Yay presents.

Artfully pilfered from MemeCenter

On this occasion (some time back) I didn't get to see the delivery man but was watching the progress online as I knew no one would be in.
Not a problem as I could pick the delivery up on the way home from work. Read on to see what it was.

Well obviously a big parcel across two boxes, I've been waiting for these now for over a year, such are the joys of Kickstarter. Technically my 30th birthday present to myself I bet your wondering whats inside.

Having got home and spent some time clearing space to play (2 year olds can realy make a mess) I was all set to open up and see my new toys.

Thats a whole lot of plastic crack, about 22kg worth, and a long wait but finally my secret weapon tablescape tiles have arrived so time for some unboxing.

The boxes they come in would be brilliant if it wasn't for the plastic handles, so far I've had two break, one as I lifted it out of the shipping boxes and the other just carrying them around, though it's nothing I can't replace.
On the other hand There is plenty of space for foam or additional tiles, which will allow me to transport a full 6x4 set nicely protected.

The first box opened was a set of the Rolling field theme, I'd forgotten that the set was only 8 tiles and that it would mean 4 repeats of each tile (thanks to 2 boxes worth). But with 3 river tiles and 5 assorted others I can't wait to paint up the first 8, the level of detail is fantastic as can be seen in this stony river bed.

Even the plainer tiles have some great little details and will look fantastic, the unevenness of the surface really gives a natural look to the land.
However I wish (as I pointed out during the campaign) that they had created a plain flat tile with just the dirt texture, I feel that whole boards made just from heavily detailed tiles counteract the effect and start to look a little cluttered something I'll cover shortly after...

The second box I opened was the glorious scrapyard tiles, with 16 uniques tiles I really love how these have come out, they are bursting with simple yet very effective detail that will be easy to replicate on basses and terrain.

While the level of detail is amazing it's mostly just going to provide rough ground as there isn't enough height to look like true barricades. This should be easily fixed with some added terrain (sandbags, scrap metal etc.) and means you then have the variety of sometimes just having piles of junk and other time looking like scrap forts.

The hill is a particular example of this as for a full tile it would have been nice to have the main level at least block line of sight for a grot.
Still it will make a good point to place an objective or take and hold terrain piece like a watch tower.

Again like the rolling fields I feel that adding having 8 plain tiles to a 16 tile set would spread out the cooler tiles and look better. Especially since even the flattest tile will risk wobbly terrain if like me you have buildings with a greater than eight inch square.

Overall I'm realy happy and looking forward to working on them come spring when I can get outside with the airbrush out for the base coat layers. Once I've got a basic set painted up it probably won't surprise you to discover I'm planning some major adjustments. Since I have 4 of each rolling hills and two of each scrapyard tiles I've got plenty to play with, starting with sorting out 8 completely flat tiles bulking out the second scrapyard hill and looking at the possibility of creating a hill piece for the river thats compatible with the GW realm of battle hill.

Until then I have the FTGT hobby challenge to keep me busy, my january models are being prepared to spray with hopefully the final bit of green stuff will go on the Hive tyrant's devourers tonight with pics coming later in the week. Until then TTFN