What’s up, Wargamers?! MadDog here with a cool new monthly theme, ‘WIP (work in progress) Wednesdays’! Tonight, I’m going to show you my latest model that I’m have a LOT of fun with. The part of this that I’m most proud of is the base. Here’s how I started.

Whenever I start a new model that I’m going to put a lot of time and effort into, I like to use my airbrush to spray on the primer. I use Vallejo Gray primer and then wash it with a black wash, usually Citadel’s Nuln Oil. Any black wash I have at hand works though. I do this to help me lay down my base coats and get a better feel for the model.

Once the base coats were down on the model, I started to base. I had a really cool idea for this specific base and I couldn’t wait to start! Typically I won’t base the model until it’s finished or very close to being finished. As this model is ‘jumping’ forward off of a pile of old blocks, I decided to go for an overgrown ruins look for the base. So I put down Citadel’s Stirland Mud technical paint for the base, I added hobby bricks and applied a heavy dose of brown wash.

In order to make the base feel more organic, I added some cat tails and re-applied stirland mud. This gives the appearance of the plants growing out of the base as opposed to sitting on top of it.

Once the wash dried, I lightly drybrushed three different shades of brown, starting with a shade that was just a little bit brighter than the actual base. Then, bringing up the highlights of the mud, I went higher with the other two shades. This gives an effect that brings depth to any base.

After the drybrushing, the final part was the grass. Here, I simply used PVA glue to apply two different shades of green flock, starting with the darker shade on the bottom. After that, I used some hobby tufts to add in an appearance of some of the overgrowth being dead grass.

Everything is coming together very well with this model and I’m having so much fun with it. All that’s really left with this model is some final detailing to the Viking himself.

Share what you’re working on, wargamers! Let’s see your next Crystal Brush entries!

Until next time, MadDog out!