Kingdoms of Men Reinforcements - Part five, Varnishing and Finishing

With the wash is dry I varnished the Handgunners to protect them.  I've owned minis for long enough to appreciate the value of a good coat of varnish; it doesn't prevent paint wearing off completely, but it minimises it.
Last time I mentioned that I might add some extra details, but I decided against it for now.  I can always add detail later, even after varnishing.
As I suggested I was a little disappointed with the finish after washing, particularly the yellow.  My son, knowing what a chore I had found putting on the highlights cheekily suggested I re-highlight.  I may even do this in the future, but not now.

The varnish I use is gloss yacht varnish, pretty robust stuff that should protect the paint from most things.  I brushed this on, rather than dipping, though I did drop one of the rear rank into the varnish.  After some work he seems OK, and very little different to the rest, so maybe in future?

Once the varnish is dry, and it takes a couple of days to be sure, especially in cool weather (what happened to that warm February?), I used Rowney Matt to dull down the shine.

At this point I decided to try something a little different for base texture.  Normally I would paint the bases Burnt Umber and then apply sand and PVA, plus another coat of thinned PVA to fix it, then paint the whole lot in Burnt Umber again, followed by a couple of drybrushes, then apply flock and tufts.
But I saw Luke of Luke's APS using a new (to me) product of his, Base Ready scatter.  You can see him using it here (and check out his channel, he has some great ideas).

It took a while to actually get some of this, and the Handgunners sat for a few weeks waiting patiently.  Eventually it arrived, along with the recommended glue (some sort of rubber solution glue?).  It's easy to apply and looks good.  However, I didn't have enough long tufts to finish off the regiment (short tufts tend to get lost in and among the rest of the base texture).  My Chillcon haul sorted that, so finally, here they are.

I really like the effect the base ready scatter gives, but it's very different from the rest of my bases, so I might use this for the Kingdoms of Men from now on, and eventually and gradually rebase the existing models.

There are a couple of points though.  The glue seems very good, but I suspect there will be some shedding.  I might give them a sealing coat of thinned PVA.  Also some of the grit is rich in iron (its the bits that give the darker shades).  Fine, but it tends to stick to the magnets on the bases.  I suppose that sorts out the problem of any loose scatter; it sticks to the bottom of the base.

So that's another regiment for the Kingdoms of Men.  I'll most likely use them as two troops in the game, but I knew if I only painted ten, it would take me ages to get round to doing the rest (and I've at least as many to do again).  I haven't included any command models, I tend not to with missile troops, but I might convert something as a leader, in which case, he can replace one of the front rank and that gives me a spare handgunner for the next regiment. 

I have several more units planned for the Kingdoms, all drawn from my unpainted Empire minis.  But they will have to wait for now, as I might get some scenery sorted first.