I finally finished the basing on my Flames of War Finnish Army…. This proved to be the most difficult and boring basing project I may have ever done. Thank goodness it is over!
The miniatures themselves were painted by Fernando Painting Service. I painted a few troops up as samples and sent them write instructions. I wanted a winter army, but with some variation to contrast over the planned snow bases. So, I went with some gray bits here and there. Once I got the models, I noted a few pieces of equipment had the wrong colors, so I fixed them. I then painted up the separate weapons myself. I went with Green, as I did not want white weapons blending too much with the bases. This was an aesthetic decision for gaming.
I had glued them to bases some time ago, but had not completed them due to some basing challenges. They sat in a large box awaiting completion. Well, battlefront came out with the new Finnish army lists, so I waited a little longer until they are released. Based on the new lists, I had to redo a few models here and there to fit the current organizations and unit type basing.
My original plan was to use the battlefront textured bases to give some variation and just fit in the gaps between the figure bases and the holes. So, I sprayed the bases all gray to give some depth. I had the troop bases painted gray also. Once I got to actually glueing the troops down, I found I had a problem! Almost none of the figure bases fit into the holes on the bases and al covered a bit above. The basically meant that I would have to pumice the entire base to cover up the raised bases.. Not what I was hoping for. I considered just glueing them to flat bases, but figured I had these and did not see them being used for any future army. I left off all the troops in laying down poses to glue on once the snow was down.
I started to pumice with the white Vallejo pumice I had and did about a dozen bases. The color looked very gray, so I stopped and let it dry. It was still grey… So, I had to find some new snow pumice. With covid, that was a little harder than I thought, but I eventually got it.
So, operation snow pumice was a go. The Vallejo snow pumice has a very nice texture and does not shrink, so it really did the trick. However, it does not want to stick like the other colors, so you have to work it around carefully. It look me four sittings to finish all the bases. This was a combination of the slower than normal application and the fact that I doing this hour after hour got boring and I had to stop to do something else (isn’t painting supposed to be fun?). Well, it took four Saturday night sessions, but I finally got it done….
Next, I went back and picked out all the logs and rocks on the bases with GW contrast brown and grey respectively. This was a reason I chose these bases. Once that was done, I went over all the bases and did a little touch up with the white snow, were I was not happy with the coverage.
My next challenge was deciding on the border color. My original plan was to go with gray (same as spray painted color). However, once I was done with the pumice, I did not like the way it looked in the tray or on a white background. I tried a few in white, but did not like that either… I then decided to go with my normal brown, but had run out. Another challenge, as the local stores were out of this color! Luckily, a week later my FLGS go a GW restock in, so I was back in business. Another evening and all the borders were done!
The next phase was to add all the laying down figures to the appropriate bases, as well and the MMGs, Mortars, ammo tubes and extra skis. A little white glue and that stage was completed. Looking at the models on the bases, I decided I did not like the look of OD helmets on the helmeted figures. So, I went back and white washed all the helmets to tie everything together a little better. Let that dry and sprayed them all with some sealer and finally, the army is ready to play (except for the ATGs that I still have to paint).
It was a bit of a rough project. First was the disappointment in how the bases did not fit, then painting shortages and just how long it took to apply the pumice. Of coarse, it may have helped that I did not have two companies worth of Finns! In any case, I am gad that they are finally done and ready for our next foray into the Winter War!
- Manteuffel