Trees

Woodland Scenics Large Birch with textured base

I've been messing about with trees of late in an effort to dolly up my wargames table. With this in mind, I have embarked on a tree buying campaign*. This has bulked out my stock considerably and I think I've hit upon some good rules of thumb.

1. Differing heights. Previously my trees came in two sizes, now while the bulk of the woodland is still made up of these trees, the greater variation in the height is much more pleasing to the eye.

2. Differing types. I now have some birch as well as my more generic deciduous. I have aspirations to a weeping willow and an impressive oak, but they may be a while in coming.

3. Stick them close together. The smaller the base of the tree the more playing space you have left on the table. However, constantly picking up fallen foliage is disruptive as well. I'm using old Games Workshop 40mm bases because they are big enough to prevent even quite large trees from falling over, but small enough that it can rub elbows with an infantry unit in a five inch hex without too much difficulty.

4. Dolly up the bases. I have in times past stuck my trees to card bases with blu-tack. This is perfectly serviceable, but doesn't look very nice.

On the subject of dollying up bases, I've found that it's an excellent way of going through old paint. The chaps above were glued to 40mm bases and then had a thin layer of filler smeared across them. This was roughed up a bit and small pieces of cat little pushed into it. This is then given a wash of watered down PVA to hold everything together.

Here you can see some smaller trees which have been fixed two to a base. These fellows are at the next stage of the process. The chap on the left has been given a base coat of brown. I used to be quite particular about using GW Bestial Brown for this, but any old thing will do. I usually use whatever Vallejo comes closest to hand. Flat Brown and English uniform on this occasion, I believe. The base on the left has had a pebble added and has had a coat of what I've come to call "Constables Snow". This a heavy highlight of white, which breaks up the brown on the base. I don't know why it works but it does. Savage advised me to do this and he's a graphic design and knows whereof he speaks.

Paint the roots to match the trunk, this is not always necessary, but the birches would look a little odd without it.

And above, the finished product. These bases have had the "Constables Snow" treatment and then a few dabs of PVA and some static grass added. I've found less is more when using static grass as too much makes it look like you're on the ninth hole. You can use the grass to cover up any little slips where the white has been too heavily applied. The key thing to remember that that there is usually very little greenery beneath trees because they block out the light, so don't go overboard.

I added a sprig of lichen for some colour and when some greenery fell of the chap on the right I just added it to the base with a dab of PVA. And the job is OXO.

Oh and finally, a chap on the internet wanted a better shot of Rupert, the bear, not the chap, so here you are. Probably nipping inside to see if there is anything left in the wine cellar.

*I did think about writing "...which has borne fruit." But I thought better of it.

Wood for the trees

From left to right, two model trees given me by Donogh many moons ago, a birch by Woodland Scenics and lastly, a Heki Tall Deciduous

It's been a bit of a brown study today and in an attempt to shake myself out of the funk, I decided to have a look at some of the new trees that I got to dolly up my table. I've been admiring Ross Mac's tables for quite some time now and it finally struck me that his trees are a mixture of heights and types, while mine are rather more homogeneous.

Consquently, I've been working on adding some new types and basing the ones I already have. My trees have been blu-tac'd to pieces of card thus far and while it's perfectly serviceable, it doesn't look very nice. Major General Tremorden Rederring's Colonial Wargaming page was always quite firm on the point that bases should be as small as possible as the smaller the base, the larger the amount of playing area that was available. Sadly, that magnificent page is no longer with us, but it's influence lives on.

Three small birch trees, I picked these up in the model shop in Frome and I'm very pleased with them

I've used old Games Workshop bases that I had floating around as they are small enough to share a hex with one of my five by two inch bases, while wide enough to prevent larger trees falling over. The plan is to texture these bases and add some windfall to make them look a little better. I must resist the urge to go overboard with the static grass however, as a recent trip to the woods hammered home the point that the ground underneath trees is generally pretty brown because they cut out the available light.

A tall birch tree based and ready to have that base textured and possibly have some grass added

Another thought that crossed my mind was that the different types of trees could have different game effects. In the Command & Colours system games I usually play, wooded areas have the following effects.

- Block line of sight.

- Offer cover to units in a wooded hex.

- Prevent units that have just moved into the hex from battling.

It might be interesting in a War of 1812 or other scenario where there is a lot of woodland fighting to distinguish between types of wooded areas. Certain wooded hexes could have a lot of undergrowth and be impassible to artillery, while others are quite lightly wooded and only block line of sight. This could be drawn on a map, but it would make more sense to assign a set of characteristics to each type of model tree and then use those to indicate which area were heavily wooded or not. The side with the home field advantage, like Indians or the defenders in the case of a scenario where the attacker hasn't had a change to conduct reconaissance, would have prior knowledge of this. The attacker would have to use scouts or puzzle it out for himself. The important thing would be to ensure that the types of trees are clearly distinguishable.