Ever find that you can't see the terrain for the game at your hobby shop. Or that it's priced at the same rate it would be if you had to buy a real tree at the Garden Center. Well here's a few tip's for handy cheap trees.
Ok so you need a tree or a forest or an orchard well you don't have the cash to get it. Well either your fellow gamers have it or you use something to show there is an obstruction there.
Ok here's a fast way to make some trees. All you need is some glue, sifted dirt or sand, twist ties from the bread loaf or the bigger ones from the trash bags some cardboard cheap water color paints and 2 or 3 caps from soda bottles and something to make the tree look fluffy (I use Foliage green).
I use the tops of the pizza box it doesn't get all greasy from the pizza. Cut your area out of the cardboard, you can make one tree or a grove. Paint the cardboard a base color for the area your game is in. Now take the twist ties and use as many or as few as you want to make the scale look right for the little tree 2 or 3 twist ties is fine. For the bigger stuff I'll have the next article of the real tree tree's.
Ok so you have the 3 twist ties -- leave about 1/2" of the ends untwisted. take the rest and twist them together tight. For the 1st 1/3 of the way up. this gives you the trunk of the tree or about 1" tall trunk.
Now you can get creative and make your tree big and wide for the old growth oak's or leave one of the wires untwisted and take the other two up for a 1/2" more. This let's you give it a more spread out limb look for the younger tree effect.
Now mix some of the glue and some dirt or sand and the brown or grey paint in a plastic soda cap to make a paste to cover the twist ties with leaving the bottom untwisted section clean and the last 1/4" of the ends of the limb sections clean this is to glue the fluffy stuff to. Or if your going for the winter look just coat it to the end.
Now let that dry over night. It will make it a fuller looking tree trunk as well as a colored trunk. Now for the base that you painted all ready get a pin or needle and punch a hole in it to one side, place one of the untwisted ends thru it and spread the other 2 out and use the pin to push a hole thru for them. Now thread this in and fold the excess down and glue them in place let this dry for a while and move on to getting the top finished.
Now the top of the tree is fairly easy to make from the different types of things that are out now in the hobby world. You have the Lichen that can be dipped in your paints to make it any season color you like. Or you can brush on different colors for the fall effect or leave the tree bare for the winter look.
It's all a matter of trial and error, you may make the same mistakes we all have so just work it to your pleasure. and on the base of your new tree you can use a mixture of sand or dirt and the right size of rock for a natural looking ground cover the area that isn't covered will have your painted section so it looks great. Hope this helps you on the way to making your own landscape for the battlefield.
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© Copyright 2004 by Marc Shefelton.
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