Terraclips Buildings of Malifaux - Product Review

So, I was out at my local FLGS this past week and saw that he had in a set of the new Terraclips 3D terrain - the set in stock was the Buildings of Malifaux, which is pretty expensive for a product which is interesting, but of unknown quality since you probably haven't seen a set out of the box unless you went to GenCon.  So, since I didn't I was a bit hesitant to purchase a set.  Another thing that put me off was the store didn't have any clips needed to use it.  So, I informed the store owner and he promptly ordered a box of clips (in this case a box of mixed clips of 40 of each type, corner, flat and triple connector clips).  Today, I opened the boxes and started playing around with the buildings and the clips.  The buildings are made of stout card common to known games like GW's Space Hulk tiles - very heavy card stock.  The buildings are very nicely cut from the sprue and you will need to de-sprue the card stock walls, etc., from the frames before you can play with the set.  This takes about 20-30 minutes to get all of the pieces out and sort them into piles so you can take stock of what you have and prepare to assemble your first building.  So, the card stock is sturdy, it isn't bullet proof and it can still be bent, folded, spindled or mutilated while taking it off the frames or sprues.  So, a word of caution, take your time, remove the pieces carefully as some of the cuts may not have fully pierced the card to make removal perfect.  I had a door piece where part of the door was not fully cut through and the door tore a bit and a small piece of the printed door was left on the sprue.  Accidents happen though, but just a word of caution.  (I had been careful, but in some cases if you don't support the whole mass of pieces, some parts will fall out as the cuts are that good, and in other cases, well, they stick!)  After getting all of the parts removed, I began to play with the pieces and build some buildings to see what they looked like.  They are indeed some of the nicest card buildings you can purchase which are also modular.  I have loads of PDF files for card buildings which you can assemble, but these are in a completely different class.  First, a PDF file printed on card - even 120lb card stock is no where near the same thickness.  This product is truely a heavy-weight card made from sturdy stock and equivalent to 5-10 sheets of regular card laminated into one piece in terms of thickness.  So, the sturdy factor is that these will holdup to the rigors of gamers who are - shall we say - less than dextrous with handling figures, terrain, or dice.  Second, the printing on these pieces is exceptional and of a depth that many color printers cannot match in terms of printing technology.  So, expect that the card buildings you have will pale by comparison.  Third, the buildings you create are - well - big, very big, or in some cases monstrously huge.  If you have seen a box of these buildings, you can get an idea as the tiles shown give you a vague scale, but they don't do the product justice.  These buildings are designed for actual playing purposes where a figure occupies a square on the product - and they are well marked even though subtly done - in a nice grid pattern.  This is as opposed to the typical PDF product which is similar, but limited by the size of the paper you can fit through your printer.  Not to say some products don't make the cut, the Fat Dragon products are excellent, and would scale well with these products - albeit - these are truely modular as you can take them apart and reassemble them in a new configuration in a short period of time.

So, what would you use this product for?  In looking at the pieces they will make great buildings for Mordheim style games, scenery for Lord of the Rings Strategy Battlegame, Malifaux obviously, as well as any other skirmish game which requires modular scenery where you can maneuver miniatures in a Medieval period looking set of buildings.  The timber frame construction and stonework is typical of European buildings, and even some early American buildings.  The tile roofs are found many places, and the buildings are such that you can use them for so many different skirmish games they will make a great addition to anyone's gaming table.  They would even go well with World War II or Weird War II games, and even Zombie games if that is your thing.

So, you ask yourself when is he going to get to the damned point and show us photos?  Well, here are some quick photos so you can see how the buildings look:

 Here you can see a two-story building with an attic.  The building is ~9 inches square on the inside with an outer deck set on the 2nd floor.  The doorways are open as I have yet to assemble the doors.  The doors have a door with a slot where you can glue a cross-piece to make them free standing so you can "open" the door without it falling into the building or onto the floor.  The clips shown are the ones which I purchases, as you can see they are a translucent gray color.  They don't really detract too much from the buildings when viewed, but if you are an asthetic purist, the Fat Dragon or other PDF style buildings from card will have a more polished look if you are good at papercraft.  These look nice enough for our purposes - which is having removable layers and gaming pieces which can be flattened for travel.

 Another view of the side of the building.  You can see that the deck on the third floor out of the attic is a bit sloped - I will have to toy with this and see if I can change it round.  Like I said, I was just toying with the pieces and sticking stuff on as I went to see how it went together.  This took about 15-20 minutes to assemble.  So, be fore-warned, the product, while great, is not "instant city" as it will take some time to sort through parts, assemble them, and make sure you have enough of the right clips to put the building together.

 The back view of the building.  They look nice.  The details are very well done, and unlike some of the card buildings I've purchased over the years, there are NO SKULLS on these buildings!  Nicely done!

 Here is another "quickly assembled building" which I threw together without care for which parts matched with each other, I just threw them together to see how big these things could get.  This building is very big. about 72 square inches big if you are counting.  It is 6 inches wide and 12 inches long give or take.  I failed to grab some figures for comparison.  I really should do this, but I'm tired and lazy right now as it has been a long day.  Perhaps tomorrow I will amend this post with more photos with figures.  Check back and see!

 Another view of the big building.  The doorways here come with large double doors which should prove fun to have in some games.  These buildings will make some interesting terrain for Mordheim, or other skirmish games with 25-32mm sized figures.

 A view inside the building through one of the doorways.  The large double door gives you a good view down through to the inner doorways inside the building.

 A view inside the main floor showing the depth of the building and the possibilities for layouts.

 The large building with the roof removed.  Here you can see the inner walls and the doorways into the various rooms.  Yes, there is the possibility for assembling the buildings and putting together an "inn" with multiple chambers for guests to stay in, fight in, and die in.  The details on the walls are very nice and while you can see some of the detail, the photos really do not do the product justice.

Another view of the product exploded with the second floor removed.  The roof is at far left, the main floor is center/left, and the second floor with the added on balcony without rails is on the right.  I did not put the railing on the deck on this building for one reason.  I ran out of clips.  I only purchased the one box that the FLGS had in stock at the time.  The store only had one box of the Terraclips terrain and one box of the clips.  So, be prepared, here comes the "rant" portion of the product review.  Wyrd Miniatures and World Works Games have put out a great product, but they have done so in a fashion which is a bit deceptive and I, for one, do not appreciate it.  Let me describe how it is deceptive.  First, in looking at the color photos of the product in magazines and on-line, they show you a box of the product, and then assembled buildings from the box.  This is fine, but they are very deceptive in not putting out to you in bold print that you need to purchase the "Terraclips" which are sold separately.  The "don't forget the clips" logo on the box is there, but the print is small, the clips are shown full life-sized on the box and the dang box is heavy enough that you are deceived into believing that there will be SOME of these clips in the box.  Don't be.  The box is nothing more than a box of card stock and it is virtually useless WITHOUT the Terraclips!  Also, you need to know from the get-go that the Terraclips are also a bit pricey for a gaming supplement.  The box of "Buildings of Malifaux" was $49.00 at my local store.  The price is a bit steep by most standards, but not completely out of line.  The box of "Terraclips" that I purchased was $18 for 120 clips, 40 of each type.  Now, here is the rant proper - the clips you need are loads and loads of corner clips - loads of them.  You cannot skimp on them in the assembly process as the buildings will not be very sturdy without the connectors.  One box of connectors will NOT allow you to assemble all of the building parts in one box of this product in my test-assembly.  It will take at a minimum two boxes of mixed clips to get enough of the corner clips to make use of all of the wall sections and floors possible.  My problem with this concept is that if you are going to sell a product, you had best give the consumer some idea of how many of the dang clips he will need to assemble it so they can budget for the complete purchase.  Here, there is no information where you can see how many you will need or how many you have to have on hand to make use of the bulk of the product parts.  Had I known you would need several boxes of clips, I would have made sure to have the store owner order more of these clips.  You can't assemble anything if you don't have them.  Flat clips give you no ability to build in 3D, you need the corner clips and the "T" clips to go vertical.  So, if you are contemplating purchasing this product, look at your budget because you are going to spend a minimum of $49 per box and $18 per box of clips and you will need at least two boxes of clips to make use of all of the parts.  This comes to $87 per set to make half a dozen modular buildings that look very good on the tabletop.   So, they are MORE expensive than the old GW paper-terrain city, more modular, sturdier, but still a decent value for a fold-flat system of modular terrain.  I give the over-all product two grades - Product Quality A- (some care must be used in assembing the buildings to prevent clips peeling the surface and sprues are not always cleanly cut).  Product Value = C+  (Expensive for a piece of modular terrain.  By comparison, a GW plastic building of the same type will cost LESS than a set of these parts, but it only has ONE configuration).


I hope you enjoyed this first product review!


M

Team Tournament 1-28-2012

So, Kelly's Komix and I hosted a Team Tournament this Saturday - two players each with 1,500 points per player.  Minimum point value for a list was 1,485.  Scenarios were drafted and sent out to all participants ahead of time so they could know what to expect and what to expect in terms of having forces painted fully for the tournament.  The result was 11 of 14 armies fully painted when they hit the table to the minimum of three colors, with the other three armies either primed and in painting progress, or with a few models which were still in the primer because the player was in the process of upgrading his army to a 1, 500 point force. In any case it was a fantastic time for everyone who participated - at least I hope it was.  The scenarios were more balanced than they have been in many prior home-brewed scenarios, but they were also challenging to both sides.  Nothing says challenging when the scenarios resulted in only a few teams earning major victories, and no team going fully undefeated in the tournament!  So, in that vein the tournament was a smashing success and I felt that it went well.  So, here are some photos with a bit of commentary!

 Steven, Scott, Kevin and Andrew battling for the ruins of an Imperial city.

 Another view of the Imperial city besieged by Dark Eldar!

 As you can see, the Grey Knights have been completely corrupted to join forces with the Dark Eldar - or they are combating some Slaanesshi horrors which have captured the city.

 Eldar arrive on the table to fight to the death against the might of the Grey Knights.

 The Imperium's lines have been compromised and they have been forced to ally with Orks against the invasion of the Necrons!

 Here we see two tables in action at once - from right to left are Jason, Justin, Rylen, John, Jarred, Dennis, Matt and Josh, all of them commanding their forces and studying the positions and how to capture the objectives!

 The two teams squaring off to fight to the death - since it was teams and not themed the players picked their force and their partner and then joined up to fight other teams.  In this case we have Necrons and Space Marines against Orks and Blood Angels.  A hard fought engagment - which ended in a draw if I recall correctly!

Chaos and Space Marines squaring off with the Necrons over a rural agri-world.  The Necrons emerged victorious by holding one major objective and contesting the other major objective and tying for control of the minor objectives.

Space Marines being slaughtered in the courtyard by the Lychguard and Nemessor Zahndrekh.

The greater Daemon and his allied space marines slaughtering the Necron Triarch Praetorians to a man!

More Necrons moving forward to assault the fortifications - the funny part here is the green model in the middle of the Necrons next to the white basecoated Cryptek - that was the Necron Overlord before he got turned into a newt!  Funny event!

Felix looking grimly across at the incoming enemy army - he is seated at the right.

The Blood Angels Terminators emerge to carve a bloody swath through their opponents!

The dreaded Astral Claws being led forward by their allied Lamenter's commander Testiclees!  Custom dreadnought at bottom right is one of mine done for the store owner.  It is a Chaplain with a custom lion head and many other modifications all done on a Bjorn the Fell-handed model, since the store already had one done for the store's Space Wolves army!

Grey Knights squaring off against the might of the Necrons - it was fairly one-sided, but the Necron troopers gave as good as they could against the Grey Knights with two Dreadknights and the Chapter master of the Grey Knights with a full compliment of bodyguards.

Dark Eldar taking the Necrons down a notch or two - or did they?  This side of the engagement was a bit more even with the Necrons destroying quite a few of the Dark Eldar forces and continually moving forward towards the objective.  However, they failed in the end.

Chaos and Dark Angels going against the opposing forces of the Imperium.

Another view of the engagement - nice work on getting another player down to the tournament Scott!  Thanks for coming Steven!

A bit blurry - I was mugged by my kid mid-photo with a hug from behind as the SO brought them by on their Girls Day adventure!

Blood Angels advancing on the Horde!

Kevin's excellent paintjobs on his dark Eldar - all of them were very, very nice.  They looked great on the tabletop and they were quite effective too!

My Necrons advancing against the Grey Knights again - the Monolith lasted one whole turn.  Was really a really ugly turn for my son - who blamed by daughter for rolling the dice for his opponent, Andrew.

My Necrons being commanded by my son complete with the fully lit Necron Monolith!  He was having a great time until his Monolith got blown up - he kept asking when it would re-spawn like in HALO - I told him it wouldn't.  He was a bit peeved by that answer - but he got over it and his team still placed 3rd out of 7!

A final view of the battles from the day before my phone was put away and the photos were left untaken of the third round!  Sorry everyone if I didn't get enough photos taken, but I did try - and now you can share them or print them or whatever.  Enjoy and happy gaming!

Necron Royal Court Conversions

So here is the beginning  of the conversions and I have some Work in Progress photos of them and then a couple of shots of them completed.  I will post another set of photos as they progress through painting and then when they are done I will do a video of the models so you can see the full color change paint effects.

 Here are the figures in the initial stages - as you can see you have essentially two choices for the backs of the figures from each set - the Cryptech figure choices come from the Deathmarks as they have a hood-like armor plate partially covering their head - and the Deathmark head works fine as a Cryptech head - as it is essentially a Lychguard head with one eye instead of two.  I figured that I could cobble together some bits to make the new heads look more cryptech like.  The Necron Lord figures come from the Lychguard box set and I've used some of the back plates from both the Lychguard and Triarch Praetorian figures to build up some nice and different bodies to become the Necron Lords.  Also, I've used bits from the Triarch Praetorian box to make some different bodies for the Cryptechs.

 Above we have a close up of a Cryptech figure in progress - note that the Cryptech is kind of hunched over at the waist and he has an unusually large chin - I think he has more chins than two Chinese phone books - ok, enough Austin Powers humor.

 Above we have in the center another Cryptech conversion in the making - I've used the Triarch Praetorian back on the Immortal torso - a bit of a conversion - but it gives you a nice spinal column looking hood.  Next to him and below you have a Necron Lord conversion in process.  I've added two of the Warscythe blades to the sides of his head and used one of the Triarch Praetorian heads to make a fearsome looking head-dress on a standard Triarch Praetorian torso and Immortal legs.  (note the Immortal/Deathmark legs do  not have the large hip/thigh armor plates like the Lychguard/Triarch Praetorian models).

 Here we have the close up of the Necron Lord conversions in process - note the difference between the legs of the conversion in the center from those of the model at right above.  The huge thigh guards make a noticeable difference from the legs of the Immortal.  At right we have the Triarch Praetorian torso and legs with a Lychguard spinal column and head instead of the standard models.  These simple changes make them distinct enough to become Lords.

 Another view of the workbench and the various parts and models in process of being completed.  Thes two box sets give you loads of bits for conversion purposes and they will make a very nice Royal Court for about $66 for the full ten model compliment.  Please note that I've also used some staves from another box of Lychguard which have the shields and swords options instead of the Triarch Rods of the Covenant.  So, to get the full compliment you will need some extra parts - but then again if you have build any of the Elite choices in the new codex, you should have a few extra bits hanging around to work with on these types of conversions.

 Above we have a close up of three of the Necron Lord conversions in process.  There are three Triarch Praetorian/Lychguard legs used, two Triarch torsos, one Lychguard torso, and all Lychguard heads, with Lychguard spines - which will be further modified.

 Here are the models from the back in partial conversion state - you can see the various modifications of the figures.  The two on the left are the Cryptech conversions - note that they have been bent over at the waist as far as the model will permit to give them the hunched over pose.  The Necron Lord conversions are all upright and use various bits to modify the back of the figure to make them distinct from a standard Triarch Praetorian or Lychguard model.  Use your own creativity to modify the backs of your figures to make them distinct from standard models and you should have not problems using them in games.

 Okay, time for some bits removal and conversions.  Above you can see the Cryptech conversion in process - I've removed the hilt from a sword and affixed it to the chin of the Deathmark model giving the new Cryptech a large chin protrusion - which makes him distinct and gives him an appearance similar to the GW Cryptech in Fine Cast.  I think it also gives him a bit of a stylized chin not uncommon from those of the Pharaohs of Egypt.  This is a simple conversion and theft of a bit from a model which can be done by anyone - feel free to see how it looks on your models.

 Another conversion of a Deatchmark head to create a distinct Cryptech looking head.  Here I've stolen the top of a spinal column/tail device and trimmed it up to add on a distinctive looking large chin device - not too bad and another easy conversion to make a model distinct.

 Here is the standard Deathmark sniper rifle as clipped from the spue to be used to create a Deathmark sniper model.  However, that is not how we are going to use it in this conversion - it is going to become a Cryptech rod of destruction - one of the various types you can use in the special Cryptech models - and since there are various distinct types of Cryptech - it is only fitting that they have distinct rods/staves.

 Here we see the full effect on the nearly complete Cryptech model.  The sniper barrel has been removed from the gun and drilled and pinned into place on the standard Rod of the Covenant/Warscythe hilt to make a distinct looking rod for our Cryptech.  Makes him look a bit meanacing, we will have to see how the rest of my gaming group reacts to this figure when he is fully painted and ready to hit the tabletop!

 Here are the four new Necron Lord conversions now that they are complete - sorry I didn't take more photos of them in process, but I put the camera down and just went to work last night.  On the far left we have the Lord with the special conversion head-dress and a special stave which is a custom Warscythe with a Rod of the Covenant on the other end - in game terms it is just another Warscythe, but in some of our "build a character" types of campaigns it will be something distinct and fun.  The model to the left of center in the back has a standard Warscythe with a converted bit on the weapon to make him distinct from the model at far right.  Both of these models also have large Resurrection Orbs on the top of the spinal column.  The model at right in front also wields a custom double bladed Warscythe built upon a Rod of the Covenant with two blades from the standard Warscythe.  He also has a decorative finial on his spinal column which comes from the top of a Rod of the Covenant trimmed down, filed and fitted to the top of the spine.  Makes him distinct with a bit of a Samurai banner thing going on.  We will see how he looks on the tabletop when he is all painted up and terrorizing the enemy troops!

Above we have the five Cryptech models - the standard GW Cryptech in Fine Cast is center and you can see that with the other models mixed in they all look sufficiently like a Cryptech to make them a fine Royal Court for my Necron army - all that remains is to get them painted up and based to take the field against my opponents.  I hope that those of you who are wondering what to do to create a Royal Court will find some inspirations here and you will take your own creative license from these models to create your distinct Royal Court - as the only way the rest of the Royal Court is going to come out will be Fine Cast - this is a very cost effective and nice method of making your own and it is all tournament legal (if that is your thing!).  You may notice that there are two models missing - and the explanation is that they were already converted, assembled, primed and painted and featured in the color photos of my Necron army in the prior posts - I needed them ASAP for a game to add to my standard squads and give them a bit of a punch since running standard warriors under the new codex requires a few modifications of your standard old-codex army to make them a bit more resilient.  I hope you all enjoyed this mini tutorial on conversions.  It's my first - so enjoy.

Turn 2 and it was nearly time!

Following turn 1, of the game.  The American paratroopers in the center were destroyed by the German panzergrenadiers and M-14/41 tanks.

Valentines Day Massacre - Tunisia!

The beginning  of our Valentines Day Massacre for Flames of War!