Space Combat bases painting guide

hi all Lee here, been a while since I done a blog post. Inspired by my most recent project, the Gothic Grand Cruiser, I thought I’d do a wee tutorial on how I painted up the bases. I really enjoy painting up these bases, they’re fun creative and most importantly don’t take much time! from start to finish I take around 10-15 minutes on a base.

Squadron of Gothic Grand Cruisers patrolling the depths of space

The first step, after priming the base in black, is to paint the outline of the gas clouds in dark red, made using a mix of Khorne Red and Black, using circular motions. Make sure you don’t have too much paint on your brush, it’s not far above the amount needed to dry brush

In several stages work the colour up through 100% Khorne red, 50/50 Khorne Red and Evil Suns Scarlet and finally 100% Evil Suns Scarlet. Each time taking up less and less of the cloud, breaking up the colour. Again ensure that there isn’t too much paint on your brush

The final layer of pure Evil Suns Scarlet is done with dabs rather than circular motions.

Now is the time consuming but very rewarding part!

Using a fine detail brush we paint the stars. I paint stars on the black areas in white and they’re more numerous. put a small amount of paint on just the very tip of the brush and gently dot the stars around ensuring a variety of sizes.

On the Gas Cloud, I painted the stars yellow in the same technique as the white stars, but a lot less of them this gives the impression that the gas cloud is obscuring the stars and only those within the cloud itself can be seen.

The trim is now painted fully in Tin Gubbinz.

The trim is detailed using Heatsink Bronze, this is done in a broken up manner to make the trim look old.

Finally the trim is washed carefully using Nuln Oil, this helps the trim stand out from the backdrop of the base.

And that is it! The base is finished

Adding different coloured gas clouds to a base can really help them come to life. Remember to have fun with them!