevitably these have developed over time, but as I started to explore more ancient settings, I figured it was time to branch out.

NB: The cavalry in this post are all made from the beautiful plastics from Victrix. Shields are by Little Big Man, also via Victrix.

All of my 20^th Century miniatures are based in the same time-consuming, fussy way which involves drybrushing rocks and separating patches of different coloured grasses, so I started by trying pre-mixed basing on my small force of Thebans for Footsore’s Mortal Gods - using Luke’s APS ‘Mediterranean Soil’. This is a superb blend, and it resulted in exactly the arid, parched look I was hoping for, but for my newly-painted hordes of Gallic-Celts (and, soon, my Dark Ages Norse and Anglo-Danes), I really wanted something darker and lush.

The basing test mini - a Dark Ages archer from Gripping Beast

Well, after a long period of experimentation and research, this week I’ve finally settled on a basing solution which meets my needs, specifically.

lush and a richer green,
some subtle variation,
inexpensive to create,
easy to do in one application, and
easy to replicate and/or produce in bulk.

It’s a mixture (roughly 50/50 but with the grass more prominent) of Luke’s APS Mediterranean Soil and 2mm ‘Summer’ grass from Mininatur:

I like labelling.

I was glad to be able to make so much of it, and the process for its application is as follows (no surprises here, but I include it for completeness):

Bevel the edge of the miniature's plinth to its MDF base using paint-dyed filler (to start with, I used an old bottle of Games Workshop's 'Stirland Mud' textured paint) and allow to dry;
Carefully spread slightly diluted PVA/white glue over the base (I always find that rocks and textures adhere less well if the glue's too diluted);
Make a shallow trough in the basing mix and scoop the mix on, pushing it gently but firmly into place;
Turn the mini over upside-down and tap sharply to remove any excess mix -this also helps the static grass to 'stand';
Allow to dry…and later on, I look forward to supplementing this mix with various tufts and flowers I have kicking around - not least if any rocks come loose.

The finished articles:

I really do like labelling

Having spent waaaaaaay too long trying to settle on a lush, simple basing result that I’d be happy with for all of my Northern European ancients, I’m delighted to have mixed up a significant tub of the stuff.

Some saddle detail - some have Celtic curlicues drawn in fineliner too: