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Right, got my copy of Shadow War now, and like any good Nerd, went straight to the terrain to see what it's made of.

Plastic. It's made of plastic. And not the plastic GW sometimes uses for their terrain - this is the same stuff as your standard GW kits. For me, that's a big plus!

But less literal....

So far, it's very, very nice. As we've come to expect from GW, the individual pieces are pretty sturdy - certainly i can't think of any model with enough weight to give you pause.

At present, I've not had a chance to get properly creative with the various sprues, as I'm taking it all down my local club, as they may be investing in some of the kits for their terrain collection. So in terms of how sturdy it is once assembled, I don't yet know. I will of course update as and when,

One of the main points of interest is of course it's modularity. But, I for one had some concern when GW themselves suggested you go easy on assembling, disassembling and reassembling, as the pegs may get damaged. So naturally, that's the first thing I play around with.

The holes are hexagonal, the pegs round. So from that design you should have to worry about a vacuum type issue. The fit seems pretty decent. I clipped off one of the hanging cable bundles (which are there mainly for decoration I think) to play about with. Securing the piece requires minimal pressure, and when it's in place there's a satisfying 'click' type feel. Removing it is also a doddle - takes a bit of oomph, but not so much that I'd recommend any extra caution.

The pegs themselves are a good design. As well as being shaped to prevent a vacuum seal as above (is that the right description? If not, I hope you know what I mean), they're really quite broad, adding a much needed sturdiness - and the socket's grip should be enough to hold them in place during the game, and not drop them if it's knocked.

So far, so good.

As mentioned I'll be having a proper play with it on Thursday at the club. Main thing I'm interested in is how sturdy it feels when assembled without glue. Whilst the peg system seems pretty good, I still have some concerns at how closely the parts being linked up sit - too close, and it could put strain on the pegs. Too loose, and the terrain might be too wobbly, necessitating gluing.

For now, I'm pretty happy with it - though if I could wish list one thing, it would be for separate connect piece packs to be made available. Without those, the whole premise very literally falls apart!

Where did you manage to get one?

Pre-ordered via Darksphere on the 1st. Had to go pick it up from the delivery office, hence the short delay!

I haven't seen them in real live but it seems that they have a high degree of detail without inducing the wobbly model syndrome. This is great however the size of the thing is a bit odd. All previous GW terrain uses 3" lv's and this terrain set seems to be using 5" lv'. Not sure what I think about this discrepancy.

 oldzoggy wrote:
I haven't seen them in real live but it seems that they have a high degree of detail without inducing the wobbly model syndrome. This is great however the size of the thing is a bit odd. All previous GW terrain uses 3" lv's and this terrain set seems to be using 5" lv'. Not sure what I think about this discrepancy.

especially since numerous units only get a 4" move...

I wonder if the scenery is using regular plastic does that mean it was not made in China then? Where was it made?

The kit is awesome looking and easy to put together. I guess to avoid the issuses with bits breaking is to create sub-assemblies. This allows to have some sturdiness and keep some of the modularity. The way they assemble it in A;SW is pretty neat, it gives you 3 main sub assemblies you can set up in different ways plus extra chimeneys etc to fool around with.
I bought a set of promethium pipes and they fit really really well with the kit. This plus the containers make for a great industrial feel.

Next weekend I will pick up a Ferratonic Furnace add a bit to the contents. This plus the pipes, containers, bastion and defense line I have should be an easy way to build a military refuel dept to fight for.

There is a box at my FLGS and I'm sorely tempted to pick it up, but don't have the spare cash laying around to do that sadly. Maybe I'll be able to by month's end, but I'm likely going to wind up settling for the digital rules to play with later with my Guard and possibly my Blood Angels.

We shall see. Glad to hear the box is good quality.

Take it easy.

-Red__Thirst-

Davor wrote:
I wonder if the scenery is using regular plastic does that mean it was not made in China then? Where was it made?

Covered in the first post

Where it's made, I dunno. But it's the regular GW plastic, not the slightly dodgy stuff.

I don't like it, it looks too steampunk.

Magnetized all them chimneys already, just because...why not?
Mold lines are horrible.
Need like x4 of these sets to make an impressive looking terrain, one is just not enough.

That is a downside - from what I've seen, the Chimney stacks will require glue or magnets!

They are easy, though. I'm more concerned about how to fix the gantry on top of silo so it's not sliding. Maybe more magnets (?)

I'd wedge a Hamster in there.

*nods sagely*

 Mad Doc Grotsnik wrote:

Davor wrote:
I wonder if the scenery is using regular plastic does that mean it was not made in China then? Where was it made?

Covered in the first post

Where it's made, I dunno. But it's the regular GW plastic, not the slightly dodgy stuff.

I'm pretty sure I saw "Made in China" written on the back of the box.
I doubt the models were, but the terrain, book, box and packaging probably were.
I'll check later.

As was said in the OP, the scenery looked better designed than the WoM stuff. This time, the detail goes all the way to the bottom.

FLGS for where I got mine, on "sold-out Saturday".

Defo the regular GW plastic - so if it was made in China, could be a positive sign for future kits?

Yeah, the AOS terrain kits are made from something more akin to dreaded stuff Mantic ir PP used to use or still use.

Manufactured in China, distributed by GW

 CragHack wrote:
Yeah, the AOS terrain kits are made from something more akin to dreaded stuff Mantic ir PP used to use or still use.

Manufactured in China, distributed by GW

The AoS terrain I put together recently was of good quality.

Tonight's the proper playing with the kit happens.

If anyone's got any questions, post them up and I'll do me best to answer.

I assembled a complete set of the fortifications scenery for our club. It's still polystyrene (at least, polystyrene cement worked to assemble it; it's just that the mix of polymer and plasticiser may have been a bit different..

In fact, I noticed a slight difference in "feel" across the sprues I got in SW:A; the sprues for the round tanks and pipes felt a little more "brittle" than the walkways. Not worth worrying about, really.

I've partially assembled mine, following the examples in the instruction booklet. Said booklet has a few errors; some parts are shown with the wrong part numbers, and you can't actually build exactly what's in the instructions or on the back of the box, as they're repeated some stanchion and gantry parts you only get one of. That's just my nitpicking, though.

I used it last night, and it sits together unassembled OK. The only loose bits are those square panels that go across the top of walkways to hold two parts together. They need gluing down if they're to be of any use. I think I'll be permanently assembling mine into half a dozen structures. solidity is more important to me than additional flexibility.

I'd have liked some sort of locating mechanism on the pipe ends rather than just a flat fit, to keep them more stable on the tabletop during play, but that's a minor thing.

I need to come up with a paint scheme that's quick to do for these. Probably basecoat the whole lot in metallic, Army Painter dip then paint the details, and do the tanks, pipes and the "bannister" panels in contrasting colours.

 Blackie wrote:
I don't like it, it looks too steampunk.

The walkways are fine. How tubes look depends on the paint scheme I guess. They look very Tatooine inspired to me.



Automatically Appended Next Post:
A few huts and a desert mat and you are are in a star wars set.

I can't get over how BIG the pieces are. I got to see them assembled today, and they are pretty large. Still overpriced when purchased individually, but still very nice. My FLGS has one copy of SWA left, I might need to get it instead of buying the individual pieces.

Of note, be particularly careful what you decide to glue on this. Some things you want to leave off- like guardwalls and such.

It's pretty modular, but you're going to want more.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

 casvalremdeikun wrote:
I can't get over how BIG the pieces are. I got to see them assembled today, and they are pretty large. Still overpriced when purchased individually, but still very nice. My FLGS has one copy of SWA left, I might need to get it instead of buying the individual pieces.

Wise, wise move. Get it now.

Look at the prices on eBay. Look at how much the terrain is going for.

You can always sell Scouts and Orks later on if you have no use for them. My scouts are sitting in a box to be part of my regular 40k forces, and I gave the Orks to a little girl that has a handful of models to play with.

What can I say, I'm a sucker for little kids. Especially polite and well-mannered ones.