It feels like it has been a very long time since I put my money in on this campaign. Secret Weapon had HUGE delays in shipping due to some cash flow problems and short-ordering the number of tiles they needed to fill backer pledges. I think the most frustrating part for me was seeing people who had pre-ordered the tiles commercially receiving them nearly a year ago. I understand that mistakes do happen but it was challenging to stay patient.
One thing to note would be that Justin at Secret Weapon was very transparent about the challenges he was facing with the product fulfillment, and that transparency bought him a lot of goodwill with the backer community. It's something that other companies running, or thinking about running, campaigns should think about. Even when things are going sideways, it's always in your best interests to tell your backers the truth about what's happening in a timely fashion.
I ordered two 16-tile sets: one normal urban streets set, and one ruined temple set. The street tiles came in commercial packaging but the other set didn't. It really doesn't matter to me, but it would have been nice to have a box for each simply to store them in when they're not being used.
The detail on the tiles is absolutely fabulous. They'll take some time and work to paint up, but I know that both sets will look amazing once they're finished. I had a chance to try out the city tiles over the weekend for a game of Batman and will post that image in a day or so. The variety of layouts one could create with the 16 tile set is amazing. The only thing I wish that had been included is a simple corner. All of the streets are either straight or t-junctions. A corner piece would have been a great addition.
The ruined temple tiles definitely take top marks of the two sets. The variation of detail from tile to tile, the different pieces of interest through, the amphitheatre ruins...it's really a work of art this set. Another thing to note is the amount of vertical depth on some of the temple tiles is simply amazing! It'll make them a little more challenging to store than the street tiles, but oh the problems to have...
I ordered up a set of Badger Minitaire airbrush paints to use on these. The amount of tiles would take ages to paint with traditional brushes, and I know I will be able to get much better (and faster) results via airbrush, even with my extremely limited airbrushing skills.
Note: Tile images 'borrowed' from the Secret Weapon website.
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