Frugal Forests for 3mm and 6mm

UPDATE: I found the source for this technique HERE and he does a much better job!

Pesky real life has been taking up my time, so I have not updated in several weeks, but I have been keeping a few hobby projects going in the background.

Inspired by The Portable Wargame, Developing the Portable Wargame, and One Hour Wargames, I have been making hex compatible terrain for use with my Cigar Box 4" hex grid mat.  One of the terrain feature you need in quantity is forests and as I will be playing with 6mm and 3mm figures, I turned to my trusty friend the grout sponge, which I have used before for making forests for 6mm.

You can see another method at the Storm of Steel Blog as well, but this is my cheap and fast method.

Disclaimer: I did NOT come up with this method, I saw it on a blog or forum somewhere and cannot remember the source.  If you originated this, please take credit!

Supplies

I used:

• 4 x Tile Grout Sponges
• 1 x Can Dark Green Spray Paint ( I used Rustoleum Camouflage Green)
• 1 cheap acrylic craft paint in a lighter green
• 1 cheap acrylic craft paint in an even lighter green
• Wide Paint Brush
• Good scissors
• Needle nose pliers
• A hex template if you are trying to make a hex shape

Step 1

I cut each sponge in half as they are pretty thick.  I then use a plastic 4" hex I bought off of Amazon (I think quilters use them), but any hex template will do, and cut the sponges into rough hexes.  You do not have to be precise as you want them slightly irregular.

I managed to get 4 hexes from each sponge.

Step 2

This gets a little messy.  First I used the scissors to shape the edges off of the pieces and then I used the needle nose pliers to pluck out chunks of foam to give each piece a more irregular forest like appearance.  Remember you are making forests, not trees.

Do this somewhere you can clean up easily, as it generates a lot of little pieces of sponge.

Step 3

Spray paint the pieces.  I mean really get in close and spray paint the heck out of them.  I did 2 coats, as the pieces soak up the paint, well, like a sponge.  Let dry thoroughly.

Step 4

Heavily damp brush your darker green craft paint on first and let it dry, I used this:

Then dry brush on your lighter green.  Use whatever shades you prefer and dry brush to taste, I used this:

Let dry! Then the pieces are ready to use and are darned near indestructible.  If not using hex terrain, you can do as I have done for my other games and make smaller or larger chunks as you see fit.

Here are some posed shots of the trees on my 4 inch hex cloth with 1/600 cold war vehicles from Pico Armor, mounted on 1.5" squares

 I hope this is helpful.  Meanwhile, I am working on a few odds and ends, including a historically accurate set of hex based rules for the Ruritanian-Elbonian War of 1925.   Until then, good gaming!