Review: Desert Hazards Box

One of my current long-term projects is in conjunction with the Early War DAK that I am building.  My local FLGS, Brother's Grim Games and Hobbies, generally doesn't have a lot of desert-themed terrain.  The war in Africa has always interested me, and so lately I have been working towards acquiring enough terrain for a North Africa table.  I would like to one day have enough terrain to build a variety of settings, but for now I'm just trying to collect as much as I can.

A couple of months ago I saw the Desert Hazards Box by Battlefront on the FoW shelf at Grim. For $30, I knew I had to have it. When I cracked it open I wasn't disappointed. Let's get to the pics (I used a StuG and medium base for scale):

As you can see the box comes with two large, tan bases.

As well as two different kinds of static grass to embellish the pieces of terrain.

Here you can see that the box has a boat-load of cool objects. 3 ruined tanks, a ruined truck, and 2 rocky outcrops. All of the objects are built solidly, and the material is going to withstand years and years of gaming trauma. The paint job on each tank is very well done, as you can see by the close-up of the wrecked Panzer III.

These pieces are meant to be used with the desert hazards special rules from Hellfire and Back and Burning Empires, but I have a different plan for them. I think I am going to use the hazard pieces to enliven the tabletop, and I want to use the bases along with the craters box set (which is currently out of stock). That way the bases can clearly define which areas are "cratered". I think that having ruined tanks and vehicles strewn about the tabletop will give the terrain a cinematic feel.

Overall I rate this box a 10 out of 10. If you play desert battles, this box set is a must-have.