"V&B Basing" Topic

I'm working on a new army for Volley and Bayonet, and the large bases are giving me issues.

The bases are 2mm MDF, 3 inches x 1.5 inches with 12 large 15mm infantry on each one.

What do you suggest using as basing cover for such large pieces of MDF ? (My experiments with static grass have always gone wrong)

It needs to be something I can buy easily in the uk.

TIA

Use fine sand. Once that dries, wash then dry brush, a tuft of static grass here and there.

I have 10 or 12 15mm Napoleonics on 2"x2" bases for V&B (play at 2/3 scale) and found the best basing option is to mix up some silver sand, fine model railway flock, white glue and some earth coloured paint.
Get the consistency of soft butter and push it around (not over) the figure bases with an old paintbrush handle.

Fills the gaps between the figures and already has a colour so no need to then try getting some paint in there also. Drybrush pale sand colour over the outer parts of the base and then a few clumps of static grass.

I used a method similar to vtsaogames but with a medium grade model railroad ballast which I painted. It does a better job hiding the 15mm miniature bases than sand and the texture is fuller than using sand.

I also applied blobs of static grass with one of those magnetic shakers which cause the static grass to stand perpendicular to the base. It looks great but the shaker will run you some money. If you do this I suggest magnet sheets on the bottom of the base before you apply the static grass. I think it increases the polarity and the shaker works better.

One more: I currently apply Golden coarse molding paste with a small paint knife. When dry paint and then apply some static grass.

Filer paste mixed with some green paint and drop of black paint. This is applied around and onto the bases to get rid of their edges.

Then dress the base in whatever your favourite technique is. I do a dry brush of the paste and then apply some PVA here and there and flock / grass onto it.

If you mix earth-coloured paint with the modelling paste, you can save a step (I usually use raw umber or bronze yellow for temperate or semi-desert respectively).

I'd make sure that your figures could be easily removed at a later date – I(and a friend) had based all our AWI and ACW figs for V&B, and then when playing interest in the rules dried up in our area, we were left to "cracking" the miniatures off the stands to be rebased to more flexible/conventional mounting systems. I use fun foam, flexible magnetic sheet, and a rubber-like based glue for all my figure mounting now – so if I need to rebase anything later, I can do it more easily in the future.

Stick the figures on to the MDF base with contact adhesive.

Woodflex (TM) the base. You will get get a nice texture. You will need to wet it slightly as you apply it.

Then paint it brown

then dry brush ochre

then use dabs of milk consistency PVA to selectively apply sand. Choose your shade from the lizard tank section of Pets at home

then apply patches of pva for green flocking/tufts etc.

then apply

I have been basing up old Airfix and Lucky Products figures for use in V&B AWI games. I guess this would count as small 20mm, and I try and base a dozen or so figures on each.

I have used a couple of different techniques for basing – including the dreaded static grass (I have had a few fails with it too!), but I have been pleased with my results using standard railway flock:

Hessians on my blog

I have also used a brush on artists medium that I paint and then put a wash on. I have used this basing technique on the barn:

Barn on my blog

I've also made a few stands with contoured bits of MDF to give a bit more depth to the stand:

WIP stands on my blog

And here is one I have finished:

Mohawks on my blog

I hope this may prove of interest,

Cheers,

Brian

I glue the minis down, and then cover the entire base with thinned PVA glue. Next, I use some Woodland Scenics Talus and sprinkle it on by hand, then tap off the excess. Just a few sprinkles do the job.

The I sift Woodland Scenics fine ballast all over the base. let it set for a moment, then turn the base over and tap off the excess. Let it dry for 24 hours, then paint it with a thinned ochre or golden brown color. The thinned paint will cover everything well, but also let the darke grey ballast show through as a sort of greyish/greenish color. You can drybrush if you like, add tufts here and there, but I leave mine plain. You can but Woodland Scenics materials, or similar products at any shop that stocks model railroading materials.

Here's a pic of some Greek skirmishers with that style of basing. The base is 3mm mdf from Litko and is 120mm X 60mm, so similar in size to your V&B bases.

I use Flexible Wood Filler (Dark) from Wilko. Comes in tubes or 1Kg tubs. It's brilliant stuff, like a pre-coloured polyfilla and although "dark" it dries to a light brown colour. You can dry brush it if you want or just add flock and tufts as per your personal tastes.