Review - Movement Trays from Kiwihammer Supplies

Recently James Brown sent me some movement trays produced for Kiwihammer Supplies.

In the past I have purchased movement trays from three major sources - Gale Force Nine, Warpuppy and Sarissa Precision. All three produce wooden trays that readily accept PVA (allowing you to tecture with sand) and adhesive steel paper. This is important to me as I like to match my trays to my army bases and I like to magnetise my armies.

So how do the Kiwihammer trays compare?

First of all, they are one piece items, the same as Warpuppy and Gale Force 9. Sarissa differ from the others in that they are two piece - top and bottom - which has advantages and disadvantage.

Second, they come in two depths, 4.7mm and 3mm. This sets them apart from their competitors which have only one depth. I can see this being an advantage when you are using some of the larger resin bases out there.

The third point is that they come with straight and round corners. James sent me the round cornered ones and they do look attractive. If you are texturing your trays then the corner is less noticeable but they is a fashion amongst the hipsters out there to have bare wooden trays and this provides some variety.

The last noticeable feature is that the tray rims are noticeably thinner than other makes. They are about 3.5mm which is closest to Sarissa but still about a mm less. This means they look tighter on a unit which again is a matter of taste - certainly for untextured trays I think it is superior.

So overall I think they are a very nice product and have definite advantages depending on the look you want to achieve e.g. clean, non-textured. One area where I think Sarissa has an advantage is in being two-piece. This allows you to put steel paper on the base and then stick the top on ensuring no gaps or the need for fiddly cutting - especially important with Skirmish Trays. However Kiwihammer Supplies can address this by offering the product with or without top stuck on.

The key for whether I will use these in the future is service rather than product based. At present I use primarily Sarissa. They have an excellent website, strong customer service in terms of customisation, an attractive price point and a 5-7 day delivery from UK (from point of order).

Kiwihammer are looking to reproduce these features and it will be good to have a local alternative.

If you'd like to order the products or discuss your requirements with James you can get him by email or on Twitter where he is @gas_monkey82
 Thanks to James for the opportunity to review the product.