swamp bases

[sronan]

I want to do swamp bases for my savage orcs and goblins. I am looking for help on two things.

1) what materials to use to make tall grass like Juncus (rushes) or Scirpus (bullrushes) species on a base.

2) what is the best method to make small patches of muddy water on the base.

Thanks for the help.

 

[Treacherous_1]

i personally havent been all that adventurous with my bases so i cant help you out on the mud effect. but you may find some of the artificial aquatic vegetation for fish tanks of some use for the tall grasses. they come in all variety of shapes and are relatively cheap. some are very fine, almost needle like leaves which maybe of some use.

 

[No Such Agency]

You can make rushes out of the bristles of a large, cheap brush (like a dollar store paintbrush). Maybe dipping the tips in white glue or something would give them a thing on the end like bullrushes? You can paint them too, with thinned paint and a steady hand... AFTER they\'re glued to the base.

 

[Nomis]

try a good model railway shop.

They have all sorts of vegetation available including long grass. I suppose this must be for the larger guage trains cause some of it would be over 6 foot tall in HO scale

 

[TobiWan]

I saw very nice swamp bases done by a guy named Coldren over at the Warmachine forums.

Here are some pics of his work:
- Group Shot
- Helljack front
- Helljack back

To do the rushes you need a top of butter box or another thin piece of plastic and a lighter.
Then you have to cut the plastic into thin stripes. Use the lighter to curve the plastic stripes.

Hope this helps. It certainly impressed me.

Have a nice day,
Tobi

 

[aon14]

Woodstain ( varnish ) is good for muddy water. Acrylic medium is good, with a bit of paint or ink for colouration. You can make your own by taking some johnsons klear and letting it stand (covered) in a n open container for a while. It\'ll become gel like eventually.

Bullrushes are easy.
Get some thin bristle.
You also need a piece of expanded polystyrene or a florist sponge or blu-tak to hold em whilst drying.
Squirt some PVA out in a blob
Dob the end of a bristle in the glue, make sure it\'s evenly coated.
Dip the bristle in sand or fine cork flock.
Place in stand to dry.
Repeat.

For big long grass leaves.
Paint both sides of a piece of paper with PVA.
let this dry.
Or buy 5 thou plasticard.
Cut into thinn-ish strips very carefully and gently if you chose plasticard.
Cut to a point...
You can fold over and cut multiple layers.
Paint light green.
Glue to base.
Damp brush a little sand (colour) on.
Lightly damp brush a little raw sienna onto the edges.

 

[Grumbold Ironbrow]

Originally posted by aon14

For big long grass leaves.
Paint both sides of a piece of paper with PVA.
let this dry.
Or buy 5 thou plasticard.
Cut into thinn-ish strips very carefully and gently if you chose plasticard.
Cut to a point...
You can fold over and cut multiple layers.
Paint light green.
Glue to base.
Damp brush a little sand (colour) on.
Lightly damp brush a little raw sienna onto the edges.

OK, I think I\'ve got what you\'re saying here, can you point us to an example to view. I\'m one of those folks that learn much better from pretty pictures....:duh:

Thanks,
Grumb

 

[MrMorden]

Hmm...

This thread reminded me of something I want to try...

Has anybody made some water or swamp bases, and cut their minis off somewhere below the knees, to make it look like they\'re wading through water or muck? If the water is shaded properly to look like water flowing around limbs, this could look VERY nice.

Anybody know of any examples of this?

Thanks!

 

[Aryanun]

Yarr, I got mesel\' a bit o\' dwarf...

Sorry, can\'t get out of that pirate speak... lol

I\'ve got an old Ral Partha dwarf on stilts I\'ve always wanted to try that with.

I\'m also trying to figure out how to make some papyrus stalks in miniature. Once I can figure it out, I\'ll post how I did it.

 

[sronan]

Thanks for all of the great advice.

MrMorden: In the Warhammer Annual 2003 there is an article about someone\'s Lizzardman army and they have skinks comming out of water bases. It looks pretty cool.

 

[Ebonbuddha]

I read somewhere...

Originally posted by sronan
I want to do swamp bases for my savage orcs and goblins. I am looking for help on two things.

1) what materials to use to make tall grass like Juncus (rushes) or Scirpus (bullrushes) species on a base.

2) what is the best method to make small patches of muddy water on the base.

Thanks for the help.

WHen GW released thier Nurgle Lord (mounted on a steed) there was an article about how they did the swamp base. I think they used epoxy and brown, or black ink. They also used plastic beads to simulate bubbles of swamp gass coming up.

 

[freakinacage]

i have used superhardgloss yacht varnish lately for a ruin that i sold on ebay. i have to say that it kicked ass for a lovely rusty/muddy puddle. trouble was, i put too much on in one go and it had a dimply affect on the surface. so i poured some clear epoxy over the surface ( which normally has a pinky colour but in small doses isn\'t too bad). et voila! lovely puddle.

you could also try adding some ink (dont use too much - you only need a TINY amount) to some pva.

as for the water moving around the legs effect. i think you will need patience and lots of layers of whatever you are using (pva/varnish etc) to build up ripples

as for the rushes, try using coir or brush bristles (as mentioned before).

 

[aon14]

Damn.
I wish this site\'d force you to log in BEFORE letting you write a reply rather than lose it for you and then tell you you should have signed in.

Anyhow.
My terrain using paper leaves is at the wargames club, so no pics.

I\'ve seen PVA go mouldy and it\'ll definitely go white if stored in damp conditions or you get it wet.

With varnish you need to paint thin coats. If you pour the varnish on, it\'ll take forever to dry.

You can use paper leaves for stuff like banana leaves as well. Fold and glue a stem of stretched sprue into the fold.
Use the end of the stretched sprue where it gets thicker as this is what stems usually do and why wire looks a bit odd.