3D Fantasy City Buildings – Comparing Your Options

Dwarven Forge’s City Builder Kickstarter just launched. It looks awesome and as someone who has already invested heavily in Dwarven Forge dungeons and caves and I’ve already pledged. But, the high cost is giving me second thoughts.

To help calm my worries, I will review four different types of terrain that I own and use to decide whether this kickstarter really is worth it for me (for Dwarven Forge, I’ll use their caves and dungeons as reference points). I’ll review the four types of terrain over seven factors – aesthetics, customization, durability, storage, construction time, game set up time and cost and hopefully discover which ones might work for you (and me).

The Products

Dwarven Forge’s (DF) City Builder consists of fully modular, 25mm scale, hand-crafted terrain made of nearly indestructible materials. They can be ordered fully painted, which is what I am considering in this review. 

Fat Dragon’s (FD) Ravenfall Village is modular 28mm scale village buildings made of separate, stackable components, which can be mixed and matched between models for even greater variety, and folded flat for easy storage. They are delivered in a downloadable PDF format and once you have the set you can print and build as many pieces as you like and never run out or need to purchase more. Additionally,  graphic layer options allow you to customize your building to suit your tastes. This set was kickstarted, which I participated in.

Renaissance Miniature’s (RM) Medieval Village sets are 28mm scale pre-painted plywood kits that you glue together with simple woodworking adhesive. They are cut using large, state-of-the-art laser cutter for precision cuts – so  kit fit together perfectly every time. This set was also kickstarted, which I also participated in.

WorldWorks (WW) Terraclips Buildings of Malifaux is a modular 3D terrain system made from 1.7mm thick, high-density punchboard with die-cut components, which clip together using the TerraClips connector system.

Aesthetics

DF has the right thickness and look for medieval buildings, though it doesn’t always fit together very closely, so gets a 4/5 for how it looks on the game table. FD looks beautiful, but doesn’t feel thick and strong, so gets a 3/5. RM looks perfect for wooden buildings (appropriately enough) but doesn’t work as well for stone work. The interiors are also quite dull and plain. It gets a 2/5 for aesthetics. WW look very nice, are thicker than normal paper, have great atmospheric images inside and out, but the clips are extremely noticeable and I’ll have to dock them a point for that for a 3/5.

Customization

It is still early in the campaign, but looking at the pictures of what will be coming available, it looks like there is a fair bit of customization of the walls, roofs, windows, etc. possible for the DF tiles. I’ll give them a 4/5 for ability to customize the building to your needs. FD allows a great deal of customization of the look of the buildings, but not necessarily the size or layout, so only gets a 3/5. RM cannot be altered without some skill and ability, so gets a 1/5. You can make a variety of different buildings using WW, but ultimately, you can have a worn down building or a worn down building. I’ll give them a 3/5.

Durability

DF gets a 5/5 here as their pieces can be driven over with a car. Can’t beat that. I would give FD’s paper sets a 2/5 as they will hold up to some wear (assuming you print them on 100 lb card stock). RM’s buildings get a 4/5 as they’re strong, but won’t resist too much rough handling. The WW sets are pretty strong, but you still need to be careful with doorways and when putting the clips in or you’ll mark up the cardboard images, so I’ll give them a 3/5.

Storage

DF gets a 4/5 for being durable enough to be thrown into a drawer or bag for storage, but they still take up a fair amount of space. FD’s sets are foldable, so get a 5/5 for easily being stored flat. RM’s buildings suffer in this respect, as they’re fragile enough to need careful storage and only receive a 2/5 for this factor. The great thing about the WW sets is that you can take it all apart and shove it all in a drawer or container. They get a 5/5 for this factor.

Construction Time

DF requires no construction time when you receive it (unless you’re getting unpainted sets, which I don’t do), so gets a 5/5. FD’s sets require printing, cutting, marking edges and then gluing together and therefore get a 1/5. RM’s buildings require removing pieces carefully, marking edges and then glueing together, but is only slightly faster so gets 2/5. The WW sets require assembly a great deal of assembly to get a building put together and they get a 1/5 for this factor (one of the reasons I am reluctant to use it).

Game Set up Time

DF sets take a fair amount of time to set up as they’re normally 2×2 tiles, but the City Builder sets are 4×4 squares (maybe they heard the feedback?), so they should be faster to set up. Nevertheless, some time to assemble the posts and such will take time at the table, so only get a 2/5 for this factor. I would consider this one of the DF’s biggest weaknesses. FD’s buildings might require some stacking, but are very fast, getting a 4/5. RM’s buildings, once built, are simply put on the table, so get 5/5. Once you have your set ready to go, it can be popped out onto the table with no problem and get a 5/5 for this.

Cost

My own estimates for a single 4×4, two storey building is about $75 for DF, $12 (including printing on cardstock) for FD, $25 for RM and about $35 for WW (including the clips you have to buy separately). So, I’ll give DF a 1/5, even taking into account that you can get the sets a little cheaper right now, FD a 5/5, RM a 3/5 and WW 4/5 for cost.

Overall Totals

Dwarven Forge’s City Builder: 25

Fat Dragon’s Ravenfell Village: 24

Renaissance Miniature’s Medieval Village: 18

WorldWorks Games’ Buildings of Malifaux: 24

Final Thoughts

I hadn’t expected such close scores. If you dig down though, you can make alternate calculations by doubling the factor that matters most to you and see where things fall out.

For example, if you don’t have a lot of money and double the cost point ratings, then Ravenfell and Malifaux buildings come out on top. The real difference between the two for me is that Ravenfell can be customized more and you get more value for your dollar since you can print as many as you want for little extra cost, so I would go for more Ravenfell sets.

Similarly, if you don’t have time to build stuff (like me) and double time to construct point ratings, Dwarven Forge is definitely the terrain to buy, especially during the kickstarter.

Hope this helped you find the right 3D city terrain for your game.