Wishlist Wednesday - Terrain Review of Marc C's M4 Kickstarter

This Wishlist Wednesday, we look at some amazing Kickstarter terrain made by Montreal's own Marc C.  Everyone here at CKP took a weekend to go visit Marc at his home gaming store L'Abyss, and we had a great time checking out their Infinity meta and Marc's terrain.

Marc C's avatar on the Infinity forums!

Pen's Review
Before we went to interview Marc about his terrain, I made a list of my three major "breaking points" when it came to buying.  After playing with the terrain, I'm definitely sold on filling my table with it.

Point A: I was initially very afraid of buying anything calling itself "cardboard".  After seeing it in person, it's clear that this stuff is more like MDF-lite, and not really resembling anything I'd commonly call "cardboard".  It's sturdy and durable, and besides the minor fraying you might experience on tabs if you keep pulling it apart and putting it back together (rather than just gluing it), it feels like it would last a very long time.

Point B: I was also initially unsure about the price point for filling a table (I'm one of those "buy a sheet of foamcore and do it yourself" people).  After seeing how much coverage you can get for the price of a "standard" competitor's building, though, I'm a lot more willing to commit.  For the coverage of an "apartment block" building, you're paying maybe 2/3 of the cost of the leading brand.  When you're looking to fill a table quickly (and/or trying to avoid the do-it-yourself foamcore), Marc's terrain does so on the cheap.

Point C: my last point of hesitation was the modularity issue.  A lot of terrain claims to be "modular", but it really must be glued together in a specific configuration in order to last.  This causes all kinds of trouble for rooftop combat (can't remove the roof to get into the building if you need to), for storage (sure you can disassemble it, but it won't stick together unless glued), and even for terrain assembly (precisely-machined lines make it hard to avoid forcing pieces together).  Marc's terrain bypasses all of these troubles with its smooth fits, the tiny bit of excess space between cut lines, and just how incredibly sturdy it is - even when it's not glued together.  I'm especially partial to the small connector bits, because they allow you to link rooms together and cut drastic firing lanes down (a problem common to small-obstacle setups).

In future products, I'd love to see larger rooms and more development done with the wall pieces (which are a bit easier to tip than I'd like). I think there's a lot of potential there with the level of sturdiness and playability Marc's terrain provides.  In the meanwhile, though, I definitely think it's worth the investment.

Tevesh's Review
Marc C has been building the Montreal community of Infinity for three years. He has definitely been through the thick and thin of all types. His designs seem incredibly honed from feedback of experience on the table, instead of some sort of cash grab scenario.

The terrain has been hard-tested through three years worth of knowledge on what makes good and bad terrain. Visiting L'Abyss in Montreal for their ITS Tournament had Marc breaking out all of the terrain available for all his players. I saw how his table building knowledge evolved and improved over the course of many years. The first table was a great mess of MAS - the type of terrain that is awesome to look at but probably not nice to play with. The second table was more for Paradiso-style missions, which was another great table for another game - like 40k. These good looking pieces of terrain probably had their tired meta played out, where a veteran already knows the ins and outs of the table.

The third and fourth tables had some of the homemade terrain Marc's batched together that made the game a lot more playable. Usually, when it comes to terrain, you have to pick what looks good or what plays good. Most players opt for the looking good, which is why I see so many imitators of the 'clean style' of Infinity without any understanding of the actual game. I have the preference of whatever causes the best game play, even if it looks like garbage. This means you can change up your board so there isn't a stuck meta based on what buildings are placed where. That's when I looked at table number five, a table littered with Marc's Kickstarter terrain and it certainly did not look bad.

His terrain immediately displays his own biases towards how to play Infinity, such as plenty of Cover for S2 models. These are obvious design decisions that I like, though I don't play with REMs or large-sized models such as Tarik or Ajax. In a S2 world, this terrain is amazing. There were a few slight problems that Marc admitted to and said he would correct out of the beta, such as adding a few more millimetres in height to the bridge to provide Cover or include the 8"x8" Objective Room. Unsaid suggestions, mostly because they didn't occur to me when I was talking to Marc is perhaps widening stairs to allow for REMs.

Next for me is the price point, which is a no brainer. After seeing how durable and tough the terrain is, the amount of buildings of Marc's Kickstarter leaves no competition in mind. The big apartment buildings cause problems and don't enhance game play. I always preach about iKubes because of how versatile and cheap they are. In my mind, if you want a few tall buildings, you could go for apartment complexes but if you want to fill your game with fair experiences due to meta-smashing modularity, $10 per room is a steal!

Endalyon's Review

PRICE (4.5/5)

A full table for 200Bucks ( or 160USD), seems like a lot initially, but having a full table of cohesive, consistent terrain is extremely valuable for both gameplay and appearance. Anyone who has played on a table of multiple mediums and styles can agree with that.

I didn’t give this a 5/5 because TECHNICALLY there are cheaper options for terrain (paper, foamcore, etc) but for PURCHASED TERRAIN this price cannot be beat.

APPEARANCE (3.5/5)

M4 definitely has a distinctive style- I like the simple “hex with squares” design, it is elegant and attractive. 

Personally, I wish the design was a bit more “infinity specific” so i could feel like “this is a PanO outpost” or “Yu Jing slums” but the suitably generic appearance (and the option to paint it however you like)

I like the unpainted designs, they are nice and useable without painting, but the models take paint well and can look great easily.

USAGE (3.5/5)

From first glance, this terrain seems on the average for terrain, but there are some little notes.

Positively, the weight of the terrain is much better than paper, and the design minimizes “spinning, sliding and exploding terrain” while remaining nice MODULAR/CUSTOMIZABLE terrrain. The robust deign makes it easier to play on (not fearing damage to it). and the stairs and ladders make elevation accessible. The number of ladders, doors, windows, and stairs makes this terrain the most ACCESSIBLE terrain (an the specifically chosen heights too)- meaning that your models might interact with the terrain, rather than just move around it.

I REALLY like the ladders and stairs, I think they are probably the best in the hobby for the design and quality. They are something the game really needs, and will benefit from greatly.

The fact that all of the pieces are relatively small is a bit unfortunate, but it's only for right now. No objective rooms or larger pieces exist yet (but have been mentioned as stretch goals - see below!).

The Cross-style corners to the buildings is a great concept, but in practice, I worry a bit. Basic S2 models are unable to get to the corners without sacrificing cover (maybe a design choice), but S3 models and larger are unable to gain cover in any way, because the size of their bases (sometimes up to 55mm) leave way to much hanging over the edge. Same goes for the doorways, ladders, and stairs, but that is mostly fine, as they shouldn’t really be traversing them anyways.

When 2 buildings are placed next to each other they still leave a small gap- so you can’t block buildings together to make a larger structure.

STORAGE (5/5)

One last note I should make is on storage. For its Durability, I think that there is no way terrain could be MORE storable than this. With collapsable design, nesting storage, and flat fundamentals, this terrain takes up MINIMAL space- storing more terrain in a single box than ANY other system I have seen. Given a few years, the assembly MIGHT deteriorate if you are constantly assembling the pieces, but that is far beyond the requirements on the pieces. Cannot be beat.

OVERALL (4.5/5)

Despite some very minor preferences, I think that M4 is a phenomenal product for Infinity terrain.

Kickstarters are usually a very tough concept for me- I hate the Idea of Prebuying a product- 

I think the M4 terrain kickstarter is well worth getting in on!

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Link to Marc C's kickstarter: M4 Collapsible Cardboard Scenery.

And here are some exclusive images Marc C has yet to put up on his kickstarter, but will be included soon.  He is adding a Mission Room to some of the stretch goals - go check it out!  Also, keep checking back this week for a video battle report featuring Marc's terrain and for an interview of the man himself!