I bought some new games. Through the Ages was a must-buy after I played it with Tommy last year. I picked my copy of the second edition yesterday. A lot has been said about the production values of the new edition. I have little to add, except that it isn’t that bad and it sure looks like it’s made in China.

I don’t like the Chinese shrink-wrap, that’s for sure. Well, as I said, it’s not that bad, especially if they’re issuing replacement cards for the misprints. Replacement board is nice as well, though I think the numbering error (the culture score track jumps from 80 to 100, skipping 90) is really minor and seems a bit wasteful to me to print replacement boards and send them around the world to people. After all, it’s such a small detail that doesn’t affect play at all.

The cards might be a bigger problem, if they curl up or otherwise destroy themselves. I’ve got sleeves, so that should probably fix that. They don’t seem very durable. The tiny beads of the original edition are replaced by tiny cylinders — I’m not a huge fan of either, but I do understand bigger bits would mean bigger boards and the game takes enough space as it is.

One question about the cover: why they put the choking hazard warning straight on the box cover? I understand they had to have that on the box, but why put it so visibly on the cover? It draws attention from the cover art (which I think is just fine).

In any case, the production values are decent and the game itself rocks. We’re playing tomorrow!

I went hunting for card sleeves to the friendly local game store (formerly known as unfriendly local game store). I was disappointed, because they didn’t have any. Bummer. Then again, the board game sleeves I was hunting for are a minority item and probably won’t sell that much, as they only fit few games. They’re perfect for Through the Ages, though, so I had to order them from Lautapelit.fi.

Well, I did check their games for sale table and I just had to buy Vegas Showdown. 22.50 euros, not bad! I haven’t played it yet, but people I trust like it, so it can’t be bad. Besides, I can probably sell it for 15 or 20 euros if I don’t like it. But I do expect to like, it looks great and the rules made immediate sense.

I’m also contemplating about extending my 18xx collection (damn the rail bug). Currently I’m considering to buy 1860 and/or Steam over Holland… Heck, who am I kidding, it’s “and” and the real question is “when”. I mean, 1860 is good, I know it because I’ve played it and enjoyed it. Steam over Holland promises shorter playing time, meaning I could perhaps get a game done in our Thursday sessions. That would be cool.

Oh, and I just bought a used copy of Ur: 1830 BC.