"Representing Snow on the Tabletop" Topic

I've been thinking about snowy battlefields on the tabletop, partly prompted by the recent 'Weather' thread & by a fabulous Bulge game AAR, posted by Armand.

Snowy battlefields can look absolutely spectacular, but I already have grassy, desert and sea terrain systems and really don't want to add an entire snow setup as well. My existing grassy basing would also look pretty odd on a winter table.

So I'm curious how others handle this.

Do you:

maintain dedicated snow terrain and winter-based armies?
abstract snow conditions onto normal terrain?
ignore the visual mismatch?
use temporary overlays/mats?
or simply avoid snowy battles altogether?

At what point does visual accuracy matter enough to justify another complete terrain system?

There was a thing called 'Wondra Flour'. I suppose if I had to go all New England on my terrain, I'd just shake out that or its equivalent on the terrain. Good luck cleaning it all up though.

It really depends. Napoleon's retreat from Russia would look weird over sand dunes and palm trees but your average battle fought in a winter wonderland on a whim may be cumbersome. I think that was a run on sentence.