Level I and Level II woods w/o Hexes

[Tangoforone]

How do you handle calculating woods on non-hex maps?  If your mech is behind a tree is it in woods?  If your mech is behind three trees is it not seen?  Or, do you mount a few trees on a small board that your mech can be put in, and based on the inches from the edge of the board that is how many additional points of cover it gets? 

Let me know.  I play a bunch of cities without hexes, but would like to add trees at some point.

[Colt Ward]

what I have seen is folks mount a tree to a 'base' that covers some area, and the whole area is 'trees' to count as a stand of woods.  After all, a mech will not usually be able to hide behind a single tree . . . if you want to simulate a sequoia your going to use something round, branches would be higher than the mech could see.

[Tangoforone]

That's kind of what I figured, just wanted to see what others used.

[Colt Ward]

So this is sort of what I was meaning . . .



Is sort of what I was talking about, but the bottom row might be considered impassable jungle (btw, those bits are from cheap mistletoe balls).  Below is more along the lines, though I have also seen a few where a single tree is set on a green felt shape with a single tree on it.




I saw this, and it is a interesting idea to making the trees easier to move/store.

[Tangoforone]

The middle picture is what I've seen a few people do as well.  So that entire area would just be considered Level I or Level II woods, and however deep you are in it (inch-wise) is related to the modifier (1 inch for +1 if light woods, +2 if heavy woods)?

[Colt Ward]

No, I would think its just like hex 3D terrain- a area is either L1 or L2 woods, not based on depth . . . the picture I wanted share was too big to do it easy, but basically if you wanted some heavy woods, either it might be marked on the felt, or you put another felt (different color better) on top with another tree.  For the middle picture IMO you could to it big trees L2 and small trees w/frost (got some of them!) are L1

[Tangoforone]

Interesting.  So on some hex maps you can end up in woods that would give you a bonus for being deeper in them (2 light woods would be a +2 to be hit for example).  Is that ignored or is there any way to get that additional modifier? 

[Colt Ward]

Yup, whatever is in the LOS can keep adding up . . . so I can be sitting behind partial, in woods (aka sniper's nest) with a single wood hex between me and the target that gives me a +1 TH and the target has a +3 disregarding movemods.  You can fire into the 3rd +1, after that LOS is blocked.

[Cache]

Are you using Total Warfare rules? There is a free download for miniatures/hexless play: BattleTech Miniatures Rules

[shadhawk]

I use felt as a template and place model rail road trees for the look. I use light green for light woods and dark green for heavy woods.

[BirdofPrey]

I saw this, and it is a interesting idea to making the trees easier to move/store.

Where did you see that and how do I get/make one?

[Kibutsu]

I try to build tree templates consistently so they are easy to identify. 2 trees on a template is a light woods, 3 or more is a heavy. A single free standing tree is just a scenic with no game effect. That way you don't need to measure inches etc.

[NeonKnight]

As a HUGE user of 3D terrain, woods are best handled for a hexless system as follows:

Cut a swath of Dark Green Felt or make a base and color appropriately. Place a few dollar store trees/Model Railway trees on the base.

Currently I am moving to making my bases with a small bit of metal in a corner or somewhere and making a magnetic base for the tree to 'hold it' in place. Remove tree when something moves into that area, put back when they leave. Again, I have a light green base for Light woods, and darkgreen for Heavy woods.

Part I'm having issues with right now, is making snowy bases, and trying to find a way to represent Light/Heavy for the bases  :-\

**Also, best to refer to the woods as Light and Heavy as Level I/Level II is confusing as Level is usually reserved for Elevation (i.e. a Level 1 hill, a Level 2 building)

[Colt Ward]

Bird of Prey, it was a example I saw when searching pictures for examples.

Making it would be pretty easy I imagine- or at least get something close.

Make the base, place dowel rods or even toothpicks in the base to be the 'trunks' of the trees.  Then you can cut a piece of cardboard or balsa to be the foliage 'roof' make sure you line up holes with the trunks or use beads to where the trunks go.  Paint the cap green, maybe give it a swirl/splatter/random pattern of different greens to reflect different layers of leaves & lighting.  Glue different clump foliage to the cardboard/balsa . . . maybe spray some diluted Elmer's to some areas of the clump and sprinkle green/yellow-green flocking on those areas, and maybe another mist of glue.

Simple method, depending on how much you want to do I can think of a few further things to increase the 'natural' look of the canopy but they get more time intensive.

[pascal]

If you're looking for something supercheap and easy (if only to buy time to build something better):

https://battletech.nl/assets/terrain/battletech-alphastrike-printable-terrain.pdf

print, optionally laminate (matte recommended), cut, place trees, play

[Tangoforone]

I totally forgot the light/heavy when making this post...

For snowy tree bases I would just leave patches of green on the ground, or perhaps you could add straw and smaller bushes sticking out of the snow on heavy woods.  From a novice terrain (and novice Battletech) person's point of view, that would be how I would handle it personally. 

[Colt Ward]

your game, your call- the main thing is that it can be recognized and if any questions about it, folks communicate

[Cache]

Part of our pre-game is the GM pointing out what each type of terrain represents (woods, water, hills, slopes, buildings, etc.). Minimizes the chance of mistakes right away.