Wednesday, May 8, 2013

Tablescapes makes a Run for the Temple!

     No, Secret Weapon is not involved in a new Indian Jones movie. (Which is a shame, because the sets would most definitely look better!)  What we have is a ruined temple, a ticking clock, and some fantastic artists renders. Come take a look before it's too late!
     We're been giving the Tablescapes Kickstarter from Secret Weapon a lot of press- and for good reason.  If you want a high quality, fully modular, preformed table that will withstand untold hours of gameplay and angry table-flipping, this is the one you want.  Or, should I say "ones."  Yes, good readers, not only is Secret Weapon offering you an injection molded plastic table, they're currently offering you three.  Three distinct sets of tiles that are actually designed to be able to be used together.



     The first one was their initial release, and unfortunately the only one we can actually view any finished components of.  The "Scrap Yard" table is perfect for any game settings you might be able to search for using the keywords "grim", "post-apocalyptic," or "dark."  While predominantly aimed towards the 28mm crowd, my blogmate Belgarath97 (a huge supporter of this project as you can see here) pointed out to me the other day that really all you see in the tile is debris, sheet metal, and tires.  Sure, on 28mm those tires are standard-to-large vehicles. On 54mm they're small rumblers.  On 10mm or 15mm they below to construction vehicles, like the one pictured here. So, while 28-32mm is the "easy choice", there's no reason not to use these guys in just about any range. 



     The second choice up to bat is the "Urban Table."  This guy is actually broken up into two subsets that can easily be used together:  Damaged and Undamaged.  I'm a little miffed at Secret Weapon for coming up with this a month after I started building a DIY Urban Table because there was no solid choices on the market.  Because this is a very solid choice.  The Urban table is being designed to be compatible with Deadzone as B97 tells us here, so Kickstarter's really allowing you to have your cake and eat it to with these two.

     Third set up is the "Rolling Fields".  I gotta admit, this was the one I wanted from the start. It only got better with the inclusion of now enough river pieces to run the table the breadth of a 4x6. Complete compatibility allows me to have a table which plays my 28-32mm Warzone:Ressurection, Dark Age, Infinity, BtGoA, DUSTDeadzone and Spinespur, with a quick swap of scatter terrain plays my 15mm All Quiet on the Martian Front or By Fire and Sword,  then swap out scatter once again to play my 10mm Dropzone Commander and Mecha Front!  There's no game this table can't work for really.  




     And here's the big finale:  want an amazing 4th set with absolutely no limit on conversion or scale?  Try this on for size.. the Ruin Temple.  So, at the time of this going to print, Tablescapes needs another $66K in the kickstarter to unlock this thing fully, and $26k to unlock a 4 piece "display table" version.  I can't think of anybody playing a medieval or early world game (historic or fantasy) that wouldn't benefit form this one.  Come to think of it, I know a bunch of futuristic skirmish and mass army games that have more than enough excuses to be fighting over holy and unholy sites as well.

     Now, let's get into the really exciting bits.  All of these sets are intended to be able to be used together.  Aside from the Urban ones for obvious reasons, they all have (and will continue to with further releases!) the same ground texture- meaning you can combine Scrap Yard and Rolling Hills to have scattered debris in a river valley.  Scrap Yard and Ruined Temple means this place has been fought over before. Rolling Fields and Ruined Temple sets up a beautiful water feature running near/through your ruins.  How can you go wrong with this! (Trick question, 'cause you can't.)

     In addition, Secret Weapon is releasing scatter terrain themed for each set, and making custom bases designed to match.  I don't know about you, but that's a whole lot of things being able to match in my book, and that's always great for helping in suspension of disbelief. 

     If you're not in this one yet, you're running out of time.  Three days and counting, ladies and gentlemen.  Click it, pledge it, love it, and improve the look of your game- goodbye plywood, hello gorgeous. Game Central is going to have some brand new shiny tables paid for in a few days... how about you?   

See you on the other side of the table... one that's getting a major facelift.

The Second Class Elitist.

1 comment:

  1. I ell manage to pull up some money to take the last deal for 16 title set. I think I'll go with Urban Damaged, perfect for Warzone. It's amazing when you think no comany have try to go some serious tablescape! (GW one is pure crap). I'm very happy that Secret weapon has done so well. It's a fair price and table be expended after with new titles.

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