Big Lee’s Miniature Adventure has an article comparing various methods for making desert bases for 6mm figures. The techniques, of course, can be applied to any scale.
modeling
Making Hay Fields and Hay Stacks
Here’s a useful tutorial on modeling hay fields and hay stacks.
Free Textures For Paper Buildings
CG Textures has a terrific collection of textures you can download and use to design your own paper buildings. There area bricks, doors, windows and more. I’m going to use them to create some photorealistic 15mm buildings for an upcoming zombie game.
Thanks to reader Troy for the tip!