This wargaming base painting guide will show you a fast, effective technique for bringing some High Elf majesty to our Buried Ancients bases. We've used a 50mm sized base to show off the detail and opted for a pale grey and gold colour scheme.

This technique uses washing and lining to create a look reminiscent of the gleaming towers of Ulthuan or the shining souls of the Lumineth. Ideal for basing your own army of Aelves, or perhaps a force of interlopers exploring some High Elf ruins. You could easily vary any of the colours for different effects, so get experimenting!

You will need:

• An old basing brush for applying washes
• A fine-tip brush for lining

Colours we used:

• A white undercoat (we used cheap car primer)
• A pale wash for the stone (we used Citadel Contrast Apothecary White)
• An earthy wash for the rubble (we used Citadel Contrast Skeleton Horde)
• A metallic colour for lining the runes (we used Citadel Retributor Armour)
• A contrasting colour for the gemstones (we used Citadel Blood for the Blood God)
• A dark neutral colour for the base rim (we used Citadel Abaddon Black)

Step 1: Paint your stone

There are two main textures on our Buried Ancients bases - a flat runic floor decorated in constellation patterns, and a rough rubble-like material that covers it. It's important to get a decent contrast between these two textures, and we've used a Citadel Contrast paint to do so!

Slap on some Apothecary Contrast all over the flat surfaces for a pale stone effect. You can add a little extra after it's dried in some areas where you want extra depth, such as deep furrows or chipped stone.

Step 2: Paint your dirt

It's considered good practice to paint the deepest areas of your miniatures first, for much the same reason you clean the top windows before the bottom ones. Getting your brush into deeper areas runs the risk of catching already-painted surfaces (requiring more clean-up later) and the runoff from washes helps to blend the higher and lower areas together.

Here we've painted the lower section (the stone) before the higher section (rubble), so if we go over the lines during this stage it doesn't matter - it helps blend the two textures together. We've used Citadel Contrast Skeleton Horde to create a sandy rubble colour.

Step 3: Pave the streets with gold

You could leave the stone floor after the contrast wash, but we think it's good to have a focal point to catch the eye. We've opted for a vibrant gold (Citadel Retributor Armour) that pairs nicely with the yellow tones in the rubble but contrasts with the pale grey of the floor around it.

Our Buried Ancients bases have lots of different kinds of patterns on them, so we picked out a few of them to line with gold.

Step 4: Add a pop of colour

Gemstones are popular among High Elves in nearly all fantasy media, and they are a fantastic visual shorthand for elegance and artisanry. We've chosen to paint the 'planets' on the constellation patterns as rubies - the bright red helps them catch the eye.

There are many ways to paint gemstones, but we've chosen the low-effort option of using Citadel Blood for the Blood God to give them a deep red with a glossy finish with just a single coat of paint.

Step 5: Paint the rim

The final step (and one we find incredibly satisfying) is to finish off the base by painting the rim. We favour two thin coats of a dark colour that complements the overall base colour scheme, usually black, dark grey, or dark brown. Here, we've used Citadel Abaddon Black to maximise the contrast between the rim and the pale grey of the stone.

Some people don't do this step, but we believe that painting the rim of the base is like framing your favourite poster or wall hanging - it fully finishes off the look by tidying, containing, and presenting the artwork you've invested in.

And you're finished!

What do you think? Would you like to see it in different colours, or on different sized bases? Let us know in the comments below or through our social accounts.

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Pick up your own Buried Ancients bases here and get experimenting!