(DISCLAIMER: I am not affiliated with Elliot or Speartip. I paid for the terrain out of my own pocket because supporting small local business is important.)

A long, long, time ago, in this galaxy, Mitsubishi was asked to produce a plane for the Imperial Japanese Navy during the Second World War.

Yes, I’m going there, shut up.

The specifications for the plane were almost impossible. It had to be light enough to fit on an aircraft carrier, whilst mounting a pair of autocannons, a pair of machine guns, and be capable of speeds of up to five hundred kilometres an hour.

These requirements were so astronomical that Nakajima, the other company competing for the contract, called the project “impossible”. But a clever clog by the name of Jiro Horikoshi managed it, and the rest, as they say, is history. Today, the A6M “Zero” is considered one of the best fighter planes of the Second World War.

So, what am I on about? And how does this relate to a set of terrain you bought?

Well, 11th edition is upon us. With the new creative direction steering players away from the perfidious “L-shape”, the playing community requires new terrain on which to game.

I reviewed Speartip’s 10th edition terrain and had much praise for it’s portability, ease of packup, general high quality, and attention to detail. Naturally, I was very excited to see what Master Elliot would cook up.

Fortunately, he did have some time to perfect a recipe. Games Workshop released the requirements for an 11th edition table ahead of time. Allowed plenty of time for Speartip to develop a set of terrain to be consumed by the ignorant masses.

i.e, talentless hacks like me. Thanks for reading, by the way.

After joining local gamers to peer pressure Master Elliot (sorry about that) he had a mountain to climb.

Based on the specifications of Games Workshop, an 11th edition terrain set needed to deliver this table:

Which looks like this:

But that’s not all. The local peasantry also wanted a set that was lightweight, easily setup and packed away, and in a small enough form factor to take to the local game store. A lofty set of goals that mere mortals would call that “impossible”.

But not the god of Speartip Studio.

Did Elliot succeed? You bet he did:

Now, being ungrateful, I will tell you this kit is not as easy to assemble, pack up, or setup as the 10th edition set. But considering the requirements for terrain in the new edition, it’s a small miracle that it works as well as it does. Indeed, I should be thankful it didn’t set fire to my gaming table. I also mucked up assembling one of the smaller decorative pieces, but my human error is not his (or your) problem.

Also, because the area terrain bits are mixed in with the ruin walls, you need to unpack the whole table before starting to setup the board. This crowds with footprints and ruins, which can make setup a bit of a cluster until you can get some footprints in place and mount some components.

Once the set is fully assembled, it’s perfect for an 11th edition game. All the different terrain components are exactly where they should be, in the right dimensions. Between the GW game designers and the 11th terrain set, it produced an immersive experience.

And I want to single out the design of the 4” high short wall, and the base of the sarcophagus, which use some truly funky cutting techniques capable of bending without breaking. Bravo, indeed.

Oddly enough, although the terrain measurements on the 10th edition set were extremely helpful for game concepts like magic boxes, having a blank terrain base opens the set up to be painted without ruining all the indentations on the base (and textured with materials such as with sand… watch this space.)

Which brings us to the age-old question for misers – is the price point reasonable?

Short answer, yes - $200 plus postage is extremely reasonable for what is an excellent, portable, and sturdy set of terrain.

Long answer?

Yes. Entitled people will try and convince you that because MDF is (relatively) cheap and your mate Terry has a laser, that you could do it yourself for much cheaper. I’m here to tell you, that you cannot.

Buy design files, and have terrain 3D printed, I hear you yell. Not so fast – skating past the obvious hangup of who’s got the means to 3D print (odds are, not you) 3D printed terrain cannot be neatly stacked up and packed into a box like the Speartip set. Even if it could, being solid means it weighs far more – this matters a lot when you need to carry an army, a mat, AND terrain.

So buy local, and happy gaming.

Catch you next time,
Vulkan

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