Many people asked how I made the Goblin Town bases of my EfGT Goblins. So here's some step by step tutorial. Actually it's just some few basic components that are used:
- Sand (Obviously...^^ You don't need to buy any overpriced hobby retailers. Just go outside and grab some at every opportunity... The more different sources you have, the more you can vary...)
- Balsa wood (Wooden coffee stirrers would work as well, but are slightly to thick for my tastes.)
- Twine (Mine is black, but colour doesn't matter. You'll paint it anyway...)
- Wood glue / super glue
- Efa Plast light (It's an air hardening modelling clay. Any other brand would work as well. You don't have to buy anything superfine or expensive here. It's just to give the bases some structure.)
- Little stones to resemble Misty Mountain rocks (I use some of Rusus' casts (link is in German), because they can easily be cut into any shape needed, but again, anything you can find outside would work as well...)
- Bases (Yeah, sure...^^ I use washers from the hardware store, since I love the little extra weight they give your miniatures and them being a little bit more subtle than the GW-slottas, but again, that's just personal taste.)
I start buy cutting the balsa wood into fine stripes. Don't be too accurate here. Goblin Town is Orc-made. They are not known for their craftsmanship. Just make sure you get the sizes right. If all your planks have the calibre of a tree trunk it just won't look right.
Tie those planks up. Most of the time I only wrap the planks once or twice and use super glue for fixing. Again, you don't have to be too precise here. Safety is not an issue in Goblin Town... They don't believe in handrails... As you can see, the results look quite random. You don't need to
recreate actual walkways. It wouldn't work on 25mm bases anyway. It's just to give some rough "Goblin Town"-impression.
Next, I apply small chunks of the Efa Plast to the bases and press the woodwork and the little rocks into it. Use the modelling clay to blend those items with the rest of the base. It will help to make the whole base look more naturally. For the same reason, I don't use the wooden planks on all the bases. Unless you are absolutely certain you will just play the Goblin Town scenarios, they would look misplaced on any other battlefield.
For this type of scenic base you need to remove the plastic base tabs of the miniatures. Make sure you glue them on before you apply the sand. Rough surfaces are tricky...
Building phase is done. I recommend HvM's painting tutorial for the colours, but you don't have to stick to them too slavishly. Goblin Town is huge and there is not only one kind of "Official Misty Mountain Rock TM colour". Slight colour variations help to make your base look more natural. For detailing the base, there are various opportunities I use some few MiniNatur tufts in drab colours or some occasional BUSCH mushrooms... Anything that would grow in or around Goblin Town. Don't overdo it, it's not the Shire, it's just to give the rocky underground some extra detail... If you're into skulls and skeletons you could as well do some press moulds of the debris on the Goblin Town scenery parts. They work pretty well on bases.
Let's hunt some dwarf... I hope this article will be helpful for some of you. Please let me know if you have any questions!
Fin
