GaleForce9 – Battlefield in a Box

Gale Force 9 offers beside a few board games and hobby accessoires a terrain range of their own, named Battlefield in a Box. These come in several different settings, like Fantasy, Generic or specific for Flames of War in 15mm. But are you limited to use those in 15mm? Not really, and I'm going to prove my point.

Main problem about these sets is the availability. In Germany / Europe they can be fierce to get your hands on, but some time ago - while they were in stock - I got my hands a few sets from the BiaB Flames of War Range.

Let us begin with the rural roads. The set sets you back 45 USD and covers 4 straights and 2 curves, along with a small bag of static grass.

The street sections are made from a flexible, rubberlike material that can be bend into position and covers height differences without a problem. As you can see, the tracks on the streets are narrow, but in 28mm those simply wouldn't be tank tracks but from a truck or half-track.

Below you can see how easily the two sections cover each other. Along with a test picture with a Opel Blitz and Sherman by Rubicon Models. Doesn't look out of scale to me. But I want to continue with the other boxes below.

The rural road set has an expansion set, it costs 45 USD as well. It covers a x-crossing, a t-crossing, a transition between rural and cobblestone, a slight bend, a short straight, a railroad crossing and short railroad track! Along with a bit of static grass. In the third picture you see a Magic Train by Fleischmann, which fits the track gauge along with the 28mm scale. I got the idea for the train set by Elladan from Stronghold Terrain.

For a more urban look, you can go with the cobblestone roads. Pretty simple, 6 straights and 2 connection pieces. The set is 45 USD, like the other street sets. These are broad enough for a large tank, like the Waffenkammer Tiger II or two road vehicles, again with the Opel Blitz. The corner piece of rubble is by Heer 46.

Both street types are available as cratered pieces. Below you see the cratered cobblestone roads, 4 short straight sections, and a x-crossing. Of course with a bit of static grass to cover up the edges.

And the cratered rural street, a t-crossing, x-section, slight bend and two short straight pieces. In the third picture you see a scale test. Works!

And here we have the generic craters, the first set not to set you back 45 USD, but 29 USD. It covers 6 medium sized craters. These should work well with the old moon craters by Citadel. Even slighty better than the gothic craters by Battlefield in a Box themself.

There is a hedgerow set, which is 26 USD. Those hedges are quite tall for 15mm, but still work with 28mm. You can combine these with the (direct only?) sets of boccage offered by Gale Force 9.

The sets are quite affordable and you can use them directly out of the box. Maybe a slight drybrushing or wash if you want to blend them in with your other terrain. It is conveniently heavy, not as heavy as resin or plaster terrain and by far not as brittle. And due to its generic nature, you can use them for many different settings and maybe even for other scales beyond 15 and 28mm.

I have the river sets by Gale Force Nine as well, made from the same flexible material, and can only recommend those as well. If you're looking for some easy to handle, hasslefree terrain pieces, and you have to chance to buy them for a reasonable price (as buying all the sets will be costly in total).

These sets can be ordered directly at Gale Force Nine, I bought mine at Fantasyladen.