Basing Guide

The step everyone
rushes past.

Basing takes 10 minutes per squad and multiplies how good your army looks. A well-painted model on a plain grey plastic base looks unfinished. The same model on a textured, highlighted base looks like it belongs in a world. This guide covers everything you need to get it right.

Why basing matters more than you think

When you look at a miniature on the table, your eye doesn't just see the model — it sees the model in context. The base is that context. It tells your brain where the model exists: a muddy battlefield, a ruined cityscape, an alien desert, corrupted ground. Without it, the model floats.

More practically: consistent basing is what ties an entire army together. Ten Space Marines with different paint quality levels still look like a cohesive force if they're all on the same style of base. Basing is the glue that makes an army look like an army, not a collection of models.

10 min

Per squad with the simple method

3×

Visual improvement vs. bare plastic base

1 style

Across your whole army — consistency wins

What you need

You don't need much. The texture paint does most of the work — everything else is finishing and detail.

Essential

Texture paint (your base style choice)

~$10–12

GW's texture paints are thick, pre-mixed, and apply straight from the pot. One pot covers dozens of bases. More on choosing one below.

Essential

Drybrush + highlight paint

Already have these

The same drybrush from your painting kit. You need one color lighter than your texture paint to drybrush highlights over the texture.

Essential

Superglue

Already have this

For attaching tufts and any larger rocks or debris.

Essential

Static grass tufts

~$6–10

Pre-made tufts on small backing paper — peel and stick (with superglue). Army Painter and Gamers Grass make great ones. Buy a mix of green, brown, and dead grass.

Essential

Abaddon Black for the rim

Already have this

Paint the edge (rim) of every base black. Takes 30 seconds and looks massively more finished.

Optional

PVA glue + fine sand

~$5

Optional but adds natural texture variety. Apply PVA, dip in sand, let dry, then paint.

Optional

Small rocks or gravel

Free (outdoors)

Real small rocks from outside, rinsed and dried. Superglued to bases before texture paint for natural-looking rubble.

Choose your base style — and commit to it

Pick one style and use it across your entire army. Consistency matters more than complexity. These are the most popular options with exact GW texture paint recommendations.

Rocky Ground

Easiest

Best for: Space Marines, Necrons, Aeldari, Tau

The most versatile base — works for almost any faction. Dark grey stone texture with lighter grey highlights reads as rocky terrain universally.

Texture: Astrogranite DebrisDrybrush: Administratum GreyTufts: Green/dry grass tufts

Sandy Desert

Easiest

Best for: Astra Militarum, Tau, Necrons, Orks

Light tan texture with bone highlights. Reads as desert, dry plains, or alien dunes. Fast to apply and the highlights are very forgiving.

Texture: Armageddon DustDrybrush: Ushabti BoneTufts: Dry/dead grass tufts — sparse

Muddy Battlefield

Easy

Best for: Astra Militarum, Death Guard, Orks, CSM

Dark brown textured mud — perfect for war-torn battlefields. Battlemire has a shinier, wetter finish. Great for grimdark armies.

Texture: Stirland Mud or Stirland BattlemireDrybrush: Baneblade BrownTufts: Green or autumn tufts

Urban Rubble

Medium

Best for: Space Marines, Chaos, Adeptus Mechanicus

Concrete and rubble. Add small bits of sprue or cork as broken masonry before the texture paint. Two drybrush passes for depth.

Texture: Astrogranite or Mechanicus Standard Grey baseDrybrush: Celestra Grey then Ulthuan GreyTufts: Urban tufts, debris, broken masonry

Corrupted/Nurgle

Easy

Best for: Death Guard, CSM (Nurgle), Tyranids

Apply mud texture, let dry, then pool Nurgle's Rot in depressions and cracks. The green slime spreading through the ground ties directly to the Death Guard models above.

Texture: Stirland Mud + Nurgle's Rot poolsDrybrush: Deathworld ForestTufts: Dead grass, minimal — the ground is dying

Alien/Xenos

Easy

Best for: Tyranids, Necrons, Aeldari

Standard grey texture with a colored drybrush — purple over grey makes instant alien boneyard, teal makes alien mineral terrain. One unexpected color choice transforms the whole look.

Texture: Astrogranite + any accent color drybrushedDrybrush: Any non-natural color — purple, teal, redTufts: Unusual colors — purple, blue tufts if available

The standard process

Eight steps. Works for any style. Takes about 10 minutes per squad once you're comfortable.

1

Decide your style before you start your first model

Pick a base style and stick with it for your entire army. It's very hard to change later. Write it down if you need to — which texture paint, which drybrush color, which tufts.

2

Paint the base rim black first

Before any texture goes on — paint the side edge of the base with Abaddon Black. It's much easier to do before the model is fully finished, and you'll always need to touch it up otherwise.

3

Apply texture paint to the base surface

Use an old brush or the end of a palette knife. Apply a consistent, roughly 2–3mm thick layer over the base — right up to the model's feet but not over them. Don't worry about perfect coverage, small gaps are fine.

⚠ Too thick and it takes ages to dry and cracks. Too thin and the texture disappears. Aim for consistent depth, not maximum thickness.

4

Let it dry completely

Texture paints take 20–40 minutes to fully dry. Rushing this is how you get fingerprints in your beautiful texture. Walk away.

5

Drybrush the texture

Load your drybrush with the highlight color, wipe most of it off, then drag lightly across the texture surface. The paint catches on raised grit and edges, creating instant highlight. Two light passes is better than one heavy pass.

6

Add any optional extras

Small rocks, pieces of cork, broken bits — if you want them. Superglue them before the texture paint and the texture paint covers the base of each rock naturally. Or add after — both work.

7

Apply tufts last

Put a small dot of superglue on the base where you want a tuft. Wait 10 seconds for it to get slightly tacky, then press the tuft down firmly for 10–15 seconds. Slightly tacky superglue grips better than fresh.

8

Touch up the base rim

A final pass of Abaddon Black on the rim, cleaning up any texture paint that got on the sides. Takes 20 seconds and makes everything look finished.

Common basing mistakes

✗ Inconsistent basing across the army

Write down your exact basing recipe before you start the first model. Which texture paint. Which drybrush color. Which tufts. How many tufts per base. Consistency is more important than quality — ten simply-based models that all match look better than ten individually creative bases.

✗ Forgetting to paint the rim

The rim (edge) of every base should be black. Bare grey plastic or bare resin bases stand out badly on a table. It takes 30 seconds. Do it every time.

✗ Applying texture paint over the model's feet

Texture paint on the feet looks terrible and is nearly impossible to remove cleanly. Apply right up to the feet, not over them. Use a cocktail stick to push texture into tight gaps.

✗ Too many tufts

One or two tufts per 25mm base, two or three on 32mm. Covered-in-grass bases look like carpet samples, not terrain. Sparse is more realistic.

✗ Drybrushing too heavily

The highlight drybrush should be subtle — you want to see the darker texture underneath with lighter edges, not a uniformly bright surface. Two very light passes beat one heavy pass.

✗ Basing before the model is finished

Texture paint drips onto your model. Tufts get knocked off during painting. Base last, always — after all painting is done, including varnishing if you use it.

Going further — when the basics aren't enough

Water effects

Intermediate

Vallejo Water Effects or Realistic Water poured into depressions in textured bases creates convincing puddles, pools, and streams. Apply in thin layers, let each cure.

Cork rocks

Easy

Wine corks pulled apart in layers create convincing rock and cliff textures. Superglue chunks to the base, paint with Mechanicus Standard Grey, drybrush with lighter grey. Free and fast.

Snow effects

Easy

Valhallan Blizzard or Citadel's Snow texture paint applied over a dark base. Dab on in irregular patches — too neat looks fake. Great for Space Wolves and Valhallan Guard.

Lava bases

Medium

Black base, add cork cracks, paint cracks with yellow → orange → red gradient, pool Mordant Earth technical paint in between for a cracked lava effect. Dramatic and striking.

Laser-cut inserts

Easy

Pre-cut resin or MDF base inserts with detailed texture (cobblestones, alien terrain, hive city floors). Buy them, prime them, paint them. Zero effort, professional result.

OSL on bases

Advanced

If your model has a glowing element (Necron gauss, Tyranid bioluminescence), add a faint glow of that color to the base around the model's feet. Ties the model and base into one coherent piece.

Ten minutes. Every model.

Pick one style, commit to it, apply it to everything. Six months from now you'll have an army that looks like it belongs somewhere — not just a collection of figures on grey plastic.

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