Labels

Small Scale Wargaming Trees on a Budget

I have a special place in my heart for the old Citadel bottle-brush trees that were used in Games Workshop's White Dwarf battle reports for EPIC. As a player of NetEpic I have a few of them, but not enough for a proper forest on a gaming table. I need more. There are two ways to get them: Ebay and K&M Trees. Both of these methods are costly. $2, $3, or $4+ per little tree is unacceptable.
Tutorial 6mm trees Michael's flock Citadel buff Games Workshop
As I was walking through a Christmas craft display at local Michael's store the other day I stumbled upon a solution! A pack of six small fir trees was $2.95... but I had a 50% off coupon! So that came out to 25 cents a tree. The price was great, but they needed some help to get them table-ready as they looked out of place next to the Citadel trees. They were too dark and they looked plasticky.
Tutorial 6mm trees Michael's flock Citadel buff Games Workshop EPIC Grande Armee
After hot gluing the trees to British 1p coins (which I primed in black), I rolled the trees in Woodland Scenics Scenic Cement. Then I hand-sprinkled some flock onto the trees and left them to dry. The flock that I used is the old school kind... it kind of looks like sawdust bits. The color and texture comes close to matching the look of the old Citadel trees. To get variation I put a few drops of different ink washes into mini-perfume sample sprayers and spritzed a few trees. The Nuln Oil ones are a little darker. The greens are a little greener. Easy!
Tutorial 6mm trees Michael's flock Citadel buff Games Workshop Grande Armee Napoleonic Grand Battle Terrain
I quickly painted the black base a mossy green. Done! They're a great fit with my old Citadel trees. Perfect! In addition to appearing on EPIC battlefields in the grim, dark future, these trees may also do duty for a majestic 6mm scale game of Grande Armée or Blücher.
Tutorial 6mm inexpensive budget trees Michael's flock Citadel buff Games Workshop
Now, if I could just find a source for inexpensive, small, round trees...

Labels:

Comments

  1. RagstaNovember 10, 2017 at 8:42 AM

    That’s really very good. I’m surprised that the ‘cement’ cooperated though, is it plastic glue! Ahhh happy memories of the old GW trees!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. SquadPainterNovember 10, 2017 at 3:43 PM

      Hello Ragsta, I was surprised that it worked as well as it did. The Scenic Cement capillaried to the inward to the center of the tree and more of the interior where the branches were touching. But the tips were still somewhat damp. When the dry flock was sprinkled on there, it wicked the moisture out of the center of the tree. It worked great! The flock is stuck on there nicely. I didn't even have to spray the trees afterward (although I could in the future if the flock started to fall off).

      Yes! I love those old GW trees! Aren't they great?

      Thanks for the comment!

      Delete

Post a Comment

Popular Posts