December 6, 2011 by elromanozo
Video Sponsors: Infinity - Dark Age - Battle Foam
Romain takes a look at the content of the Basecrafts Autumn Basing Set and creates an Autumnal base to show it off.
Supported by (Turn Off)
Supported by (Turn Off)
Supported by (Turn Off)
Supported by (Turn Off)
1
Turner Miniatures Bringing Mighty 28mm Ships To Kickstarter
2
Grab Your New Sohei Warrior Monks From FireForge Games
1
Para Bellum Introduce A New Edition Of Conquest: First Blood
5
Wargames Atlantic 10mm Agincourt English & French Now Out!
3
Join The Space Troopers From Lafig Miniatures On Kickstarter
3
Join In! TerrainFest 2025 + The Plastic Crack Podcast Challenge
0
Add 6mm Peninsular War Terrain To Your Tiny Battlefields
1
Warp’s 3D Printable Clockwork Cavalry Ride Out On Patreon
0
Snap Up Wild West Exodus Christmas Minis This Month
1
Grab New Battlefleets & More For TTCombat’s Dropfleet Commander
1
Unleash The Queen’s Blade For Fantasy Game, Eldfall Chronicles
1
Returning Warhammer Miniatures Land On Boxing Day This Year
4
Elegant Killers & Next Wave Expansions For Infinity In 2026
2
Predators & Hardened Guards Come To Warcrow Next Year
5
Guild Ball Goes Digital Via New MyMiniFactory Store
1
Build Dark Age Armies & Take Part In Hastings960 Project!
5
Celebrate Gotrek & Felix With Special Edition Trollslayer Set
1
Indulgent Demons, Elementals & Ogres From Satyr Art Studio
0
The Scions Of Dagon Emerge For TTCombat’s Carnevale
1
Add New Home Guard To 1st Corps World War II Collection
1
Freebooter Miniatures’ Sci-Fi Game, Ascending Fate, Coming Soon!
5
Snag Some New MDF Ruined City Terrain From Warlord Games
0
Tickets Are Now Available For UK Games Expo 2026!
2
Don’t Miss Exclusive Dropfleet Commander Ships From TTCombat
3
The Mounties Join Street Scraps In The Chicago Way
8
Embrace Retro Sci-Fi With Hydra Miniatures’ 10mm Atomic Tank!
![Warcradle Studios Reveal TINY New 10mm Festive Marker! [Updated]](https://images.beastsofwar.com/2025/11/christmas-kyle-main-600-338.jpg)
2
Warcradle Studios Reveal TINY New 10mm Festive Marker! [Updated]
4
The Perrys Expand Their 28mm Ottoman Army Collection
2
Snatch Up Witches & Wanderers From Black Crab’s Kickstarter
1
Battle With New 28mm Space Amazons By Red Bard Games
My Basecrafts winter kit arrived yesterday, really top quality stuff and I’m surprised just how much stuff you get for £10. I may well be purchasing this one in the new year too.
Romain, have you or BoW done any tutorials on creating display bases? Something beyond the simple and venturing into a bit of modeling?
Romain has filmed how to make the bases that you see in these reviews… expect to see that in backstage soon.
Great review – thanks. Looks like a great selection if materials and fab price.
Very nice basing kits these. Awesome for adding a bit of flavour to a miniature. 🙂
The brownleaves pack really catches my eye. I got to take a look at the other choices they have on sale as well.
That red foliage is interesting – might be useful for alien vegetation as well as autumnal settings.
@elromanozo – This may sound harsh but…please work on those sign-off speeches. The amateur style fits Darrell but you’re still finding your feet I think. Still, the only way to improve is practice, and I’m very much in favour of more vids from you! 🙂
Great vid.
Just curious, why not paint the base burnt umber (or some other dark earth tone) rather than leave it black? I like the effects of your work, but in the areas where the coverage is thin, you can see the black plastic under the base? This is apparent at the edges as well.
I believe the leaves come from herbs, or are created by the same process that are used in creating dried herbs.
The primary material you used in the base – the Autumn Scatter, looks to me like material you would find mixed into, or on top of earth. I think personally I would mix it with maybe a bit of sand for the bottom layer, then just scatter some lightly on the top. This gives it a more realistic look, rather than something a landscaper put down in someone’s front yard.
My next basing project involves trying to make the mini’s look like they are marching through flames. If anyone has any suggestions, (I am hoping to avoid having to green sculpt each one) I would appreciate them.
I assure you it is only apparent at the edges. It’s the tone of the flock mixed with the glue that makes it shiny.
The leaves come from birch seeds (the male ones, I believe). The season is short, but the caterpillar-y inflorescences fall all at once, and you can gather and dry them… Or you can just save time and buy them from Basecraft instead of trying to find birch trees close to you.
As for realism, well, I’ve been in a few forests that had this kind of soil, bu you do what you want… Paint, flocks… This is just an example, very quickly put together with superglue (not even PVA glue, mind you) on a small base.
There’s also a Woodland set and a Desert set that will get reviewed soon… Mixing the sets together, you can have sand and soil mixes, and all sorts of nifty things !
BoW Romain
As for flames, you might have some measure of success (for small stuff) if you spread liquid green stuff, or Humbrol filler, or Vallejo plastic mastic, or Tamiya putty (semi-liquid putty) on whatever surface you need covered in flames, and slightly touch the putty with a sculpting tool and pull it up… It has that sort of consistency, when not too dry, that will allow you to “spike” it a little.
This may give you a base to work with, and let you make small flames here and there… But I think a base completely writhing in flames would be too much. You can sculpt larger flames with the shapes you want in any kind of hard putty.
I hope this helps…
BoW Romain
Wow, superglue eh? I can see why it gets shiny. No PVA in the studio?
BoW please buy Romain some PVA so he can base using the right glue.
Looking forward to the other sets. I’ve yet to see what the shipping to the US is for these, so for me that will be a factor.
Thanks for the suggestions on the flames. It will be a challenge to balance effect against sublty. Feora is the inspiration:
Now I don’t want every mini to have this much fire, but on the big Jacks I will have a lot more room to do the effect. Thanks again for your suggestions. Keep up the good work!
I like superglue… It’s quick, it bonds fine, and the base gets varnished afterwards anyway. Sure, it’s shiny, but that’s not always undesirable. Shiny, humid soil looks nice, IMHO.
You can use PVA if you have days ahead of you… But for small army bases, knowing they’ll all be varnished afterwards, superglue is perfectly fine.
For large areas of sand or powdery flock on terrain or train tracks, though, I find this method to be the best one :
– Prepare a mix of dishwashing soap and water (a little soap, not too much).
– Apply PVA glue on the large surface of terrain
– Apply a good coat of the sand
– Wet the sand/flock/gravel thingie completely with soapy water mix (let it be completely absorbed, but don’t soak the sand too much : liquid shouldn’t overflow
– Do another mix : 50% soapy water, 50% PVA glue.
– Put the mix in a spray bottle (the kind for watering plants… wash well before and after !)
– Spray liberally on the sand/stuff so as to saturate it.
– You can have several coats of sand, wet it in the same way.
– Wait a day or two for it to dry… It will be as hard as stone.
Oh, and for your flames, if you want it that thick, you may have to do several coats…
Thanks for the compliments, at any rate !
BoW Romain
Thanks once again for the technique. Will definitely be giving it a try.
I believe the leaves come from herbs, or are created by the same process that are used in creating dried herbs.
Nope, they are a natural product, (we distribute it by the Kilo or more) ¬_¬
could you use this for flames of war scale minis or would it look too big compared to the minis?
I think the leaves could be slightly too big… On teh other hand, the clump foliage would be perfect !
BoW Romain
thanks! i’ll definitely get the soil and some of the grass.
they’re too big for 15mm, you want something like our tri-colur camouflage leaves which is a lot smaller…there’s a tut~ here:
http://www.antenocitisworkshop.com/news/2011/01/15mm-camouflage-for-vehicles/
clump foliage is fine though as you cna break it down to any size you want. The light foam-scatter in these packs from basecrafts also works fine for most sizes other than 6mm and lower.
Looks like a nice set. Luckly I have a model railway shop near me, so I’m never short on basing materials.
Interestngly I must have got one of the first sets from Basecrafts as it didnt have the instructions or the nifty box. Not really a problem right enough and the materials contained within are really good.
The earlier kits came in bigger boxes because we had issues finding a box that was a good size, the new white boxes fit 10 mini-pots perfectly with just enough space to add a pigment pot.
Lately people have been ordering 2 kits, these go as individual boxes inside plastic envelopes, if someone orders 3 or more we generally send them out separately as its safer.
The instructions and “photo” are new and designed to give people ideas on what to do, we’ll be replicating these in much more detail on the website as time allows, at the moment were developing new ideas and products we think people will like.
Next up is a “highlands” basing kit (grass, meadows, rock, mini-tuffs), a new set of pigments, magnets, and resin bases (deep blanks good for use with the kits).
Happy to take suggestions for future kits/pots/products
Well, it’s bloody good work, that’s for sure. It’s hard to find the necessary ingredients in a large city, such as where I live ! I can’t spend time gathering mosses, lichens, twigs and seeds, I don’t have the room to leave them all to dry, and the results can be quite random.
I’d rather buy from you guys.
Any chance you’ll do a more supernatural set, with otherworldly looking things ? Or perhaps a kit to make your own trees ?
BoW Romain
For the highlands kit – hope it has some thistles.
Supernatural set is an interesting idea, also had a request for a battlefield set.
The tree’s i’ll look into, would probably require some different packaging for that one.
Man, these basing kits are amazing and affordable! Too bad they weren’t around earlier. I have already been making a autumn based army and it’s too late to re-base them but I am definitely interested in these kits for future armies. Quality stuff! Keep it up!