A basic guide to urban basing

Chew stogie, fire boltgun...

Since Warhammer 40,000 8th edition was released in June 2017, I've been slowly working on redoing my Imperial army - as well as starting a Nurgle force and looking at an Eldar one. One element I have been doing to unite the forces is themed basing - in particular, going with a ruined urban base look.

The technique is one that I learned from a friend of mine back in my days as part of the Sheffield Irregulars - he was painting units up to sell on eBay, and all the units he did used this approach. One of the things we did at events was talk people through how to make these bases, which is also where I learned it.

The one downside with doing these bases is they do take a little time to make - and if you're doing an army like Imperial Guard, Tyranids or Orks it can be tricky to justify the effort across so many models. Part of the reason it has taken me over a year to paint up a 30-man unit of Conscripts was putting off doing the bases for the last ten.

Overall, though, making these bases is a fun process, and you can get quite a bit of variety with some simple components.

Building the Bases

Step 1 - Select your base

In this case, I'm basing a Poxwalker, so I'm making use of the 25mm base he came with. Clean up the point where it attached to a sprue on the edge, if required, and make sure the top is flat - the bases with a divot in them as an injection site may need a little spike trimming with a knife and file.

Step 2 - Prepare your miniature

Most of the models I use this basing style on come with a tab on their feet - this needs to be carefully removed, and a file used to ensure the bottom of the feet is flat. Ideally, the miniature needs to be able to stand up on its own.

Step 3 - Adding plasticard

The next step is to add a piece of plasticard to the base. This isn't mandatory, and some models work without it, but as a general rule I'll add a piece as a contact area for the miniature's feet. For a 25mm base, I'll take a segment of plasticard 20mm wide, and use the model to estimate how deep the strip will need to be. Use poly cement to glue it to the plastic base. Keep the model to hand, as you will need to make sure that any elements you add to the base don't get in the way of adding the model to the base.

Step 4 - Details

This step is where you can raid your bits box to add material to the bases. For most of mine, I use a piece of brick (cut down from a doll house brick) and some concrete rubble (from a tub of "concrete" rubble I got from Gale Force 9). However, you can use anything thematic from your bits box to add interest - skulls from the Citadel Skulls box work quite well. Depending on the thing you're using, use superglue or poly cement to attach the pieces to the base.

Step 5 - Building height

The obvious problem from the previous step is that the plasticard, brick and concrete don't blend in very well. To solve this, I use a medium ballast from Gale Force 9, using PVA glue to stick it to the base. I wouldn't necessarily glue it to the whole of the lower section of the base, but that is an option.

Step 6 - Finer texture

The one problem following the previous step is how rough the texture is. To balance this out, adding finer surface texture, I apply sand over the top of the ballast, as well as on any areas I haven't glued the ballast down on. In my case, I'm using some bird sand I got from a pet shop, but any sand should do.

Step 7 - Sealing texture

PVA doesn't give the strongest bond, especially if you're going to be drybrushing the surface - which we will be. To help with this, I apply a layer of watered-down PVA glue over the top of the sand and ballast. This can take a little while to dry, but I find it makes the bases more resilient.

Step 8 - Attach the miniature

An obvious step, but one which is needed - if you're using a plastic model, use poly cement to glue the model down. If working with a metal or resin model, I'd advise pinning the model to the base, not just relying on a super glue bond alone.

Step 9 - Final texture

Finally, we need to add some texture to the surface of the plasticard (along with large sections of concrete on larger bases). To fix this, I use some Vallejo Sandy Paste around the model's feet, taking care to avoid getting it on the miniature – this also works on the top of larger segments of concrete.

Painting the Base

Step 1 - Undercoat

As a general rule, I normally undercoat with Citadel Chaos Black spray. Of course, I'm painting a Poxwalker here, so I used Citadel Corax White spray. Regardless of undercoat, the paint approach is the same. If coverage is a little patchy on the base, I'm not overly worried about it.

Step 2 - "Base" coat

First step on painting the base is P3 Cryx Bane Highlight. I tend to use two thinned coats, in order to give a solid base of colour to work with.

Step 3 - Highlighting

...and here is where we enter Drybrush City. To highlight the base, I use two drybrushes - a reasonably heavy drybrush of P3 Trollblood Highlight, followed by a lighter drybrush of P3 Sickly Skin.

Step 4 - Details

This is where your colour choice will be determined by what details you added to the base. In this case, I've just got my brick to pick out. My choice of colour for them is P3 Skorne Red. If you've added pieces from your bits box, use whatever colours are appropriate.

Step 5 - Shading

To shade the base, I use a reasonably heavy wash of Citadel Agrax Earthshade - it tints the highlights, and gathers in the recesses. Welcome to the grime of a ruined cityscape...

Step 6 - Tidy up

Final thing is to tidy up the base, especially the outer rim. As I'd used a white undercoat, I first painted on a layer of Warcolours Black Undercoat, followed by a pass with Citadel Abaddon Black. If I'm using a black undercoat spray, I just need to use the Abaddon Black layer.

Step 7 - Paint your model

The bases look better with a painted model on top, I assure you.