Dungeon Tiles Master Set [Gioco]

As a long-time collector of Dungeon Tiles I can say without reservation that this is the best collection yet published. True, most of the tiles are recycled from old sets (all of them as far as I can tell), but with such a low price, a full ten sheets of durable double-sided tiles, and the incredibly handsome and even useful box, the new Essentials line of Dungeon Tiles outshines every past edition.

What is this thing?:
Dungeon Tiles are handsomely detailed pre-printed heavy cardstock 'pieces' that you can use to cobble together a map for wargames. In this case the tiles are sized for D&D miniatures (~25-30mm), with the grid spacing hovering around an inch. The Dungeon Tiles sets include a whole pile of tiles representing rooms, corridors, furniture, traps, and the like.

The Tiles:
The Dungeon Tiles Master Set - The Dungeon contains a smörgåsbord (a lot!) of tiles collected from previous editions, enough to build a respectable multi-room dungeon out of. With a full ten sheets of double-sided tiles this is the biggest single collection published.

The Box:
In addition, the oversized box the tiles ship in provides superior protection to the tiles within, in addition to being a giant tile itself (the box is printed like a dungeon plinth and made from the same materials as the tiles themselves). The box is easily big enough to store any loose tiles you might have collected from previous sets too, at least twice as thick as necessary for the product within.

The Value:
There has never been a better value in dungeon tiles published by Wizards of the Coast, between the number of tiles for your money, as well as the very handy box, this is a fantastic way for new DMs to build their collection of handy tiles.

Altogether this is a wonderful product for new DMs, or for those who wish to expand their collections. If you already own several copies of every other Wizards produced Dungeon Tile you will not find anything new here beyond the box.

Having bought the other dungeon tile set and enjoyed it a lot, I decided to pre-order the city set without looking into it much. My copy arrived today, and I was excited to go through it. Well as I did, and began punching out the different tiles.. I gradually became more and more disappointed with what actually came with it. The title of it made it seem like it would be ideal for creating a town environment.. like the picture on the box also implies. And maybe you can build... a.. town. However most of the tiles you get are NOT like you see on the cover. I was expecting roof tops, and big tiles to use as stand alone buildings.. and maybe like a town square or something. I was severely disappointed.

What you do get is seemingly random pieces of walls.. most of which seem to be great if you want to build a sort of 'cabin by the lake' as most of then are on water. You get ZERO rooftops like there are on the cover. On the flip side of them is a sewer setting, which I guess could be interesting.. but EVERY tile has sewer sludge going through it. The big 8x8 one has like a cross of sewer sludge.. almost entirely defeating the purpose of the huge tile.. unless you like to have your PC's jumping over sludge all the time.

The buildings I will probably use somewhat to build random houses.. but I certainly will not be making any sort of town atmosphere out of it. I may run a sewer type adventure eventually .. just to use the sewer side of them.. but creating a realistic dungeon out of it.. will almost certainly require more than is provided .. as I don't need sludge filling 80% of all my tiles.. thank you. Other than that though.. there is some neat bridge tiles.. and a couple small market stalls which I am pleased with.. but these were just kind of like slapping a little bit of icing on a cake that already tastes bad.

If this set interests you.. and you feel like you can make what I've described work, then I would suggest it.. but I would strongly suggest to EVERYONE.. that you check this out thoroughly before picking this up. Maybe convince your friend to get it.. and see it before yourself first.. or go to a game store and see if you can convince them to open one up to see it. Anyway, I really don't think this is a 'must have' set.. or even that it creates the city feeling as it implies, so.. buyer beware.

Overall Product
PROs
- Price
- - $19.99 at FLGS
- - $13.59 at Amazon.com

- The Box
- - It is nice to have an actual container for the dungeon tiles for a change.
- - The box is made in such a way that it can be used as terrain as well.

CONs
- The Box
- - The box is big but only comes with 10 sheets of tiles and a cardboard insert that takes up half the box.
- - Of course, this could be a PRO since it is bigger than the tiles and other tiles can be stored in the box as well.

The Tiles
PROs
- There is a nice selection of different sizes.
- Most tiles are reprints of older set that are not available anymore.
- The tiles are made of thick, durable material and not just thin sheets of paper.

CONs
- No real CONs here.

The Art
PROs
- The art is nicely illustrated, as expected from WoTC when it comes to tiles.
- Several varying pieces including rough terrain, doors, stairs, and prison bars.
- All large pieces and most smaller pieces have just empty, stone floor squares on the back.

CONs
- All large pieces and most smaller pieces have just empty, stone floor squares on the back.
- - Yes, I listed this as a PRO, but it seems like the easy way out of providing more detailed pieces.
- A handful of tiles are just blank on the back, even more empty, stone floor squares are better than nothing.
- - 2 of 14 2×4s are just black on one side
- - 3 of 12 2×2s are just black on one side
- - 1 of 10 2×1s is just black on one side
- - 2 of 8 single square tiles are just black on one side