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Many names are given to this place. We call it a workshop, a working desk, a hobby spot. Each of us has his own nickname with which he adreses this special place, and it is special cause no two are alike! Filled with brush stands, cans, mini-organizers, boxes, shelves, holders, cutting mats, pads and a variety of tools – working spaces come in many different shapes and forms. Still one vital trait stands out and is common among working spaces – they all are temples of our hobby and as such are treated with love and care.
For me a Workbench is an altar. Each time I add a small detail – be it a single accessory holder, a new brush can, or a new addition to my modular workshop system – I feel like a builder expanding an antic temple to stand even higher and wider – all to the glory of the gods. And just as such I tend to hire the best architects and artists from around the globe to lend me their skills…
The bulk of my personal altar is mostly made out of HobbyZone’s ‘Modular Workshop System’. I have expanded this set three times by now and am sure to purchase even more pieces, just as the opportunity presents itself. As it happened, couple of days ago I felt the need to expand my Workbench a bit and ordered two new pieces of HZ ‘Modular Workshop System’. So as a happy customer and a total fanboy of HobbyZone I wanted to share with you some insight into their fantastic offer.
One of the two most important things about HobbyZone’s products is quality. It can be seen in every detail, starting with how these items are packed, how they look like, with nice, almost stylish combination of white and plywood. Add to it the width of all the outer casings and inner ‘holding’ walls which makes these things durable and reliable in many crisis situations. Also each piece is designed to withstand stress of moving them around with additional weight on top. Walls are clamped together providing a sturdy structure and on top of that there are actual magnets inserted into the construction to help you keep everything in place.
Second most important thing about HobbyZone’s Modular Workshop is functionality. OK, I haven’t tested all the different parts of ‘Modular Workshop System’, but hey – the entire point is to pick a set that would suit your needs best! Right now my set consists of three drawer modules, one paint module, one showcase module and one brushes and tools module with an addition of eight paint hangers. Each of these items proved to be useful to me and I don’t see a way it can be further improved. And I am a guy who tends to redesign stuff to better suit his needs – It’s just that HobbyZone’s stuff is cool as it is.
I believe that the way an item is packed corresponds directly to it’s quality and the way a customer will perceive it. I appreciate when an Item I spent my money on is well packed (cared for). That being said – I just love the way HobbyZone stuff is packed. Each item has it’s own box, filled with bubble wrap. Inside you will find an instruction and all the pieces required to ‘build’ particular item (except for glue, but which hobbyist does not have that already?). By now I know exactly what I would see inside a new HobbyZone box – even so each unpacking is still a pleasant experience.
Each piece of HobbyZone ‘Modular Workshop System’ is designed to be user friendly and easy to assemble. No tools are required to put these things together. With a nice and easy to understand instruction (that comes with each set), I was able to put this module together in less than five minutes. Half an hour later when glue was dry, I was able to use this piece.
Each hobbyist is probably going to see the matter of price differently. For me the quality and functionality of HobbyZone’s ‘Modular Workshop System’ is well balanced with a price oscillating between 10-20€/medium piece. Purchased items are shipped within 72hrs from purchase (during working days). HobbyZone is well stocked in it’s stuff. Don’t know how about you, but I totally appreciate it. If you still not into it – just check out this MIND BLOWING STICKER!
For me HobbyZone’s stuff is great. If you struggle to keep your workbench organized do not waste your time – head on to HobbyZone.pl/en(EU) / HobbyZone.biz(USA) and change your hobbying for the better. Zapisz
Hey guys! Some of you may find this interresting. Recently I bought a hot stuff: AVP The Hunt Begins boardgame and what I found inside the box forced me to write this review.
About Aliens vs Predator franchise: I personally love AVP. The retro futuristic setting and it’s owerwhelming dark mood keeps my heart burning with desire for more and more AVP stuff to buy. In AVP universe human is reduced to the role of prey. Even tho Colonial Marines are tough bastards equipped with deadly Smartguns and Pulse Rifles they still fall to Alien predation and are no match against masters of the hunt, the Predators. Hunted for sport or means of breeding they must cooperate to survive the inevitable doom.What I find the most important in all AVP products is for them to be based on Aliens (2nd movie) and Predator (1st movie). So we have some armed to the teeth Colonial Marines, being thrown between an angered Aliens hive and dreadful Predator hunters. They try to survive, while their number dwindles slowly. All the time the terror is multiplied, but still badass Marines cheer up the mood with good, oldschool oneliners. This is how I see it. That’s the way I love it.
So when I found out about AVP board/miniature game being released I was extatic! I jumped right onto Kickstarted and was taken aback by the information of who releases it: Prodos Games. After seeing the difference between Prodos’ Warzone Kickstarter and Warzone final products I wasn’t sure if I wanted to spend some cash in advance. I’d held my hand and awaited KS campaign results. After it came to an end Prodos surprised me with an option to buy the game via their site. That was unexpected and bothered me a little so once more I held my hand and didn’t made the purchase. Finally the AVP The Hunt Begins hit the stores and this time, being sure that I will get my copy, I made the purchase.
The box looks amazing and weights a lot so once you will hold it in your hands, you’ll probably buy it 🙂
THE BOX: The way with which game elements are packed is mediocre. Cards packed in small paper boxes. Miniatures packed in zip bags. All zip bags packed into a medium cardboard box. A huge foam square glued still inside the cover of the box (what the fuck?! Why have you damaged my beautiful box Prodos?). Regardless of the foam my Rulebook was already damaged so this sole fact halted some of my enthusiasm. It was balanced with an easy but clever move with which Prodos prepared Cardboard Sprues to be taken out of the box. A small hole big enough for a finger was cut in the sprues. (Why haven’t I seen anything similar in other board games – I don’t know, but it’s a nice idea).
MINIATURES: Miniatures are amazingly detailed and kept to the scale. Look at these Colonial Marines. These look amazing!
Still some molding solutions are just idiotic. Take a look at this Alien miniature. It has mold channels inside it’s hands! I work with miniatures for more than fifteen years now and I’ve rarely seen such stupid way of placing the mold channels. Some of the hobbyists may have a real problem dealing with these.
And now the worst thing. My Disc Predator was a miscast and looked like this. Yeah Chinese – you fucked up my Predator Miniature and then packed it into my copy of the game. What do you think I feel like right now? This miniature is trash. Instead of painting it and playing the game I placed a complaint to my local store and await a new miniature.
I thought that Prodos Games evolved a bit after Warzone. A lot of mistakes in production process there. As it stands I was wrong – Prodos seems not to learn from it’s failures.
CARDS: In my opinion Cards are the biggest disappointment in the whole product. The material with which they are made is bad. Boardgame Cards where made this way like ten years ago. The differences between Prodos Cards and Fantasy Flight Games’s ones are huge. The quality is light years away. Still it gets worse. The cards lack all the climate that made AVP what it is. For example: there are no quotes from the movies, no one liners that built the Alien and Predator franchises. Not a single ‘theme’ motive on the objective cards. Even card backs are devoid of thought through theme. These looks like if Prodos Games forced the product at speed and without taking theme and AVP mood into consideration. “Just print the rules”. Here, take a look:
[This looks ok,]
[These are faction cards and they look ok,]
These are faction cards backs and I can’t help myself not to wander – where the Fuck are Colonial Marines cards? Was it so difficult to make them look more like card fronts?
These are Enviromental Cards. Wow Prodos Games – so much climate, so strong AVP theme… How have you planned to build the atmosphere of the game without a plot/story/setting motive?
[Predator and Alien stat cards look nice.]
And now the worst shit ever: Colonial Marines stat cards look ALL THE SAME! Hey grunts, which one of you is an awesome Smartgunner? Anyone called for a Medic? Really? Couldn’t these be done differently? It’s not that there’s plenty of graphics in the game with not more then a dozen in the Rulebook and half a dozen on the stat cards…
And where are all the Marines? I’ve looked through the Rules and there’s only a single Colonial Marines picture (well not exactly as it depicts a Weyland Yutani commando) and like two or three pictures with a Colonial Marine being a background. It seems Prodos forgot about Human species being the epicenter of the AVP theme. Sure I like a feel of the call of the hunt as a Predator or to stalk the dark corridors as the Alien, but as a human the faction I feel the most related to is Colonial Marines.
CARDBOARD TOKENS: I have mixed feeling about these. The cardboard material is bad still the visual aspect is quite nice. Take a look at this:
Looks good doesn’t it? And now let’s do the things Prodos style, with as much minimalism as one may have. Sentry, Hidden, Activated tokens all look like shit. Devoid of climate and pathetic in design. Other tokens look ok but not awe worthy.
[I just can’t understand the reasoning behind designing Acid Damage token to be one sided. It was childishly easy to copy/paste the same graphic to the other side.]
THE RULES: The final part of this Review – the Rules are BAD. I’ve played a lot of games both miniature and board games in the past years. I love Space Hulk for it’s simplicity, Rune Wars for many strategies and easy to learn rules, Zombicide, Catwallon: City of Thieves, Super Dungeon Explore, Warhammer 40,000, Infinity, Mordheim and more. All these games are more than playable and rewarding. I find AVP The Hunt Begins rules rather easy but written in such a way that I was forced to jump between the pages and search for some rules all the while these were formed in a way that my Wargaming hardened mind couldn’t comprehend. AVP rules are just unreadable, full of missing letters, idiotic key words and above all – they are totally devoid of flavor. Prodos Guys – just see to Zombicide rulebook and you will know what I mean by climate!
So in the end I give this game a 5 out of 10 and am very, very disappointed in the product I have waited so long for. If nothing changes in the way Prodos Games designs their products I will reconsider spending my cash on their products in the future. If not for the miniatures – this game would’ve been a stain on the AVP franchise as big as PC Aliens – Colonial Marines was.
And Prodos – this is a 10 out of 10 and it’s a fucking mascot. You were owned by a Facehugger mascot! Let it be a warning to you – that purchasing a copyright to a franchise does not mean you can blew all the rest up. You should’ve made sure that your rules and game components would stand to the great AVP franchise and you have failed in that. Shame!
Agree/Disagree? There’s a comment section below where you can stand for your opinion 😉
