Alternative Armies: Cryptmass Goblin House Reviewed!

It's time for another exciting review and this time we will take a closer look at Alternative Armies festive season release 59007 Cryptmass Goblin House designed to be used in their Flintloque and Slaughterloo napoleonique fantasy setting. This nice terrain piece was released in December and features separate decorations with some nice ‘Cryptmass’ touches including wreaths of skulls, a dead dodo and other Christmas decoration common in the goblin lands of Flintloque. Lets' take a look at this nice and unusual fantasy building.

The Contents of the Box

As always we will first of all take a look at the packaging of the reviewed product. How it was received by me. I can only say that the packaging of Alternative Armies is really good as everything is packed in separate ziplocks bags and is also covered by several sheets of foam to avoid damage during the shipping process. It was well packaged for travel in the postal systems of the world. As you can see all of the Cryptmass Goblin House pieces are carefully packed in a cartonboard sturdy box which you can always re-used yourself.

The actual building comes in five large resin pieces which are the walls and the tiled roof. Each of these pieces is casted in good quality grey resin and detailed with a wide array of nice features such as baskets, cracks, exposed bricks and other nice decorations. The casting quality of these pieces is very good although some minor bubbles are present but can easily be filled with some greenstuff or milliput epoxy or just painted over.

As you can see these pieces are filled with great character as everything is constructed in a ramshackle goblin style with the addition of great details such as trade wares and exposed brickwork. As you can see on the door this building isn't tall and is designed as a Halfling, Dwarf or Goblin sized dwelling rather than a Human or Elf sized creature’s building. The building is about 100mm tall, 60mm wide and the same deep creating a convincing goblin sized dwelling.

As you can see the building is created to represent a goblin house during the Cryptmass feast. Therefor this building has been finished in a winter look with heaped snow on the rooftops and ground. But also some great looking separate pieces of decorations such as holly wreaths, skulls and even a dead dodo to be nailed to the door (you can read why on Alternative Armies website). What would a good Flintloque Cryptmass feast be without those decorations!

The Assembly

The assembly of this piece is similar to the assembly of other resin items as we first of all clean any pieces of flash or sprue and other irregularities. During this phase we also check if all the parts fit and if they don't perfectly we can adjust that issue using some fine graded sandpaper. During the assembly of this building I noticed that some walls didn't fit exactly but that to me seems to be purposeful as the piece was designed to be ramshackle in its finished look. 

Never the less I sanded the walls pieces for a total together fit and then washed the pieces in hot soapy water to wash off the moulding agent. This last step is necessary with most resin pieces to allow easy gluing and painting later on and almost all fine quality resin will come with this agent on it. After these steps the assembly is really straightforward and is complete in ten minutes or so. From flat to built it was simple. In the pictures I have added a 28mm scaled miniature by another manufacturer to give you an idea of the size of the building.

On the picture above you can see that I have filled up gaps and small bubbles with milliput epoxy. This step can be neglected if you want a proper Goblin ramshackle look but I personally preferred to fill up this gap as I had some spare mixed milliput from another project.

Painted Example

Interested in how this piece looks painted up, here's an example I have found on the Alternative Armies website painted by the talented designer and painter Sam Croes. Sam designed this resin building kit as well.

The Conclusion

As you can see from the review, this Cryptmass Goblin House is a nice addition to your fantasy village as it's full of character but also fills a serious gap in the market as I haven't encountered other goblin houses before. Another good part of this set that it's includes some nice extra details such as the unusual decoration (which I haven't used as they will be used on a goblin holiday table!). The best part however is the price of only 12.00GBP which is a bargain if you ask me. Interested in purchasing this piece of fantasy real-estate, take a look at the Alternative Armies blog post about it and go from there.

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