Twilight Struggle
A game 2 players designed by <PERSON> and <PERSON>.
"Overcoming the Cold War required courage from the people of Central and Eastern Europe and what was then the German Democratic Republic, but it also required the steadfastness of Western partner over many decades when many had long lost hope of integration of the two Germanys and Europe."
― <PERSON>
Introduction
On the 5th of June, 2014, GMT Games launched an ambitious Kickstarter project in partnership with Playdek to bring about something many Twilight Struggle players have long wanted: a digital version of this great game.
One of the optional rewards above and beyond the basic pledge to get a digital copy was a limited collector's edition (CE). The price? $150. A caveat about that price is that that it ostensibly includes an eventual digital copy, which depending on your platform could have been anywhere up to $35. That caveat is a rationalization though, because I and I expect many of the many of the 1219 people who ponied up for the CE didn't do it for the sake of the digital edition.
The original projected delivery date was March 2015. A series of delays, mishaps, and mistakes delayed the CE, and it's only been shipping since January of this year, 10 months later. The digital edition is still vapourware.
This review is about the CE and only the CE. I haven't played with the expansion/promo yet, and they deserve a full separate review, which I will get to in due course.
This review is also not about how to play Twilight Struggle. For that, I refer you to my previous reviews:
Game:
Chinese Civil War:
Late War Scenario:
Geeklist:
The CE was advertised as coming with the following components:
Game Box: a wooden box with a hinged top
Cards: The cards will have a new and unique graphic layout, especially for this edition of the game. The CE will also include sleeves for all cards.
Map: We’re going with an even thicker, more durable map than the one that’s in our Deluxe Edition (and our players like that one a LOT!). And like the cards, the map is going to get a completely new graphic treatment for the CE.
Counters: We are upgrading from cardboard counters in the CE to give you guys high-quality, stamped wooden pieces.
Miniatures: The CE will include five metal miniatures to adorn several of your game tracks and add some cold war theme to your game play! We’re keeping the type/identity of these miniatures to ourselves for now. We want to surprise you!
Rules and Player Aids: This is an area where we’re pretty much going with what we already have in the Deluxe Edition – thick paper/cards, full color throughout, with perhaps a bit more thickness and better coating.
Dice: You’ll get two custom molded plastic “thematic” dice. We seriously considered metal dice, but all the ones we’ve ever used tend to flake from impact over time, so we decided to go with some high quality molded dice instead.
A Fabric Bag: To hold the game pieces.
Certificate of Authenticity: Signed by the Designers
The Good
The box is gorgeous. 92
The red wood is a lovely colour, the gold lettering is nice, and it's lined in black felt. A nice touch I wasn't expecting was that the bottom of the box has felt on it too. This means this nice wooden box won't scuff or scratch your table when you're unpacking your game.
The new map is very nice too. I like it much better than the coffee ring board.
The stamped wooden counters are awesome too.
A critique that was raised by people before the product even came out was that the stamped blocks don't have a differentiated colour to show control of a country. It's worth remembering that the original game didn't have differentiated counters - that was an improvement that came with the second printing and later deluxe printings. I said I was going to wait until the game arrived to make a judgment, and now that I've played with them, I don't feel it's a problem. There are cubes to mark control if you need it.
The Acceptable
The cards have a nice new graphic look. They're clear and readable. There is one card that was apparently misprinted (Brush War), which I'll talk about later. The sleeves that came with the CE are very nice. They're thick clear sleeves and should endure many hundreds of plays.
The certificate of authenticity is a nice touch. It looks like one of those standard certificates that you get with the digital signature printed on it, but that's ok. 336