Systema Gaming Scenery: Storage Silo review

Systema Gaming Scenery is another one of those small businesses that sprouts up here and there; one-man operations benefiting from the Internet making them easier to get noticed by potential customers and the world smaller. This is fortunate because there are lots of creative people out there with access to a stockpile of MDF board and a laser cutter making beautiful things. This one is located in Slovenia, a country I know very little about to be honest.

The Storage Silo in all it's glory.

System Gaming Scenery doesn't have a proper webshop, instead they have a blog with a catalog. If you want to order something you email them and you get a PayPal invoice back. Simple and efficient. Shipping to EU countries is free for orders above 50 Euros, to non-EU countries it's free above 70 euros, and to the rest of the world shipping is free on orders above 100 euros. Not bad considering that MDF board weighs quite a lot. This kit cost only 16 Euro which I think is a great price!

Back view of the Silo.

The Silo came on three thick A-4 sized boards of laser cut MDF. All pieces were still on the boards, held by very small areas where the laser didn't cut through. They are easily cut with a sharp blade and then pop out of the board without any problems.

Removing the loose pieces.

One drawback is that there are no instructions included in the kit. (There are two assembly walkthroughs for their bigger kits on their webpage though.)

However, the pieces are cleverly designed to fit together in only one way. For example, the lower level bulkheads are similar to the second level bulkheads, but they have the locating lugs in different places, so you can't put them in the wrong place. Once you figure out how to start everything just falls into place with the rest of the pieces fitting perfectly and logically.

Close-up shot of the engraving details.

The two silos and the ladder are designed to be removable which is a nice touch. I don't know when you would like to remove the Silos but it's nice to have the option. I can see you removing the ladder in case you want to connect the Silo to another Silo or a building via a walkway. Anyway it's handy to have the option. The ladder fits into the slots for the upper level guard rails, so you can choose to have the ladder on any side you want. You even get an extra guard rail in case you don't want the ladder at all.

"Oi! Get down here right now! It's time for dinner!!!"

As you can see from the photos, the Silo is a sizeable terrain piece with great height. It's perfect for that sniper or Heavy Weapon team that want a good view over the battlefield. Just remember that Line of Sight works both ways, if you can shoot them they can shoot you.

Finally a ladder wide enough for Space Marines to climb!

The two containers have some engraving on them, otherwise the pieces are all unadorned. I'm not sure, but I think you will have to be careful when painting them since the engraving is quite thin and shallow. While it looks quite good unpainted I suspect it will take some filling and sanding to get rid of the lego-like joins between the pieces. It should not be any big problem though, and this is common for many MDF kits on the market today, not just from Systema.

Height comparison with GW figures.

I like this kit a lot; the bulkheads have a certain Necromunda feel to them and it looks nice on the table. The only drawbacks I could find was the lack of instructions and the the guard rails look a bit thick. It would have been nice if they were made of a thinner material but that would probably make the kit more expensive since those pieces would then have to be on a separate sheet. As it is now no space on the sheets are wasted.

Systema has a small range of 28mm products suitable for a Sci/Fi setting fitting for Infinity or Warhammer 40k. It's a bit reminiscent of some of the buildings in the Mass Effect games, most notably the various colonies you fight through. In my book that's definitely a plus. Some of the pieces looks interchangeable between the different kits so customisation looks easy enough. The range is expanding all the time, just recently they released a set of Power Pylons with MDF and clear acrylic parts which I will review as soon as I have built them.

All in all I give the Systema Gaming Scenery Silo 4 out of 5. Recommended!