Gluing the sand onto the base was fairly tedious. It required me to paint Elmer's Glue in small sections at a time. Then once the glue was dry, I needed to follow up with a flat brush and dust the silica sand out of the cracks. It took about 4-5 hours of work to get the sand adhered. But once it started taking shape, I really began to dig the look of it and things started looking like they were fully coming together!
Once the sand was dry and cleaned off, I began painting the ground. I started with the center and painted it black, then I went out to the edge and painted it light brown. The next day, I painted the center 2 shades of dark brown. Then, after the paint had dried, I dry brushed various dark and light browns on the ground to pick up the texture again.
Hype and excitement got the better of me and rather than paint the trees next, I decided to put the grass on next. I started with Games Workshop Glade Grass on the outer edge, then I mixed in some Games Workshop Scorched Grass 50/50 and then finally I added small patches of Scorched Grass. This seems to be doing a great job of making the grass seem like it's burning away due to the Keeper's foul magic.
Now the only thing left to do is paint the trees, which I usually dread. I'm hoping to give them a dead and charred look. But we'll see. When the trees are finished, all that's left to do is mount the minis and this thing will be done!