writes:My original thought, when considering terrain for the Hive Mind insect army, was that it would be easy because I could use much of the terrain I already had.
However, when I had AI generate some concept art (see above), I was struck with the idea that a forest on this planet might be more like a tree farm, tended by the giant ants. So that was my inspiration for this project.
First, I needed alien trees. Since I already had copper-colored plants, why not golden-colored trees? These are from the dollar store, and have been sprayed with clear matte to help keep the glitter from coming off.
These are mass-produced, and some of the branches are too long or broken or pointing in the wrong direction.
A few snips and the branches are trimmed!
A few of the bases have imperfections or cracks. I applied spackle to repair the worst cases.
I painted the trunks and tops of the bases with an inexpensive brown craft paint. The trunks have glitter on them, which I just paint over, producing a lumpy alien-looking trunk.
I intend the bases to be the containers in which the trees are planted. So I used a permanent marker to color the sides black.
I then applied white glue to the tops of the bases, and dredged the bases through a container of flock, to give the impression of vegetation growing under the goldentrees. This completes the trees.
Meanwhile, I had prepared some 3"-diameter wooden bases by priming them black on one side, then tan on the other side. I applied thinned-down white glue, and covered the large base with rough sand. (I would have used fine sand to match the look of the anthill I made previously, but my fine sand has wandered off somewhere…)
When everything was dry, I used white glue to attach two trees to each large base. I was generous with the glue to compensate for the rough sand. When everything was dry, I filled in any noticeable gaps with more glue and sand.
Above, you can see one of the finished goldentree bases.
Using Alien Squad Leader, my plan is to designate a large area using shelf liner, then use 16 of these bases to represent a wooded area – a goldrentrees farm.
I think this has a nice alien vibe, though it's going to be more difficult than usual to store – can't just throw these in a box, or they'll get bent and tangle with each other.
Do they look like trees in planters? Or do you think I'm going to have to explain to other gamers what this is supposed to be? 
The Giant Flies have already taken shelter inside the goldentrees park.