Tips for making great wooded areas using Cigarboxbattle mats –

You can use the trees and woods printed on your mats “as is” in 2D like a board game, with no additional terrain needed.  The woods are one of my favorite features of the mats, and they  look great from above, as if flying in an airplane. Our inspiration for the design of our wooded areas came from classic military boardgames and aerial battlefield pictures.  The 2D method is a fine way to play with cardboard counters, flats, or  as a quick pick up game  if you are travelling light with no 3D trees, or just don’t have the time.

Here is a unit of 15mm American War of Independence French Grenadiers at the edge of a woods. This clearly shows the edge of the woods for sighting, firing and movement purposes.

The next step is to use a little lichen (found at most hobby and craft stores) or Woodland Scenics “Clump Foliage”. I use the WS Light Green foliage FC682, but any natural looking color will work, and eventually it’s best to buy a few different shades for a more natural, mixed  woodland look. A few pieces of bark, twigs, rocks, etc. scattered around will look great too.

We have added just a little bit of foliage and it really brings out a nice 3D woods effect. It’s still easy to see the grenadiers and move them through the woods. These type of woods work especially well for smaller scales like 6mm and 10mm.

The next level would be to use the foliage and/or lichen with a few trees to indicate a more heavily wooded area. My friend Dean uses this technique and it’s a great idea, since it gives the idea of a more heavily wooded area, but when your troops move through the woods you don’t have to move massive amounts of  miniature trees.

A few trees have been added to the foliage. The trees really bring some 3D height (not readily evident in this pic) and make the woods look more natural and realistic. I’ve added two green trees here which are easy to pick out by their rocky bases, and one tan tree.

The final step would be to combine foliage, lichen, and lots of trees for a heavy forested look. This looks fantastic on the table-top, but it can slow play do to having to move a lot of tress around as your troops move through the forest. I recommend this look for periods where there isn’t much fighting in the woods (i.e. European theater SYW), or peripheral areas where there won’t be much movement.

A heavily wooded area with lots of foliage and trees. This is my favorite look for wooded areas, but does require a lot of trees and you have to move them out of the way as the troops move through the area.

Well, that’s our tip of the week! Let us know how you do your woods on your mats! Take care and Good Gaming – Cory