A way to make your figure stand out from crowd is to give it a dramatic base. I have had some requests to explain some of my techniques for making bases so what I'm going to show here are the steps I used to make a nice waterfall base. Please bear with me as I have no in-progress shots and must show the finished figure.

This type of base requires a bit of planning and some sculpting material to complete. The first step is to gather the materials.

Now we can run down the steps used to create the base. The concept for the base was to have worn, weathered rocks in a pattern seen in the Arizona deserts. The rocks there are often layered and stacked up on each other, leaving terraces that water can flow down. Arizona rocks also have nice reddish tones that work well with the colors of the lioness. The first step therefore was to create a nice slab of rock that the lioness could stand upon and would stack on and overhang the other rocks.

Step1. Creating a strong base with green stuff

A blob of greenstuff was shaped around the figure base flange (Fig.1). This is easy with GW figures and Confrontation and Reaper Warlord figures. Reaper Dark Heaven figures have a base already so you can either cover it over with greenstuff or cut it off. The blob was shaped on the sides and top with the sculpting tool, dipping in water regularly. The appearance of work rock was made by making horizontal cuts along the sides, with vertical cracks here and there. It is important to make the rock look irregular with no smooth rounded parts. This is set aside overnight to cure fully.

Figure 1. The base for the figure made from greenstuff epoxy putty (finished and painted).

Step 2. Making the main base

I chose to use a large monster base from Game Workshop, but a wood base works well here also. Super Sculpey was used here as it is cheap and does not cure until it is baked. The key to using it is to cover the base area with aluminum foil as Sculpey will stick to anything and is tough to scrub out of cracks. Cover the base area entirely and then apply the Sculpey across the whole area to the edges. To get the terraced effect, I made steps and used the sculpting tool to undercut them and make cracks. The waterfall starts in the top right, then curves around and down until reaching a pool at the bottom (Fig. 2). The greenstuff base was pressed against the Sculpey at the top to find the best overhang angle and to leave a depression so it could be attached later. The aluminum foil was then removed along with the Sculpey landscape and baked on a cookie sheet until it cured. The foil peels off easily when done baking. Voila! Nice level landscape that fits exactly on the base area and can be attached with super glue. To complete the base, the greenstuff and figure was attached on top with another blob of greenstuff and shaped as before so that it blends in with the rest.

Step 3. Painting and making water

All of the rock on the base was painted white. Alternatively, if the figure is not painted you could prime everything at once. Washes of color were used to get the weathered, natural look to the rock. The primary wash a mix of burnt sienna and burnt umber acrylic from tubes. Oil paints are great for this also. The burnt umber gives the dark color to the cracks and the sienna gives the reddish tone. Multiple washed were used to get varying shades. The rocks were then drybrushed with GW bleached bone, then a mixture of bleached bone and white. A final thin wash of burnt umber and sienna blended the colors together. Flock was added on top of the rocks to simulate a short turf growth. Static grass could also be used here, depending on the effect you want. I wanted a subtle touch of color so I went with the turf.

Figure 2. Terraced rocks with the greenstuff base attached on top.

The rocks of the waterfall were tinted with burnt umber, then a mixture of pthalocyanine blue and green (you could any dark blue and green optionally). The pool at the bottom was given a heavier wash of blue/green, with a final wash of burnt umber at the very bottom. The bottom should appear irregular, so you need to move the paint around a bit before it dries. The falls were created with small bits of monofilament fishing line cut and glued at the edge of the overhangs. Water was then added from the top of the falls by pouring some "Realistic Water", tinted with a bit of blue/green. It flowed down to the bottom pool and partially covered the mono line. The monofilament line formed a foundation that was built up using "Water Effects", which is just a clear acrylic gel medium. The "Water Effects" was also worked into the pool and running water on the rocks to create small ripples. When the water was dry, white paint was used to create the appearance of highlights and foam at all of the overhangs and in the pool. The pool ripples were crucial to the overall effect. Other areas where water would flow were touched up at this point with some gloss medium (Fig. 3).

Figure 3. The flow pattern on the rocks. Note the water coming off the side.