Gotta say, this looks absolutely awesome, and the artwork is stunning. Most anticipated game since I heard the original Arkham Horror was getting a remake. Once again: beautiful work!
Is the light area civilized? My old german edition looks nice too, but they forgot to make the difference between civilized and uncivilized areas visible. From what I remember, they seem to have extended the civilized part further into Africa here,in my edition civilization didn´t extend far from Bagdad.
I loved the original of this game. Most sessions we played turned into a wild arabian version of theatre-sports, with outlandish costumes and bad accents galore. We rarely played to win according to the rules, but rather whoever could accumulate the most involved adventure was the 'winner'. 'I court the Mad Princess!' - ah memories. : )
Yes, this is really a beautiful work! Glad the sea has been colored to blue. It just brings out more vibrancy to the board. "Lake of Colors" looks interesting.
I'm late to the "blue seas" debate. I understand the expectation that seas "should" be colored blue on maps—because they most often appear to us that way when we look at them in in life. They can also appear to be other colors depending on the time of day, the state of the weather, and its composition. But coloring them that way is just a popular convention. How can you be poetic or abstract—or even factual—about the sea if you're tied to the color blue?
I used to live in a place called Golden Pond in Kentucky. One of my favorite books is "The Wine-Dark Sea" by Patrick O'Brian. I'm looking at a paint swatch called "Sea-Wave Green". I remember another called Atlantic Gray. There is a Red Sea between Saudi Arabia and Egypt and a Yellow Sea between China and Korea. Several popular editions of RISK have maps with the seas colored in a yellowy white. You'd probably refuse the glass if someone offered you blue water straight from the tap.
Seas are no more blue than grass is green or sand is white.
Say, people aren't blue or green. Or red or yellow. Or even "black" or "white." Why do game makers offer those colors to represent people in a game?
Answer: It's because human beings are capable of abstract and poetic thought. They can imagine a blue (or even wine-dark) sea even if it's tan or golden-colored on a map. They can imagine a character with an "olive" complexion, even if they are marked with a "red" token in a game. So long as it's distinguishable in color or contrast from the land or any other important features and marks on the map.
The new map for Tales of the Arabian Nights is beautiful, but not because the seas are blue.
