The Inside Scoop on Gaming

For some people miniatures enhance the role playing experience. I use card board and pewter miniatures for my games for 15 years now. However, miniatures are expensive and miniature terrain is even more expensive.

I found Microtactix a while ago and and downloaded all the freebies that appeared on their site. I used them in my games and earned a lot of praise for them.

On June 3rd I bought the Dirt Cheep Dungeons Expansion Set 1 (COLOR), since I thought it would be a cheap and easy way to get some furniture for my self made and freebie cardboard collection.

After I downloaded the file and opened it, I was quite impressed what I got for my money. 3 pages of instructions and 12 pages filled with all kinds of furniture and accessories to enhance your cardboard dungeon experience. The coloring style is quite simple but does its job well. The advantage of the plain coloring is, that the stuff looks good with scenery colored by yourself.

Most of the items are designed as simple colored boxes, which makes assembly straight forward and easy. The only more complex part I assembled until now is the bunk bed of the barracks. Six beds are arranged in two sections of three beds each, one above the other. This looks cool and doesn't use a lot of space. It also fits together well and the construction is extremely sturdy.

It took a bit over one and a half our to assemble the first two pages containing 16 chairs, four tables, three beds, one bunk bed, one cupboard, 6 chests, 3 weapon racks (swords only) and 2 boards with helmets.

The boards with the helmets are somewhat low on the ground. I would have liked if the helmets would be stored higher, easier to grab for my miniature soldiers.

The chairs are great - pretty simple in construction and they look good. It takes about five minutes to built four of them, so you will have enough chairs for all the dungeons you can imagine in almost no time. However, don't forget to color the back side of the chairs with grey marker, because parts of it will be visible at the finished chairs. The same is true for the bunk bed and the seat of the wizards chambers. I would have liked a hint about this in the instructions, since it is pretty difficult to color them after they are assembled.

The only other thing that worried me was the wall of the wizards chambers. While it looked really cool from one side, it is just a plain wall from the other one. I modified it by adding a door to the back side, since it made no sense to me that the door is only in one side of the wall.

Again back to the good things: The kit includes some neat things that create inspirations for new adventures and just impress your players. The last two pages contain an altar, an obelisk, a throw rug, stone "runners", double doors leading to a lower level, chests, columns, a fountain and stone corners. Also inclueded in the kit is a "grand staircase" that leads to an upper level.

On the bottom line this is a great product well worth its price. I would recommend it to anyone who uses 25-30mm miniatures in his games and doesn't want to spend hundreds of dollars and hours of painting for tables, chairs, boards, beds, chests etc.

Dirt Cheep Dungeons Expansion Set 1 (COLOR)
Dirt Cheep Dungeons Expansion Set 1 (COLOR) Capsule Review by Thomas Kathmann on 11/06/02 Style: 4 (Classy and well done) Substance: 5 (Excellent!) Great product well worth its price. Color scheme is plain but effective. The kit contains almost everything you need to flesh out your dungeons. Product: Dirt Cheep Dungeons Expansion Set 1 (COLOR) Author: Gary M. Williams Category: RPG Company/Publisher: MicroTactix Games Line: Dirt Cheep Scenics Cost: $10 Page count: 15 Year published: ISBN: SKU: mall item 83 Comp copy?: no Capsule Review by Thomas Kathmann on 11/06/02 Genre tags: Fantasy Gothic	For some people miniatures enhance the role playing experience. I use card board and pewter miniatures for my games for 15 years now. However, miniatures are expensive and miniature terrain is even more expensive. I found Microtactix a while ago and and downloaded all the freebies that appeared on their site. I used them in my games and earned a lot of praise for them. On June 3rd I bought the Dirt Cheep Dungeons Expansion Set 1 (COLOR), since I thought it would be a cheap and easy way to get some furniture for my self made and freebie cardboard collection. After I downloaded the file and opened it, I was quite impressed what I got for my money. 3 pages of instructions and 12 pages filled with all kinds of furniture and accessories to enhance your cardboard dungeon experience. The coloring style is quite simple but does its job well. The advantage of the plain coloring is, that the stuff looks good with scenery colored by yourself. Most of the items are designed as simple colored boxes, which makes assembly straight forward and easy. The only more complex part I assembled until now is the bunk bed of the barracks. Six beds are arranged in two sections of three beds each, one above the other. This looks cool and doesn't use a lot of space. It also fits together well and the construction is extremely sturdy. It took a bit over one and a half our to assemble the first two pages containing 16 chairs, four tables, three beds, one bunk bed, one cupboard, 6 chests, 3 weapon racks (swords only) and 2 boards with helmets. The boards with the helmets are somewhat low on the ground. I would have liked if the helmets would be stored higher, easier to grab for my miniature soldiers. The chairs are great - pretty simple in construction and they look good. It takes about five minutes to built four of them, so you will have enough chairs for all the dungeons you can imagine in almost no time. However, don't forget to color the back side of the chairs with grey marker, because parts of it will be visible at the finished chairs. The same is true for the bunk bed and the seat of the wizards chambers. I would have liked a hint about this in the instructions, since it is pretty difficult to color them after they are assembled. The only other thing that worried me was the wall of the wizards chambers. While it looked really cool from one side, it is just a plain wall from the other one. I modified it by adding a door to the back side, since it made no sense to me that the door is only in one side of the wall. Again back to the good things: The kit includes some neat things that create inspirations for new adventures and just impress your players. The last two pages contain an altar, an obelisk, a throw rug, stone "runners", double doors leading to a lower level, chests, columns, a fountain and stone corners. Also inclueded in the kit is a "grand staircase" that leads to an upper level. On the bottom line this is a great product well worth its price. I would recommend it to anyone who uses 25-30mm miniatures in his games and doesn't want to spend hundreds of dollars and hours of painting for tables, chairs, boards, beds, chests etc.