So after much anticipation my Battle Systems fantasy dungeon terrain arrived a couple of weeks ago. I backed the 'cranky postman' pledge level, and after a few mock-up builds had decided to go penning the edges. Took a while but was finally ready to assemble something semi-permanent and get going. This is a review of the components I purchased for those who may be interested.
For anyone who has not seen how this system works, I'd recommend watching this video which explains things much betterer than me word speak can...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gPYsGl1XOUU
Assuming you are all initiated now, I'll kick off...
Was curious to see how big a dungeon I could put together/how much stuff I had so after tinkering around with a few smaller setups, spent a few days assembling the above. the MDF board on the bottom is 8 foot by 4 foot. there is a 2 foot by 4 foot strip at the front where the 'town' is located, meaning the dungeon itself has a footprint of 6 foot by 4 foot, the same area you would usually play a full sized game of (pre-AoS) Warhammer Fantasy battles on. While having a sprawling dungeon like this does look good, please keep in mind that this meant that I was unable to build as far upwards as the sets might usually allow for, and it is this 3D aspect of the product that makes it truly outstanding. If you were considering investing in some of this stuff I'd strongly suggest doing a quick image search about the web to see what can be achieved with builds with a smaller footprint and greater use of additional floors - they really do look cooler :-)
Battle Mats
Will start by talking about the game mats. There was initially some concern on the Kickstarter page that when people received their game mats that the folds/crease lines in the mats due to having them ship in the packaging boxes were going to permanently cause the mats to warp. I have had my mats just sitting flat for a couple of weks and they seem to be settling OK. Others have suggested rolling them the reverse way or resting books on top, which might speed up the settling process.
I have measured a few times and unless I am mistaken the squares on the game mat are fractionally smaller than the 'square size' for the card terrain. Given the amount of attention that has been paid to every other aspect of this terrain I suspect this may have been done intentionally so that the walls slightly overhang on the edge of the battle mat, which looks better than it would if you had a gap between the walls and the edge of the map. Anyhow, just something to be aware of for anyone considering converting/scratch building terrain to go with.
Next, one side of the battle mat has a row of squares which are trimmed off just slightly (due to mat sizing availability by suppliers I'm guessing). Again, not an issue, just note that if you are connecting more than one mat you may wish to make sure the 'short side' is not connected to another game mat.
Finally, one of the game mats I had seemed to have some light surface abrasions on one area. Barely noticeable unless you are looking for it, but thought I would mention for completeness.
Abrasions on the game mat shown here. Makes the floor look dusty and un-swept - must have words with the dungeon cleaner's sub-contractors...
Sewers
Sewers add-on ads a nice splash of colour to the dungeon. The detailing on the water gives a nice effect of motion, and the colour palette is a good compromise between staying classy and letting your adventurers know the water is not good to drink... Sewer sections come with raised edges which I have not used at this stage, but these should improve the sense of depth nicely when added. The bridge is quite a neat little feature, and I have had to do a double-take a few times to check that something that rounded and solid was originally flat packed cardboard.
Reverse side of the sewers is a lava pattern, which should work well for dwarven forges or fiendish temples.
In a 2 foot wide board setup I could see this working well as it would force the players to interact with the terrain, rather than simply avoid. (In the setup above I used less than half of the sewer add-on).
Mines
What originally appealed to me about the mines add-on was the scaffolding. Once I received will confess I was pleasantly surprised with the rest of the set too. The mine tracks are nicely detailed (Hint - there is a shadow on one side of the rails, took me a minute to notice and get them all lined up properly...) and the mine carts will provide good cover for sneaky adventurers. Or handy projectiles for not-so-sneaky-adventurers... While there is a lot of mine track included you are probably not going to have enough to build a full railway, fortunately the 'broken rail' pieces allow you to leave the impression that there was once a complete mine track, and it has fallen in to disrepair. Mined ore and trapdoor tokens are a nice touch too. I used the fortress walls on the inside of the 'mine' part of the dungeon to differentiate from the standard dungeon interior, seemed to look OK. Moving forward I'm planning on getting some more mine/underdark terrain done up to make this more of a feature.
Fortress
Yeah, I underestimated how much stuff was in the fortress add-on. so many walls... It really would be possible to make a small town with this stuff. (would personally love to see a Tudor/half timber re-skin of this add-on for just that purpose). You may see the top level fortress walls pulling double duty throughout the rest of this setup, as well as the two 'columns' in the mine section above.
From the outside the fortress walls look big and properly imposing. Crenelations are a nice touch. Am thinking I may need to scratch-build a drawbridge though, you know, just because... Probably also worth noting that in order to use the ground level fortress entrance ramps you need the portcullis gate wall section, which was included as a free add-on to the kickstarter but might need to be bought as additionally if you missed the kickstarter (Apologies if this is not correct, please let me know and I will amend the write-up).
Shot of the inside of the keep.
Great Hall
Everyone needs somewhere for the boss-fight to take place, right? The above shot shows the imposing great hall double doors. Big enough for a giant to walk through uninhibited, which could be handy :-)
Other features of the great hall, the stairs up to the dais, banners (a nice purpley-blue on the reverse side), gargoyles and braziers. For me this add-on is all about the double doors, but the extras do lend nice touches to the layout of the 'end room'.
Rest of the Dungeon (Core Set, Dungeon Extras, Clips etc)
Really can not believe how much thought, planning and detail has gone in to making this stuff. The plastic wall clips that hold everything together seem to have been populated in some harmonious ratio which means you pretty much always have enough of the right sort of clip (I suspect some form of dark sorcery is going on here). Same thing for the wall ramps. The only problem I have had is when I spend 10 minutes looking for a particular type of wall ramp only to realise that it doesn't exist, then working out that I didn't need the ramp I thought I was looking for anyhow :-P In all seriousness, there has only been one instance where the right kind of ramp was not available, and it was an easy work-around to adjust the ramps on the connecting walls so that an existing ramp could be used in place.
Have been unable to find any 'blank space' on any of the sheets where a freebie/extra has not already been crammed on. These guys really did go above and beyond to make sure as much as possible went in to the end product.
Have only had one or two instances where the printed surface lifted from the cardboard when punching it out of the frame, and that was on the 'furnishings' sheet which had cuts all over the place so can't be too critical. lifting print was quickly remedies with a spot of glue.
Slots for assembly of the walls by and large fit perfectly. Will note that the slot to hold the wall clip on the 'door' wall included on the wall sheet was slightly loose (so you may need to use a wall clip that is a little tighter for these ones), whereas the 'bonus' door on the ramp frame had a slot with more tension. Additionally, the 2 slots for 'extras' at the top of the walls do sometimes need adjusting.
Stairs look great once penned and glued, don't think I would trust them un-glued. Walkways are all really solid too, but I have found using the columns from the 'accessories (?)' sheet helps support walkways where you don't have an opportunity to properly connect to as many anchor points as you may wish. The size of the stairs makes small tall towers a bit difficult, so am thinking of just doing some ropes as a quick and dirty solution.
I struggled getting the counterforts to sit in the walls (refer 'extras' wall slots above), but once they are in there they look great. Bookcases are fantastic,as are the tombs. Am finding the chairs a bit fiddly (and yeah, it's laziness on my part...) but once they are all done and glued will have plenty of furniture to go around.
Next projects will include painting up my Dungeon Decor 2 kickstarter to add some more furnishings and extras in here, and patiently waiting for the Twisting Catacombs kickstarter to arrive. At which point crazy dungeon crawls should ensue...
A few more shots follow:
Our band of intrepid heroes pass through the shattered ruins of a forgotten town on their way in to the dungeon.
Showing some of the 3D aspect of the kit. Note the 're-purposed' fortress walls filling in for standard walls on the second floor...
A small cramped corridor and a forgotten tomb.
The defensive layout that will greet any adventurers.
Assorted rooms and strong-points.
Overview shots of the dungeon.
More shots showing the 3D functionality.
Just wanted to say a huge thanks to the guys at Battle Systems for all of their hard work and efforts in putting this product together.The quality is stand-out and way above my expectations. There must have been hundreds of hours of planning, play-testing and rework to get to this stage, but the results are outstanding.
