Review: Tabletop World Townhouse II

Today I would like to share with you some thoughts on the Tabletop World's Townhouse II model; top of the line 28mm terrain for medieval and fantasy gaming.

Tabletop World have been around for a while now. They are known for making very pretty looking resin medieval buildings at a premium price.

A few weeks ago I worked on one of their model kits for a customer. A good excuse to have a closer look at this terrain item.

The model in question is Townhouse II and here's a look at the model as you get it in the mail:

The Model

Oh yes, this already is looking rather promising, right? Above you can see the front, below you can see the back of the building, showcasing the gigantic chimney. The measurements of the model are 11x11x20cm (4,3x4,3x7,9inch).

The whole kit is just four parts which are stuck on top of each other. The fit is really good. Parts will not wobble around it stacked on top of each other. I could not find any flash or even the slightest mold lines what so ever. This is the best resin cast building I have ever had in hands. 

Details are very well defined, crisp and above all plentiful. Metal fittings, single nails, shingles fell off the roof and here and there have been fixed and the stonework of the ground level and chimney are incredibly well defined, as is the woodgrain. This looks like a proper weathered and used house. Having these casts in hand now I understand why the molds on these get worn out rather quickly.

Each of the stories has interiors sculpted in. Stone floor on the ground level, wooden floors above.

If the rooms look too empty to you you can always build your own furniture, hire me to make it, or order ready made resin furniture from Tabletop World.

...and here's the model all painted:

As you can see, I went with blue windows. Of course it doesn't make much sense or look 'realistic', but it looks nice. 

You can see some 28mm figures in front of it for scale. As you can see, they fit very well. Also if bases are attached, even if it's tall GW-style ones.

Interior detail shots:

 Verdict

Most people have been to Tabletop World's website over and over, putting together their dream order, seeing the total price and quietly close the tab. I know I have. This Townhouse II kit costs € 58.00 (excluding VAT) plus shipping. That is not cheap. On the other hand, these kits are to be compared to Forgeworld kits rather than cheap-o terrain pieces.The detailling is stunning, the cast quality of nothing short of brilliant. 

All Tabletop World. Wouldn't dare to calculate how much this would cost to make.

This leads me to the second thing people might not like about this (price aside): They are a lot of work to paint. The building time of course is next to nought on this model specifically. Of course it has to be cleaned, primed properly and so on, but it does take a plan and quite a lot of time to get done. At a recent wargames show I talked to a guy who ran a Frostgrave table. Tabletop World came up, and he said he had looked into the models and thought they were beautiful (as everybody sane of mind does), but for him it's just too much work to get it all painted.

...but it's worth it!

Tabletop World model kits are expensive and a lot of work to get done, but so are large fantasy figures. Of course it's a complete luxury, but nice terrain should be way higher on our collective list of priorities anyway. And of course the laborious step of painting can always be outsourced to professional painters, such as yours truly.

To wrap this up, these are amazing model kits. For medieval or fantasy skirmish gaming on a pretty table with fully sculpted interiors these definitely are the go-to choice of buildings.

One more word of advice: Many of the models Tabletop World produce are not available forever as molds get worn out rather quickly. So if you want a model of theirs, better get it today rather than tomorrow or it may be gone. Around Christmas they usually have some horrible tempting sales going on as well.

I hope that you enjoyed this review, found it interesting, enjoyed the painting and so on. If you have any questions, comments or indeed commission inquiries, feel free to let me know via the comments section, the Battle Brush Studios Facebook page or via e-mail.