I first bought some cheap trees off eBay around 80mm tall. I wasn't worried too much about the size because you can always cut the plastic trunks down.
The trees were too dark at first so I rolled them in lighter foliage flocks until I was happy with the colour.
A nice light green finished the look, I didn't bother trying to put tiny peaches on them. Although, now I am thinking it could be done...
Job done, time for the bases. The trees were stuck into the MDF bases using a trusty glue gun.
I placed out my infantry bases I use for ACW, so I could see where to place the fruit trees. I didn't want them to be too close together so it made troop movement difficult. I learnt this trick off Two Sheds Fred when he was making me some woods terrain.
I didn't go too big with the trees so they would have the appearance of an orchard.
Six bases is the size of an average regiment. It's safe to say that this orchard will not count as soft cover... Sorry Captain.
I shaved off the sharp edges of the base to make it blend into the table better.
Another little orchard, this time a little more cramped but still room for troops to manoeuvre.
I based in my usual way of using dark/light earth flocks to create a base.
The main path was flocked in dark earth with the light earth flock covering everything else.
Subtle flocking.
Put in the sun to dry.
Now it was time for the summer grass to be added in patches. After this some light grit was sprinkled around to act as stones. This helped with the arid American look.
Finally, some mixed herbs were sprinkled around the bases of the trees to act as dead fall. Job done, let's see what the new owner thinks.
A few grass tufts help with the look of the bases.
I think he likes it.
I decided to have a stab at making this fun project after seeing loads of orchards in the ACW scenarios. They were a very popular addition to most farmsteads and they will make great little features to fight over. The photo below I took for a recent post is to blame for this latest project.
UPDATE: my wife's comment "where are the peaches?" Had me returning to this project within the hour. I had an idea of using tiny polystyrene balls from old model railway trees. These old trees had served me well for around twenty years before being wrecked at a Wargames show. Well, nothing goes to waste and these old trees will still come in handy.
The old woodland base is battered and broken, but still a very atmospheric base to game over. The tiny balls that came off the trees were soon recycled into peaches/apples. The orchards actually look like they are made of fruit trees now and are better for it.
These are much younger trees at the battlefield today than those at the time of the battle, still this giving a good example of their spacing.
Confederate skirmishers advance through the Peach orchard.
Going back to the model, I painted the peaches a more peachy colour. They are definitely peach orchards now.
It took a bit longer than expected, but my new metallic Sharpies arrived. I wasted no time in trying the gold on some brass buttons. It worked a treat and was easier than trying to do it with paint. For speed painting these ACW figures, I'm a convert!
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