a Load of Old Toby

King Richard I Lard Magazine 2023 - PartTwo Keeping it Simple My next dose of inspiration was reading about Richard I, marching his army through the desert at Arsuf in 1191. For this crusading army I obviously wanted to create the feel of marching through the Desert. But I was acutely aware that as with most deserts they can be plain sand. I could have just literally used sand and gone for the natural tone of light changes to make do, and there would be nothing wrong with that simple approach. But I wanted to give Richard and his army some real subtle elegance to his frame. In this instance I opted for trying to create small undulations in the land with the odd rock and tuft of grass to break up the flatness, while concentrating on letting inks do the majority of the painting for me. Coeur de lion For this style of base, I used household polly-filler to create small uneven surface over roughly 50% of the base. Then I superglued some small stones in place to break up the remaining fl...

Lard Magazine 2023 - Part One It’s all in the Base Chaos Regiment Tray & Bases The base upon which a miniature sit, for me is like the frame in which a canvas painting sits. It can be plain and simple, or even non-existent, and it won’t detract from the perceived quality of the picture however, a quality apt frame can add to the majesty of the work of art it supports. To that end, I aim to ensure my ‘frame’ is right for complimenting the art I want to create. Through learning from 30 years of experience I now start literally, from the ground up, by creating bases for my miniatures before I even paint one miniature.       My first major army I did this for was a Warhammer fantasy Chaos army. I needed a centre piece for this army to sit around and something I could apply the full extent of out painting abilities to. In this instance I wanted the look and feel a battlefield for the unit in question to stand upon, this was to give the added feel of devastation achieved by...