I own a gamestore and couldn't resist taking the Chunky Dungeons as soon as it got in. I had planned to sell it but it looked like too much fun. I plan to set up a small little room as a demo and order some more for sale. Anyways, I just wanted to share my experience with the product. I wasn't aware of it until I saw it advertised in the Alliance catalog and I'm very glad you went ahead with the pre printed because I dont' think I'd be aware of it if you hadn't. I hope you release more products in a preprinted version, I'll do my best to make sure this one is a success.

One great thing about pre-printed is that it's easier to figure out cost up front. It's hard to figure out exactly how much money you're going to be spending on ink. Be aware that once you get started, you can't stop buildling these things. You will buy the foam board eventually. You will buy rolls of velcro. You will buy that nice cutting board. So for anyone wants to know how much they'll end up spending, here's my estimate:

Pre-Printed Chunky Dungeon: $40. It's very nice.
Foam Board: $13.20. I got 2 black sheets at 30"x40" at the local art store for $6.60 a sheet. White would have been $1 less, and color would have been ~$1 more. Black is nice for mounting, but I've had trouble with it for the Pro Board.
Exacto Knife & Refills: $12. I luckily already had this one. You will need blade refills.
Markers for Edging: $.80 each. I've only used black.
Metal ruler for cutting: $5. Just a guess, couldn't find it online and I already had one.
Cutting Surface: Probably not neccesary, but it's nice. I already had a small one and it's come in very handy. Couldn't find a price.
Velcro: $40 This is what sucked the most. I shopped around at art stores and fabric stores and the best price I found was $2.50 a yard for the 5/8" strips. self-adhesive. For my 40x30 foam board, that's 26 x 20 squares, or 520 squares. At one inch per square that's 14.4 yards of velcro. Yikes.
Glue: $2. I've just been using Elmer's and it works great. Maybe a little slow to dry, but I haven't warped any models yet.

Hmm... am I forgetting anything... let's see... oh yes! The time! The sleepless hours you'll spend cutting and folding and glueing and edgeing. Just one more wall, honey, then I'll come to bed, promise! While I'm glueing down this base I might as well glue down some more floor tiles so I can cut them out tomorrow. While I wait, I'll just make a few more chairs. Boy, I've got a lot of chairs, better make some tables. Why look at that! I bet those floor tiles are dry enough to cut now.

So initial investment can be a little steep. ~$100. After that it comes down, you only need to buy the scratchy stuff velcro and not as much. You've got the blade and the cutting board. You probably need only a quarter as much foam board. If you've got a regular gaming group you should be able to convince them to chip in hopefully.

It really is a great product and I'm having a lot of fun making them. As gamers we're all pretty familar with obsession, just wanted to let you all know exactly what you're getting in to. I'll try to post some pictures as soon as I have them.

Welcome to the forums Gremdel and thanks for sharing your experience with Chunky Dungeons in print. I think you've hit on the real secret that most people don't realize about the product...it’s addictive!

As far as costs are concerned you can make it more economical if you need to. An exacto blade is fairly common around most households and can be easily plucked from Dads shop Cardboard will substitute for a cutting board in a pinch. It sounds like you got the raw deal on Velcro, I found some very reasonably priced Velcro at Staples and I don’t think I paid more than $20.00 for two rolls. There’s no really good substitute for foamcore and it’s a worthwhile investment for the longevity of your models.

The important thing to remember is that the initial investment will basically set you up for building future model sets. All in all it’s a very cheap hobby to get into compared to the majority.

Thanks for the support and send us some pictures!

Thanks for the Velcro tip. I didn't really check office supply stores for velcro, mostly fabric shops. However, I still haven't found a good deal on the www.staples.com:

Coins 5/8": $9/50 Coins = $90
Tape 3/4": $16/15' = $45
Tape, Hook & Loop Seperate 3/4": $50/25 yds = $50 with left overs

I'll have to check out the store next time I'm out there, maybe they have a better deal in-store.

EDIT: Almost forgot, I placed my order with Alliance West this morning and found out that they were out of the Chunky Dungeon. They have some more on order, but they have sold out of the initial shipment. May I suggest that fans of WWG ask their local gameshop about it? Us gamestore workers can't check out everything and seeing a sample might convince us to order some.

I use the foam core from the display boards, those things with the fold-out panels. They cost just a little more, but have almost double the amount of foam core material. Cutting off the folding panels, I can use those for the Maiden of the Seas, and still have a larger master board. Also, if you have any connections with schools or businesses that do displays, you may be able to get some used ones free - they are used in schools for science fair displays, and you could probably find a dozen in the dumpster after a science fair is done. I got them from the office I worked for when they replaced an annual series of displays, a dozen at a time, so I got 24 of them the first year (nobody had cleaned out the closet until I got there). The wife gets upset with my pile of 'stuff' in the basement, but this has saved me a bit of cash.

I've mentioned it before, and will reinterate it once again.

I've found an alternative for foamcore that's working quite well for me. It's cheaper, thinner (and thus takes less space to store), and comes conveniently preglued. Vinyl Tile. Home Depot (and similar) usually have one variety really cheap at any given time...you can get a box of 12" tiles for a very reasonable price (something along the lines of $0.37 per tile).

The only problem with Vinyl Tile is that it comes in 12" sections, so I've had to create 6" tiles instead of 7". A bit inconvenient at times, but I'm getting quite good at workarounds. If ever I can find my hiding digital camera, I'll show you how they come out.

I just use a regular 'carpet knife'.