When we started the Iron Dice blog my first few articles was about my German Heer Grenadier/ Volksgrenadier force. It was my most recent project at the time and I felt I could have a lot of things to write about. One of my first ideas was to make a winter basing tutorial. For the project I searched high and low for a straightforward wintery tutorial (ok maybe I was being picky as there are a lot of good ones out there). Travis from Tabletop CP did a great, easy, and effective tutorial in a video series revolving around making winter terrain. This is my rendition of his work found in the third part of the series. As I was not modeling deep snow and wanted dirt showing around the snow, I added two additional ground colors to add some more depth to the mud.

I started off with a nice inexpensive craft paint from Craftsmart. Using craft paint keeps the cost down if you are planning on making terrain that matches the bases. I got this 2 oz bottle from my local Michaels store for $0.99. Chocolate Brown is a nice cool brown which I think reads as a good base for cold mud. I like to water the paint down slightly so it soaks into the nooks and crannies of the basing material.

The first drybrush layer is Vallejo Model Color Tan Earth. I applied a light drybrush layer to give the mud a little depth. Don’t overdo this step as it can easily overpower your chocolate brown base.

I picked out larger rocks with a gray of your choice. This gives a bit more contrast and interest to your base. You can use a cool gray but I liked the little bit of pop the warmer VMC Medium Gray 70.987 gives.

After the rocks are picked out a quick light drybrush of Army Painter Spaceship Exterior gives a nice appearance of frost on the ground. Use multiple light passes to work up to your desired effect.

The next step is to paint the base rims with black. Your rim color of choice will work as well. I feel the black gives a nice clean finish.

Using Vallejo Snow Ground Texture make some full snow spots but leave earth showing in spots on the base. An old paintbrush can be used to add light spots of snow to simulate mud and stirred up snow. This effect can be achieved by loading a little of the texture on the brush and using it as a heavy dry brush. I like to put a little on the bottom of the model’s boots as if snow was trapped in the tread or bottom of the boot.

I place plants at the same time I lay the snow effects down. This allows the plants to be blended into the snow as they would in nature. It would look off of there were little mud rings around the base of each plant. As a bonus the snow product helps cement the foliage in place. I place a dab of super glue on the bottom of the plants for a quick bond to the base. Typically, you would expect to see dead or dormant plants during winter.

I chose Army Painter Frozen Tufts and various Gamers Grass Beige tufts for the Volksgrenadiers. I also dab a small amount of the ground effect snow onto the foliage to tie it into the rest of the base.

The last step is done while the ground texture is still wet. Take a pinch of Army Painter’s Battlefield Snow and sprinkle it on the base. The wet ground texture will fix the lightweight snow in place. The Battlefield Snow simulates a fresh crisp snowfall.

I didn’t exactly reinvent the wheel with this tutorial but I figured I should add how I did the bases for completeness’s sake. Please be sure to check out Travis’s channel, Tabletop CP, on Youtube. He has a lot of amazing content on his channel. I found this to be a simple way to take my winter bases to the next level. I hope it gives you some inspiration or a place to start your own frozen bases.

Paints and Materials Used

Army Painter

• Spaceship Exterior
• Frozen Tufts
• Battlefield Snow

Gamers Grass

• Beige 4mm Wild Tufts
• Beige 2mm Wild Tufts
• Beige 2mm Small Tufts
• Beige 2mm Tiny Tufts

Vallejo

• Tan Earth 70.874
• Medium Grey 70.987
• Black 70.950
• Ground Effect Snow

Craft Smart

• Chocolate Brown