This World of Water

Some time ago someone commented on Facebook asking why many/most sci-fi wargames buildings seem to be desert themed. He has a point, and I won’t pretend that we’re not guilty of this – we have three main desert themed building ranges (although it must be said in our defence that they outsell all our other sci-fi building ranges collectively). In case you hadn’t already worked it out, the answer to the Facebook poster’s original question is, of course, ‘Tatooine’ (which I’m sure he knew).

But we’re always on the lookout to do something different – the Moonbase set is always popular, as are the advanced buildings (both of which we really need to expand). And today we’re moving into a completely new environment with the release of the Deep Ocean Research Centre (or DORC if you prefer). This series of buildings sits on platforms above the surface of a newly discovered planet’s fathomless oceans, where the inhabitants perform whatever research-type things that marine scientists do. The initial offering has six different structures but we already have ideas for more, so don’t be surprised if others appear. We have a small accommodation platform, a research lab platform, VTOL landing pad, desalination plant, workshop/utility platform and command centre to start off with. There is also a set of small connecting walkways to allow easy access between platforms. This being a sci-fi setting, there are naturally no handrails.

Of course you don’t necessarily need to use these on the water – they could be placed in a hostile land environment such as a jungle, where the buildings need to be raised up from the jungle floor to deter predators.

The buildings and platforms are cast as single resin pieces, while the metal legs fit into gaps around the platform edge. A couple of the larger buildings have separate metal aerials or radars. For access, some legs have ladders moulded on, while the VTOL platform comes with a ramp. A set of extra legs is also available separately if you wanted to scratchbuild your own models.

BP300-1201 – DORC Starter Pack – £16.50
B300-1201 – Small Accommodation Platform – £2.00
B300-1202 – Research Lab Platform – £3.00
B300-1203 – VTOL Landing Platform – £2.00
B300-1204 – Desalination Plant – £2.00
B300-1205 – Workshop/utility Platform – £3.00
B300-1206 – Command Centre – £4.00
B300-1250 – Walkways (x6) – £2.50
B300-1251 – Spare Legs (x12) – £5.00

And credit is due to Geek Villain, the models were photographed on one of their superb fleece Pacific sea mats.