Sunday, December 21, 2014

Firestorm Planetfall - Scenery Box One Thoughts

Hi folks!

I just finished putting together Scenery Box One from Spartan, for Firestorm Planetfall, and wanted to post some (brief) thoughts on the set.

A few notes:

- I have yet to play a game. I rarely get to play anything TBH (so I don't know why I'm obsessed with terrain and scenery). I'm still working on my Aquan/Terquai force as well.
- These seem like a really great match for Dropzone Commander terrain. In the photos I'm using the street map and buildings from DZC's starter set.  I think of this as a forward command post or military installation on the edge of a city. Or something like that :D

Overall, I was really impressed with Scenery Box One. You get a lot of buildings in it, and they are fairly easy to assemble. Once build and painted (if you want. I consider that optional) they look really nice next to the Planetfall minis.They seem sturdy and highly functional, while still looking great. What I like about this set is it's a fast, economical and substantial way to populate your game table with (10mm) terrain.

I recommend superglue for these (That's what I used) - basically I glued the frames and then glued the card panels into place in slots etc.  

Paint wise, I found Tamiya Field Grey to be a terrific matching color to paint the (transparent out of the box) plastic frames.  Basically I spray primed them, sprayed them Field Grey and called it a day. I sprayed them on the "sprue" and didn't worry much about cleaning them up etc. Quick and functional while still looking great imo.

Things I maybe would have done differently:

- I'm less fond of the inclusion of the resin objective markers in the box. It seems like you would not need two sets of these, so if you want to buy another Scenery Box to add more buildings you are getting a bunch of resin pieces you probably don't need more of. And the thing is, that adds I'm sure a fair bit of cost to the box. If they had packaged those separately, the Scenery Box could have been priced more affordably than it already is (I'm guessing).

- There should be some instructions in there, or online (apologies if they are and I missed them). Eventually you can figure it out from looking at the images on the box and the manual, but it really wouldn't hurt to give some basic info on how these go together.

- Possibly the two sides of the card could have been a little more different in appearance, but this is a minor quibble.

With the caveats above, I'd rate the set a solid A-! Highly recommended (and I bet it would look great for DZC too!).


  1. Great stuff as ever. If only we lived nearer to each other, I would love to get into this but none of my gaming mates are impressed.

  2. Thank you sir :) Yeah, I do wish I lived close to more like-minded gamers. That said, there are probably more living in my area than I realize. Also, half of it is just making myself available! I'm surprised your gaming friends aren't interested, I love the aesthetic of Planetfall and it sounds like the rules are quick and enjoyable.

  3. This stuff really looks great and seem to fit seamlessly with the DZC terrain. While I'm yet to be convinced to buy into Planetfall I have a DZC board on its way to me from Games & Gears and I simply had to invest in the Heavy Gear kickstarter. So basically, I'm on the lookout for good 10mm terrain and this certainly fits the bill. :)