How do I make a forest?

[Peanut]

Hi guys,

 

I'm trying to make a forest for my wood elves. I've never done any terrain at all, though I've done a bunch of basing and stuff, which is kinda similar?

 

My question is this: I have some pre-made trees from Woodland Scenics, but I want to know what to make the forest floor out of. I hear people say plasticard but I look that up and it seems too thin. Do I use cork? If so, where do I get it? What else could I use? It needs to be like a "citadel forest" but I'm not sure of the dimensions of that. But I don't want it to look stupid like a citadel forest.

 

Thanks for your help!

[savion47]

\You can get plasticard in a variety of thicknesses. Consider covering the plastic with a thin sheet of metal and magnetizing the trees so they can be removed, but also do not fall over contently... or just buy the GW forest.

[Peanut]

No GW FOREST!

[Koyote]

If you want a forest, similar to the Citadel Woods but less expensive and more versatile, I recommend the modular terrain system made by Worldsmith Industries. It is owned and operated by the world famous Jim Grahm.

 

 

 

If you want to see how I painted my Worldsmith terrain, check out my SAGA Irish & Terrain thread in this very same forum.

 

 

If you'd like to spend less $, you can make some nice DIY forests from styrene sheets, premade trees, 40 mm bases, and basing materials. Below are some forests that I made several years ago for my Malifaux tables. I used 0.04" thick sheet of styrene to make the main forest bases. To make the movable trees I glued premade model trees to Warmachine style 40 mm round bases, and then filled the remaining recesses with lightweight spackle. When the spackle had dried, I textured, primered, painted, and flocked the forest and individual tree bases. Easy peasy.

 

 

[Peanut]

Thanks Koyote! I've been following that SAGA thread, great stuff.

[JMGraham]

While I can't fault Koyote's wonderful suggestion about that amazing company Worldsmith Industries.. ;)...

 

MDF. That's medium density fiberboard. You can get a 3x3 sheet from Home Depot for about $5. You can cut easily with a coping saw by hand. Get a good rasp/file combo (or just some sandpaper and elbow grease) to bevel the edges. Super easy to work with. Cheap. Very durable. Perfect base for any kind of area terrain. I use it as the base for just about everything I do.

 

Of course, Worldsmith Industries 5.2 area terrain base also happens to coincidentally fit the GW citadel wood shape perfectly.... :)

[Guest]

I've seen a cool conversion using dollar tree metal spunge brushes and spray paint. A friend did this:

 

 

 

Mind you, it was a welding art class, so the bench and obvious "wrench" were required, the tree portions didn't have any welding on them. Should be able to do it without any welding.

[splinx]

You are welcome to come round and view my forests I made for my gaming tables. I live in Salmon Creek. I make my boards out of 3/5mm mdf and use a mixture of woodland scenics trees, model railway trees, and other bits. I have built up quite a bit over the last few years.