Like many of you, I LOVE to play on tables covered in great terrain. I have ever since I was a kid. I used to play with legions of plastic army men on fields of brown blankets covering hills made out of my Dad's history text books. While I have moved beyond the cheap (and awesome) plastic play sets of my youth, I do love a thematic table. I feel like it adds another level to war gaming (adds a narrative element to the game) and really makes games "pop." That in mind, I have been accumulating desert terrain recently for my DAK and Sikh forces to fight upon. I thought I would share my experiences buying and building Company B's desert buildings. I ordered directly from their webstore. I ordered two of each of their buildings and before shipping I paid something like $70. Pretty good for 4 large buildings. Now, I live in Australia and when I put these items in my virtual cart, the shipping costs that popped up were mind blowing. I paid it and was VERY pleasantly surprised, when 24 hours later, I received half of my shipping fee back with a note explaining that they only used what they needed to ship me my box. Their message was clear and polite and refunds are great! A+ for customer service!Here are the two buildings as they arrived out of the box.
From the other side:
The larger of the two buildings has a built in staircase and has lots of doors and windows for models to interact with. I do like having some walls with fire/entry points and some without though as it forces you to think tactically when you manoeuvre your models around the board. Will I be able to fire on the advancing enemy if I go in this building? Should I hide behind it instead? etc...
Here is the other, smaller building. Lots of windows and entry points on one side.
The other side... Not so much...
The casting quality of these models was great. The walls are thick enough to be durable for regular play but are detailed enough to quickly and effectively paint using controlled dry-brushing techniques (and occasional washes).
Here is a size comparison shot:
All in all I will give these kits a 8 and a half bottles of water rating (out of ten). There was some minor pitting and cracking in the resin that required green stuffing. That said, one piece buildings that were easy to paint (and didn't require construction) are great when you are as time poor as I am. I do recommend these structures if you are also looking to expand into the heat of the desert.
'Til next time...
