Open forest of pine trees

[Patrice]

For FIW skirmishes I need something that looks like open forest, a forest easier to cross on foot (except in close order) than the rather dense European forest of the usual rules.

Mainly pine trees, with bare trunk bottoms. Not a very precise scenery, just something that gives an overall effect.

(28mm figures for scale, real trees can be much higher, perhaps I'll make a few taller ones but it must be practical for gaming.)



A few big rock and bushes, and fallen or broken dead trees, will add more cover in random places.



I use miniature pine trees fixed on the top of wooden rods. They look better with a few dead branches on the bare lower part where sunlight does not reach them (no joke intended). I drilled some holes in the trunks, then I tried to make short branches with metal wire, but there was a danger of harming the players' fingers and (what would be much worse!) the paint on figures when moving troops between the trees. Also tried string, but it's too slack. For the moment I'm using fishing line (which I bought especially for this, I don't fish) it's strong and flexible enough. Then the whole lower trunks, including these few branches, receive a rough layer of wall covering and cheap acrylic paint.





Still need to improve the colours, and also to decide what the ground should look like, the green field grass on the pics do not fit well in a forest.

[snitcythedog]

They certainly work on the table. 

[fred]

Those work well

As for the grass mat - anything that breaks up the single green colour will work. At the most expensive end you could go for one of the newer mats printed with a more varied pattern - Deep Cut Studios are a favourite of mine. Or at the other end just small pieces of scatter terrain to break up the look. These could be cut from any green to brown material you have to hand, and apply as much texture as you can be bothered to add!

I went with large irregular ovals of MDF as bases for terrain - and basically finished them like figure bases, so a coat of sand, brown paint, dry brushed with sand shade, then patches of flock added. As well as bases for forests or rocky areas, they can be used as is just to break up the table top

[Digits]

They certainly work well.

For the ground, maybe buy a tub of brown flock.   You could sprinkle it around the areas you are popping trees to represent the fallen needle mulch to break up the green, then when you are finished playing, simple pour back into the tub and shake off any nuisance bits in the back yard.

[FifteensAway]

Open woodlands are more natural, especially for your time period.  Using wire limbs might work better if you coat them with latex (an idea I got from Digits and his jungle trees); would have to paint them but that seems part of your process already.

You might consider permanent large bases for your trees with some smaller ones as well and then buy some of the rather nice leaves on the market, I do believe there are even appropriate dead leaves.  A little harder for pine needles but might be as simple as gathering some real pine needles and running them through a mixer - and then give them a good coat of a flat matte spray to help preserve them once in place.

A nice mix of evergreen and deciduous would also be time period appropriate for many of the events of the F&IW.

[Patrice]

  Thanks for all these suggestions and ideas.

We are playing on polystyrene boards, and polystyrene hills, covered with green "grass" or brown "earth" and the trees are stuck into it before the games. Some other trees are glued by 2-3 on cardboard bases.

Some brown flock is neeeded indeed. I've tried used tea bags ...but most of them (perhaps not the right quality) are just powder. I'll look around for pine needles I know where I can find many, not the right scale but at least the right colour, I did not think about a mixer.

And, yes there should be some deciduous trees (deciduous? I've learned a word here) mixed in the lot. And also, I understand that some other parts of this forest can be more dense in North-East America.

[WuZhuiQiu]

How about using flocked cloth shapes as "forest floor" templates? You might lay them over the terrain, and stick the trees in through them.

[ced1106]

3D for aesthetics, 2D for the game.

With, frex, Terra Tiles, I use the entire hex for forest terrain. Makes LOS easier. The 3D trees can be moved around if they block a miniature. I also use them to "connect" the two forest hexes. Terra Tiles will relaunch on Gamefound any time now, btw.

IRL, You can squeeze around a tree, but, with miniatures, your miniatures can't share space with another miniature, so you have to break immersion, such as moving a tree miniature.

[Patrice]

How about using flocked cloth shapes as "forest floor" templates? You might lay them over the terrain, and stick the trees in through them.

Well, that's an idea! 

3D for aesthetics, 2D for the game.

With, frex, Terra Tiles, I use the entire hex for forest terrain. Makes LOS easier. The 3D trees can be moved around if they block a miniature. I also use them to "connect" the two forest hexes. Terra Tiles will relaunch on Gamefound any time now, btw.

IRL, You can squeeze around a tree, but, with miniatures, your miniatures can't share space with another miniature, so you have to break immersion, such as moving a tree miniature.

Interesting. I don't play on hexes, but it's always good to hear about other adaptations of a same problem. 

[fred]

If you need brown flock - Javis (in the UK) do it in their railway modelling stuff.  Available from Pendraken. https://www.pendraken.co.uk/scatter-910-c.asp

It’s basic stuff and looks much better if you mix a couple of shades together.