"Whats your feelings on lichen?" Topic

I'm starting to play some Bolt Action games and I'm a bit short on 28mm terrain.

One thing I've got plenty of though is lichen. I have no problem using it on a gaming table but I rarely see others using it these days.

So do you like using lichen or is it too model train/ cheesy for your standards?

I have it, I use it. $20 USD of lichen gives as much Hedgerow (in any shape) as $150 USD+ of pro-looking stuff.

I still use it, but flocked and based, as areas of scrub.

I have these little evergreen bushes sprouting all over my yard, I keep mowing over them and they just get bushier. Very soon a lot are going to get wacked and moved to the game board. My point is use whatever you need even if your the only one.

I've been using the same ratty old box of lychen for 40 years – it's a nostalgia thing for me now, I suppose…

I have a 6mm army of lichenoids. Intelligent plants spreading across a planet. All they are is clumps of lichen on round bases. I am always trying to come up with odd looking aliens and these fit the bill.

I still use it fairly liberally on the table. Good for showing rough ground, defining wooded areas and covering unsightly gaps in terrain. Doesn't damage figures, easy to move around and store. What's not to like?

love the smell :)

Lichen looks like the undergrowth in my neck of the woods. Not sure what you would use in it's place.

Lost Pict

I use it to delineate edges of woods, streams, etc. Always have, never thought of it being cheesy.

i use it on certain type s of terrain, however when it is stored, i have it in an air-tight ziploc bag or container. it takes a few years to dry out, but i don't find it nearly s useful ones it starts to dry and become brittle.

I have used it in the past, and the look is decent.

I prefer the ground foam clumps though, especially since you don't have to worry about those drying out.

Apparently, you can spray them with glycerin to rehydrate them.

I don't use it. I think lichen looks too much like lichen. It detracts by such a familiar look. It's a bit like the old wood chip, neon green, flock. If you are comfortable with if fine, but I would flock it and seal it.

A big clump makes a nice wood for 6mm

I use lichen all the time. Was there supposed to be a problem with it?

Nothing that I'm suggesting Robby. Just seems like I've seen a decline of their presense in AARs in recent years. Thought maybe they were declining in use.

To keep it from drying out, store in sealed plastic bag with some water in it. The stuff will absorb the water and regenerate into its mushy norm.
I have some older than my 40 year old kids, which I also tried to put in a sealed plastic……

You can flock Lichen to give it a more leafy look.

Not a fan of it.

I have a lichen for it…. :D

When it dries out I just throw those bits into my tub o' flock and they end up on somebody's base.

Still use and like it!

My feelings are soft on it (though occasionally a bit dry and crumbly, too). Like any other terrain piece, it has a degree of representation that has varying degrees of appropriateness depending on what you are representing and for what purpose.

I'm with Angel Barracks.
Not a fan of it, though I do use it. Very sparingly that is…

I still have an old zip-loc bag full of the stuff, but I rarely use it.

As a kid I used to harvest it by the 5 gallon bucket full from the lumber mill down the street and so developed a nostalgia for it. Today I am more likely to go with foam, though I have flocked some lichen for terrain bases.

When I started flying as a 15 year-old, the first thing I noticed was how much trees, when seen from above, look like lichen. I've still got a bag of lichen that's been doing the business for 20 years.

Mark, I was just in the area of Oregon around "Ashland" a few weeks ago. The hills surprised me how much the foliage looked like lichen from a distance. My wife even commented on the hills saying, "They look like your tables!"

Shes so cute ;-)

I like lichen!

Not a fan. I used it back in the day but these days the stuff really seems to aggravate my allergy to mold.

I think we have 20 "likes" so I guess we can start a Lichen Board!

;-)

Lichen is a cheap and versatile terrain scenic material. I use it to represent shrubs, brush, place it on war game trees to represent leaves, and it is easy to clean up and use again. It also seems to last forever. I have stuff that is over 20 years old and it is still fresh. I also will pick up lichen clumps in the wild. Now the wild found lichen is dry and brittle but that has its merits as well with the gaming table. I often will grind the wild found lichen for variations of flocking material.

Speaking of the wild found lichen does anyone know what the process is used to make the commercial stuff soft and how do they give it the color variations?

After some investigation I have answered my own question. Here is a great source on how to prepare lichen found in the wild. I will be giving this a try very soon.

link

Still using a supply of wild lichen I collected in the Gower over 30 years ago!

I love the smell………but maybe that's just me

Lichen makes an appearance on my wooded terrain bases and I like it.

I also use moss:

In a box with Jack Scruby miniatures that has not been opened since 1981.