Well, I have started on my first practice run of Streets.... First off - once you have the bits ready TLX is a dream to use - it is a wonderful concept, and one that fully deserves the praise lavished on it.

But....

Dear gods! You need a lot of those fiddly anchors and posts!

Great set - I love the streets, I love the idea of the anchors and posts, I love using the anchors and posts! Cutting the durned things out... this, I do not love. There is just no way to quickly churn out the numbers that I need.

You may want to buy stock in Robo Craft - until now I have not even been tempted, but so many posts, so many, many anchors. I am seriously thinking about saving my box tops for a Robo Craft, just to cut out the anchors and posts.

And, having just complained about how fiddly the posts and anchros are, something that I would like to see that would make them even more fiddly is some teeny tiny covers to hide the open tops of the posts. Not a high priority, and certainly not a necessity, or even something that I would use on every build, but nice for permanent or semi-permanent builds.

A rarity - these sets have me wanting to do temporary builds - not the permanent edifices that I normally erect. You have a winner!

Once made the posts and anchors are very, very easy to use - Terrain Linx is just going to be lots of fun to play with (kinda like Panel & Girder or Legos - fun in its own right, not just for what you can do with it).

Any bets on how long it is going to take me to buckle and buy a Robo Craft?

If you ever feel the need to sell pre-printed and cut parts then the anchors and posts are where to start.

The walls on the other hand are very easy to make, and I love how sturdy they are with the folded-bit-who's-name-I-do-not-remember. The walls are fun to make, and nowhere near as fiddly as the supporting bits. It takes me a lot less time to cut out both walls on a given page than to cut out the supports for the wall.

The Auld Grump, who has made a whopping six tiles, and cut out about a page and a half each of anchors and posts.

*EDIT* I hope that it does not sound like I am complaining too much about the sets - I love them, and even the three by two section I have done really shows how enjoyable the set is to use, once the fiddly bits are in place. Terrain LinX, as is, comes in just behind The Maiden and Cathedrae Noctis for my favorite WWG sets. I can hardly wait for the TLX version of CT!

No worries Grump. Yup, anchors aren't fun (posts are pretty easy though) but its all worth it when you start freely slamming various layouts together. Robocutter's sure help there, no doubt.

It was just one of those things; I knew what it would take to make the slap yourself in the forehead, ideal terrain system but that also meant that there was some inherent added build time to make it all work. That said, we'll continue to work at it and evolve the system. This is the first generation of TerrainlinX and I have little doubt that it will get better over time.

Yeah, as I said - putting the terrain together is great fun.

Just a lot of cutting on the posts and anchors. I have actually had less trouble with the anchors than the posts - it's the places where a straight cut suddenly takes a zig or a zag where I will get careless/rushed and mess it up.

*EDIT* DOH! RTFM Grump! I was cutting, then folding and gluing - so I was making a whole lot of inside cuts that I could have avoided.

The Auld Grump, shuffling back into his cave now....

Just try and ensure backwards compatibility with any advancements you make so all of us poor hand-cutters don't have to redo everything!

/Paul

I totally get your frustration, i ran out of posts in my current stuff, and am now watching 36 different robo cutter auctions on ebay...

I agree that the posts and anchors are a tad fiddly and time consuming...

...that said, so far I think my T-linx builds are going MUCH faster than my traditional builds. Why? Because they're modular, so instead of spending 4 hours planning a tiny building, ensuring my custom bits and kitbashed textures are all aligned, doing layout planning, ect. I'm actually just building models. I completely forgot how FUN it is! I don't have to freak out about having everything perfect, making sure my walls don't warp, making sure my doors are aligned, I can just build and know that at some point, I'll probably use this stuff.

That's why I love t-linx and I eagerly await more.

Sacretis

I did all my SoH2 posts by hand so I do know your pain and frustration. But I still felt it was time well spent once I started using them.

Granted once I got the GSD files started I have not touched a knife However I do feel your pain.

Yes, it is so easy with the Craftrobo. If i didn't have to get a Thourmounts and a Maiden done for an October game I would have a huge streets layout done.

--Chris

Grump, you will also love the craftRobo for the tiles as well. It's not just for posts and ancors! The only thing I had to cut was the foamcore. Then it's just fold and glue the tiles onto the foamcore! It's very sweet! So, think of the time you spent making the tiles, and then reduce that time by about 50-75%!

For the post covers, you could make more of the ancors, and then reverse score and then 'plug' the hole with them once your walls are in place, though the big 4 & 5 way post will be more difficult to do.

I was thinking about suggesting that as well, i hadn't tried it yet so was not going to make any comments on it, wasn't sure if they were going to be easy to get out or not.

However one thing I did do and quite liked, was put anchors on the bottom of a few tiles as well. There were a few anchors that get messed up visually something was spiled on them so they had an odd tint to them, instead of wasting them I put 2 down on opposite corners of the under side of a few of the second story floors I made to allow the floors to anchor into the top of the posts bellow, and it really kept the floors from sliding at all even carried the whole set up from two rooms away stuck together.
I did it on sections I was not planing on lifting up, but even on floors you plan on moving it's not like they stick so strong they can't pop off.

really works to further solidify things in place.

Wow, these people are brilliant.

I'm gonna have to try this stuff... The Anchors on the bottom is GENIUS.

Sacretis

Under is in the "back" of the tile-foam ? to put the upper floors over the "first floor"?

Because I was tinking if it was posible to post the anchors "under" the tile...not pasted over (between foam and tile)... so all the tiles will be "flat" no white spaces only 2 - 3 or X red marks to make the cuts and make the anchor go from there... I don't know really what could be acomplished with that -lest chance to unglue it (maybe) and maybe a bit more of stability... I'll see If I can try it and how it work !

Yeah, I only did it on 3 so far. Two of the 3x3 to make a tower, and one of the 6x6 that was getting burried and not accessed. It allows the upper floor to slot into the lower floors posts, and not move around as much.



I think it would work, you are basically saying the "flat" part, ie the square or rectanlges that gets glued down to the little gluey spot, would be under the floor, and glued directly to the foam/mounting template. and then put the floor/road/etc over it and poke the flaps up through...

It would work, but I don't think I would at this point personally bother with the extra effort, now if i can ever win one of these auctions and have a robot cutting for me then it might be worth the effort.

That's funny, Grump. I'm on the other side of the fence - as soon as I heard about the digital cutter, I was all over it. But I'm dragging my feet on the Terrain Linx stuff. I've already built a lot of 7"x7" tiles for my games, and have adopted that as my format (even making some of my own 7"x7" custom tiles). Going to 6"x6" tiles is like doing a CNTL-A, DELETE and starting over for me.

So I'm just happily converting existing models to be machine-cuttable and watching the Terrain Linx stuff from the sidelines. Interesting stuff so far, though...and with the cost of these new sets being very reasonable atm, I'm almost convinced I need to give it a try.

Tell you what, you buy a digital cutter and I'll buy Terrain Linx. Fair deal, right?

I've got a TON of 7x7 tiles too. But I'm not going to scrap them all for the linx tiles. When I use them both together I'll just cut some custom sized pieces to fill in the gaps where they don't line up. They might not link together but thats hardly important. Its not like the old tiles will be used on the upper levels that need to lift off.





I though about using tabs on the bottom, but how do you get them inserted properly? Especially for large sections that have props or figures on them?

I have a few of 7x7 tiles, but if you look back through history I've always complained about them and campaigned for the 6" tiles as I use my stuff for wargaming and not RPG's.

Most table sizes for wargaming end in feet not 28" or 42". Currently building a full Eight foot by four foot (8'x4') SoH1 & 2 table.