CAMPAGNE KS 3D MODULAR TERRAIN BY MANORHOUSE WORKSHOP 1 : AN INCREDIBLE QUALITY AND RESISTANCE!!^^

Hi to all my dear readers ^^ A great article today, my Very Dear Readers, since I was chosen to analyze and give a my opinion / review about a Kickstarter Campaign which is bursting with awesomness and is just waiting to become a major hit: the 3D MODULAR TERRAIN Campaign by MANORHOUSE WORKSHOP.

LINK TOWARDS THE OFFICIAL KICKSTARTER PAGE OF £D BASES MODULAR TERRAIN

Indeed, some weeks ago, I was contacted by David, a very nice fellow of Warmania and French attaché of Manorhouse Workshop (brand owned by Lorenzo DI MARCHETTO, from Italy) to check if I could be interested in reviewing the project. He did get to know about me by my dear Alias (thanks by the way for considering my blog worthy of such a task ^^) and wanted to know a bit more about my history and experience on this matter...

The project uses tiles of 30x30cm, made of an industrial polyuréthane and cast as to represent a good different number of terrains: an abbey, stone pavements, gothic ruins, etc etc etc

We did exchange some messages, and I told him that indeed I often gave my opinion and review about about our miniature hobby (be it on my own or after a proposal from a third party), but always with my style, always direct (be it good or bad) and independent. Probably Lorenzo liked this, because days later, David informed me that I would receive some tiles, so that I could do a detailed review about it... And it doesn't seem there are a lot of persons that got their hands on this product to review it ... When I asked who they were, I got this answer: Beast of War (what a surprise ^^), an Italian (it makes sense ^^), an american (you can't ignore the USA to make yourself known)... and myself. You could clearly understand why I was very thrilled to be part of this small group of people. ^^ ManorHouse Workshop did quite a good job to spread the word around the web and especially on Warmania. The Kickstarter was lauched last week-end, the 20/06/2016 and reached its goal in less than 24h !! From this goal of 25 000 € they are now near 32 000 € when I'm writing this, which isn't so bad for the first 6 days ^^ So I accepted (I was quite curious, but also positively impressed by the pictures shown on the web), and I waited for my package to arrive ... which it did today ^^

Get ready because I will show you 75 very detailed and interesting pictures to review this product. ^^

IMPORTANT NOTE: DAVID WARNED ME THAT THE PRODUCT SENT TO ME WASN'T THE BEST ONE:

THOSE WERE SECOND CHOICE TILES. THE FINAL PRODUCTS THAT WILL BE PRODUCED AFTER THE

KICKSTARTER CAMPAIGN WOULD BE EVEN BETTER.

OPENING OF THE PACKAGE

I was quite surprised by its weight. And I had reason too .. it weighted nearly 3kg. David warned me that I would receive 2 Tiles, but I had the feeling there were more...

Quite heavy : 2,9 kg and incredibly well packed !! No damage could be seen (we have to say, also, that it wasn't sent by French Post, but by Chronopost ... which of course can explain a lot hehehehe ^^).

After using my draft knife, I found a heavy foam blister sheet ... immediately an industriel smell moved out of the box ... but it wasn't really annoying : it reminded me of the liquid UHU glue ^^

Under it, the tiles were there, wrapped in resistant cellophane

Ok, so the 2 tiles were wrapped together ^^

So it seemed that the 2 tiles were together (how heavy one is supposed to be ?! O_O) they were back to back to a cardboard sheet, which was very thick (oh, nice, this is also a great base for terrains ^^). As of now, the packaging is greatly done, very sturdy and protects perfectly the goods. It's already a great plus, and I hope the same care will be done with the backers' pledges. So, let's go forward and examine those tiles...

FIRST LOOK

Actually, between the 2 big terrain tiles, there was also a tile composed of stones. After reading the KS Official page, I think I have actually the following tiles: a Broken Column, an Abbey Base and aCobblestone

Yep, it's 30 x 30 cm ^^

So I wanted to get the real weight of those tiles. So I took my kitchen scale, I used a metallic box as pedestal so that I could ook the weight values, and I reset everything ... let's do the measurement...

The Broken Column tile weights exactly 469g ... Not bad, hmm ? ^^

And the Abbey Base...

... is quite a big baby with its 627g !! Congratulations XD (all this explains a bit the delivery costs shown on the official KS page, and prove they are not illogical : those tiles have quite some weight and it adds up pretty quickly).

Ok, so we had our first look. It's time to get into it seriously.

METICULOUS EXAM

Let's put this into scale with my Infinity (28mm) miniatures..

I took my Infinity miniatures to fill a bit the tiles and I must admit there is a lot of room for them to move around. Before, I had feared by looking at the pictures that everything would be a bit too narrow (which is great when you need to put forks and knifes, but not very great when you wish to move around your miniatures...) but I was quite wrong. There is a lot of room for quite some big happy brawls without blinking a sweat ^^

Close view of the Cobblestonne...

Even my TAG on the background had no problem finding a place ^^

Abbey Base...

Look at the superb details of the pavement!!! I will get back to it.

And this is the Broken Column ^^

The back side of the tiles...

It seems like an Alien bled on it XD

I wanted to check the density of the material, to see if there weren't too thin areas that could create issues later on, due to much handing with time. For this, I used a very simple (but efficient) technique: I put the tiles against the light. If there is some blunder, I will see them immediately.

Here we are :

The Cobblestone base is perfect. Good.

The Broken Column shows some thin areas, but in general, there is nothing really to point out. Good

The Abbey Base is like a marble slab: there isn't a single thin spot. Excellent.

After those first verifications, it was time to start to look closely on the quality of the details, a point that Manorhouse Workshop is quite proud of. Ok, I'm up for it, let's see that immediately ^^ I tried to post pictures with the best close-ups possible, as far as I could, to give you the best images to judge for yourself...

COBBLESTONE DETAILS

Well, I must say that the Cobblestone tile's details are incredible : there are no 2 stones that look alike!! O_O

I am very much and positively surprised by the details of the Cobblestone tile O_O. The stones are uneven, disjoints, irregular, some more worn than others ... it's really an amazing work, since it's not a classical "everything is measured and cut too smoothly, like mathematically". For the people fan of realism, there is not much else to wish for.

It is even possible to cut some sections of this tile to create your own walls :

ABBEY TILE DETAILS

I must admit that if the Broken Column did catch my attention (to say the least), the Abbey tile just left me speachless. Really, people loving old stones will just fall under the spell of such work. I have rarely seen such quest for detail : I told you before that on the Cobblestone tile, there are no 2 stones identical ... Here, it's the same, but it's even more crazy (I assure you, it seems it's really possible to push this even farther O_O) :

Note the différences of the pavements, between the ground, the stairs, and the upper floor!! O_O

Gasp in awe in front of this line of ruined columns, where, once again, every terrain element is used in an unique and different way!!! This kind of precision is just pure crazyness!! I can't stop asking myself how much time Lorenzo invested just to create this single tile

O_O'

The entry of the secret crypt can be hidden by ... anything actually (I think a throne or an altar was actually produced for such a reason ^^)...

Some wooden planks are covering a partial crumbling...

The scree on the other side of the columns ... not bad at all ^^

The quest for detail can be seen even on the bases of the columns, which have been ruined nearly up to their ground base. Bravo !!

BROKEN COLUMN DETAILS

I already loved the Broken Column : it's a tile that is on its own telling a lot of stories a crumbled church nave ? An abbandoned cloister garden ? What is left of temple plunder ? A builders' Guild destroyed after an Earthquake ? There is ample room to think about a lot of stories ^^... I must say however that I was disappointed due to some little flaws...

The pavement is very nice. You can paint it as is, or even go mosaic crazy here ^^

A close examination showed some errors on the casting. Some stones weren't fully "finished".

Under another angle, it seems like a metal rod put its shape along a certain axis. Those little flaws can be easily hidden with some fine sand etc, but still, it's a pity considering that it was the last base, with the previous two being perfect...

View of the exterior wall which seats on a big flat rock. Interesting situation and perspective for painting ^^

At one end of a column, I have the imrpression that the the gravel wasn't perfectly casted. It looks like some snow fell on it, rounding the details ... hmmm... hum...

Some air bubbles show on some steps, although I didn't see any on the 2 other tiles. Ok, they're really microscopic, but my myopia allows me to spot those things immediately....

The Broken Column details are nearly perfect but some small flaws don't make me euphoric like I was for the Abbey Base. However, we must remember the VERY IMPORTANT information I gave at the start of this analysis: those samples are "only" (and considering the amazing quality ...) second choice tiles. They aren't the final versions which will be produced, which will be better. Beast of War received/will receive the first choice material. I need to point that out to give an impartial and transparent information and review on the matter. Again, the little flaws are nearly completely invisible for anyone but people affected by myopia (and as you know, I always look for those flaws like a hound) and they are quite easily repaired ^^

THE INFERNAL TRAINING OF THE TEMPLE

Now, we'll have fun ^^. Manorhouse Workshop did multiple times insist heavily on the sturdiness and resistance of this product. To prove it, there is even an official video about it which seems to confirm those allegations : Quite spectacular, isn't it ? ^^ But for us, the Mori Clan, this test is just a pat on the back. The Temple Warriors are used to face much worse suffering than this. I am going to show you a slight preview...

This is a quite weak training for the Mori Clan... We are going to more serious testing ... with some napalm...

THE PAIN ROLL

I started with rolling the Cobblestone tile, over and over...

THE ONI GRASP

... then, I folded 2 or 3 times the tile on its own, and crushed it quite strongly...

... Very strongly...

The tile took back, slowly but steadily, its original shape...

Just a few signs showed on the back of the tile. On the stones side, however, all had disappeared after just a few minutes.

Good job Cobblestone !! ^^

THE DRAGON BITE

The Broken Column is quite thicker. I brought the edges together and crushed the whole with my hand (the last time I went to check with work doctor, by law, a strength test showed that I had a grasp as strong as a veteran removal man. The doctor couldn't believe I

was just a lawman working in an office without any physical activity ^^. I am sharing this just to tell you that I am far from cuddling those tiles ^^

The tile didn't blink.

Good job, Broken Column !! ^^

THE 1000 PAIN VICE

I did the same treatment with the Abbey Base...

No issue there either.

Good job, Abbey Base !! ^^

Ok ok ... Sure, the sturdiness couldn't be questioned, no doubt about it... But the extreme and perfect sturdiness of mind and body wasn't a goal for the Mori Clan: it was just the starting point to do a job... Those little tests were just for starter. The real tests were going to start now...

Ready for the real Temple training ?!

THE MILLENARY MOUNTAIN BURDEN

Mishandling the tiles in every manner for a few moments, it's fun, but let's imagine that something more terrible happens : for example, let's say we put the tiles in a very wrong position, when storing them, and so, they get bent for a very long time ... what happens then ? Let's see...

This is a legendary collector edition of the not-so-legendary "Akira" manga...

This manga weights 679 grammes, to be exact...

The whole series has 6 books, and since they are more or less the same thickness, the overall weight is around 4kgs... Here, I just bent 2-3 times again the Cobblestone bases before crushing it with the Akira books !!

... for 9 long minutes...

The tile, once freed, took slowly its original shape...

I helped it a bit...

Some slight marks were still there ... But 15 minutes later, they were gone !!

Good job Cobblestone, you did pass the Temple's tests !! ^^

THE FALL OF THE KING OF JIGOKU

WARNING : THE FOLLOWING PICTURES MAY HURT THE SENSIBILITY OF SOME MINIATURES FANS !!

I wanted to make a last test for the Abbey Base, the heaviest of the lot. So I tried something completely crazy... Also because I didn't spent a dime to get my hands on those tiles, and because surely no one tried it before... ^^

Did I tell you that I live at the first floor of a building, and that under my windows, there is a hard slab of concrete ?

I took the Abbey Base tile and turned it upside down on purpose...

... And I just threw it from the first floor on the concrete!! The picture here wasn't photoshoped, it's real ^^

The tile fell and rebounded out, on the gravel...

On my honor, I can assure you that after a fall from the first floor on a concrete surface, THE TILE DIDN'T SUFFER FROM A SINGLE SCRATCH!!! O_O

So here we are, Dear Readers, at the end of my tests on the tiles from the 3D MODULAR by ManorHouse Workshop. You surely understood by now that those products are of a quality, sturdiness, and with details all unheard of!!! There is no other way to put it: if I had some funds and some room here at the Temple (this product is great staying on a table or well stored in plastic boxes), I would surely have pledged for a whole area of 1m20 x 1m20 (not counting the Abbey, that I would have added to the whole!! TT). This product has everything to satisfy Frostgrave, Infinity, Fury Outburst Control, Warhammer 40 000 and even Age of Sigmar, Warmachine/Hordes, Malifaux... I could continue on and on, and I don't think I would exagerate saying that all games can find their bliss with those tiles. I will remind you again that those pictures are about second choice material.... the final products will be even better. The delivery costs aren't very sexy, true, but there is reason for that: there is quantity AND quality for those who will pledge

WHAT ABOUT PAINTING ?

Very honestly, I don't think i'll have time to paint all of this. I will however put some of my friends on this (since they were very interested about this too ^^) but I'll keep the Abbey base. So in the following days, I hope I'll be able to show you some nice results ^^ I hope that all this made you convinced on the good direction (yes, I must admit that I was quite Malkavian when I thrwe the heaviest tile outside the window ^^').

DON'T HESITATE BECAUSE ONLY 10 DAYS ARE REMAINING ON THIS KICKSTARTER

I am there for any question on those tiles, but for more technical details, you'd better check Warmania where David will surely answer you with pleasure ^^. Once again, thanks to David and Lorenzo of Manorhouse Workshop for the trust extented to the Temple ^^ Thanks, Serviteur, Morikun