War Gaming is an all-in hobby and isn’t just about the gaming. There’s a whole background of tasks that need to be completed before you can actually physically start gaming. These range from learning the rules to putting your models together and creating your army list. After that, there’s logistics to think of in where you are going to play, you will need scenery, what will you play on, and how will you transport your miniatures? And then there’s making your miniatures look incredible by painting them. For many gamers, painting and modifying their miniatures are the most exciting part; some don’t even play but simply enjoy that side of the hobby. As part of our Start Collecting series for Infinity, Warhammer 40k and Warmachine, we’re also going to look at some of the accessories, from paint and brushes, to cases for transporting your models, to scenery and other items that will make your life easier.
If there’s something you would like us to cover, let us know in the comments.
When the TechRaptor Tabletop Team heard that Micro Art Studio were making a Japanese themed scenery set for Infinity, we knew that it would be our first Start Collecting scenery article. We've chosen the JSA as our Start Collecting Infinity force so the Kokkyo-3 Scenery is perfect for our miniatures to battle around.
Micro Art Studio produce a huge range of scenery, but for this article we were sent the Kokkyo-3 Shrine, Subway Entrance and Walls. The scenery comes as flat packed high-density fibreboard (HDF) and pops out by cutting the small connectors that keep them in the board. The Shrines and Subway Entrances both come with 2 pieces and the walls come with several interchangeable walls and connector columns.
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Once removed from the boards, all the pieces fit together well and the instructions provided are incredibly clear. We used tiny amounts of cheap PVA glue to secure the parts together. The most difficult parts of the scenery to put together are the Shrine and Wall roofs, which have to be flexed into shape, and then held to get the curve of the roofs. It is possible to flex them too much and break them, so careful attention needs to be paid to that part, but the results are worth it.
The Subway Entrances go together very well, as the clean lines and shapes fit against each other perfectly and allow easy gluing.
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After gluing everything together and allowing the pieces to dry, we undercoated all of the pieces with Games Workshop's Corax White spray. We thought that the HDF would soak a lot of paint, but it takes the paint perfectly in a small amount of sprays.
The two Kokkyo-3 Shrines come with several pieces of see-through orange acrylic that we haven't glued in yet because we're waiting until they are fully painted. You can see them in the gallery above where they are slotted in, but not glued. The acrylic parts are used for the door access panels and also for signage on the sides. They can be replaced with wooden parts, or not used at all if you are after less sci-fi feel.
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What we like most about the MAS Kokkyo-3 scenery, is that little details that are made up of gaps or deep cuts in the scenery that don't take paint. This is especially prevalent in the Subway Entrances on the roofs and fans at the rear of the buildings as you can see in the gallery above. All we've done is put the pieces together following the instructions, then primed them white and the details and markings still pop out.
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The Kokkyo-3 Walls come with two entrance walls and seven solid walls, along with several connecting columns. The walls can be slotted in and out of the connecting columns at will, without the need to glue, which enables full free construction of the walls for whatever scenario you require.
You can see in the gallery above where we have built a full compound with the walls connected, and also with the walls separated and free standing.
We're extremely happy with our Kokkyo-3 scenery from Micro Art Studio in all aspects. It's incredible easy and straight-forward to put together, it looks incredible and it takes paint well. It's very beginner friendly and if you've got no experience with this type of scenery, then this is a great entry level. Experienced hobbyists will be able to put these together very quickly and focus on the painting and details.
Join us again for Part 2 of this article where we will showcase the fully painted set alongside some of our Infinity JSA force.
What do you think of the MAS Kokkyo-3 scenery? Have you bought any of their products before? How easy did you find constructing them? Let us know in the comments below.
This Kokkyo-3 Scenery was provided by Micro Art Studio.
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Adam is a Tabletop Specialist for TechRaptor. He started writing for TechRaptor in 2017 and took over as Tabletop Editor in 2019 and has since stood down… More about Adam
