going, and what is this handbasket we're in? (It is hard to find new jokes for terrain - and I didn't want the title to give a negative implication (nor be a comment about the current state of affairs)). And I'd already used the classic Wizard of Oz joke (twice).
There were 2 packs available - the Building Pack (8 sprues) and the XL Building Pack (36 sprues). I picked up the XL pack. Both of these are available on the Mantic Web site ( https://www.manticgames.com/epic-warpath/terrain/ ) plus a bundle to save even more. Or of course from your FLGS (you may have to ask them to order them for you).
For Deadzone players this is very familiar. The one thing missing is the connectors - at this scale they are just too small and fragile. And while the idea of modular terrain you can take apart to store - in reality I believe most people simply glue things together.
The side support pieces connect on the outside each place where two panels connect. The single bump points outward, and the two teeth are supposed to fit in the two upper holes in the support. Unfortunately I found that NONE of them did. I used my Tamiya battery drill to open these up a bit so the tabs would fit, and even then it was strained.
At this point it was time for dinner, and I didn't get pictures of the anti-aircraft guns. These aren't hard to do however. The large round piece is the base - the small circle fits into it (with the slot in the middle). The two sides only fit one way onto the center piece (the one with the tab that fits into the slot on the base), and then the guns fit in place on the sides.
So here is everything for the airbase
One of the add-ons (or included if you did the High Command pledge) was terrain packs. In addition, every named pledge got 2 free terrain sprues just as a teaser.
So now on to the sprues. 3 of the sprues are actually labeled - the rest I'm guessing based on how many I have and how they look.
So first is the City Sprue (4 in the XL Pack). There are actually 2 sets of 4 sprues, and this one, to me, does NOT look like the industrial sprue because of the windows. (The industrial sprue also does not look like the industrial sprue, but it must be by default). (Please feel to let me know if I have any of these wrong).
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| City |
Looking at this sprue, I noticed that the panel in the upper left (top picture) is larger than the one next to it (because of the mold vent in the middle of the sprue). I have a few panels that have broken off of other sprues, so I compare them, and that one (but ONLY that one) is slightly longer than all the others.
Looking at the triangular pieces on the (left, top picture) end and then the covers of the retail boxes, these appear to be angles roofs - which need to be a little longer to fit. So it appears that with two of these we can actually make a building with half a sloped roof.
the battlezone sprue is the most common building sprue - 6 in the XL pack, plus everyone gets 2 extra with their named pledges.
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| Battlezone |
The Industrial zones are the ones that confuse me. As the other 'unnamed' sprue that only has 4, it is the only choice left.
To me, the Battlezone looks more 'industrial'. Also, I'm already wanting more of these - or at least the pointed gothic windows (to go with the panels on the city sprue).
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| Industrial |
To me, the Battlezone looks more 'industrial'. Also, I'm already wanting more of these - or at least the pointed gothic windows (to go with the panels on the city sprue).
The large roof sprue is exactly that, two large roofs for bigger buildings
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| Large Roof Space |
These allow for a simple double or quadruple size building - with stability because the one weak point assembling these (I'll go into more of that later) is that while they fit great at corners, connecting two panels side to side doesn't fit so well.
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| Roadway |
The roadway sprue allows you to actually create streets for your city - with 4 flat panels per sprue, and 10 in the XL box, that is almost 6 feet of road. However it also looks like good flat rooftops as well for small buildings
The Tower base sprue (one of the three labeled sprues) is for, well the base of a tower.
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| Tower Base |
One piece I find interesting is the small piece with the windows (bottom left top picture) - it doesn't really fit (to me) in a part of a tower, and there are also only 2 of them in the box. These are half a panel, so I guess you would use them in conjunction with the half panel pieces in the battlezone sprue.
However there is also a small window on each sprue which look to be designed to for together. The pins look to only fit with themselves, so with only two of these they seem a little useless unless you have multiple XL building packs. However with the recent announcement that epic warpath is going to release stls, I would hope these are included so you could print more.
Of course you need more than base, you need the tower itself.
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| Tower |
The tower sprue has 4 different sides, however you get 4 of them, so you can make 4 towers that have the same sides. There is one hex top for the tower, and one square top, though I don't know how the square top is intended to be used, unless it fits the little window piece in the tower base - in which case you get 4 tops but only 2 sides.
The final sprue is the Airbase.
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| Airbase |
This confused me at first, until I looked at the illustration on the XL building pack. It is initially a little hard to see, but the pair of sprues make an airfield that is slightly elevated (with a double ramps so larger vehicles can drive onto it), a large cargo crate, and two anti-aircraft guns.
I have seen some people asking how to assemble the buildings. The good thing about this kit is there are nearly infinite possibilities. The bad thing about this kit is there are nearly infinite possibilities. Looking at the box illustrations can give some inspiration for creating some terrain. Still, how does it go together?
As I mentioned above, the panels fit very nicely corner to corner - all of the full or half size panels have a small tooth (and correspond socket for another sprue) on their side, so two panels line up and they each have a tiny tooth fitting onto a tiny socket.
Also remember that these are based on Deadzone terrain, which is based on the concept that shipping crates used originally for supplies eventually get stacked and repurposed for buildings. This not only makes the nicely cubicical for Deadzone (which is NOT a consideration here), but also very modular.
In addition, these cities are not quite as distressed as in a larger game by another company (which I wonder if they actually sell kits that can make intact buildings). There are only 4 pieces that are actually broken bits (2 corners of a floor, and two broken window walls.). I spent a bit of time to make a few of the buildings on the XL pack cover
I also threw together a few of my own design
The airbase is probably the trickiest building to assemble. This is because it actually does not go together the same way any of the others do.
It does require both sprues to make it as shown on the box cover.
First, the six flat panels all go together side to side. The inside edges of the panels are flat - they do not have the tooth or indent of the others. On each sprue there are side supports, and a single central support. When you turn the base over, the six pieces will have two small squares in the middle - this is where those central support pieces go.
The side support pieces connect on the outside each place where two panels connect. The single bump points outward, and the two teeth are supposed to fit in the two upper holes in the support. Unfortunately I found that NONE of them did. I used my Tamiya battery drill to open these up a bit so the tabs would fit, and even then it was strained.
Even with all of these in place, I wasn't finding it to be stable, and even broke the teeth off (still in the side supports). This large flat area just needed some more support.
My solution was to take some old cork and glue it to bottom to hold the flat pieces together. This cork is not quite thick enough to touch the ground when was flipped back, but it did help to hold everything in place.
Then attach the ramps.
The crate has two sides and an end on each of the sprues, these were not hard to figure out.
So here is everything for the airbase
Of course now the terrain I have made won't fit into the box with the remaining sprues - so I probably need to spend another afternoon and make the rest. I still have a LOT of pieces though.
I do find it interesting that when I first looked at these, the 'gothic' pieces were the ones that I liked the least (and felt too much like 40K, but then once I started putting them together, I actually wanted more of these. Probably because they felt more like real buildings, and not the shipping crate.
I do find it interesting that when I first looked at these, the 'gothic' pieces were the ones that I liked the least (and felt too much like 40K, but then once I started putting them together, I actually wanted more of these. Probably because they felt more like real buildings, and not the shipping crate.
I'm still waiting to get my hands on a Marauder and a GCPS sprue to finish going over those models. I'm not sure how much of the STLs I'm going to print initially either. At some point I need to quit playing with stuff across the range and actually all of an army (either Asterians or Nameless) (or both), fully read the rules, and try a game.
Because it is all fun and games . . .
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