Review | Dungeons and Lasers III Stretch Goals

Welcome to another review here on the Space Dinosaur, where I'll take a deep dive into a product, game, or technique and offer my opinions and recommendations. Today's post will look at the most recent of Archon Studios' kickstarters to ship, Dungeons and Lasers III. 

I've reviewed the Dungeons and Lasers II kickstarter on this blog before, and while I promised a part 2 to that post, I have failed in that regards. But, my procrastination has eventually led to the third iteration of this project to be released. For those not in the know, Dungeons and Lasers was originally marketed as a modular dungeon terrain system, with fantasy and sci-fi themes. While it still has those elements, Archon Studios has moved into making minis and lots of scatter terrain to go with the original tiles. This third kickstarter has also completely moved into the fantasy realm, so it seems like that's where the money is at. 

In my D&L II review, I talked about the tile system there, and while that is on offer in this kickstarter, I'll be focusing on the newer elements, in this case the stretch goals for this edition. If I get around to it, I may talk about other elements, but no promises. 

Fist up, let's talk about the miniatures. The stretch goals come with a lot of minis representing various D&D classes and NPCs. If you play any RPG, this is a very good set to get as it covers so much of those game styles. If you’re a wargamer like me, there’s some issues with scaling. The miniature on the far left is a lich, who fits in well with the heroic scale of games like Age of Sigmar. I intend to use him as a necromancer for the Soulblight Gravelords army. You can see the scale compared to the Fireforge Games spearman and the Games Workshop Freeguild Guard. 

The miniature in the middle is a squire, and is meant to be a teenage human model. While I know they will naturally be smaller, it looks tiny compared to the heroic scale models. This is even more apparent with the witch hunter. The details are excellent, but everything is more realistically scaled and is set at 28 mm. Compared to the Cursed City witch hunter, it looks down right comical. To be fair, that model is out of scale with GWs other offerings, so there’s that. 

None of this is to say that the modes are bad, you just need to be aware of the scaling and if it will fit with your game before buying. Case in point, the giant and flesh abomination in the back row work perfectly for either scale due to their fantastical nature, so I can recommend those models to anyone. 

Besides scale, I will say there can be rather strange joins and small pieces, which can make construction a bit of a pain for some of the models. Most models have indents to make sure parts go together correctly, but sometimes you just have to hope you glued it together correctly, only to find out at a later step that it’s off by a hair. So I would heavily recommend dry fitting these models before you glue them together. 

Next on deck is the scatter terrain. It’s very good, and has been a highlight of each of the kickstarters for this company. A quick note, again on the scaling. It’s inconsistent. The weapons rack on the left fits the 28 mm realistic scale of the minis on offer, while the weapons rack on the right firs the 32 mm heroic scale of companies like Games Workshop. I wish they would pick one scale or the other, as it reduces the value of buying the set if you only want it for one scale. Luckily I play both wargames and RPGs, so I can make use of everything. 

Most of the terrain is really easy to build, but occasionally they can have a lot of small parts that seem odd to separate out. But a beginner should handle the vast majority of the terrain fairly well. 

New to this Kickstarter is translucent terrain. I haven’t painted any of it, so I can’t tell you how that works. What I can say is that the plastic used seems to be much, much harder than the other plastic they use. It makes it difficult to clip and cut, so it was a bit frustrating to work with. If you want to kitbash with these for any reason, keep that in mind. 

Archon Studios has also started to make the terrain more detailed and complex, which creates some lovey little set pieces like the carts above. These kind of bits can add a lot of story to a battlefield. Were they abandoned by some frightened peasants? What goods does a merchant have within that cart? I really like this items, and they’re worth getting. 

This trend continues with more permanent fixtures like fountains and fireplaces. These work great for either wargames or RPGs, although a lot of the internal fixtures will likely see more use in the latter. 

Finally there’s a lot of what I call tiny details, things like baskets and rats. These add a lot of story to your terrain, which I’m always a fan of. I usually bundle these smaller items together to make them easier to paint and use, and these will make find additions to that collection. 

Overall, I highly recommend the stretch goals to anyone who can get a hand on them. They’re much cheaper than anything GW puts out while still having good detail. You’ll have to check that the scaling works with what you’re playing, be it Age of Sigmar or D&D, which can minimize the value you get out of the full set. 

Final Score: 8/10

Points deducted for inconsistent scale and some odd joins and parts division. Still, highly deserving of praise and I’m excited to see Archon Studio continue to grow and expand.