SAGA Welsh Army project WIP#6 - Skirmish bases tutorial

SAGA may be a skirmish game, but moving multiple miniatures en masse on the battlefield can be tedious, so I decided to buy some of these excellent 2p Sabot skirmish bases from Warbases.

Here's how I did them:

1. Apply texturing.
I use GOLDEN coarse pumice gel, this allows me to make an uneven surface, but allows me to apply ink directly to it once dry. I use a knife to apply the gel, scraping away any that falls inside the sabots.

2. Whilst the gel is drying, I apply various tufts in random locations. I use tweezers to remove the tufts from the backing and to press directly onto the surface.

3. Once the gel is dry, I apply a brown ink wash 

Again, you should try to avoid inking inside the sabots, as the ink will become the glue for flock. Make sure you get the brown as close to the roots of your tufts as possible.

This is the ink I used, Rowney FW Sepia.

Fully inked and ready for dipping.

4. Whilst the ink is still wet, dip in your dipping tray. Here's mine, made of normal flock, clump flock and  scenic leaves.

I bought the leaves from Atenociti's workshop. Far more than I'll ever need for a reasonable price. My friend bought the dead leaves, so we traded a small amount (in the bag).

So, pop your still-wet base in there

Then give the whole box a few shakes to randomly cover the wet bits

Yes, the base is in there.

 Pull it out, shake it off and voila.

You'll notice there are some brown bits, which is fine. After dipping, run around the edge of the base with your finger to clear unwanted flock. You may want to take any detritus from inside the sabots out with a knife edge too.

This process works on larger bases in the same way, but you may need to dip each edge separately and sprinkle some across the middle.

before

after

So, pretty easy to do. Here's how they all look. Finished units at the back, newer, unfinished to the right, and the empty ones are for the two units I need to make for my basic 6pt army.

The army so far

Expect finished Priodaur unit 2 in WIP #7.