Systema’s Futura City Line

Today we take a look at Systema’s new Futura City line. The Futura City line is Systema’s take on a urban table. And from what we see, they’ve done an amazing job! The buildings look amazing thanks to the interesting designs. It really shows Systema’s is designed by a real-life architect.

Assembly

Each building consist of a lot of pieces, but assembly is remarkably easy. The design is pretty straightforward and there are some fail-safes that won’t allow you to make a single mistake. For example: the front wall and the rear wall have different slots in the MDF floor tile. This way you can’t mix them up by mistake. The side walls are then pinned onto the front and rear walls and Bob is your mother’s brother.

Assembly of one building is spread over different packs of MDF. Each building consist of a ground floor + roof, and from there on you can fit as much stores between the ground floor and roof as you like. Each floor is a pack on its own, and the ground floor + roof can function as a building on its own. Pretty nifty!

When you buy the ‘building bundle’ you get access to a different style of floor, consisting out of a level split between a terrace and a floor, and a rooftop you can access by stairs.

A building bundle, consisting of a ground floor + level + half/half level with rooftop

Modularity

The modular approach of the buildings gives the small line already a lot of options! Every part can be fitted onto the other parts, and without much effort you can create a building standing on its own, or you can choose to create a entire block of apartments/offices. You can choose to make buildings 7 stores high, like you’re playing in dense urban area like Manhattan or go for a lower suburb style of buildings, with single story stores and diners.

Each store of the building snugs into the ones lower, but it will never form a tight lock. This allows you easy access inside the buildings when you prefer to hide a sniper on the top floor, for example.

You wanted your building modular?

The panels on the sides of the buildings can be removed to shove two buildings against each other, making one big block. The walls have doors, so you can go from one building to the other, without much effort. Nice detail; you can’t draw line of sight from one end of the building through the other side, as the doors don’t align.

two buildings put together

To make it all more easy to design, every building comes with an elevator, instead of stairs. While some may prefer otherwise, I think this is a great and easy approach to allow your players to access the upper floors without encountering some dispense of disbelief.

There have been some complaints about models not fitting inside the floors. In all fairness, I think this is to blame CB more than Systema. The floors allow the Silhouette 2 inside with room to spare above its head.

S2 fits nicely

Usability

In-game usability of the Futura City line is one of the best I’ve seen. Extremely modular, the line already give you a lot of options for set up. The easy access granted by the modular design allows you to quickly enter or leave buildings to your choosing. Pop a few windows (which I haven’t done yet) and you can go from street fights to small close cornered shoot-outs on the inside of the buildings without much effort.

The three story buildings give you good sniper positions, while the other buildings can create some strong shadow zones on the table, allowing your models to move on the table relatively unharmed.

Infinity street view

Accessories

The buildings can be customized by some awesome accessories! First you have an amazing garden accessory. A little walled garden, complete with planters and a little gate on the side. Again, this garden is completely modular, and two can be put together to create a walled urban garden or small plaza. Or you can choose to remove a panel on the side of the building and put the little garden on the side of the building, creating a nice suburban atmosphere.

One of the other awesome accessories are the banners for the buildings. Big or small, Systema designed a couple of banners in Arabic (for Haqqislamic cities), Chinese (for Yu Jing tables), English (for PanOceania) and even alien languages (for CA/Tohaa perhaps?). They are beautifully designed and add a quick splash of colour and character to your city.

A little touch of the Orient on your city. Note the small garden on the side

Each building bundle comes with a small set of tables and chairs, giving you some little pieces to fill the inside of the building. 4 chairs and 4 tables can give the open spaces a quick office like feel.

Recap

All in all Futura City gets a big ‘Data Sphere Approves’ stamp from me. Modular, lots of options for set up and customization, and great durable playability. Systema has done it again!

I only hope to see them expand on this line soon. I like to see my cities with lots of different things. Extra planters are definitely welcomed, as are some other designs on buildings. 🙂 I hope we’ll see some cool expansion quickly!