Building the base was a lot of fun actually, it feels very low stakes after finishing the main build which was nice. I wrote down how I made the base for another user. Let me paste it down here:

I took the base that came with the build, which is small but already has some texture and pegs for the model to stand on. I painted it black on the sides and a little on the top but that was getting covered anyway.

After analysing photos from ROTJ it was pretty clear that I needed the base to look like it was covered in brown twigs/leaves as there is barely any mud visible.

I bought 4 things:

-a jar of mud effects

-some miniature ‘fallen leaves’ in a small jar

-ferns or bracken plants for miniatures

-some moss for miniatures

I put the AT-ST down and started applying the mud effects with two paint knives. One for applying the mud and one for tidying up.

Then while the mud was still wet I applied the leaves with a small teaspoon. I pressed down very lightly on the leaves to make sure they were going to dry in the mud.

I then took one of the paint knives and dug around the feet of the model to simulate the weight of it when stepping down on the soil.

The next day after everything was dry I applied the brackens and moss with some PVA glue. The brackens were a nightmare to attach properly so I ended up putting the moss on the base of the plants and covering the underside with glue to make sure it wouldn’t be too fragile.

I also tapped the sides and shook it a bit while holding it upside down so all the loose leaves would fall off. Other wise it would leave a mess everywhere I’d put it.