Painting ruin-style bases easily

Hi all,

Thought I'd do a quick post showing you how I paint up my bases. This is a very easy process using a minimal palette and really only drybrushing as a technique. The effects are simple but striking and very quick to do.

These bases are from Adelaide based company Back 2 Base-ix, who make an amazing range of hobby related products - check out their website here. Their resin bases are very well detailed, very well cast and very affordable. These bases are from their Ruins range. The one below is a 60mm base, but this same technique applies for all sizes. Likewise, this technique would work on any dirt, slate, rock, concrete, rubble themed base you might have.

So the base is undercoated in black. The dirt is given a coat of Vallejo's Game Colour Extra Opaque (VGC EO) Heavy Sienna, and the ruins are given a coat of VGC EO Heavy Charcoal.

I then finish the ruins first, then do the dirt. This is because getting any brown from drybrushing onto the ruins simply looks like more dirt, whereas grey on the dirt looks a little strange. So the next step is to cover the tiles of the ruins and the main surfaces of the ruins in a mix of 1:1 VGC EO Heavy Charcoal and Vallejo Game Colour (VGC) Cold Grey. Leave the Heavy Charcoal in the deepest recesses and between the tiles.

Give the ruins a drybrush of pure VGC Cold Grey.

Give the ruins a final light drybrush of VGC Wolf Grey.

Now onto the dirt. The first drybrush for the dirt is with VGC EO Heavy Brown.

The next drybrush is with VGC Bone white.

Finally, a wash of Army Painter Soft Tone ink (a light brown ink) is given to the dirt.

That's it! Add some static grass or grass tufts for a more dynamic effect once the base is finished - I'll add some pics showing this soon.

Flesh Tearer Sanguinary Guard

Okay, the last of my completed Flesh Tearer models, for now (Assault Terminators are nearly done), the mighty Sanguinary Guard.

These models were converted and modeled by PaganFoam from my designs. As you can see, he did a fantastic job. The Banner Pole had to be an icon to reflect the barbaric nature of the Flesh Tearers - a renaissance style banner is okay for the Blood Angels, but it seemed logical that the Flesh Tearers would have a totem pole, probably constructed on the battlefield.

The piece is another resin casting from Chapterhouse Studios. These are their vehicle icons for the Flesh Tearers, but I am using them mainly as banner icons.

The colour scheme came about from a desire to distance myself from the golden angelic look of the Games Workshop colour scheme. That scheme suits the Blood Angels, but the Flesh Tearers need to be dark and sinister, and I thought the death masks suited this look perfectly, which is why the whole squad has the, I used the basic pallet of the Flesh Tearers - Red, black and white to make sure there was some unity in the army, while stil giving these guys the unique scheme that they deserve.

This was my first attempt at primarily drybrushing a Marine model. The black armour and wings were drybrushed, while the otehr details were done in a more traditional hilighting. I wanted the look of the armour to be statue-esque, and I thought drybrushing would give the best result here.

These models were also the first I painted to use Army painter ink washes extensively. Quite simply, these washes are superb, easily the best on the market. Buy some immediately, they will improve and speed up your painting no end.

Flesh Tearer Bikes

I've always loved the Space Marine Bike models, and the Attack Bike. These models are some of the oldest Marine models I own, going way back to when they were first released in the mid 90s.

The Flesh Tearer icons on the fenders were made using Greenstuff. I am no modeller, using greenstuff is something I've always struggled with. There's a trick to it, which I haven't learnt yet.

I had the work done by a user named PaganFoam, check out his youtube channel here: www.youtube.com/user/PaganFoam/ I don't know if he is still doing painting/modelling commsions, but I'm sure he'll be accommodating if you contact him.

Some more modelling work of his is seen in the Sanguinary Guard models.

 

Flesh Tearer Assault Marines

Alrighty, it wouldn't be a Blood Angels successor chapter if there wasn't Assault Marines. Now, I like Assault Marines, but I think they are over-represented in BA and BA-successor lists. Just because you can select them as troops, doesn't mean you always should. The most important thing for me about an army is its visual appeal and impact on the table, and so a mix of Assault and Tac Marines is a must. I couldn't imagine a Space Marine army without Tac Marines.

Anyway, here are some of the jumpy fellows:

Flesh Tearers Tactical Marines

First up, let's have a look at my Warhammer 40,000 army, the Flesh Tearers.

This is a constant work in progress. I paint this army primarily for enjoyment, as I rarely play 40K anymore.

Let's have a look at some Tac Marines first.

The shoulder pads are from Games Workshop, and have a sculpted Flesh Tearer icon. The resin bases are from Back 2 Base-ix, ( www.http://www.back2base-ix.com/ ) an awesome Australian company that sell of all manner of Wargaming accessories. Their resin bases are stunning and are also incredibly cheap - 10 x 25mm round bases like you see here sell for A$6.95

The backbanner icon you can see on the Sergeant is a resin piece from Chapterhouse Studios ( http://chapterhousestudios.com/ ) - more on them later.

The colour scheme is based on a deep red, not the typical red-gore colour that produces a more browny-red that is often associated with the Flesh Tearers. I like the deep red better.