Wednesday, February 7, 2018

Make like a tree Part II: Completion


Make Like Many Trees

I finished up the remaining 5 CD bases along with a batch of 7 or so singly based trees to add to the collection.  I added some rock piles to these CDs just to vary up the terrain some.  The single trees are based on a large washers to make them bottom heavy, just like me.  Came out looking like this:








unfortunately, I forgot to take pics with figure in for scale.  I am lame.  I owe Lasgunpacker one awesome pic in the future....

Stick to the Plan man!

As discussed in the previous post (see HERE), the idea is in future 15mm games to shake out some Woodland Scenic Earth Blend onto the wargame mat to make the area for the the woods, and put the trees on top.  The bigger idea being that I could then make woods in any size/shape that I want.  I tried the plan out on my old GW wargame mat.  I don't use this much anymore because I have homemade wargame mats that I prefer that I use for my gaming because they are 5x7.5 or 6x10. (If interested in that process you may look HERE )   But those were all-the-way-in-the-garage and I was feeling lazy.
So the mat goes on the table and I laid down a layer of the earth blend and placed some CDs on top.  Looked like this:


The ground cover in these photos is off it color.  In real life the color is much more brown than it is yellow in this pics...


Meh, it looks alright but I was not over awed by the effect.  Somewhat disappointing, but close to what I am thinking.  Maybe it'll look better on my actual wargame mats which are a darker green than the bright green this mat is....  time will tell.

However, I'm not saying it's wasted effort because one can never have enough trees. 

and everything together; the whole collection:

Which lead me to think, "how many trees do I actually have anyway?"  And as the night progressed and I found that I strangely had access to a clean kitchen table while other family members were engaged (daughter #1 in bed, Wife in the bath) I decided to put out all the trees for 15/18mm gaming to see what I had.  This meant I had to walk to the garage after all.  OH the constant toil...


Gonna need another 10 CDs...


The table is just shy of 3x3 feet, so I'll say I have 9ft square of trees.  NOT BAD, if I do say so myself, which I just did.  I do like the way that the CDs seem to cover more area than if I had just based all the trees individually.

Side discussion: Pine trees:

Dai asked about some conifers and I answered I had the problem already solved (well 'problem' is a strong word for anything in a wargame blog) in that a looooong while ago I invested in some of the  Battlefield in a Box Pine woods  during my Flames of War days.  In fact, I bought these so long ago it was before they reduced the amount you got in the box (it's less now, the sneaky devils, I think when I bought it you got 4 bases versus 2).  I still use the bases on occasion but since they are large and rigid don't get out a lot.  But with those I have a modest assortment of lone tall pine trees and small ones grouped together that go well with 15mm figures, and these trees are really durable and have stood up well over time.

Put that wood away...

And because I am super-nerd-wargamer-genius, how to store the things was always part of the plan, so each has it's own tub from Target...

Individual trees in their own box...

and a tub for the CDs



This completes the Tree project.  Thanks for reading and comments appreciated.  

20 comments:

  1. Nice foliage - re the flocking, I wonder if you would like the visual better if once the trees are sat on a flock scatter, that a further amount of scatter is sprinkled on the edge of the CD's, so that there is a slight blending effect between the CD and the scatter on the mat?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. That’s a good idea to try next time! I was also thinking that when I do a larger area of woods versus a small one like that, the effect might be greater. Kinda like the difference when you paint a small sample area versus a whole wall in a house.

      Just one of those things where the reality falls just a little too short of the picture in my head.

      😀

      Delete
  2. They look great. I have 20 odd trees from China that need finishing and basing...one day :D

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks! Trees probably wouldn’t take you very long at all and are always useful.

      Delete
  3. Really nice arboretum! That's a great tree collection!
    Best Iain

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks C! Though I imagine the trees will be like snake rail fence: one will always need more. But this is a decent number 😀

      Delete
  4. Well done, they look realistic and beautiful!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Phil! Though these premade trees are easy to make look good.

      Delete
  5. Those look great! I have often pined for my own little forest, since after all, a forest can be used nearly anywhere, and is somewhat flexible in scale. (mature forest, small grove, and scrubby bushes all in one!)

    Those conifers are great, but comparatively monochromatic. If you ever get more, maybe a totally different type would be a good way to mix it up.

    And yes, a picture with miniatures is needed.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. You know, the more I thought about it later I found it strange that I didn’t have even more trees than that; because you’re totally right and trees are on every game table in one form or another.

      I can’t believe I forgot to take a pic with miniatures for scale! That’s blogging 101 for the sake of Pete!

      Delete
    2. You just need to plan a Wilderness battle for 2019, and that should provide enough impetus for more trees!

      Delete
  6. Well done, as I mentioned elsewhere I'm currently lucky that I can use club trees and don't have to get my own.

    Tony.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Anthony! the trees did come out alright. Now for with a brief pause while the in laws visit and off to the next project. Should decide what that is soon...

      As far as clubs, I either need to change my life so I can attend club meetings or get new clubs!

      Delete
  7. More trees means more oxygen at the gaming table. That's a good thing as it'll fight off the gamer funk at conventions.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. NOTHING can stand against gamer funk! Silly unwashed masses. Still, every bit helps. 😀

      Delete
  8. Excellent post Stew and a welcome one when it comes to trees and woods and the delineation required etc. on the table. The quality of your work is pretty high mate so always a pleasure to see. I have also found that some taller Woodland Scenic's trees can really add that extra dimension on the table in terms of "real height" if that makes sense from purely an aesthetic perspective. They are a bit pricier however I think have a bit of "wow" factor about them.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Thanks very much Carlo. 😀
    I do have some taller trees I stashed away with my 28mm terrain. There’s just a pain to store bc of the hieght.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Replies
    1. Thanks Vol. I’ve been looking st some ACW scenarios lately and have decided that I indeed need about twice this lot...

      Delete