I already own a number of small individually mounted trees for use with 6 mm figures (I expect to use 6 mm with the battle box almost exclusively). I know these are relatively fragile, as the trees are prone to pop loose from the washer on which they are mounted. Plus, I’d like to leave all the terrain in the box full-time so all I have to add is the troops and and know everything else is ready to go.

I have an idea for making a pretty rugged base for individual trees: glue a nail to a washer, head down, with epoxy. Make little balls of flock that fit in the end of the nail. I wouldn’t really need to even glue them in place. I have the nails, washers and flock. What to use for the form to glue the flock to? I could buy little styrofoam balls but I’m trying to do this in the cheap. I try little balls of tin foil. But they are fiddly, and prone to flattening and crushing. Plus it is hard to glue the flock to something with an irregular shape like that. A few test runs just create a lot of glue soaked flock on the kitchen counter.

Having given up on individual trees I decide to try another tack: a string to mark the edge of the woods along with lots of little woods stands to put inside. If the stands are small enough you can remove what you need to put troops in the woods. And with a string to mark the edge it is infinitely flexible.

Looking for string, I come up empty. But I do find pipe cleaners. Even better! Because they have a wire core they hold their shape better and will be less prone to getting knocked about. So I grab a couple, apply some white glue and add flock. I’m hoping to end up with a way to mark the borders. I expect over time some flock will shed but that’s okay, as long as it holds up a few games at a time.

For the stands of woods I just use more cut up foamie material. Going through the trash I come up with scraps from making the box that provide more than enough material.

These are painted dark green, and flock is attached with white glue as before. These were then given a heavy dose of hair spray, and left to dry. Note: You will want to use a heavy coat of glue. Some of the pieces of flock will only attach by a “corner” so you want a thick bead of glue to really hold them on the base. Once dry these can actually just be tossed in a bag! I threw them in a bag and gave them a severe shake. One or two tiny pieces of flock came loose, but overall they all came through perfectly intact. I decided these were the best overall way to do my woods. So all that was left was to find a lazy afternoon to crank out a battlefield’s worth! And here they are:

Up next: Over Hill, Under Dale

[Battlefield In A Box] [Terrain: Part 1] [Terrain Part 2: Woods] [Terrain Part 3: The Hills] [Terrain Part 4: Towns] [Terrain Part 5: Rivers & Streams] [Terrain Part 6: Rivers II] [Final Touches] [Post Mortem]