Space Marine Bases!

After a lot of turmoil, I'm finally settled on a base theme:

These are Ruined Temple bases by Secret Weapon Miniatures. I also got some of their Flagstone bases to give them a shot, but the Ruined Temple ones look better in my opinion. Not as medieval, and the two color scheme is just the right amount of color. Colorful flagstone is too colorful, whereas a uniform stone color would look boring.

With that said! This color scheme took forever to develop and settle on. At one point I had all 10 bases painted but each one differently, as well as some flagstone bases too. And some of those were repaints after other failed attempts!

This is also the first time I did two brush blending. Look it up online, but it's a technique for making sure glazes blend smoothly into the surface as opposed to covering up perfectly. See the browns on some of the gray parts above? That's how I achieved that effect.

Here's the recipe I used:

• Prime in black
• A few coats of Eshin Grey, sides and bottom too, until the color is uniform.
• Light drybrush in Greystone, all over.
• Light drybrush in Fenrisian Grey, but spotty. Not uniform in intensity, and only apply it a little bit here or there.
• Light drybrush in Ushabty Bone, also spotty. These two drybrushes are there to create "warm" and "cold" areas of the base.
• For the parts that are going to be yellowish, wash them using Seraphim Sepia, not applying too much wash. When it dries, repeat a second time.
• The rest, wash in Nuln Oil just once.
• Go back and drybrush lightly using Fenrisian Grey and Ushabti Bone, applying some Ushabti bone over the yellow parts a bit stronger than before.
• Here and there, apply blotches of Agrax Earthshade and immediately spread the wash around with a second, wet brush, until the bloch is a smooth brown gradient. Apply this as a glaze, not as a wash; you don't want it to pool anywhere. If it starts to pool, spread it around with the wet brush.
• Do that one more time.
• Light drybrush in Ulthuan Grey to bring out the greys, and a Ushabti Bone/White mix to highlight the yellows
• Repaint the sides of the base in Eshin Grey to neaten it up.

I wrote this list for your benefit as much as mine, because I'm sure to forget by the time I get to painting another set.

Before I wrap this up, I'll attach some work in progress pics I was taking while experimenting. With that, thanks for looking!