Instructions on Using Anarchy Crystals

This article will give some ideas on using our Anarchy Crystals. The bases are 25mm wide (popular 28mm figure bases) and I will be using the Green Mini Anarchy Crystals.

For this article I will look at using the crystals on fresh bases, but if you have already based your models, you can still follow this article, I will give additional tips as we go along.

The first and perhaps most important thing to remember when using these crystals is that as they are transparent, the colour the crystal is glued to makes a massive difference to how they will look.

I have chosen to use the two extremes for base colors so you will get a good idea of the differences. I left one base black (As they usually come black already) and sprayed the other one white. (if you are adding crystals to existing bases rather than starting fresh, then just paint the area directly below the crystal your chosen color)
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Next we glue the chosen Mini Anarchy Crystals to the base (I use superglue, but feel free to experiment). As you can see from the pic, the crystals look very different depending on what colour the base is. The difference in colour is purely down to the colour the crystal is glued to, as the crystals are all from the same batch and virtually the same size. If you want bright glowy crystals, then base white, if you want more natural subtle coloured crystals then base black and basing silver is kind of in the middle of the two.
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Next we need to texture the base, I have used a mix of several grades of sand/gravel and PVA glue (with a small amount of dishwasher rinse agent/soap in to help it flow nicely). You will need to be careful not to get the glue on the crystals, but if you do, wipe it off with a clean brush and water and once you add the gravel, make sure it’s still clean.
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Once the glue is dry, use a soft brush and clean off the sand and dust from the crystals.
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Next, using a mixture of black ink, black acrylic paint and dark brown acrylic paint, we color the sand/gravel. I find keeping the mix quite runny here works well and you can dab the paint on and it will spread by itself, so you don’t need to get the brush so close to the crystals. If you get paint on the crystals, don’t worry, just use a clean brush and some water to clean it off, but obviously avoid this if you can.
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Here we drybrush the textured areas of the base, being careful not to paint the crystals. It’s easier if you use a small brush around the crystals for more control, and a larger brush for the rest for speed. I used games workshop paints, scorched brown, then bestial brown, bubonic brown, dheb stone and white drybrushed in that order and painting less of the bases with each new color till the white is only painted on the rocks.
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The final thing to do is paint the sides of the base.

The black base is on the left, and the white base is on the right, you can see how the crystals on the white base glow.

Feel free to experiment, this isn’t the only way to use our Anarchy crystals, other colors under the crystals or on the base will create a different look.

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