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MODELLING·WHITE DWARF 513

Mound of Skulls (and Snow)

June 2025·p. 14

THE SHORT VERSION

Slate gives this snowy hero base height, Citadel skulls supply its trophy mound, and several texture paints create the uneven surface before it is painted as cracked ice. Cool transparent blues over white contrast with warm bone, while gloss reinforces the frozen areas and Valhallan Blizzard supplies the snow. The example shows how familiar basing materials can be repurposed through colour rather than used only for their usual earth effects.

AT THE PAINTING DESK

Paints in this article

Every named colour below is searchable across the archive.

Agrellan EarthAstrograniteMartian IronearthValhallan BlizzardWhite ScarFrostheartContrast MediumKroxigor ScalesArdcoatUshabti BoneSkeleton HordeAgrax Earthshade

Only paints explicitly named in this feature are indexed.

EXPLORE RELATED TOPICS

Basing Modelling techniques

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Find this article in White Dwarf 513, p. 14.

This is an original summary. Refer to your magazine for the complete article, rules, images and painting steps.

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ModellingWD 513 · pp. 12–15

Hobby Hangout: Basing Inspiration

Dan argues that a base should establish where a miniature belongs and suggest an event beyond its pose. Six worked environments use spare terrain, cork, sprue, coffee stirrers, slate and modelling putty to turn ordinary bases into small scenes. An accompanying reader question explains Kieran’s softly glazed and weathered Knight-Errant armour, showing how subdued colours and streaks can support a convincing setting.

Warhammer 40,000Age of Sigmar8 paint colours
June 2025Read summary
ModellingWD 513 · p. 13

Urban Desolation

A daemon-ravaged Imperial street is built from clipped Sector Imperialis fragments, with texture heaped around the rubble so the masonry appears partly buried. A dying Space Marine from Be’lakor’s base remains an optional narrative focal point. The paint sequence works from a dark undercoat through grey and white drybrushing, using brown and black washes to break up the ruins and reinforce accumulated grime.

Warhammer 40,0008 paint colours
June 2025Read summary
ModellingWD 513 · p. 13

Into the Gutters

Inspired by Callis & Toll and Mordheim, Dan makes a cramped city gutter from sprue-cut cobbles, raised cork and a drain cover from the Void War Basing Kit. A sliced paintbrush protector becomes the channel leading into the drain. Separate washes give individual bricks distinct colours before drybrushing ties them together, while a darker wash between the stones suggests the dirt trapped in a lived-in street.

Age of Sigmar8 paint colours
June 2025Read summary