A Knight's Tale: Base Complete

Hi folks,

The last "A Knight's Tale" article I posted was all about planning the base for my Imperial Knight Warden, which I have been working hard to complete this weekend. On Friday night, with no small amount of shame, I realised that the last post was from over 12 months ago! About time I go the job done, huh?

The first stage involved painting the stream, which was inspired by the very clear, sandy bottomed, rainforest streams we have up North here in Australia. The base really soaked up the paint, making me think that maybe I should have base-coated it or sealed it first.

The main colours used were Ushbati Bone, Skull White and some turquoise I mixed from Kabalite Green. After a few coats and some wet blending it looked like this:

A added some Astrogranite Debris around the shore and over the root bole of the fern. I was never intending to keep it grey, but I really like the texture of this product and it is easy to move around. The added height of the shore would act to seal in any wet effects I used on the stream. I also painted some black roots extending into the water, to reflect the reference material I was inspired by.

Next came the wet effects. I coated the stream in three 1 mm layers (wet), letting each layer dry for ~ 48 hours in a closed box to prevent dust contamination. The Noch water effects I use take about this long to cure.

Now... don't blink. Over the last two nights I:

1) Painted the Astrogranite in Rhinox Hide/Black blend
2) Added some summer and summer/spring mix themed flock (brown and browny green).
3) Repainted the fern in a Lothern Blue and yellow mix to better match the laser cut ferns, which are a very pale green. I finished it off with a Sepia wash.
4) Added four laser cut ferns.
5) Sculpted and added a little tree snake.
6) Celebrated!

Once the Knight's legs are attached, I may add some static grass as well, to add a bit more texture to the grass. I have also considered painting the snake like a Coral Snake (below), because that is how just about every snake seems to be painted when it comes to GW! Let me know what you think, perhaps I am just brainwashed by all the pretty Lizardmen bases :-)

See you across the table,

Marc