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Does anyone have tips on how to do convincing and interesting bases for miniatures based on a desert theme?

M.

i do clay. slab it onto base and shape it a bit smouth it down... well i have to get my endeavrs in that painted still^^

Ive used a combination of gamesworkshop sand, galeforce 9 small sand and dead static grass followed up by some desert looking rocks from my back yard.

After I base the whole thing i follow it up with some brown ink, sometimes a little black and have come up with great results.

Basically, just do it like any other kind of bases, but paint it in sandy colours, I use Foundry's Sandy Base, and go easy on the static grass. Using a mixture of dried yellow grass and a browny shade works well.

I would start by giving the base some shape with some green stuff, then coat the whole thing in sand. Or you could just buy resin bases. I find myself doing this more and more.

Back 2 Base-ix makes some real nice resin bases, in the dirt variaty.

I based these with sand before I primed; I think for this squad I'm going to go with the inky approach.

M.

Do people actually buy the GW sand?

Seems too coarsely grained for scale use to me.
And it is, what, a fiver for a tiny pot of sand!?

They are the desert bases that my orks are based on.

Pretty simple really, just some river sand that is sieved into different sizes and then small and medium grains mixed together.

Painted by using the following:

Bestial Brown Basecoat
Snakebite Leather Drybrush
Vomit Brown Drybrush
Bubonic Brown Drybrush
Wash with Gryphonnie Sepia
Desert Yellow Drybrush

There are some darkers areas in the base, as the metallic areas had pigments applied and the pigments have spilled over to give an effect similar to the rust falling off the material to the ground.