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Hi everyone. I have been seriously considering getting http://www.manticgames.com/mantic-shop/mantic-scenery-and-terrain/sci-fi-ruins/product/battlezones-sci-fi-ruined-sector.html for some time now. It looks like a good amount of scenery for a table with me being able to build it all how I like. I have seen a couple reviews online and it looks about as good as the website makes it out to be.

I am looking for some first hand experiences from the forum. Anyone ever use any of their scenery? Anything you particularly like? Anything bad about it you would warn people of? I am about to drop close to $100.00 on it and just would really appreciate knowing what I am in for. Thanks!

I have them. Can result in slight gaps if you aren't careful building them(especially on multilevel buildings).

Generally multilevel buildings are bit of annoyance.

Couple extra sprues of connecting pieces could be handy. Those seem to run short easily.

tneva82 wrote:
I have them. Can result in slight gaps if you aren't careful building them(especially on multilevel buildings).

Generally multilevel buildings are bit of annoyance.

Couple extra sprues of connecting pieces could be handy. Those seem to run short easily.

Thanks. I heard about the gaps. I also hear it's generally easily fixed with some glue once you know what you want to build. Would you say that is true?

I was a little worried about the connectors. Looking at the connector sprues and the fact that it only comes with 3 I was kind of concerned about running out.

Problem is if it's glued up and there's gap. Hard to reposition if original glue has already melted the pieces together like plastic glue does.

Just be careful and ensure pieces are lined up during the curing.

I've built a few bits.

Pretty good, as long as the "cube" look doesn't bother you. And yes, take your time to line it all up before the glue dries!

Use a flathead screwdriver as a lever to press in the connectors to ensure a solid fit. As others said, make sure you've got a solid line up between pieces before the glue sets. Spend a little time thinking about how things will fit together, and you can get away with connectors between every other fitting.

Other than that, they're great sets. Quick and easy sci-fi terrain.

 Slinky wrote:
Pretty good, as long as the "cube" look doesn't bother you. And yes, take your time to line it all up before the glue dries!

1)This is the biggest one. Almost everything I've seen done with Battlezones looks like pre-fab sci-fi buildings. This is not necessarily a bad look, but they inevitably end up looking samey. However, this can be an effective look. My buddy made an abandoned sci-fi village out of these and after basing them and dirtying them up it really looks like a settlement made of sci-fi shipping containers. All this to say, embrace their blocky-ness.

2)Glue them. Lots of terrain systems want to be rebuildable, but none of them are. Battlezones is no exception.

3) Build them right. Trim and clean them up very well to get the best connections. Assemble them carefully and reassemble if necessary and when you get them where you want them use water-thin plastic glue on all the joins and clips to glue them in place.

Personally, however, I find the beauty of Battlezones is not in building them as-is, but in combining them with other toys and systems. Here's two examples that I've done.
Battlezones plus Dust Tactics building pieces.
http://chicagoskirmishwargames.com/blog/2015/06/08/dust-tenements-mantic-battlezones/


Battlezones accessory sprue plus molding toy:
http://chicagoskirmishwargames.com/blog/2015/06/16/more-toybashing-creepy-crawlers-and-egg/


One final tip. You never seem to have enough door pieces with battlezones kits. In the first pic above you can see where I converted a window into a dual doorway. A really easy mod that will greatly increase the flexibility of your kits and make it possible to have more doors without simply leaving open panels which inevitably ends up looking more like an unfinished model than a doorway.

What the others said.

Also, the fortified stuff is gak. It's thicker than every other theme so it doesn't mix well, and the connectors don't always work right.

Everything else is cool!

Excellent feed back guys. I really appreciate it.

I own one of these mats http://www.gamemat.eu/our-products/battle-mats/6-x4-g-mats/6-x4-g-mat-battleground/us/ (Or something very similar)

I was shooting for the ruined sector because I intended for it to be an old/ruined sci fi settlement/town to fit the mat. Lots of battle damage and blown out buildings but also a little over grown.

The intent was to have a tiny amount of flock on parts of the buildings where it was starting to be over grown a little bit in addition to all the battle damage. 99% sure all the buildings would end up with at least a little bit of a base on them. Toss in a couple craters to round out the battle field and call it good.

There is definitely a lot of room to expand on the battlezone kits by adding in parts from other scenery.

Mantic Battlezones are my primary scenery collection.

And I have err.... Some...






Overall, I'd also recommend avoiding the "Fortified" sprues, there ends up being a lot of sprue space devoted to parts I don't really use.

However, I couldn't recommend enough getting sets that include any of the Industrial Sector sprues - the latest addition to the Battlezones range and shown in that second picture there. Combined with the basic 'core' set, they're just awesome.

I would emphasise that it can take a while to assemble the terrain, especially if you go for whole buildings. Lots of filing and careful assembly required. But it's pretty great stuff if you like the prefab aesthetic.

Like others have said, it pays to glue it as if you try to deconstruct it you can end up snapping the connectors quote easily.

I got the big ruined sector box set when it first came out. I think it's great and there is tons of stuff in there. I have a dozen or so buildings of all different sizes and I still have a few untouched sprues. I do wish it came with a few more of the connector bit sprues though, you get a lot, but 2-3 more would have been better.

Sometimes the connector bits don't want to fit right, it's not that they won't fit it's just that the little holes can be a tight squeeze sometimes, and then the whole piece will stick out more. You could cut the little connector nubs off and use plastic glue, but I want them to have a strong bond and lock in place. So I got a long needle nose pliers and I use that to snap them into place with just a little bit of glue.

been meaning to pick up the industrial set with all of the pipes and stuff, will have to check it out one of these days.

It doesn't hurt to twiddle (the technical phrase) the knife around the inside of some of the holes to make them just slightly larger. I agree, a pair of needle nose pliers can be handy too.

I think they have more connector pieces than they used to.

Let's see, what else....

If you're making a cube, say - so 5 enclosed sides you'll be able to get away with using 8 connectors (I think) by going for the format of top left, bottom right on most of the panels.

I'm not sure that's 100% but basically there ways to reason out your connector usage if needed

I recommend taking a look at 'The Terrain Tutor' youtube videos about Mantic terrain. He has a series that go into expanding and making it fleshed out more. Just the little bits he does greatly improves the look, quality and overall usability for other things.

I'd like to mention the plastic terrain sprue from Spiral Arm Studios too as it works quite nicely with the battlezones plastic frames, as well as being a comparable thing in itself!

As per everyone else, it's good stuff, generally speaking. Some of the holes can be a bit tight when you put connectors in. This can be fixed easily by cutting a corner off the pins on them or filing the holes a little. Don't have many kind words to say about the military themed stuff, but the ruined, industrial and bog standard stuff is pretty nice.

Be prepared for some sore fingertips assembling that lot lol.

I REALLY appreciate all the feedback everyone. This is great. I placed an order yesterday afternoon. Can't wait to get my sprues. I watched a few of the terrain tutor videos (the 2 you embedded actually!) before I made the thread. I just wanted to make sure I had corroborative opinions to verify what he had to say about it and you guys gave me just that. I will get a look at some of those other sprues to supplement and expand on the kits. Sweet! I'm super pumped.

I've been looking for something to use for a pre-fab FOB and these look perfect.

My stuff just arrived today!

Probably get a building or put together this weekend. I will post pictures to the thread. I figure since this thread has been exalted a bunch and is a good resource for people who are interested in the terrain I might as well show everyone thinking about getting it what they are in for when the box arrives.

Excited! Woo hoo!

Magnetize any bits you plan on altering, the clips won't stand much removing and replacing before they break.
The Terrian Tutor is great, so a +1 for visiting his website.

You can make some pretty decent terrain out of it.

In the DZ1 kickstarter, is was widely believed/planned/word spread that you could dismantle it and re-build it how you liked. I still hear people talking about this now. I wouldn't recommend it.
I found to get the clips to connect I filed the holes with a small square file I had. They then needed gluing. Too many break if you try to disconnect them.

As long as when you buy the terrain, you are expecting to glue it all together. paint it and leave it like that. You'll love it.
Although as some have said, it does have that "cube look" - which was explained as they are the walls of the terra-forming packaging sent to a planet and re-used to form the buildings. A decent enough explanation, although I can't get myself to buy or use the red-brick stuff as the cube look and clips doesn't seem to do it for me.



Old pics, but meh... I'll add to what everyone is posting.