What I tend to notice the most in models is awesome grime and wear-n-tear on models.

Especially for a guardsmen like me.

So I'd like to ask you vets here: What's your method for adding mud and grime to models? I'm talking like, caked on old mud that nobody's bothered to attempt to clean.

Troops or vehicles, either or. I never liked clean looking stuff (could be why I strayed from the marines.)

Thanks!

I'ld be inclined to just drybrush around the bottom of the miniature; using a couple of browns, fading as it rises.

I got this from a thread on here a while back when I was thinking the same thing for my Guard. I will try and find the thread itself, but I copied and pasted the text onto a word document, and this is what it said:

: EDIT : Link (http://www.librarium-online.com/forums/painting/113644-mud-bases.html)

Materials:
1) Minwax Stainable Wood Filler (Tube)
2) Black craft paint
3) GW Graveyard Earth
4) GW Bleached Bone
5) a handful of crappy, destroyed brushes
6) Paper Towels

The Wood Filler comes in a bright yellow tube. I'm not sure of it's availability outside of the states, however it should be easy enough to find an equivalent. In the US, it's available 24 hours a day at your local Wal-Mart for $6.

The Steps:

1) Squeeze a liberal amount of Wood Filler onto a small stack of paper towels. Use an old brush to smear it onto your base. Repeat this procees until the base is completely covered. Since it takes an hour or more (depending on how much you use) to completely cure, you have a lot of time to gouge, poke, prod and otherwise "sculpt" the materal onto your base to make it look as "mud like" as possible. The best part is, you certainly don't have to do much. It's very muddy in its consistency and

is perfect for this job. Feel free to add in any bits and debris you'd like at this point.

Ok, I suppose that was a few steps all in one. Now, after the filler has set:

2) Use your Black craft paint and basecoat the entire area. There's absolutely no point in wasting your precious (and EXPENSIVE) GW paints here. Just slather it on, making sure to get into any nooks and crannies. I do this all while the model is on the base. If you get some paint (or Wood Filler) onto the model's feet, it's ok. You can make it look like mud later!

2) Mix a bit of Graveyard Earth into your black paint (For this step I use Reaper Master Series "Dark Shadow") and HEAVILY drybrush it onto the base. Make sure the deepest cracks remain black, to create an additional layer of depth. Also, since the center of the base is more difficult to reach, the darker the better as this is where the model would be casting a shadow if the light source is at "high noon".

Around the edges of the base is where the mud would be "brighter" so feel free to drybrush a little extra onto these parts.

3) Continue the process using progressively lighter shades, and decreasing the amount of pressure on the brush. Go from Black/Graveyard Earth mix to plain Graveyard Earth, then start mixing in Bleached Bone and eventually lightly dust the very edge with plain Bleached Bone. The point of all this is to make the middle of the base darker and the edges lighter.

If you got any paint onto your model, you can extend the mud effect in the same way using the same paints by using highlight technique. Take a look at any of my Guard models to see an example.

Some pictures from Undeadair, the genius that wrote the above guide, to show how amazing it looks:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v678/undeadair/Sentinel2.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v678/undeadair/IGsquad2.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v678/undeadair/IGLascannon1.jpg

Ha, awesome! Thank you very much!

And nice models too 0_o

/rep-eroni!