Review: Versatile Terrain Custom Name Plates

Image Credit: www.versatileterrain.co.uk

Greetings.

Today I'm posting something new on the blog:  a review!  I came across Versatile Terrain's custom name plate service through a recent Spikey Bits article. It struck me that while impractical for large armies, this was a fantastic idea from small skirmish games like Necromunda or Kill Team. Having just completed building and priming a handful of teams I decided to try the product out on one of them.

When I put together my Adeptus Mechanicus team, I used all the table sin the rule book to name the members and give them personalities.  So this was the perfect team for this exercise.  I jumped on the Versatile Terrain web site and placed my order.  It was an easy process to select a base size and plate design, then the font and quantity of plates/names to order.  Once added to the cart, it's time to enter the list of names.  I was very careful here to put in the correct names!

For my ad-mech force, I needed three 40mm and five 30mm bases.  By mistake, I ordered two 40mm and six 30mm bases, but it all worked out in the end.  The order was placed and shipped six days later.  I was even emailed the day before the order shipped to let me know all was well.  I have had good communications throughout the process.  When the order arrived, here's how they looked:

Brilliant!  The print and details are sharp and clear and the arcs line up well with the sector mechanicus bases I had chosen for the kill team. I felt this was a risk since it might be that the sector mechanicus bases might not be identical in shape to a standard black plastic base.  The bases are cast in resin which allows for some shaping if you apply a little heat.  This helps me make sure my mistaken 30mm plate fit around a 40mm base.

I lined up a base with a model to be sure I had everything right.  Then I set to work removing the sprue, cleaning things up and then gluing them down.  The sprue comes off very easily.  I used standard flush cutters as I would with any sprue, but I could have carefully snapped them off with my fingers too.  Super glue (Cyanoacrylate) in small amount was used to glue the plates onto the bases. Some care was needed to keep things lined up well while the glue set.  You don't want a slow drying epoxy or other glue here, in my opinion.

Here's how things look on a 30mm base.

From the bottom, you can see the plate lines up well with the curve of the base.

And the same from the top.  With these sector mechanicus bases, I made sure to line things up so the rivets on the plate appear to go into the base instead of thin air since there are voids/low spots on the edges of the bases.

Here here is Amu-8869 with his new name plate attached.  As you might imagine, things went as well for a 40mm base.

Everything continues to line up well.

Lookin' good...

And here is Kappic-XIX with his new nameplate.  I specifically chose what I thought passed for a Gothic look with a digital font for the Ad-Mech.  There were plenty of good choices for plate and font styles. Here is a shot of the team with their name plates applied.

Click through to see this close up.  On the front right you can see the 30mm name plate attached to the 40mm base I chose for the Skitarii with the Transuranic Arquebus. when ordering, I simply forgot that I had used a large base size on that one Skitarii.  It fit just fine with a minor amount of heat applied to prevent it from looking two warped. The results stand for them selves.

I really liked the product and will likely order plates for my other teams as well. I'm particularly interested in plates for my House Taranis Knights as this is a great way to display the creative names and add some personality to the models.

I give the Versatile Terrain custom name plate service two enthusiastic thumbs up!!

Next up, I'll get back to the Questoris Knight Paladin. I've done work on the weapons and will have more to show on that soon.

Cheers and Happy Gaming!