Tip for basing your toy soldiers

Sometimes speed is essential in both painting and basing.
A while ago I managed to create a method that speeds up the process somewhat, and gives me ok look compared to my previous PVA glue + sand type basing.
This is also applicable to terrain making where you need to cover large surfaces fast.

The ingredients are:

• Matt medium 
• Paints (I use cheapo hobby paints, brown and black)
• Sand, coarsness depends on what you are aiming at, but some very fine sand is needed always
• Other materials, here I use dry lichen, dry moss and basing grass. Other stuff could be maidenhair, twigs etc.

First, put all the ingredients in a pot, below is a very sand heavy mix, this is for my WHFB dark elves, so I need just a quick mix with easy application.
The more you add larger items like hobby grass, rocks or twigs, the harder the stuff becomes to spread. It looks better and more natural with more stuff in it though.
You always need some fine grained sand, as it makes this to be paste instead of various items in a water.
Matt medium dries "smaller" than PVA glue, so it doesn't obscure the sand and other particles.

Then mix everythig with water. The amount of water dictates obviously how runny the end mix will be, runnier is easier to apply, but harder to get any surface formations. More water means flat.
Here I went with more water to make the process faster.

Then choose your favourite flat tool, and spread the stuff.
As everything is acrylic, if you accidentally get the paste on your mini, just wipe it with a wet cloth.

While applying the paste, especially with wet variants as this, apply it in a bit thicker layer. As the water dries, the paste shrinks. The colour also changes to a darker shade.
At this point you can also add things to the base. The paste is extremely durable once dried, so additional elements, like rocks, will hold fast without any glue.
It should also be possible to glue the mini to the base with the paste, but I have never tried it myself.

Just for a demonstruation, I made another mix, this time less sand and more other stuff. I also changed the colour to darker and used less water.

The resulting goo is more mouldable, and the shape looks more like earth with roots and such.

 And here is the demo. I made contour variations and added few rocks. Scenic scatters are good to add at this point, they bite on the surface due to the matt medium, and suck a little of the underlying paint, and thus mixing into the environment far better compared to adding them to a dry base.
As for grass, I wouldn't recommend it at this point, it'll be messy very fast.

Here are all bases dried up.It takes about 4-24 hours to dry depending how thick the layer is.

This is the first mix.
The sand grains are now exposed, so drybrushing is an option if needed. I won't do it for these guys.

And here is the second mix. It looks more like forest floor with protruding roots and irregularities. As an afterthought, it could have been even darker.
Next step would be to paint the rocks and add moss, leaves and grass.