Category Archives: Wargame Scenery

15mm Terrain Unboxing Review: Flames of War Battlefield in a Box – Ruined Large Desert House (Gale Force Nine BB231)

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15mm Terrain Unboxing Review: Flames of War Battlefield in a Box - Ruined Large Desert House (Gale Force Nine BB231) 1:100, 1/100 scale, Battlegroup, What a Tanker Terrain

Another terrain review for you all today. I’m not back at work properly yet, but I’ve been doing quite a bit for work from home in the last week, so I’ve not been doing as much hobby, and certyainly haven’t had time to go photograph newly painted models, so I thought it a good time to turn some more photographs of the GF9 terrain into another review to benefit people who might be tossing up what these things are actually like in hand rather than on the box glamour shot. This time it’s the Ruined Large Desert House.

Packaging is much as we’ve seen with the other kits in this range – bubble wrapped inside some protective cardboard inside the retail box.

15mm Terrain Unboxing Review: Flames of War Battlefield in a Box - Ruined Large Desert House (Gale Force Nine BB231) 1:100, 1/100 scale, Battlegroup, What a Tanker Terrain

Unwrapped, we have a three-part building with the top roof piece turned upside down to protect the detail on top from getting smashed up.

15mm Terrain Unboxing Review: Flames of War Battlefield in a Box - Ruined Large Desert House (Gale Force Nine BB231) 1:100, 1/100 scale, Battlegroup, What a Tanker Terrain

All three sections of the building, taken apart.

15mm Terrain Unboxing Review: Flames of War Battlefield in a Box - Ruined Large Desert House (Gale Force Nine BB231) 1:100, 1/100 scale, Battlegroup, What a Tanker Terrain

As you can see, there’s room for quite a lot of infantry – both inside as well as on the roof sections of this piece.

15mm Terrain Unboxing Review: Flames of War Battlefield in a Box - Ruined Large Desert House (Gale Force Nine BB231) 1:100, 1/100 scale, Battlegroup, What a Tanker Terrain

One of the key angles of the building for your perusal. Tanks to provide scale.

15mm Terrain Unboxing Review: Flames of War Battlefield in a Box - Ruined Large Desert House (Gale Force Nine BB231) 1:100, 1/100 scale, Battlegroup, What a Tanker Terrain

And the “business” side – showing how you can easily justify three infantry stands shooting out as long as it’s on the right kind of angle! (and yes, I did forget that unit inside the building on the first floor when I packed up… 🙂

Given the intent of this review, which is to provide some images and simple thoughts on a set that I was unable to find any information on online aside from box pics, I’m not going to “score” the set. I purchased them myself from an online retailer and they’re not exactly cheap, even compared to GW’s plastic offerings. For those with the time and inclination to scratchbuild or 3D print something, I have no doubt that you’re going to be able to create something better than this. I imagine Sarissa et al also have MDF kits of Adobe buildings that also look far better than these pieces. I’m personally happy with them, though – the no effort required, “open and play” nature of these for me really wins out, and that convenience is where the premium price for these comes from, as opposed to fine detail or sculpt quality.

With a small amount of effort, these could be made to look a lot better as well, but the nice thing is doing so isn’t needed to get them onto the table for a decent looking game.

15mm Terrain Unboxing Review: Flames of War Battlefield in a Box – Desert Walls (Gale Force Nine BB225)

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15mm Terrain Unboxing Review: Flames of War Battlefield in a Box - Desert Walls (Gale Force Nine BB225) 1/100, 1:100 Wargaming Terrain

Today I have the next of these Terrain unboxings of the Battlefield in a Box stuff I picked up recently. I think these will follow very much the same format as one another, since the point is really to give people a good solid look at what you get in the boxes as there’s not a lot out there aside from the glamour shots on the box and GF9 website when you’re looking around to see what you get and how it all looks.

15mm Terrain Unboxing Review: Flames of War Battlefield in a Box - Desert Walls (Gale Force Nine BB225) 1/100, 1:100 Wargaming Terrain

Opening the box you get a cardboard sleeve….

15mm Terrain Unboxing Review: Flames of War Battlefield in a Box - Desert Walls (Gale Force Nine BB225) 1/100, 1:100 Wargaming Terrain

That contains a lot of little bubble wrapped parcels behind the packing tape…

15mm Terrain Unboxing Review: Flames of War Battlefield in a Box - Desert Walls (Gale Force Nine BB225) 1/100, 1:100 Wargaming Terrain

OK. Here we are. Not all that impressive at this point, I have to say.

15mm Terrain Unboxing Review: Flames of War Battlefield in a Box - Desert Walls (Gale Force Nine BB225) 1/100, 1:100 Wargaming Terrain

Once laid out, they do cover a reasonable amount of space. Apologies for the bottom of the closest walls being cut off in the photo. They’re not perfect, and dareIsay, you or I could likely make something just as good or better pretty easily out of foamcore and/or thick card/mouinting board/etc -but, as I mentioned in the previous review, you’re paying a premium for something that’s ready to go – right out of the box. The smaller walls work perfectly as cover for infantry and artillery, while the larger walls work as blockers for line of sight. I’m actually just thinking now that the larger walls would also work for 28/32mm scale, so I might take a pic of a 28mm model alongside and slip it in later on.

15mm Terrain Unboxing Review: Flames of War Battlefield in a Box - Desert Walls (Gale Force Nine BB225) 1/100, 1:100 Wargaming Terrain

The little well, surrounded by bricks is pretty nice, and would take a bit more effort to replicate, as would the gate. The whole set contracts to take up quite a small amount of space for storage as well, which honestly is a good thing. These are made of the same resin as the other sets I’ve looked at, and while I’m sure they’d be likely to break or shatter if dropped on a hard floor, they’re hardy enough for a games table, and the one that fell onto the (thinly) carpeted floor did just bounce with no issues.

The pieces are all textured in a simple coat of rough, textured paint that has been given a simple drybrush. There’s a small amount of variation in the finish between the pieces, which makes sense as they’re clearly the products of a prodution line – though it’s not something that bothered me. There’s also a small amount of warping, and you can see there’s a bit of wonk in them not all lining up properly, both in terms of not being perfectly on a 90 degree angle, or even just the edges of the walls being the exact same height. If these were sold as a plastic or MDF kit, I’d be upset, but as they’re a “Ready to go” product, I ironically have slightly lower standards, despite the price. Simply put, the hobby time I’m not spending to make perfect walls is time I’m spending working on more models. I do enjoy working on scenery, but to be blunt, I enjoy working on scenery that’s a bit more exciting than these pieces.

With a small amount of effort, these could be made to look a lot better as well, but the nice thing is doing so isn’t needed to get them onto the table for a decent looking game. Once again, I’m quite happy with these. I am actually considering picking up a second set so I have the versatility to cover a much larger amount of table space while remaining reasonably consistent.