Welcome to Battle Systems. Yes, the good folks over at Battle Systems were kind enough to send a review copy of their Gothic Cityscape terrain set my way and I’m here to give my thoughts.
Welcome to Battle Systems. Yes, the good folks over at Battle Systems were kind enough to send a review copy of their Gothic Cityscape terrain set my way and I’m here to give my thoughts.
What is it?
Battle Systems have been in the terrain game a long time now and it’s still going strong alongside their new wargame releases of Core Space and Maladum. Their secret? High quality printed cardboard. Strong, appealing, easy to store and put together. The Gothic Cityscape is one of their sci-fi sets and contains things such as classic ruined churches, vents, energy generators, gangways and control panels. None of it would look out of place in most sci-fi wargames, especially the grim darkness of the far future. Oh and it also comes with a rather nice neoprene 22″ x 30″ mat for everything to go on.
How does it work?
All the terrain comes on perforated cardboard sheets so you can just pop it out, and it all goes together with easy to use connectors that slide into gaps in the scenery. First tip, don’t do what I did and pop everything out then leave it in a big pile before trying to put it together, you’ll be hunting for pieces for ages that way. Take my word on it. The pieces that go together generally are on the same sheet, or if there are lots of options like the ruined buildings, several similar sheets. Either pop as you build, or pop them out and store the items that go together in little plastic bags etc. Which is also a useful idea for when you are putting stuff away for next time. From my experience I’d classify there as being 3 levels of how stuff goes together. 1 – Pieces that just naturally fit together and hold themselves in place. A fair amount of the scatter terrain is like this and I had no problems with it (especially the generators, those are my favourite). 2 – The buildings which are designed to go together with the plastic connectors. These are even better in many ways because while there are some suggestions on how to put them together, it really encourages you to build your own buildings, which is really easy to do. 3 – There are some pieces that will require glue. Not many. Some like the crates seem to require glue from the off, unless you don’t mind some of their parts just sitting in place on the battlefield. Others don’t officially require glue, but if the cardboard is slightly damaged or the gap where the pieces slot together is just slightly too big to hold, then a little bit of glue helps. PVA worked fine for me. Once I got the hang of it though, it was really straightforward and I was designing my own awesome buildings with sniper perches my Kill Teams could sit on.
Guides
Unlike many miniatures we build, there are no guides on how to build everything in the box. You have two options, 1 – Try and figure it out from the images on the box, which is doable for some things and a good reference. 2 – Go on the Battle Systems website where there are plenty of tutorials on how to build everything. Sadly there is no single video that covers everything in this box, likely because some things in this box have been in other smaller boxes etc. So you have to jump between a few videos to get the job completely done, but it’s not difficult once you get going. Personally, I would have liked some instructions in the box. Maybe it’s what I’m used to or maybe it just works better for me. It’s more casual than having to watch, pause and rewind a video. But apart from a few bits that could be slowed down a little more, they do a good job showing you the build process.
Quality
All the components in this box are well made. Of course, a certain degree of damage is to be expected when something is made out of cardboard and you have to pop it out, but I got through the entire box with the bare minimum of casualties. It’s usually the top layer of art that can catch if you’re not careful. Speaking of art, the designs are really nice and fit the gothic theme nicely. They are suitable and generic enough to fit in with most sci-fi games out there. I also appreciate that at the end of the day, eventually, hopefully a long way down the line, it’s all recyclable.
Compatibility
So what can you use this terrain for? Well anything that takes your fancy really. The mat is the exact size for Kill Team, but any skirmish size sci-fi game will also work. The amount of terrain is likely perfect for skirmish sized games too, with a huge amount of ways it can be built, suiting your every need. That said, it could very easily be used for larger wargames as well, as you can construct buildings of any size you want. What I’m really trying to say is, it is perfect for all occasions.
Conclusion
This is a fantastic terrain set, no question about it. Sure, you might get more immersion and higher quality from a really well painted official plastic terrain set, but those also come with many more drawbacks. They never get painted, they are hard to transport and you are limited to the shapes and sizes they come in. Gothic Cityscape, and other Battle Systems terrain, is easy to transport, easy to put together in any way you like, sturdy, visually appealing, and can then be taken apart and transported again really easily. I would say the niggles here are very minor and a set like this is almost an essential buy for wargamers, especially people new to the hobby, just to give you easy access to terrain that is going to make your battles really pop.
Zatu Review Summary
Zatu Score
75%
