50 Cent Trees at Dollar Tree

Christmas season brings many treats for the wargamer, when it comes to terrain. My best luck has been with the Cobblestone Corners brand of Christmas decorations, sold by Dollar Tree in the U.S. (manufactured in China).

Last year, they brought us cheap hedges. This year, it's trees - a wide variety of trees, 2 trees per pack, and each pack retails for $1 USD.

I cleaned my local store completely out of pine trees (9 packs - 18 trees), and will go back for more.

I prefer the pine trees because of their simple construction (basically, it's a trimmed brush stuck into a round wooden base).

I don't think I'll have a "shedding" problem with these trees!

To my eye, the trees work fine for 15mm through 28mm scales. They're a trifle big for 6mm/microscale, but not laughably so.

Two other tree varieties in the same line are worth mentioning. One is basically the same tree, except the "brush" has been trimmed into sections, and the bristles are coated with a dark flocking. This tree shed a little in the package, but didn't look like it would shed further on the tabletop.

Another variety is again based on the brush skeleton, but instead uses what looks like pulverized foam as flocking. Some of the foam hold paint better than others, which gives these trees a green-and-white look. These trees shed quite a bit in the package, and look to me like they'll keep shedding.

There were more trees that I didn't buy, but they were trees with snow. If you have a winter campaign in mind, you should check them out.

The figures used in these photographs are the first 28mm figures sent in as part of the Army for Bill project. Thanks to Lead Asbestos and Anonymous for sending these along!