Review: Systema Base-O Laser Fence

I've been heavily attacking the terrain aspect of Infinity recently, by both buying up more of it and by trying to work my way through the backlog of unpainted scenery I've stockpiled since last summer. My latest acquisition is the Base-O Laser Fence set from Systema Gaming.

As you can see in the photo, I've actually bought the full Base-O Laser Bundle that also includes a Laser Fence Extension Pack, plus the Base-O Power Generators. But for the purposes of this review I'll focus on the cheaper standard pack.

First off this is not a scenery project for the impatient. There are what seem like hundreds of parts just in the standard pack and so putting this set together takes a long time to grind through. As with Bandua, the Systema MDF pieces pop out of the sprues very easily, with most of them held in by on a single contact point. I did find almost every piece needed sanded down at the contact point, as it tended to leave quite a substantial burr of MDF hanging off. However the ease by which they do pop off the sprue was a relief considering the huge number involved.

The pieces (again like Bandua) require no force at all to slot together, but will need glued as the majority will not remain assembled without it due to the loose fit. I did find however with the connector and corner pieces that a couple of choice pieces were all that were needed to be glued to hold them together. Whereas the wall sections and doors really need everything glued to each other to prevent them dropping apart later.

As I've previously mentioned it takes an age to grind through the whole set. Not because of the difficulty of assembly, but because of quantity of parts. Also as the set has no instructions included, a number of connector sections (t-junctions, corners etc) will required a bit of thinking to work out which pieces are actually needed. But I was always good with LEGO so this wasn't too much of a challenge! However my tip is to dryfit and assemble the entire set before gluing to ensure you have the right bits in the right places.

Once assembled, it looks very good indeed. There is a choice of different coloured laser panels - I chose a bright yellowy green shade that looks very good indeed and is of a similar thickness and quality to the template sets MAS sell. The panels lift out, with tabs above the doors to enable them to be more easily removed. This is a great idea as it not only makes for easier transport, but I intend to house rule them to allow sections to be knocked out with E/M weapons mid-game, or be switched on and off by engineers; so it will offer loads of options for games.

Product aside, despite Systema operating from Slovenia their delivery time was incredibly quick - as fast if not faster than many of the UK sellers I've bought my other items from. And postage is free if you spend over 50Euros within Europe (100Euros Worldwide). I'd class myself as massively impressed.

If I had to offer any criticism (beyond the lack of instructions), I'd liked to have the different sections fit together more snugly. As they are, they really only have the stubs to act as guides to line the pieces up, rather than offer any resistance to coming away from each other. Heavy handed players will easily knock these sections apart  - OCD terrain arrangers like myself, beware.

Would I recommend this product? Yes I would. With not a lot of competition for this kind of terrain, Systema have hit a winner here. It looks better and more robust than many of their competitors offerings, whilst being different enough from the excellent MAS resin wall set to offer something totally different on the same theme.