Can't see the forest for the trees

A column of Hessian Grenadiers march though the wilderness of New England, as Continental Militia rush out from the nearby woods in ambush.

Continuing on from my first two tree stands, I have been building toward a forest that can cover half of the surface of my gaming table.

All of my trees are based on the same 3" wooden circles from Michaels in groups of 2 and 3 trees. I've taken a similar approach to army painting for the forest, where there are a few "hero trees," or focal points, and the balance is less detailed stands.

Since model trees come in standard sizes and real trees grow more sporadically, most of the "hero trees" use some sort of other landscape detail other than the trees themselves to add some different heights, textures, and focus to the overall forest. On the stand above, you can see the slanting rock formation that changes the elevation of the piece, as well as a stump of a fallen tree.

The combination of pine trees over exposed rocks hopefully evokes the forests of North America, particularly the North East.

Looking in at the edge of the forest-in-progress.

This view shows the extent of the completed trees; I'm about halfway to the goal!

Under the guise of "scale purposes" I now shamelessly pose figures in and around the woods to see how they work for what they're intended for: a setting for miniature adventures! Here an indian scouting party tracks their foe through the woods.

My Hessians march along the road, unaware of the danger lurking in the nearby wood.