I've had this game for a week, and my board is already starting to warp. It is bending up along the top and bottom. Is this happening to anyone else? I thought the board was particularly flimsy, which surprised me since every other FFG product is very sturdy and durable. I'm also not super impressed with the quality of the plastic, 3D terrain. I dunno, overall I feel a little disappointed that the components were lacking in both quantity and quality for this one, especially with the $99 price tag. I could fit all of the components minus board and terrain my Drakon box... I'm going to play it tonight and I'm hoping that the game play changes my first impressions. Right now, I'm not impressed.

I've had my game since last friday, and my board starterd warping right after the first time I assembled it. Now, after a couple of games, there a signifigant amount of warping in both the corners and joints. I think it has something to do with the printing and drying process, as players have reported similar things, but AFTER they'we opened the box and spread it across the table. The board was completely flat out of the box. I must add, that the warping is not yet so bad, that the board couldn't hold the playing pieces.

And I must agree, that I also felt let down by the components. There seems to be an coloring issue with the plastic terrain parts, and many of the plastic figurines are too loose to stay on they're respective bases. Which is quite annoying, especially as it already a tight squeeze to try to get them to fit in their designated areas (Hero, 3 bases of marines and a defense laser in that little plastic cup, good luck with it, and hope no one pushes the table when playing) with the cardboard heros...

But, after playing the game itself, it's a great game, with nice dynamics and great feel of theme to it. The card-driven combat works really well, and the game offers many tactical desicions. The rules are really inconsistently written, and offer plenty of bad wording, but with a bit of effort, you can get the basic idea of how the game works. It's unfortunate, that this good of a game is let down a little by somewhat poor quality of components, as we're all accustomed to top-notch standard when it comes to FFG products.

But, in the end of the day, I think that while the component issues don't affect the enjoyment you get from playing the game, you sure feel like it doesn't warrant the price tag it has.

Just a heads up, but over on BGG in a thread about board warping, someone already reported that Thaadd (aka FFG customer service) had sent them a replacement board that lies completely flat. So if warping gets worse, might want to think about contacting FFG. I know in the past they've replaced boards for Marvel Heroes and War of the Ring, warping issue with both of them IIRC.

My board lies flat for over a week now and nothing happens. Maybe because it took a little bit longer for the game to come to me (it got dried?). I had a faint feeling the board is a little bit wet (it had some moisture in it).

As far as the plastic 3D terrain is concerned I was also a little bit dissapointed, especially that the drawings of them on the board looked so well...

The plastic figures on the other hand look much better than I imagined. They are really very little and have so much detail. And are made of really hard plastic...

The board itself also looks much, much better than I have imagined. It is full of tiny details.

And, oh yeah, the cards. Also much nicer than on the pictures. So, reasuming, the plastic terrain is a little bit below expectations, and everything else is above... I am already thinking whether a little bit of drybrushing applied to the terrain would do something good...

Ok, so I've played the game a couple of times now, and I'm planning on playing it again tonight at my FLGS with a friend. I must say, I really like this game a lot. It plays really well. I'll agree with Marcin that the unit pieces are really nice (I was just surprised that it didn't come with more). Comparing them to my Tide of Iron set, we've come a long way, especially in the area of the pegs that go into the bases. I'm bothered that the fortresses etc. are too small for all the pieces to fit in them. I think that's really lame and could easily have been fixed. Other than that, I've said almost everything I needed to say here, and I'm appreciative of the feedback I've gotten thus far.

FFG, if you are reading these posts, if you make an expansion that comes with all of the Heroes in miniature form that I could use to replace the cardboard on the stands, I would pay up to and including $50 for such an expansion. The minis don't even have to be painted. The Imperial ones could just be grey and the Traitor ones black and I'd love it. Please consider this. I think that everyone would buy it. I know I would.

RC 1107 Delta said:

I don't mind. but please make it a standalone expansion. There are people who don't want minis for the Heroes.

I too was a little disappointed by quality of plastic 3D terrain. It just is too thin, easy to breake.

Also when playing it has areas a bit small to fit there 3 units+lasers+any number of heroes ?! its a joke ... Even in our first game, emperor player has to activate that area in palace (its the smallest and there is no room even at start of the game), which already contains figures that barely fit in there. He has to put there an activation token. Where can he put it ? only way is to put it under the figures, but no one would see the token. And since he attacked from this area with more than this units and other areas units, how can we separate units that dont attack from those who are attacking, and remember where are they standing ?

Its a hell i say, and i cant believe FFG doesnt know about this mess ...

Board seem ok, and figures are much better quality than in Runewars (there are so fragile and thin, we have most of them broken already - undead mostly).

What do you do with your game ? Yes the plastic terrain is very fragile, but it won't break by just putting miniatures there. And for the Runewars miniatures. None of mine is broken yet. and I don't expect them to do so. (But, you are right that the HH miniatures are better)

I agree that the plastic fortification are too small. It is managable, but annoying. For the palace I kept the map part so that I can put markers there if the area on the plastic terrain gets too busy.

I've got no problem with the components, other than the small size of fortified areas. They simply are not big enough to hold 3 units, an orbital defense laser and a Hero. This brings me to speculate that the 3D terrain was a late addition to the game and wasn't play tested with. If I had known about the limited space, I would't have punched out the holes for the terrain and instead drawn lines on the palace region. Other than this issue I'm quite happy with the game after playing two sessions.