Lead Adventure Forum
Miniatures Adventure => Future Wars => Topic started by: nicknorthstar on 11 December 2021, 12:32:54 PM
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We're importing the Dungeons & Lasers sci-fi terrain into the UK from Poland. I'm quite excited about it, and looking forward to getting some corridors & rooms done up for our Stargrave games, we've been very much outside upto now.
What do folks who've already got it think of it?
When it's in, it'll be here on the website: https://www.northstarfigures.com/list.php?man=303&page=1 (https://www.northstarfigures.com/list.php?man=303&page=1) £46 a kit.
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I've been pretty impressed by the build-up vids I've watched so far, but haven't seen the frames in person here in the US. Definitely looks like good value for small skirmish tables, although building a whole "old fashioned" 8' x 4' layout might be a little too steep for my tastes - although maybe a partly-open big table with this stuff as the interior of a large building would work.
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The products look nice enough, but they're still on my boycott list for their old KS shenannigans, etc.
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I quite like the D&L terrain. It is not perfect but it is good value for money in my opinion.
The scatter terrain is particularly brilliant. EDIT: As Robh has said below… some of the Wall accessories and scatter terrain is oversized, I would say “cartoony” but the rest is excellent and still great value for money.
Originally I did not get into the sci-if D&L because we use Battle Systems terrain for our sci-fi gaming but recently I got a bunch of D&L sci-fi for “alternative sci-fi” projects where the Battle Systems stuff might not be quite right aesthetically, ie steampunk, dieselpunk and atomicpunk.
It is at its best as just interiors right now but I do wonder if at some point it will evolve to work better with the Archon Studio Rampart System for exteriors.
I would think it will work a treat for Stargrave.
Attached is a photo of a test piece I did.
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I have
some, well OK, a lot, of the sci-fi pieces from the first 2 KS campaigns and think they are great. Well cast, sturdy and with enough detail to make them look good with even a simple paintjob*
The only issues are:
The clip system to allow build/rebuild will weaken with use, each time you clip it together the securing pegs round off slightly and will eventually loosen. Not a fault per se just an inevitable result of making them in styrene. Creating a series of modular sections and giving up a bit of the ability for unique builds will help, especially if you can magnetise the places where modules join.
Some of the detail add on bits (lights, cameras, weapon mounts etc) are horrible, Overscale and lacking in detail, a bit of a let down frankly. Although many of the other bits are superb.
Depending on how much you actually get, the lack of variety in floors and walls can become a bit annoying, it is a shame that the feature rooms (wonderful though they are) are so specific in design as it is difficult to use the pieces from them in a general build.
I also cannot fault the new team at Archon for the way they have handled the kickstarter campaigns and any resulting problems, excellent service.
*Absolutely not a simple paintjob, and not my work, but this is how they can look in talented hands:
https://www.instagram.com/p/CJtMbf2nJsz/ (https://www.instagram.com/p/CJtMbf2nJsz/)
or even
https://www.instagram.com/p/CJ3fX86HMnl/ (https://www.instagram.com/p/CJ3fX86HMnl/)
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The products look nice enough, but they're still on my boycott list for their old KS shenannigans, etc.
I'd feel the same way about buying directly from them, but if the product is good I'd buy from Northstar or another reliable trader.
I'm not that keen on these though, they look too busy for my tastes, although I'll look forward to seeing what people do with them.
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I'm not that keen on these though, they look too busy for my tastes, although I'll look forward to seeing what people do with them.
Might be the rather garish paintjob, but I find them rather busy as well. A more muted finish might help a lot in that regard...
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8) they look cool!!!
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I can certainly see those components being very useful for detailing scratchbuilds.
:)
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They are a bit busy.
Woffboot has an interesting grimdark industrial take on them.
https://woffboot.blogspot.com/2021/05/int-industrial-clutter.html
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Very nice!
Dan
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Might be the rather garish paintjob, but I find them rather busy as well. A more muted finish might help a lot in that regard...
I found the Sci-fi starter a bit too busy myself, so I mainly bought the fantasy stuff, but I did get a few of the Vault 7 rooms, which are a bit cleaner and not as busy
(https://imgcdn.gamefound.com/extralarge/projects/558/57cdd13b-fcdf-4208-b614-a39adafea36e.jpg)
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Yep, the vault stuff is 100% better
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Yep, the vault stuff is 100% better
Agreed, for a general sci-fi (or post apoc) setting that is easily the best of the designs. Sadly buying them by room rather than the base sets runs the cost up considerably.
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That Vault 7 stuff does look useful.
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I can certainly see those components being very useful for detailing scratchbuilds.
:)
That was my thought too. They would work well as recessed panels. The Vault 7 certainly works better for standard corridors.
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So, dumb question perhaps, but do these fit with Mantic's Deadzone terrain at all? Not the clips, obviously, but more the panel sizes and such.
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I looked at these long and hard, but I think they are too busy for my liking. I think they could have had a killer product with a little "less-is-more" approach, but that is just my particular aesthetic choice. I do love the modularity, and the connection solution seems novel as it doesn't rob floor space (or not much) and the thickness of the pieces is awfully nice since I don't think they need to be very thick for the purpose of storage and game play.
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There is a thread over on the Dwarven Forge Forum that has an excellent example of Dwarven Forge caverns and Dungeons and Lasers sci-fi terrain working together. The build is by Swiss Army Mage and uses a metallic silver theme similar to what I thought of using.
http://forum.dwarvenforge.com/viewtopic.php?f=13&t=12338&start=10
There is also a person on Reddit who did two takes on the sci-fi, one with a white base and the other a dark grey. It is interesting to see how different they look. Both done in simplistic style to reduce how busy the sculpts are.
https://www.reddit.com/r/TerrainBuilding/comments/njmpc8/dungeons_and_lasers_sci_fi_painting/
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So, dumb question perhaps, but do these fit with Mantic's Deadzone terrain at all? Not the clips, obviously, but more the panel sizes and such.
I have not seen any mix builds with the Mantic stuff, but this one is bits from the D&L sci-fi and fantasy sets, the "Rampart" terrain system which Archon also do and GW Necromunda pieces.
https://www.instagram.com/p/CWsmflnlwSX/ (https://www.instagram.com/p/CWsmflnlwSX/)
Don't know if you can gauge compatibility from these pieces?
The D&L walls are 120mmx50mm (long sections) and 60x50 (short sections) Floor grids are 30mm squares. The floor design was altered during the first KS campaign after feedback from samples/customers to ensure that after the walls were fitted, a 2 square wide corridor would still allow 2 figures on standard 25mm bases to fit side by side. All the production tiles are this new larger size.
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I've used a lot of the accessories from the earlier KS on scifi buildings and they are great, especially the lights and cameras.