Hi Everyone, I'm trying to figure out how to make some forest scenery to go along with my forest game table, and I'm not sure what to use as a platform. I am thinking about using either cardboard or the foam squares that come with the miniature boxes and then covering them with turf. Does anyone have any suggestions for how to do this, or if there is a better option for making scenery? Thanks!
What kind of forest scenery? A large base covered in trees? Individual huge trees, Endor style? A large base with a couple trees on it to represent a forest?
I'm thinking large base with some trees on it. What I am thinking is cutting up either the boxes that CB packages the minis in, or cutting up the foam inside and making a set of these to scatter across the board. EDIT: spelling and wording
First consider the type of scenery and how it will interact with the rules. For a forest area are the trees going to be treated as individual cover or are they smaller and part of a zone. If individual I recommend mounting the trees on a couple of metal washers, say a 25 mm glued on top of a 40mm. This will gives the tree some stability so it wont fall over and some weight so it doesn't move much. I usually use wall spackle or caulking silicone to cover the washers and give some texture before painting and flocking. If the forest is a zone I use a piece of mdf board or large plastic cut into an irregular shape to denote the edge trees can be modelled in clumps and moved within the zone. If you don't mind the regular shape old CDs make for a wonderful terrain base. They are rigid, don't warp from the glue like cardboard will, and can even be cut into more irregular shapes with garden shears or an x acto knife. The foam inserts can be glued together and then cut into shape to give rock outcroppings or alien plants. I would stay away from carboard unless you have nothing else. There is a tendency to warp over time. Old plastic signs can be a good source for bases for scenery as well. In general scenery bases should be thin, able to lay flat, and not porous (to prevent warping).
Back in my Warmachine days, I handled this by making some MDF "bases" to cover the size and shape of the overall area, then I put some trees on some old GW artillery bases (the type that came with the High Elf repeater crossbows). I also had bases with rocks, clouds, etc. Since all terrain is area terrain in WMH, I'd lay down the base for the area, then hit it with some terrain bunches to indicate what type of terrain it was (forest, broken ground, etc.) The handy thing is that you can move your unit through, and if someone would end up in the middle of a tree, you can just move the tree.
You might want to give a look at Lukes APS on Youtube as he has done lots on trees, and he focuses heavily these days on making them realistic-looking yet still be wargame-ready (namely, that they won't fall apart at nothing unlike most diorama or train layout ones), while still be cheap and quick to make. This particular video might be close to what you want, encapsulating what everybody else has described about modularity and all that, but i suggest you spend some time watching the rest of his stuff to get the full picture: He peddles his scenics a lot but pretty much everything he sells he has shown how to make on his channel, it's just more convenient to buy it premade from him. Pay lots of attention to the sculpting compound he uses in everything these days, that thing is freaking magic.
Heh, looks like Luke was spying on you, he just released this: Only one comment about the video: For Lord Duncan's sake, do not use Contrast paints on terrain! As an aside, while watching it. i got reminded of the best damn forest ground cover i've ever seen by Paepercuts, this is for dioramas but you might take ideas (or you just might enjoy it for it's own sake, i do ) : Hopefully some of this is useful to you :
Man, those paints are expensive! Thankfully people have started to figure out alternatives, here's one: Cheap enough that you could use it with terrain if you wanted, but in general for this a much better alternative is cheap craft acrylic paints or inks, you can make big quantities for little. Here's a video on this by BMC Jeremy: And because you're gonna need it, here's a nice recipe for terrain wash, also by Jeremy:
Don't forget to hit up the local Home Depot/Lowes/other DIY store that mixes housepaint, you can usually find good colors in their "oops, we mixed the wrong color" aisle for cheap, or just bring in the paint you wanted to use and have them match it and mix you a sample quart.
Ah, shoot, I was just there a few days ago. But I'll definitely be making a return trip at some point!
I'm old enough that I got into this hobby when model painters had to make their OWN "weathering powders" (artist's chalks and a spice grinder) and washes (paint and one of the artist media - they have them for glazes and washes and ones to slow paint drying, etc) so none of that is new to me. :D