How about a more solid lines of trees and scrub at the edge of your brown felt on the non forest side (just for clarity). Movement in the wood is simpler and from both table edges you get the feeling of a mass of trees.
We usually mark forest out with a border of lichen, then lob lots of singly based trees in the area. Just shimmy the trees around to allow access to the figures/movement.
There are some fairly decent model railway trees available cheaply from China if you want to bulk out the woods a bit.
One possible that would look nicer:-
Have two outlines for your woods, one in 5mm MDF & one in cloth etc.
The MDF one will be on table & will look like a proper wood. The cloth one
is kept off table. If/when a unit moves into the wood it is removed from the
table & placed on the cloth. You can include local rules about when/if they
can emerge from the wood.
Warning note. It has been known for a commander to completely forget
that the unit is hiding in the wood. On one notable game there was a
heartfelt cry from a WW2 British commander who only remembered his
PIAT team when packing away. For nearly half the game a Tiger tank
had been backed up to that particular wood.
Like this :) but it's expensive, time consuming and takes up all the space in your deployment bag. Stuck for trees, on a budget or stuck in the middle of nowhere on deployment, I'll generally use a dark green piece of felt and randomly put trees on like you already have.
Buy a railway backscene depicting forest. That way, you can get away with few trees on the table looking like a glade in a larger forest. Very atmospheric.
An interesting idea that might work on smaller playing areas but could be problematic when your table is 6x4 and the forest takes up 1/3-1/2 of it.
Another option is to make forest floor pieces, each with several tree trunks attached. Then make forest canopy pieces to match the floor pieces, with clump foliage to show the treetops. When a unit is under a piece of canopy, remove it so you can see the unit and move it around. When it moves on, put the canopy piece back.
(http://leadadventureforum.com/gallery/49/6053-091120152255.jpeg)
(http://leadadventureforum.com/gallery/49/6053-091120152313.jpeg)
I have been 3D printing these old growth tree trunks that might work great for something like this, though I could scale them down too.
(https://i.imgur.com/2d4I7gZ.jpg)
I love that. I wont be playing much if any on this deployment, just painting. I'm more asking because if Feb, after I get back, I'll be running a Muskets & Tomahawks 2 demo game and really want a knock out board. So looks like I need more and bigger individual trees and some based together in line, as well as a bag or two of lichen.That set up was for Song of drums and tomahawks, but it works equally well for Muskets and tomahawks. It's very effective having the edge of the forest delineated by groups of 4 or 5 trees stuck together, then lots of individual trees, lichen and rocks in the middle that can be moved around whenever you like. But you knew that anyway :)
Your solution is definitely the most common. However, it's also easy to "spice it up" with some bushes, lichen, leaves, pebbles, sticks to represent downed trees, etc. You can even spray paint or flock the mat used for your forest bases, etc.
If you had money to burn (and most of us don't!) you could even buy a smaller forested gaming mat and cut it up into various shapes, etc.
For larger scale games, I tend to use my 1" and 2" hills as the wooded portions of the table, just for ease of recognition. Are you on the hill? You're in the woods.
(https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-fjrk05g6X0c/X0Pv8FwdmJI/AAAAAAAAGEc/Ftf0bFXZQ1QmRgN0yplslpB7IzFLUZmLgCLcBGAsYHQ/s2016/118359718_10223860661608489_4165378525787803250_o.jpg)
Another option is to make forest floor pieces, each with several tree trunks attached. Then make forest canopy pieces to match the floor pieces, with clump foliage to show the treetops.:o Interesting idea... Yes it would work for some parts of a very dense forest or jungle...
RACM,
If you're genuinely asking, my hills are flat - just steps of 1-2" upholstery foam. The sacrifice made for easier gaming, though less attractive.
(https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-3JsHsPsXsTg/Xa3BzSm0HRI/AAAAAAAAFVI/Ee5M4nv-C24j8Vgvu37gnZSuC-RQ4KoOwCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/OctChar2.png)
Harry, just get out a pair of scissors & trim those outlines into irregular shapes. Job done!
Harry, just get out a pair of scissors & trim those outlines into irregular shapes. Job done!
By Jove, I think he's got it!
Why didn't I think of that!!!???