3 - Basing Two 6mm Armies

Robert Brown of Friar Barb's Painting Monastery writes:

Step 4 was to base the figures. Baccus furnished the armies already set up for DBA 25mm basing. This means that a Roman heavy infantry base would have 12 stands of figures. (Each Baccus stand (or strip) has 4 heavy/close order infantry or 3 medium/loose order infantry.)

I used thin metal stands of the appropriate DBA size, and glued the figures to the base using Zap adhesive (super-type glue).

Once the glue was dry, it was time to flock the base. I used Woodland Scenics' green turf mixture, and placed the turf in a shallow pie tin or baking pan. The flock was adhered to the metal bases using dark green paint - that way, if some of the flock comes off, you won't see the bare metal base. I brushed on the green paint, watering the paint down some, working the paint in-between the figure bases. I then placed the base in the pie tin containing the flock, and gently moved the base around in the flock material. Leaving the completed base in the pie tin, I completed 3-4 more bases as above. I then removed the first flocked base, turned it over so the excess flock would fall back into the tin, tapped the bottom of the base gently to further remove excess flock, cursed lightly when I dropped the base into the flocking tin (Doh!!) and then set the completed base aside.

Step 5 was to coat the figures with some type of protective coating. For this, I used Krylon Acrylic Matte Finish. This product is low odor, gives a matte type finish, and dries in about 30 minutes. And it is fairly inexpensive coming in at about $3 USD-$4 USD per can. I placed the bases of both armies (24 stands) on a flat surface (in this case, some scrap masonite) and sprayed with the matte finish. Inhaling deeply, I was transported back into time...to the 1st Century A.D....where men were men...where a lot of women were men...where every one was really hairy!!!

Coming to from my dog licking my face, I looked at the clock. Wow!!! From start to finish, the painting of two DBA 6mm armies took...survey says...4 hours, 26 minutes. (This included potty breaks.)

These pictures are taken with the 6mm armies placed on a boardgame map from one of the GMT Great Battles of History games.

(As a side note, I have played these games (SPQR, Caesar) using 6mm figures and the game maps. Also, I have played Clash of Arms' La Bataille tactical Napoleonic games the same way.)

In addition, if one is short of space, you can always use a game map and standard miniature game rules. For example, in the pictures above showing the Roman and Celt army on the boardgame map you could use, say, DBA and perhaps transpose inches into hexes. I have thought of building SYW armies for Clash of Arms' Battles of the Age of Reason tactical SYW/AWI games, too.

Next Time: Final Thoughts, and More Pictures!