Review: Battle Kiwi's Cobbled Roads

-with Greg

"Where we're going, we don't need....roads." - Dr. Emmett Brown

Well Doc, while that may be true for you and Marty, wargamers need roads and Battle Kiwi has just what we're after!

Battle Kiwi has sent us a selection of what they have to offer in terms of road sections and other bits to make them look not so straight. These are laser-cut 3mm MDF and are really sturdy and just look great! I've laid them out with a few of the curved and junction sections which you can also get to give you and idea of what you can expect.

A heap of different combinations you can make here. 

The straight sections come in either 12" or 6" lengths to make things a little easier on table dimensions and the curves come in easy or hard versions depending on what direction you're wanting your road to go in.

For junctions you can get either X, T or Y junctions (with the X and T being pictured above).

I did take a photo of a couple of my Bolt Action tanks on them as well.

This, of course, was before we got to use them in anger at TCOW on the weekend! These look AMAZING on a table full of terrain.

Prices are pretty straight forward, so jump on to www.battlekiwi.com to check them out! They've also done a wee change to some pricing for Australian customers for smaller items, making it a bit cheaper for our mates (and my brethren) across the ditch!

In the last review coming up, I'll have some of the Alpha City terrain to build and show off, so keep your eyes peeled and focused here!

Review - Battle Kiwi's Bolt Action Goodies

- with Greg


As I said on Monday, we were lucky enough to get a number of Battle Kiwi's range of laser cut wood and acrylic products through to look at and test in anger. While I haven't had a chance to play a game of Bolt Action v2.0 as yet (soon to be rectified, I might add) the time would seem ripe to have a look at Battle Kiwi's Bolt Action v2.0 template and their Bullet Pin Markers.

Let's start with the new template. As you may or may not be aware, the latest edition of Bolt Action has introduced templates for artillery weapons such as mortars and howitzers instead of just assuming that all the troops in a squad are hit or a tank is hit without the troops around it feeling the effects. Battle Kiwi jumped on this one pretty quick and have created a template which integrates the 2", 3" and 4" diameter circles needed in BA. They also give you the option of having them separated if that's more your thing, great customer thinking there.

You'll also see that there are inlays for compass directions and scatter as well, which is a great addition to help with the pesky problems of artillery not being on target. Our copy is in clear acrylic but they also do a red tinted version for those who little a little more BLOOD!!! The template is going to set you back a mere NZ$10.99 which is pretty cheap!

Next up we'll take a gander at the Bullet Pin Markers. I've always struggled using dice or chips as pin markers in Bolt Action and wanted something cool to represent the fire my troops are taking, which lets face it is usually a lot. Cover is for wimps!

The bullet pin markers are really cool! They're big enough that you notice them but they're not obtrusive to the battlefield which is awesome! The come red tinted, as they should, representing fire on your troops and you get 20 of them in a pack. 20 of these bad boys should definitely be enough in a 1,000 point standard game of Bolt Action I'm thinking but if you're wanting more, they're only NZ$12.00 a pack!

Here's an "action" shot...

I'll be getting some use out of these this weekend hopefully, so watch this space!

Remember, head on over to www.battlekiwi.com and check their goodies out! If you're in New Zealand, they're doing free shipping at the time of writing so why wouldn't you take advantage of that?!

We'll have another review of some more Battle Kiwi goodies in a few days...

Review - Battle Kiwi's Dice Tray Deluxe

- with Greg

Now there's no point in avoiding the topic but getting stuff through to review is pretty cool! But, what makes it even cooler is when it's a local company trying to get a start in a pretty big market and their products are of such great quality that you just want to jump in and get a whole heap more. It's pretty damned exciting, I can tell you that! 




Battle Kiwi are a small outfit in New Plymouth, New Zealand who specialise in laser cut terrain, tokens, bases, movement trays and other assorted goodies for your gaming table. But dont let their size fool you! The quality and awesomeness of their stuff is right up there with the big boys and because they're gamers themselves, you know they're wanting it all done right. They've sent us a care package with a few different bits and bobs for us to have a look at and review for you. The first one I've chosen is the Dice Tray Deluxe, and for good reason....

Packed away in this neat little baggie is a thing of awesomeness! You'll need some jigsaw puzzle skills and some PVA or other such adhesive to put it together, but that's a pretty easy thing these days. Opening the bag, I'm greeted by that laser-etched and cut smell. So nice! The kit has six parts in total, including the battle bar to seperate dice rolls for games such as Frostgrave or Infinity.

Oh yeah, did I mention that the guys at Battle Kiwi personalised it for us?!! How sweet is that?! And yes, if you order one you can also have it personalised as well. For you Infinity players, they also have a faction logo selection already built in. The inner of the tray is a soft, suede type of material which is a great addition and really adds to the look and feel here. The koru-style motif on the outside is typically Kiwi as well, which is a great touch. If you wanted to get really tricksy, I'm sure you could paint this and have it even more personalised.

Putting the tray together is easy as easy can be and takes all of about 15 minutes allowing for the glue to start setting a little so things dont start falling away. I'd allow 24 hours of setting time before you really start using this in anger though.

And here with the battle bar installed. You'll note this isnt slotted in all the way. It actually does go right the way down, but my glue hadnt set when I was taking the pics. Once set, it settles in very nicely and if you're not using it, there is a slot at the front to pop it in so you dont lose it.

And how does it work....

Yep, a pretty standard dice roll...

All in all, this is a great product and one that I'll be taking to events and gaming days with me from now on! It's an awesome talking point on the table and just looks great!

The pricing here ranges from NZD$29.99 (about USD$21.00 at the time of writing) with the standard Battle Kiwi logo up to NZD$34.99 (USD$25.00) with either an Infinity faction logo or a custom logo. If you're in NZ, the guys are doing FREE SHIPPING at the moment but will also ship internationally as well, so check their website out for their rates. I believe that it's flat rate shipping so it pays to order more! Click their logo below to head to their website.

We'll be reviewing their latest additions for Bolt Action in the next couple of days, so keep an eye here for that one!