Dated Review - TTCombat Municipium Sector 2021 Board Bundle

Terrain is important.

Every system needs terrain. Primarily, to aid immersion and aid gameplay. In particularly ultraviolent game systems, like Nu40k and TY6, having robust terrain to block lines of sight, and de-power shooting, is critical to both players having a good game.

When I moved house, I bought a large number of Miniature Scenery (rest in peace, Mousemuffins) buildings. I put them on MDF bases, and they did a serviceable job. It didn't help that I hadn't played a lot of 40k (at that time, 8th edition) and was still in the midst of sacrificing myself to the god of procrastination, World of Warcraft.

After a few months with the Miniature Scenery buildings, I inherited some old 4th edition ruins. They were much more fit for purpose, as they had multiple levels, allowing more verticality, and opened up the game, instead of having large amounts of the board locked off behind big, solid buildings, there were more clear lanes on the ground level.

However, another problem then presented itself, which was that these buildings were mounted on massive footprints, which far exceeded the size of the ruins. Also, I didn't have enough of them, so on a proper 60x44, the game was very open, and being shot off of the board was very much in the realm of possibility.

I had a revelation when I rejoined the local community, and noticed they were playing with very defined terrain layouts, borrowed from the "World Team Championship" (WTC). Devised by very dedicated students of the game, the games that I played on these layouts had an excellent mix of features to hide behind, whilst also promising verticality through multi-level ruins.

There was just one problem. The terrain was ugly, and devoid of any texture. That means whilst it's functional, it doesn't really aid immersion. It's very clear you're playing a game, rather than battling through a ruined city. Why does this matter? It just does, stop questioning my methods.

Initially, I was going to go with a terrain bundle from a group in the UK called 4Ground scenics. Then, whilst I wasn't looking, they went bust and got bought out by another group called Tyme Again, which was having problems fulfilling orders. Not willing to gamble with almost $450AU on a terrain bundle that may, or may not, arrive after six months, I went back to my shortlist.

In the end, I decided on the TTcombat bundle. I had played on pieces from the bundle at a local event earlier in the year, and was convinced it had enough flavour. I did some quick maths in my head, and realised that it would be best to order two bundles, which conveniently took me over the free shipping threshold.

From order to delivery took a little over 10 days, which I was super impressed with.

MDF terrain is always a little bit fiddly, and this stuff was no exception. However, it was less complicated, with fewer moving parts, than some of the other MDF terrain I had assembled.

Most pieces came together reasonably well when assembling. I had heard rumours of mysterious "black stuff" coming off of the bundle, but I didn't experience that, and neither did my wife, whom I pressed into service.

It took me about four hours over two days once I got in the zone. I opted not to use the bases included with the models, and was pleasantly surprised to find all the ruins came together without the support of their bases. Once the PVA had set, they were terrifically strong and robust - particularly the 3-story corner ruins.

The sets also included a huge number of corner pieces, which I turned into additional terrain bases for the GW terrain layouts. I haven't used them yet, but having the bases there if I need to use a GW layout is very helpful.

It's worth mentioning that in each set, whilst the medium ruins and the three-storey corner piece all face the same direction, two of the smaller ruins in each set are inverted. This means for terrain layouts where the terrain all faces the same direction (i.e, WTC, which is what I'm trying to emulate), half the ruins aren't usable.

This means that in order to get a medium density table, you have to buy two sets. That's not a dealbreaker, just something to bear in mind. Also, I did supplement the set with four crates from Miniature Scenery, because they were cheap and came together easy.

At the time of writing, I've had around 15 games on the terrain, and it's been good enough, even in its unpainted and unbased state, to feature on the tables of my local events. The feedback I've had about having enough space to hide and being fit for purpose has been positive, to the point of others considering purchasing the same terrain.

If the Uprising Adelaide terrain doesn't do it for you, I strongly encourage you to give this stuff a look. Altogether, it cost me around $330AU including shipping, which is very reasonable for a full board of set-and-forget terrain.

Maybe one day I'll even get around to painting and varnishing it. Maybe.

Catch you next time,
Vulkan

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