Welcome back to another Flames of War Friday. This week I've been working on my Germans from the Open Fire set.

I've decided to go for a slightly more advanced basing method than that which I used when I based the US Paratroopers as it gives a more realistic finish, but its still quick and easy to pick up.

Step 1: Texture

Once the German Grenadiers had been glued to their bases its time to add some texture. Its important to remember that because of Flames of War's 15mm scale, any texture you add to the base needs to be fine, otherwise the figures will look like they're standing on a bunch of rocks. I used Vallejo Brown Earth which is a fine grit acrylic colour paste and is perfect for 15mm scale. I also added some battlefield rocks.

Step 2: Painting the ground effects

The next step was to add some further ground effects to the bases. Firstly I painted the rocks with stone grey. Then I used some AK Interactive Earth Effects and Dark Mud to blend realistic mud and dirt tones. After these had dried I added some further fine dirt texture using European Earth and Dark Earth pigments and applied some pigment binder.

Step 3: Adding vegetation

If you're wanting a bare earthen base then you could stop here, but I wanted to add some grass and small vegetation to mine. Using some PVA glue I applied some small patches of Woodland Scenics Earth to represent short grass.

Then I added some small pieces of clump foilage and some wilderness turf. Finally I painted the rim of the base dark brown.

It's also really easy to make small modifications to this method to represent different seasons or different regions. For instance for desert bases use Vallejo Desert Sand, Africa Dust Effects, and Wasteland Tufts.

Or for a winter army, such as the Finnish or Soviet forces from Rising Sun simply add some snow effects, winter tufts and some wet effects fluid.

So here's the finished product. Spending extra time on detailing your bases is always worth the effort, as good bases tie the army together and make it stand out on the table top. You can also start simple and add further details over time, such as sandbags to protect for artillery and MG teams.

In next week's Flames of War Friday I'll show you my progress on my Destroyed Panzer III objective marker.