Well i just got a load of games and was really looking forward to this one...the most expensive here in Uk by the way.

I opened the box and all i can say it was an anticlimax. One sheet of thin and hard to extract tokens. A lot of thick cards, 2 ok dice and a rather nice but also very crummy card map. oh lets not forget the rules and some sheets. Compared to Ra, Carcassonne-Discovery and Santiago for instance the quality of the bits was rather poor.

Not a good start....I payed how much for this cheap nasty rubbish!!!

The cards and dice are actually rather good but getting them back in the box was a tough one as I put them in deck protectors to help keep them safe. The cards are thick and the best bits in the box...they are also core to the game so at least they got that right

The map like a lot of GMT games was dire (**cough** CC Ancients **cough**, BTW also very expensive) and I can see why some people have commented on it. Thankfully its not as dire as the paper thin maps you get with the Battletech intro box. It is heavily creased and looks like it will need a lot of weight to flatten out nicely. However having said all that it is a rather nice looking map

My next gripe was the tokens/chits/whatever...I had dificulty getting these out and they felt rather thin. In fact a few tried to peel away as I pulled them out. me rushing?? maybe but I was annoyed. Santiago for instance almost fell out by itself just by waving the sheet around. In fact it took me more time to fiddle with these suckers then to get both ra and santiago unpacked and put away. I would rather they had gone down the CCA route of wooden blocks with stickers. the chits are small fiddly and a pain...again like the map they do look nice however. they come with 5 or 6 bags to put them in but i have not come up with a filing system yet. And there is a lot of them so i will need to file them, I like the look of plastic tackle box ideas posted here

Ok so i have moaned and griped but what do i think. Well the rules look great and the bits all look great. The key bits, the cards, are very nice and from a read through of the rules plus my love of the theme I think this is a great game.

The only real moan is that I paid a lot of money for this one game and feel a bit ripped off from a component point of view. I got ra and santiago for the same price as twilight struggle by itself.

However I think that after a few plays the quality of the play experence will help me forgot the cheapness of the parts. After all the game is whats important at the end of the day not the bits

I say buy the game its looks great but just dont stress yourself over the bits

Pros-
Great theme
Looks nice
Plays great (i hear)
custom bits make it look and feel great IMO

Cons-
How much for these bits??
you need custom bits to make it feel great IMO