Tuesday, January 15, 2013

More Gauls/Celts

Another couple of stands of Warlord Games Celts painted last night so I can now do 4 large stands of Celts. I've also decided to change my basing slightly. Once the basing material (sand and small pebbles) are added to the Ancient German bases I undercoat them black them drybrush with dark then light brown paint. I also add swamps to the Germans using epoxy glue. The Celts I've decided to do slightly lighter in colour by not undercoating the base black and also by adding small rock piles rather than swamps. If I want to combine the two forces into a larger army the bases will look similar but not exactly the same but the difference shouldn't be too noticeable/glaring. 


To my mind basing is one of the most important aspects of the painting process. A good base should draw attention to the figures and lifts the overall level of the figures and makes  even average painting jobs look much much better. On the other hand poor basing actually detracts from the figures and lessens the overall impact.



Sand and base coat of brown added to the base. The "rocks" have been undercoated black then drybrushed with a dark grey and a light grey. I always use test pots from the local DIY store for bases. I decided to experiment with woad/tattoos on the central figure- I've also added a lot more striped pants for interest. I have experimented with doing check patterns and have almost mastered it but still aren't too confident doing checks but really should start adding more patterns to the next batch.
 Warlord Games Celt cavalry. Not my favourite miniatures but they'll do.

The finished product- I add static grass (but only grass 1/3- 1/2 the base at most- you need the base colours showing through to make it visually more interesting and to draw the eye to the base), then I add two or three Silflor autumn tufts followed by a clump each of white and yellow flower tufts (again for a bit of colour) and a couple of clumps of woodland scenics clump foliage for extra details. 



Craig

2 comments:

  1. Excellent basing there Craig! Could not agree more about your comments on basing adding to the overall visual appeal of it all.

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