Wayne bases his Gebirgsjäger

Gebirgsjäger team Wayne bases his Gebirgsjäger

For my small part in the next edition of The Art Of War I set about painting a Gebirgsjäger force based on the Website Intelligence Briefing on the 5. Gebirgsdivision in Italy. This is also the army I plan to use at the next New Zealand Flames Of War tournament in October. One of things we couldn’t quite fit into the book was how I based my miniatures. So here it is:
Test bases

Before I decided how I was going to base my army I spent a little time experimenting. The two bases shown are two variations on the same idea. One uses a darker basecoat on the base.
Test bases
Final base

I wanted rocky ground with patches of grass and weeds to represent the Gustav Line in the summer. I used some light brown and green tuffs, with a yellow-green static grass. In the end I used ideas from both test bases. The final version started with the darker base coat, but used the lighter colour for the base edging.

 

 

 

 

The bases 

Step 1.
Once I’d painted my infantry I glued them to bases. I usually score the Flames Of War plastic bases with a sharp knife to give the PVA glue I use something to key to. I then used filler to texture the base.

Step 1

Step 1

Step 2

Step 2

Step 2.
Next I glued on sand, kitty litter and other texture material to the base. I used a fine sand, the type you can get from an outdoor supply store for bedding paving.

Step 3.
Once the putty and glue was dry I painted the base with Burnt Umber (941).

Step 3

Step 3

Step 4

Step 4

Step 4.
I then dry-brushed on increasingly lighter browns. Darkest to Lightest: German Cam. Medium Brown (826), Desert Yellow (977), Dark Sand (847).
Step 5.
Rocks were painted with Khaki (988) highlighted with Stone Grey (884).

Step 5

Step 5

Step 6

Step 6

Step 6.
I then painted the edges of the bases with Flat Earth (983).

Once the paint was dry I added the vegetation. The tall grassy tufts are Silfor tufts in summer and autumn colours. These are glued down with PVA at the same time as the static grass, which is a colour I mixed up myself from several different brands.

Gebirgsjäger Platoon

Gebirgsjäger team

Gebirgsjäger team