Antenociti's Workshop Ltd

Basing Materials

Reviewed by Steve Crofts

Basing materials are an important part of our hobby, there is nothing worse than buying a great big bag of the stuff for use and finding out after basing a few of the minis it’s too dark or too light or you just hate the effect.

I have some excellent news for you all! There is a fairly new manufacturer on the block called Antenociti and by the look of it they mean business! 



Antenociti come up with, what in my personal opinion is a great idea, what I would call tester pack, each pack contains enough material to base about twenty individual minis, they can be bought separately in little packets, or in Blisters, the blisters are covered by the seasons at the moment, in which you get a variety of basing materials, cork rocks, sand, 2 grades of talus,(grit like pebbles, which are in a separate coarse and fine pack), lichens, scatter, Static flock, long grass, PVA glue and in the winter set which I was sent for review….Snow! yes that’s right Snow! Obviously not the real M’Coy, but a very nice and effective false snow. So everything you need to get your minis based in the season you prefer.

I was also sent samples of some of the other season packs and there is a nice Variety of colours etc used in the packs, the only flock I personally am not too keen on is the summer flock, a little too dark for my liking and not lush enough for me, but, I am informed that an alternative is being looked into and the original will still be sold so no panic to anyone who has already tried the summer static and likes it!


On the subject of colours for the static grasses, these will be in three sets, Spring, Summer and Autumnal, (Autumn selection being used in the Winter set),so rather than just a single colour the new static grasses will be mixed to give a more realistic variation on shade, now that is what I call going into vegetation in a big way! A wider choice obviously can only mean one thing, a good choice of basing materials and colours to go at, more lovely based minis, Top Banana!

Long Grasses at the moment the are only available in two colours, Green for spring and summer, and Dead grass / straw for Autumn and winter, this I have been informed is going to be upgraded to four colours, one for each season, and the improvement in quality has also been mentioned, I thought the stuff I was reviewing was high quality, but hey I’m not complaining!



Quality



From being able to see the stuff first hand and test it out, I can only say that the materials used are of an excellent quality, and Antenociti are constantly working on new ideas and products to increase your choice further.

I personally will be hoping to see the range expand further and I’m hoping the company attend the shows I regularly visit, reason, I personally like excellent quality basing products for my minis, and feel that if you strive to do the best paint job you can on a mini, why spoil it with a base that does nothing to enhance the miniature that you are trying to display.



Availability



The full range of products that Antenociti produce are on there website, (address at the end of the review), and I am happy to say, the products are reasonably priced. As well as the trial packets and Blisters, the small individual packs are available in larger bags, and the Blisters are going to be available in Army basing sets, so again, not only do you have the choice of colours and materials, you also get a good choice of sizes too!

The Manufacturer does accept direct credit card sales so there’s no need to mess around with Paypal or Nochex.



Shows being attended in 2005 are as follows, those marked with a ? are pending confirmation, check the website for updates.



Fantasy and Sci-Fi Partizan Feb 13th (?)

TRIPLES March 19th & 20th

Salute April 23rd

Partizan April 29th (?)

Colours September 3rd & 4th 

Partizan II September 11th (?)

SELWIG October (?)

Warfare November (?)





Test



I did test the winter pack and I’m glad to say the effect is very pleasing, below is is the how to/ how I used most of the packs in the set….

First of all I bored a couple of holes in the base of the miniature, then, taking out some of the long grass I used the blob of superglue and twist method, (See my earlier article on how to base figures in the main magazine for a more fuller explanation of the techniques), after the glue had dried I then cut and shaped the long grass in my usual way and super glued it into place.

Next was the addition of a few cork “rocks”, I chose a few fitting pieces and glued those in place. I then got out my personal basing texture, (the sand is provided and a small amount of paint and water is all that is required to make this up in my way, although the sand can be attached with either super glue or the PVA provided in the pack, (I just used my mix to save myself a little time, hope you don’t mind )).

Whilst the base material was still wet I added first the Coarse talus in patches and then the fine talus around the patches, this was then left to dry.

Once the base was dry it was out with the paints, I used my normal method for painting and highlighting the earth and rocks, the long grass was not touched, no need as it was already the colour it wanted to be, (see time saved there!), just take a little care when painting around the long grass, so as not to get paint on it.

Next up is the static flock, this I attached in my usual and way using the PVA provided in small patches, the reason for this was so that I had left room for the snow, which once the flock had dried was attached, thus finishing the wintry base.



Test Results

As can be seen with the photograph a very nice effect can be attained by using the contents of this blister, I’ve still got to use the Lichen and scatter on a base but the results of the test base I feel speak for itself, I am overall pleased with the effect and I’m very happy with the snow, very effective and pleasing, there are glittery bits in it that give a bit of a shine like real snow when the light catches the base, but as these are only tiny specks in the mix the result is just the odd shine here and there.



Final Thoughts and Summing up



As you can probably tell by the test results and review in general I am very happy with this product and hope to see this manufacturer at shows around the UK at least.

The website is defiantly worth a look, as there are basing ideas as well as other products that Antenociti stock.

Top marks from me on this product and I look forward to seeing the range expand further.

As a note from the Manufacturer, they are listening to All feedback from customers so if you’ve got any comments on the products let them know, they will be glad to hear from you.



As far as further updates to the products are concerned, keep a check on their website a lot of new stuff is being released in the next month or so, so like I said keep checking their site for updates. 

Web address: http://www.barrule.com/workshop/

Please remember to mention Wargames Forum when contacting traders!

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