On The Workbench: Desert Terrain

Various hills are going to be required for my next WW2 battle in N.Africa 'Into the Gap'.  In the past I have used a felt cloth over various objects to make hills. This has been ok for make-shift terrain but I would rather have something that looks a little more interesting. Desert can be boring terrain but with waddis, mountains, and various rough rocky surfaces it can be made to be more appealing for wargaming. This terrain will also be used for my 15mm Colonial games.

I decided to make a combination of mountains and sandy hills of various sizes. 

So far I have roughly cut each hill/mountain and glued the various layers. The hill at the bottom left of the photo is a commercially produced one. It is the same manufacturer who supplied all my terrain tiles. Many of the tiles have sand on one side with 'grass' on the other with the 'sand' being the same colour as that in the photo. Along with sprucing up the river tiles I intend to do something with my desert terrain. If all goes to plan this these tiles will replace the cloth.

Sand and stones have been added to the commercially produced hill and filler has been added to the moulded rocks. Next up will be sanding my hills rounding the sharp edges. Filler will be applied to give them a more natural look. Sand and rocks need to be added before painting.

In a couple of days I will be off to Wilko to trawl their emulsion match pots selecting what I hope will be the most appropriate colours. I have not had a great deal of success in the past representing desert so fingers crossed, I hope to get it right this time. All being well I will paint up all my commercially produced tiles to match these.