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Hey all,

We're accepting preorders for our first terrain set, the Domus Ruins. These pieces are highly detailed but made of rubber, so they are really, really tough. I've even run over a piece in my car without damage! Pretty lightweight too, easy to toss in a backpack for a skirmish at a friend's house. It comes pre-finished and painted and ready to play. The price is pretty nice too, IMHO... 4 pieces for $25.

Almost as interesting ... we've used Kickstarter to start this project. We've already reached our funding goal, so the preorders are a sure thing, but I wanted to stress how cool this service is for a small games company testing the waters of doing a product release. It basically lets you prototype an idea and see if enough people like it before you sink all the necessary money into it. Very neat concept, and I heartily recommend it to anyone wondering if there could be a wider audience for their hobby tinkerings.

Anyways... some pics! The two finished prototypes:



All four master models:


The kickstarter project: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/advancedterrain/domus-ruins-ready-to-play-scenery-for-miniatures-g
Our site for more pics: http://www.advancedterrain.com
Some upcoming terrain: http://www.advancedterrain.com/concepts
Oh, and before it comes up... yes, we're using Hirst Arts blocks; and yes, we're in the process of getting licensed.

-Patrick @ Advanced Terrain

Very nice product, I have to say.

Gothic ruins are about as generically useful as it is possible to get, so that was a good choice.

Would be great to see some properly modelled river sections that are intended for use with water effect product. River sections are often long and flat and have a tendency to warp or be too lightweight and get knocked around. The rubber material could fix that problem by allowing you to lay down some nice slabs of rubber instead of cardbaord or polystyrene.

The GF9 river section ones are okay, but the painted blue water just looks amateur (look at any river water in real life - it is not blue, and definitely *not* cobalt blue) and the banks are basic sand... the quality is similar to homebrew river terrain.

I think a river section product that avoids all of the "usual mistakes" would be very popular.. there isn't a single really good option on the market for this type of terrain. Not one.

No need to bother with bridges, there are tons of those that are easy to buy. No need to bother with loads of different fork/bend/island options (at first, anyway) either, most people want a river to go straight across the table in a slightly wavy line.

Great looking product!
Thanks for the Kickstarter information as well. I'm sure there are a lot of people on this forum that are interested in that.

It looks good unpainted, and obviously it _can_ be painted, but are there any restrictions on painting the _rubbery material, e.g. types of paint or priming?

Looks very nice, most promising. Good luck with it all, keep us informed please !

Thanks for the kind words!

We've thought about doing rivers, but I've narrowed the focus on creating a ruined city, so they'll probably be more like canals once we get around to that. You can get some great, realistic looking water effects with envirotex and other products - I'm not sure why people still go for a glacial lake blue look. Real water is usually dirty.

The unpainted rubber is just straight black. It takes paint pretty well, though I wanted something that could stand up to a good bit of friction. I tried a few different primers, but I've landed on using a basecoat with Krylon's "Fusion for Plastic" paints - seems to really adhere.

these look pretty damned good, actually. Are the top proto pics the same as the finished ones will be insofar as colour and paint goes?

Yeah good stuff, the material does seem to take detail well and this got to be the most resistant terrain ever created.

scipio.au wrote:Are the top proto pics the same as the finished ones will be insofar as colour and paint goes?

Yep, that's exactly what I'm going to be shipping out.

There's been some interest in a few more color options... so I'm thinking about adding a some, maybe your standard "grimdark" gray as well as a "Minas Tirith" white. But I don't know that I'll be able to get those tested and standardized and repeatable by the end of the Kickstarter. We'll see... it would be cool to have the options

Cool stuff!

Since I see HirstArts as your supplier, AFAIK you might need a license if you recast their stuff. Have you thought about that?

ScottManDeath wrote:Cool stuff!

Since I see HirstArts as your supplier, AFAIK you might need a license if you recast their stuff. Have you thought about that?

he answered that at the bottom of the first post:

'Oh, and before it comes up... yes, we're using Hirst Arts blocks; and yes, we're in the process of getting licensed."

Opps, sorry, got distracted too much by the shinyness

What about an unpainted version for custom paint schemes? Does the material take a normal primer or are specialized products necessary?

What's the time frame for production and shipping? I'm asking since I'll be moving in 2 months, but don't have the new address yet..

Gavin Thorne wrote:What about an unpainted version for custom paint schemes? Does the material take a normal primer or are specialized products necessary?

Yeah, an unpainted version is definitely an option, a few people have asked for that already. Normal primer is fine, though as I was saying earlier Krylon's "Fusion for Plastic" sprays seem to adhere better than most. Just give it a light wash with a solvent first, get the finger grease off.

ScottManDeath wrote:What's the time frame for production and shipping? I'm asking since I'll be moving in 2 months, but don't have the new address yet..

VERY rough timeline:
- Preorders close on Sept 1, which is when we collect names and addresses.
- From that point I should be getting the molds made, but I'll probably jump the gun and get those made soon since the funding is successful and my mold maker is willing to work with very little up front.
- As soon as the molds are in our hands, we'll start cranking out models. Based on current demand, I'm guessing it will take us a month to build the Kickstarter backlog.

I wouldn't let a minor thing like having no fixed address get in your way though... I can hold a set for you

Mhhmm, my move will be around the 20th of October, but I wanted to possibly split the two sets I plan to get with my roomie.

Looks great! Can't wait to get that set on our table

Looks fantastic! I sent $25. I REALLY like the look of the D Ruins with that window. The Durability is incredible, looking forward to getting my hands on these. I hope you make some more terrain like this!

I spent $50 for the shiny. For the shiny

It seems to be a great product you have there. The durability of terrain is something that a lot of gamers must have an issue with I'm sure, this solves that beautifully. As for the colours even if you to just put the product out primed it would be great, or go a similar route to GF9 I believe and offer them both, one set primed and one set painted. That way you are able to appeal to different budgets.

To echo some other dakkites I would say that a formed riverbed would be a great idea. There isn't at least to my knowledge that much on the market, rivers yes, riverbeds no. This way if a client want to have a wadi instead of a full river they would have the option, or as others have said it could be filled by the customer to give them a proper river too. Just an idea.

Anyway really hope Mr. Hirst gives you the go ahead, and good luck for the future.

aargh! I want to get in at the $25 level, but Kickstarter/Amazon only takes credit card payments.. not paypal.

Is there any way I can get you paypal in that amount for one set of Domus?

Really liking the ruins set, something which I have always lacked.
A couple of questions:

Is it possible to request them unpainted/primed?
How is shipping handled to EU (Ireland specifically) and at what costs?
Have you any concept designs to do Xenos terrain?

First of all, guys: thanks for all the support! The Kickstarter campaign has really exceeded our expectations, it's clear people like this idea. We're looking into how to ramp up our design and production times so we can get more pieces out.

Lennysmash wrote:Anyway really hope Mr. Hirst gives you the go ahead, and good luck for the future.

He has We're receiving the agreement to sign this week.

porkuslime wrote:aargh! I want to get in at the $25 level, but Kickstarter/Amazon only takes credit card payments.. not paypal.
Is there any way I can get you paypal in that amount for one set of Domus?

Yeah, that's something a lot of people have asked for on Kickstarter. I don't think it will happen soon. I'll send you a PM, I'm sure we can take care of you

Ratius wrote:Is it possible to request them unpainted/primed?
How is shipping handled to EU (Ireland specifically) and at what costs?
Have you any concept designs to do Xenos terrain?

Yes, unpainted is no problem, a common request.
Shipping anywhere outside of North America is a flat $10 for the single set, and $20 for the double set plus prototypes. You just add that right into the Kickstarter pledge. We might be losing money there, but... keep it simple, eh?
Sorry, but probably no Xenos terrrain We've got a whole gothic city to build!

I'm definitely interested in the project...very intriguing!

I've got a couple of questions for you:

I'm imagining the terrain to be quite light. From the pics, it looks like the bottom of each ruins piece is textured, so that will likely help it a little bit from being slid around unintentionally, but I've always had issues in the past with super-light terrain that just gets accidentally shifted during games.

Have you had any problems at all with this phenomenon in regards to your product?

Also, if someone wanted to attach the ruins to a heavier base (perhaps all four on a single base) have you done any tests in that regard and do you have any suggestions on the best way to mount the ruins onto a base without damaging them?


Thanks.

Yes, they are fairly light weight. If the dice roll into them, they won't move. But if you bump them with your arm while repositioning a unit, they will shift pretty easily.

I actually have made them a little heavier, though not for that reason. The prototypes have undergone a few changes - the earliest ones had a foam base, which wasn't water proof, don't ask me why I thought that was important! Then I moved to the textured rubber you see in the pics. Finally I've gone to a solid poured recycled tire rubber for the bottom inch or so of the piece. This was primarily because I didn't like the way the floors "flexed" when they had a heavy miniature on them, but it also had the side effect of making the piece more stable. I'm about to do a few more prototypes where I completely fill them with the recycled tire rubber instead of the foam. They'll be heavier, and less flexible, but still incredibly tough. I'm not sure they'll survive the car crushing test unscathed, but that's not incredibly realistic anyways

In terms of attaching them to something securely but temporarily: rubber cement works a treat. Just peels off when you don't want it there anymore. If you want secure and permanent, contact cement or standard crazy glues stick very well.

It would be more interesting to see a new product rather then some rehashed (ok super rehashed) hirst art molds.

When will you guys be carrying a product that is your design?

If by rehashed you mean not using any Hirst Arts blocks at all - possibly never. I really like his take on Gothic, and "playing Lego" with his blocks is a lot more fun and productive than scuplting from scratch. Besides, I want the pieces to look as consistent as possible, as if they all really belong together in one decaying city.

However, if by rehashed you mean not the standard Bell Tower, Cathedral, Tomb, and Ruins that you can build with the molds, you can see some of our upcoming stuff here: http://www.advancedterrain.com/concepts

I'm not going to pretend it's particularly original, but... give us time!

This looks totally awesome, I think this may be my first kickstarter pledge!

This is epic.
I noticed the Hirst Arts bricks right off. Not that it's a problem, mind you. Just saying...

I'm seriously impressed that you're using recycled rubber. Nice.

Those pieces for $35 shipped, pre painted, is a decent deal.
I'm going to have to think about a set of these, myself... I might just wait for those later sets to come available, too, though. You've got some very promising stuff coming up.

Eric

so where's the new 50$ package promised in the kickstart update Probably show up on monday and make me look like a noob with nothing to do on saturday. Oh well, time to go play with soda can terrain.