Element Games Element Essentials Scatter Flock Review

Knowing where to begin when it comes to basing your figures can be difficult. With enough products available to allow you to create any possible landscape you can imagine beneath the metal and resin feet of your figures, it can be overwhelming trying to figure out where to start. Luckily, Element Games’ Element Essentials Scatter Flock have everything you need to get your basing game off toa good start.

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Element Games Element Essentials Scatter Flock Review – Summary

Reasonably priced and available in a wide range of colours and textures, Element Games’ Element Essentials Scatter Flock range is the ideal place to begin your adventures into basing.

Element Games Element Essentials Scatter Flock Review – Introduction

With a virtual presence since 2012 and a physical store since 2013, over the last seven years Element Games have become the one independent hobby retailer you’ve almost certainly heard of.

With a Trustpilot average of 4.8 stars and over 9,000 reviews, as well as having expanded in 2016 to facilitate the Element Games North West Gaming Centre, Element Games have established themselves as one of the premier independent UK hobby stores.

Having branched out to carry their own range of products, their Element Essentials range, Element Games have come to offer their own reasonably priced alternatives to many hobby products, including a plethora of basing materials to help you make your minis really come to life.

Their Scatter Flock range comprises of just about everything you need to give your bases a little extra dash of realism. Coming is a wide range of colours and textures, the Scatter Flock range is a great place to start when considering a basing scheme for your new army. 

Element Games Element Essentials Scatter Flock Review – Design

Each scatter flock comes in a standard-sized – albeit quite brittle and prone to breaking in the post, as I found out the hard way – plastic tub. Unfortunately, my Decaying Petals are now housed in a spare takeaway tub after breaking during shipping.

The flock range comes in various, relatively natural, colour hues. There are several variants of green, a few more barren colours, as well as a couple of fiery, autumnal options. You can find the entire range here, or click on one of the links below.

For the sake of this review, we were sent everything on this list. Thanks, Element Games!

Across the ten products in the range (eleven, if you could Verdant Growth which has been marked as Unavailable for some time now), there’s almost certainly something you can use in whatever current scheme you are working out for your new army, or just trying out on your figures.

Top row, left to right: Lush Fields, Magma Rocks, Rambling Fields, Scorched Earth, Ash Scatter. Bottom row, left to right: Bone Fields, Decaying Petals, Flourishing Moss, Graveyard Earth, Haunted Fields.

With a rich and wide array of colours available, there’s almost certainly something in the range that’s right for you – be it for a grassy hillock beneath the feet of one of your Sylvaneth, or the blasted wasteland being trampled underneath the boots of your Khorne Berserkers.

Element Games Element Essentials Scatter Flock Review – Testing

For those completely new to basing, or who have been using something else – perhaps a texture paint – for most of their hobby career thus far, scatter flocks are used by modellers to cover most of, if not all, of the base of a figure – a “base coat” for your bases, if you like.

Of course, they can also be used to add texture and variation to your bases, as I have in many of the pictures below, simulating low-growing moss, grass, or other vegetation. As with all basing materials, it’s very much up to you how you use them.

Because of this, they tend to be reasonably uniform in colour and texture, as whilst they can be used as a standalone feature for your figure’s bases, they are also designed to be able to be built upon with other elements: gravel, static grass, et-cetera.

I decided to test these on some of my oldest Stormcast Eternal and Nightaunt figures that I painted up in the first few weeks after getting back into the hobby. Most of them were already based with a little Astrogranite, Agrax Earthshade, and Tyrant Skull, so I already had a little base there to work with.

Also, most of these figures have been ditched on a shelf for the best part of a year, so apologies for any dust or fibres I didn’t manage to get off them before taking pictures…

So, that out of the way, what do these pots hold for us?

Ash Scatter

Kicking things off alphabetically is the Ash Scatter pot.

Element Games Scenics Ash Scatter

Whilst it’s certainly useable as ash, if that’s what your minis demand, the small particulates of green in the mix add a more organic feel to the pot – it could easily double as a natural, slate-like texture.

It’s surprisingly realistic. Before coming to this pot, my only real experience of scatter flocks comes from the few pots I made my father buy me from my local (then) Games Workshop which were, as I remember, much granier, much sandier, and much less varied in their colour and texture.

Element Games Scatter Flocks Ash Scatter

I like this. I’m even a bit annoyed I’ve just based my Gothizzar Harvester with Astrogranite, Drakenhof Nightshade and Longbeard Grey, as I think this would have been a perfect, and much less time-consuming, alternative.

Bone Fields

I’m not actually an enormous fan of Bone Fields.

Element Games Scenics Bone Fields

For the last few months, my partner has been sharing a horse, and this stuff bears a striking resemblance to the ménage substrate (a mixture of sand, rubber, and fibrous ropey stuff to you and I) that’s put down in the school so when your horse chucks you off it hurts slightly less than landing on hoof-compacted mud.

Element Games Scatter Flocks Bone Fields

Of all the pots in the range, it’s my least favourite. It’s an odd mixture of colours – perhaps akin to those you’d find in a packet of birdseed. I’m not sure where I’d use this – but, who knows, it might be right for you.

Decaying Petals

It’s a good job I really like Decaying Petals, because when my box of goodies from Element Games arrived, this stuff was covering most of it.

Element Games Scenics Decaying Petals

Having shaken it off all the other to be reviewed products that arrived in the same box, poured it out of the bottom of the busted cardboard box it arrived in (thanks, DPD), and having finally now stored the remnants in a takeaway tub after the loss of their original pot (which was catastrophically and irreconcilably shattered in the post), I’ve go to say that the Decaying Petals are a lovely colour.

Element Games Scatter Flocks Decaying Petals

Whilst their name may lead you to believe they’d only be good for an autumnal setting, the cherry blossom palette is quite vibrant and really rather lovely, so could take up residence in a lot of other scenes. I really like how a fairly conservative scattering of the flock over the already dry texture paint look like vibrant vegetation.

Flourishing Moss

Y’all remember Bruisers? The short-lived and now likely estranged sibling to the Black Jack and the Fruit Salad? Yeah.

Element Games Scenics Flourishing Moss

It’s a bit of a weird one. On the one hand, the colours are a little too neon and unnatural to take up residence on the base of any figure destined for a realistic realm of battle, but that weakness is simultaneously a strength: a super-lush realm of life? A psychedelic alien world? A deep troll cavern full of luminous mushrooms and yellow-toothed goblins?

Element Games Scatter Flocks Flourishing Moss

It looks great mixed in with the scenic elements of this Stormcast Eternal’s base, giving it an almost springtime, seedlings and buds feel, proving it’s an excellent and versatile product.

I’m a fan.

Graveyard Earth

No scatter flock range – nay, no basing product range – can be complete until it has at least one mud-brown product in it.

Element Games Scenics Graveyard Earth

Good, solid, and plain as hell, this flock is the basing equivalent of those bark chippings that used to get scattered around the climbing frame at primary school. You remember, the stuff that made you less likely to break an arm if you fell off, but instead just covered you in a thousand tiny cuts and splinters?

Element Games Scatter Flocks Graveyard Earth

A good, dependable, safe bet, and probably one of the most diverse flocks in the range. Chances are, no matter what realm or planet you’re doing battle on, it’s going to get muddy and miserable somewhere.

Haunted Fields

In spite of its name, Haunted Fields is a deep, lush green.

Element Games Scenics Haunted Fields

Lifted from the colour palette of World of Warcraft’s Duskwood, you can almost feel the giant spiders, slavering wolves and necrotic bears crawling across this stuff.

Element Games Scatter Flocks Haunted Fields

…Or, of course, it mixes quite nicely with the original Astrogranite look I put on these bases, giving them an swampy, wetlands kind of feel. It could very easily pass off as wet moss.

Much like the Graveyard Earth, the single-hued Haunted Fields’ strength lies in the fact it is just that – one colour. It is diverse as a result of its simple colouring, and could be mixed with some of the other, more plain colours in the range to get the exact look you’re after.

Lush Fields

Haunted Fields through a sepia filter, Lush Fields is one of the most realistic-looking flock in the range.

Element Games Scenics Lush Fields

Much like Haunted Fields and Graveyard Earth before it, Lush Fields’ strength lies in its simplicity.

Element Games Scatter Flocks Lush Fields

It’s a realistic, straightforward, no-nonsense colour that could be carefully mixed with some of the others in the range to achieve some interesting and realistic results.

Magma Rocks

Something of an outlier to the rest of the range (so much so that I do wonder if they’ve been incorrectly listed on EG’s website), as well as my personal favourite amongst those on offer, are the Magma Rocks.

These are, quite obviously, not a flock and probably bear more resemblance to the basing materials in the Scenics range.

Still, the eagle-eyed reader amongst you will notice that I’ve actually been using the Magma Rocks from this range on some of my Space Marines which have been painted up for other articles.

Reaper Brushes Review Chaplain Finished

Coupled with some Martian Ironcrust (which is a gimmick; get Ironearth, it’s just as good), a drybrush of Ryza Rust and Eldar Flesh, as well as a couple of Army Painter Scorched Tufts, I feel they give a really compelling and believable barren world atmosphere to these figures.

They’re unlike anything else in the Scatter Flocks range – though the Scenics range, which will be reviewed at a later date, has some rocky bits in it too, so it isn’t the only option for those hobbyists looking for some larger bits of detritus to liven up their bases.

Rambling Fields

Compared to some of the other green shades and textures in the range, Rambling Fields is a little on the plain side.

Element Games Scenics Rambling Fields

But that’s not a bad thing. The brown particulates in the muted green flock give the texture a more muddy, desaturated feel. This is the kind of flock that’d look great on the bases of your Lord of the Rings Strategy Battle Game figures.

Element Games Scatter Flocks Rambling Fields

Once again, mixed with the scenic elements of the figure, as well as the tufts and Astrogranite I already had on the base of this model, the Rambling Fields flock helps create a very genuine, believable atmosphere beneath the golden sabatons of the Stormcast Eternal.

Scorched Earth

The final pot is Scorched Earth.

First off, Scorched Earth looks very similar to Ash Scatter – so much so that when I first took the pots out of the box I thought I’d been sent the same thing twice.

Element Games Scenics Scorched Earth

There’s a little less green in it than in its Ash Scatter range-sibling, so it’s much more useful for creating a more barren, dead world-type texture.

Element Games Scatter Flocks Scorched Earth

I wanted to try and use the flock in a small patch to try and create a sense of low-growing otherworldly vegetation, but didn’t quite get the effect I wanted.

Still, if you’re a fan of battling in Shyish or, like me, just have a pile of Ossiarch Bonereapers who might benefit from a little something extra on their bases, this might be a good place for you to start.

Will Element Games Element Essentials Scatter Flock Improve my Hobby?

Basing is an extremely important part of the hobby. Taking a little extra time to ensure your figure is standing on something other than a plain disc of plastic can really help lift the overall look of your mini – no matter how well or poorly painted it may be.

It’s also a great way of creating synergy between your armies. For example, my Stormcast Eternals are all on grey, stone-like bases; my Dark Angels are on orange, alien planetscape-like bases as seen above to give a more futuristic feel to them; my Ossiarch Bonereapers are on a blue-washed base to give them an eerie vibe. You get it.

As such, Element Games’ Scatter Flocks are a solid product. The range and diversity in colour of what is on offer means there will likely be something available to match your needs

Element Games Element Essentials Scatter Flock Review – Price and Availability

All Element Games Element Essentials ranges are available from their website. Each individua pot of scatter flock is priced at a very reasonable £3/$3.34USD/€3.30 a tub (the Magma Rocks are ever-so-slightly more costly).

Element Games Element Essentials Scatter Flock Review – Final Thoughts

ProsCons
Cheap and cheerful
Good spread of colours and textures
Not going to rip up the rulebook or reinvent the wheel – but, then again, that’s not always a bad thing
Fragile pots

A good scatter flock provides a base to your figures: it’s a quick, one-stop method of getting a reasonably scenic, cover-all look to that boring little plastic disc your mini stands on with minimal effort. I think back to my first ever minis, one thick coated into existence when my age was still in single figures. I’d slather the base in PVA, dunk it in a pot of GW flock, and call it done.

So, when you’re looking at an essential or basic range of products, you have to ask yourself just what exactly you’re expecting to get out of it.

You don’t expect an essentials range to be an all bells and whistles affair, and Element Games’ Scatter Flocks aren’t. The selection was never going to make hobbying history. But that doesn’t matter, because what they do do, they do very well.

There is variation in the colours of each flock: it’s not just all green or all brown or all grey. There is depth of colour, range and variation in the sizes of the individual particulates to make an ununiformed, realistic effect.

Please Note: This site uses affiliate links. Our Affiliate Partners are shown below
(Affiliate links will result in compensation to the site on qualifying purchases)

Click this link & buy your hobby stuff from Element Games for the UK & Europe to support FauxHammer.com – Use Code “FAUX2768” at the checkout for double reward points.

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Element Games Element Essentials Scatter Flocks
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VoltorRWH

Rob has spent most of the last 20 years playing World of Warcraft and writing stories set in made-up worlds. At some point, he also managed to get a Master's degree by writing about Medieval zombies.

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