Terrain Review: Plasma Terrain
Some time ago I received a very heavy package in my mail. It came from Plasma Terrain, a terrain company from Poznań, Poland. I have been given a sample of their latest buildings to assemble and give my opinion.
The first thing that took my attention was the packaging itself. Unlike MAS’s buildings that require tools or very delicate hands to be punched out of their MDF board, this manufacturer came up with a clever idea of using an adhesive piece of paper, covering one side of the board. When it is stripped of the MDF, the pieces fall out without any need of outside force. This clever and innovative idea means that I was able to prepare all the parts without damaging them in any way, which unfortunately sometimes happened with other manufacturers – yes, I’m a newbie when it comes to terrain assembly.
Clever!
And sticky!
There was no instruction inside, but I was informed that those can be found online. After some fidgeting, I was able to get them here. They were enough to help me assemble the building without too much difficulty, although I had to identify the pieces first – there was a lot of them. The buildings came with several Plexi-glass pieces to be used as windows and decorative elements on the railings.
Always start with the top floor. right?
Plexi was also covered for protection in the adhesive paper
Everything fit in neatly, and there was no need for filing or removing of extra pieces. In my package, I received 2 different buildings and even though I managed to mix their pieces in my assembly frenzy, I was able to identify what went where without too many problems – the pieces are scaled in such a way, that they only fit in one particular spot in one of the buildings and would be completely useless in the other one, even despite looking similar. I’ll have to assemble the remaining building sometime, and I’ll add some photos to this review afterwards.
Wait, so this goes with A or with B?
Most pieces required the use of glue to fit, but some, like the plexi windows, didn’t – all that was required was a forced insertion and the piece snapped into place. The interior wall of the building serves as as a nice structural element for the whole building, helping the building stay together. Again, a very clever idea for such a big building.
You attach the interior wall to the floor, thus reinforcing the structure
Only when I finally managed to assemble it all together did I realize how big the building itself really was. Due to the fact that it’s so massive, it makes for a great LoF-blocker in the middle of the board, just how I like it. The first floor railings provide enough cover for a S2 trooper, and there’s enough access points to make the building an interesting piece of terrain. My only complaint would be that there’s no cover on the roof of the building itself, but that can be fixed with the introduction of simple scatter terrain – the roof is flat and so some vents or boxes from other sources would make a better place to gain cover.
Aaaaaand… done!
All in all, the assembly itself was a very pleasant experience for an inexperienced terrain person like myself, and although I see that I should have paid more attention in several places (there’s a small slit between one of the walls and the floor on the ground floor, but I’m pretty sure it’s my fault for not inserting it into it’s slot with enough force) I am pretty happy with the result. This building by Plasma Terrain costs 30 USD, and it compares well with the competition’s prices. It is very big and would certainly make a good addition to the table of a gamer who likes to build sparsely populated tables; such as myself.
Bounty Hunters on the prowl
The interior could use some scatter, but again, that can be obtained elsewhere
I was also informed that due to the increase in demand, Plasma Terrain decided to ship all their products via priority courier worldwide. That should provide for a safe and swift delivery anywhere in the world, so be sure to check them out! Don’t hesitate to tell us what you think of such buildings in the comments below, I’m sure the guys from Plasma will also be happy to chime in on any constructive criticism.
