Painting Wild West Bases

I got a lot of comments about the bases as I've been painting my Hoffman crew so I thought I'd write up something about what colours I use as I do up the next couple bases.
 

The starting point is a few bits of broken coffee stirres, some rocks, a couple plastic cacti from Pegasus Hobbies and a heap of sand.
 

This was given a spray of undercoat, in this case Army Painter undead flesh but white would do.
    

All the ground was basecoated with a nice earthy brown and the cacti with khaki. I actually used a sample pot of house paint for the brown since I had used it for my big base board for my Western town.




Drybrushing: a sandy yellow over everything including the cacti.
 

Next a very light drybrush of off white on the larger rocks.
 

Next washes: a bit of Army Painter Soft Tone painted around the rocks and cacti to give a bit of depth. Also a bit here and there on the cacti.
 

Next some Thraka Green wash over the plants.
 

Now some Strong Tone washes over the wood planks and a bit more defining around the rocks..
 

Using a warm light grey I picked out the planks a bit for that weathered look.



Now using grass tufts I give the bases some foliage. It's a good idea to have the minis on the base when you do this so you don't get the grass obscuring the figure.



All done.
 

Finally paint the edge whatever colour you like, I've gone classic black. Now I just need to get the minis finished.