Cato Sicarius base

Building this base was a new challenge for me and something that i feel has been lacking from most of my previous competition entries. The fist issue that i often have with basing is that in order to tell the story Im looking to tell with the model i often go over board and make a base that is far too big for the model. I also often finish painting the model before starting the story or sculpting on the base so they look disjointed from one another. In this case i wanted to use the disjointed nature as a feature instead of a bug of the scheme. The character of Cato is a proud braggart that would always have perfectly polished armor and is always looking to show off.

That is was the genesis of the idea for the base. Cato is showing up another space marine Chapter, he is arriving after a battle with the Orks, in which the imperial fists took heavy losses, to claim victory and glory.

To demonstrate the previous battle my first decision was what to use to tell that story. I had a impulsor and repulsor body from an ebay bits seller that i was willing to canbialize. After a review the repulsor was too large so i used the impulsor.

I took the front right corner of the tank as well as the front panel to give a platform for the model as well as a backdrop. The tank would be painted in a similar blue tone but with less bright highlights and dirtier recesses showing the passage of time and highlighting the model.

These were sculpted into the base and inset into an epoxy sculpting material. This was then covered with a texture paste and adorned with Ork skulls. A few grass tufts were added along with hairs from an old paint brush to show long gras growths sprouting from the scene.

For the physical base itself the plinth was printed with an i 3d printed on open cylinder with the top being laser cut out of mdf and glued onto the top.

The finished model im super proud of. I think the base does a good job of highlighting the model and showing his glamour and cockiness. This is a character that believes himself to be the ”Emperor’s Finest” which is what I have titled this piece.