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Some time ago I finished a set of arid terrain and thought it may be of use to others giving some pointers how I made the different pieces.  In this post I would like to focus on the ever useful rough terrain, or in this specific case a terrain piece that features deeper sand. While you could depict rough terrain with a stretch of land filled with rocks and thorny bushes, I felt it would be much more interesting and challenging to depict an area that features fine, wavy sand, where with each step your troops or characters sink deeper, adding to the exhaustion of sun and thirst. I did also add some weathered rock outcroppings and sparse vegetation to round the piece off.



This build is pretty straight forward:


1. First we cut some MDF to size and use XPS to build up any rock outcroppings.



2. We then cover the remaining areas with air dry clay and pre-shape the lines in the sand.



3. We cover the outcrops with filler and carve the rock to shape.

4. We add sand and animal tracks.

5. We apply a basecoat and drybrush.



6. We add some brushes.





If this build is of interest to you you find more pictures and more in-depth step-by-step instructions on my blog DaggerAndBrush.

This is gorgeous! I love how you got the ripples in the sand.

Thank you, glad you like the effect. I wished I could make a trip to a desert to get some reference pics. Most pictures really don't focus on how the lines are disturbed or shaped by a rock between them or other objects.