In this wargaming base painting tutorial we'll show you a quick and easy way to get our new Rocky bases on the tabletop with no skill or steady hand required. We've used a 50mm sized base and gone for a traditional earthy colour scheme.

This technique exclsuively uses washes and drybrushing to create an organic look reminiscent of harsh badlands, stony foothills or fantasy battlefields. You could easily vary any of the colours for different effects, and we'll showcase our own experiments with different colour schemes soon.

You will need:

• An old basing brush for applying washes
• A drybrush (makeup brushes are popular, we've used a cheap bulk brush from a kids' painting set with the tip cut off)

Colours we used:

• A grey undercoat (we used cheap car primer)
• A selection of natural brown and green washes (we've used Citadel Seraphim Sepia, Athonian Camoshade and Garaghak's Sewer Contrast)
• Some light base paints for drybrushing (We've used Citadel Ushabti Bone and White Scar)
• A dark colour for painting the rim of your base (We've used Citadel Rhinox Hide)

Step 1: Initial drybrush

Sometimes referred to as 'slapchop' on internet tutorials, this technique builds extra depth to the miniature and gives better results to washes and contrast paints applied over the top.

We've started from a grey undercoat (using cheap matt car primer) and drybrushed Citadel Ushabti Bone over the top. Don't worry about being neat, there'll be a few layers over the top of this to hide any mistakes.

Step 2: Wash your rocks

Now the messy bit! For these next few stages we're applying all the washes in one go without waiting for anything to dry. This helps blends the different wash colours together for a more natural look, and means we don't have to worry about being neat! There's no mistakes here, only happy accidents. 

We've used Citadel Seraphim Sepia for the rocks, which will create a nice sandstone effect and contrast to the darker dirt around it.

Step 3: Add some spice

Rocks in real life are rarely a single colour, and they often have algae, moss, or other kinds of life growing all over them. To represent this, we're going to blob random amounts dark green wash onto some areas (we've used Citadel Athonian Camoshade) while the previous layer is still wet.

This will trickle and run all over the place, so don't worry about it being neat. Try not to apply too much in one place though, as it'll end up creating really dark patches later on. 

Step 5: Paint the earth

The final step before we leave everything to dry. We've used Citadel Garaghak's Sewer contrast paint for this step, but any colour wash that contrasts with the rocks would work. 

Slather this stuff everywhere, right up to the rocks, and even dabbing a little on some of the lower sections that connect to the earth. Because everything is still wet these colours will blend together as they dry, producing natural variations in shade and tone.

Leave everything to dry on a level work surface, ideally overnight given the lousey Smarch weather we're having at the moment. Some of the wash might dribble off the bases as it settles so avoid leaving them to dry on anything you don't mind getting mucky, and especially avoid things like paper or cardboard that can get soggy and stick to your bases.

Step 6: Drybrushing details

When everything has thoroughly dried, crack out your drybrush and the original colour you used to highlight (Citadel Ushabti Bone for us) and give it another going over.

Be a little more delicate over the large stones as you want to preserve the surfaces' natural undulations and all the interesting colour gradients you've created with your mixed washes.

You can be a little more gung-ho over the earthy areas, and experiment with varying the density of your drybrushing to create uneven colours.

(Optional) Step 7: Extreme edge highlighting

You can stop drybrushing whenever you're happy with the final look, but for us we wanted to do one extra step. We used Citadel White Scar, being very delicate to only highlight the tallest, most extreme edges of the large rocks. This helps create a nice colour gradient across the surface of the stones, from pure white at the top to almost black at the base, which helps sells the illusion of depth on the tabletop.

Step 8: Paint the rim

The final step (and one we find incredibly satisfying) is to finish off the base by painting the rim. We favour two thin coats of a dark colour that complements the overall base colour scheme, usually black, dark grey, or dark brown. Here we've used Citadel Rhinox Hide to recapture some of the nostalgia of the early 00's Games Workshop Lord of the Rings range.

Some people don't do this step, but we believe that painting the rim of the base is like framing your favourite poster or wall hanging - it fully finishes off the look by tidying, containing, and presenting the artwork you've invested in.

And you're finished!

What do you think? Would you like to see it in different colours, or on different sized bases? Let us know in the comments below or through our social accounts.

Follow us on Tiktok, Instagram and Facebook for more sneak peeks and work in progress from our painting bench.

Pick up your own Rocky bases here and get experimenting!