As my Welsh Guards are themed upon Operation Market Garden I needed to think of a basing scheme which would suit, as well as being straight forward to apply in order to be ready in time for a tournament.

So having done a little bit of research into the terrain encountered by the British forces during the operation I decided upon a wetlands basing scheme, to represent the boggy polder which was prevalent in Holland off the raised roads.

This also meant that I could use one of Secret Weapon's great Basing Kits, which included almost eveything I needed.

Step 1: Applying Texture

Firstly I applied patches of PVA glue to most of each base, leaving a few gaps where water effects would be applied later. I sprinkled a small amount of larger basing grit and battlefield rocks before dipping the base in the fine sand from the basing kit.

This gave a base ground layer of several different textures.

Step 2: Basecoat & Mud

Once the base texture had dried I gave it a quick base coat of Flat Brown, followed by a drybrush of Light Brown.

Then some AK Dark Mud weathering liquid was applied over the entire base, which naturally flowed into the recesses of the ground texture and especially into the flat areas which I'd left untextured.

Step 3: Turf

To give the main soil, moss and grass layer I then applied some more PVA and the Fine Turf Soil from the wetlands kit, leaving some patches of bare earth and flat mud clear.

Step 4: Tufts & Foliage

The basing kit came with 2 colours of field grass which can be used to make your own grass tufts. However as I was a little short on time I applied some pre-made Army Painter battlefield tufts instead.

Then using a small drop of super glue I added some Olive Underbrush clump foliage to represent larger bushes and shrubs.

Step 5: Water Effects

The final stage of the bases was to apply some water effects using the Secret Weapon Realistic Water. The basing kit came with a small 1/2 oz bottle and that was plenty to base my entire force with some left over.

I simply applied small areas of the realistic water using its dropper bottle directly to the areas of flat mud I had left untextured at the beginning.