Infinite Crypt MDF dungeon terrain

[Chilledenuff]

Last October I backed Infinite Crypt's mdf dungeon terrain kickstarter.  Whiz forward to yesterday...

link to Kickstarter page

Infinite Crypt is a new class of laser-cut gaming terrain that we haven’t seen before. It provides modular architectural elements that are solid and sculptural, and can be reconfigured to create all sorts of adventurous locations – catacombs, labyrinths, fortifications, bridges and more.

Rather than whole buildings, Infinite Crypt standardises towards 2″ x 2″ x 1″ elements with which you can build whatever you like

This appealed to me greatly, I love a good dungeon crawl but I've always found the flat 2d dungeons of Quest to be a little underwhelming and I've never had the funds for a huge amount of resin dungeon floors so I pledged to get myself a good sized amount of dungeon pieces. The 'Advance Mazemaster' pledge level. This pledge level gets 10 sets of 10 Infinite Crypt elements which according to them is enough to build an impressive fortress, a terrifying dungeon, a subterranean cathedral or a major installation. 

The project funded with two stretch goals unlocked, which meant I'd get the free storage boxes for the kit, instead of having to buy them separately as a result the monies I pumped into the boxes went on extra elements (Yay!).

Fast forward to yesterday.  After months of getting updates and tweets from Infinite Crypt I went to the post office to collect 3 parcels that the postman had been unable to deliver to my house..



Feeling a touch excited about them I opened them when I returned to the office to see what they contained.  I was pleasantly surprised by the sheer volume of mdf flat packs in the parcels (I swear it's more than some companies take to games shows to sell), I knew I'd pledged for a lot of bits but it still came as a bit of a shock.  As one wag put on facebook yesterday 'That looks like 30 kilos of hard drugs'



I read the covering letter from James, the creator which thanked all the backers as well as the sheet with a basic 'how to'  There aren't any instructions for the elements themselves but they are pretty intuitive if have a photo reference handy such as this one: elements table which lists and pictures each and every element produced

I then put the boxes together as I thought it'd be easy.  It was, although initially I managed to screw up :



Wondering where the spares could go I took all the locking pieces off and tried again, this time with success and much neater corners:



Feeling suitably elated I then picked two elements at random and dry fitted them without any tidying up or glue (I returned to these when I got home to do this, although no tidying was necessary) I first put together a Long Palatial Wall (element W4).  Pictured here with another still in flat pack state (the bent paperclip was a handy tool for poking out slots  ):



It went together incredibly snugly.  The laser cutting is very finely done, apparently the connectors between piece and sprue is only 0.1mm in size.  The layout on each sprue is very well done so there is little wastage and even dry fitting the piece was very sturdy, so much that I could pick it up between finger and thumb and dangle it.



The little bits of sprue I've kept as there are some handy 28mm brick sized pieces which will make some handy scatter terrain:



I then built the second one and a corner just to see how it wood look lined up together (about 15 minutes work for all 3 bits in total)



These were all then packed up and taken home.  Last night I spent two hours building walls and pillars, as well as an ornamental pool and 2 battlements:



All stored snugly in one box:



This morning in a spare 10 minutes I quickly knocked up another couple of corners and laid it all out to take some photos for scale purposes, halfling, Thrud, goblin and witch on troll all added for scale.  The base board is 2' x 2'square:






I'd estimate that I've built 1/4ish of all the bits I've got.  Lots of work before it's really playable though.  They need painting up and still lots of bits to build, I think I've still got  8 lots of barricades, 13 corners, 3 solid doors, 4 cage doors, a secret door, 2 table and benches, 3 barrels, 4 arrow slits, 6 block columns, 4 arches, 2 wide arches, 2 sets of basic stairs, 2 sets of ceremonial stairs, a massive wheel, 6 palatial walls, 1 block wall, 7 long palatial walls, 2 abstract walls, 10 structural walls and 2 flying buttresses.  I reckon though, 3 boxes isn't going to be enough for all of that lot so I'll probably end up ordering some more, which will also lead to me ordering some beds, tombs, spiral staircases and so forth.
Even without ordering other bits, I reckon a 4' x 4' dungeon table is going to be a real possibility.  With the Otherworld rules set imminent, this could be a good thing.  Although expect 7tv adventures set underneath castles and the like too  

Truth be told, I'm delighted with this and very glad I took a gamble on it.  I know lots of people don't like mdf terrain but this stuff is very, very good.  Real care and attention has gone into the design and production of each and every element.  I'm finding the build enjoyable (even when I put 15 identical walls together in a row last night) without any of the stress mdf terrain can sometimes bring (laser not cut through properly?  holes misaligned?  We've all seen the things that can go wrong)  Quality control is top notch.  I'd recommend it to anyone who's planning a dungeon build.  Many, many kudos to James and the gnomes at infinite crypt.  Grand job!

I shall continue posting my build progress here if anyone wants to follow along.  Feel free to comment below

[DeafNala]

It definitely has possibilities; seeing what you do with it all will, I'm sure, be INSPIRING STUFF. Have FUN with the project!

[Elbows]

Definitely like to see what you end up with.  I think the idea for the KS was good but the value was rather poor - doesn't mean I don't like the potential though.  Keep us posted!

[Chilledenuff]

More built...

[Elbows]

Lookin' good.  So what's your plan for use?  Painted and left modular, or will you be building 1'x1' or 2'x2' square sections etc?  How do you plan on using them? 

[Chilledenuff]

Thanks!  I'll probably paint and leave modular.  They are surprisingly sturdy and stack well (hence the wall four elements high in my initial post.  I've broken the back of putting them together now.  Less than 20 left to build.  Can currently build something like this...


More wall and door elements to put together.  The corners ate all done.  I'm contemplating getting some more stairs and a portcullis as I'm missing them.  I'll also post better pictures of the doors later as they are a really clever bit of engineering

[Elbows]

Very cool.  I'd just be nuts over possibly smacking them around while gaming.  They almost look better for skirmish battlefield games than a dungeon (to me).  I think you could make some very convincing small castles etc. out of them.  Great for small games of Crom or something.  Please do keep us posted as you continue. 

[Chilledenuff]

And it's finally all built..
Here is the cardboard box of mdf offcuts, 3 storage boxes full and the others that wouldn't fit in   I'll need a fourth storage box:



Here are all the elements lined up in some kind of order:



I'll try a few layouts this evening, although I know there are at least 3 more bits I want/need.  A portcullis and another 2 sets of plain columns    I've also suggested to Infinite Crypt that a corner battlement piece may be a good idea as well.  Next stage is to prime them all with pva glue *shudder*  I'm tempted to save some time and make it a pva/black paint/water mix 

[Jevenkah]

Looking good! Congrats on finishing the construction. It's cool that you can make them more than one level high, and the storage seems relatively compact.

Jevenkah