From: "michaelwardsubgenius" Subject: [boardwargaming] Memoir '44 expansions - review of physical aspects only Days of Wonder shipped the expansions earlier than the 10/15 they'd estimated. I got mine on 10/04/05. I was very happy with the game components. I wasn't so happy about the packaging, interior and exterior. The boxes for expansions 1 & 2 were of very flimsy cardboard. Someone on BGG compared it to a donut box. You know, the kind of box you expect to throw away the next day. Plus they used a sleeve cover. I don't like those. Columbia Games uses them. They're a pain to remove and an even bigger pain to put back on. Then you always wonder if the game box is going to just slide out in the floor one day if you're walking along carrying it by the sleeve. I sorta see why they used the sleeve. That way the box was fairly generic (it just said Days of Wonder / Memoir '44 on it). The sleeve had all the fancy art work on it for the particular expansion (Terrain Pack and Eastern Front). The inside of expansion #1 (Terrain pack) was well done, with a plastic insert that was molded to hold several stacks of terrain tiles. It even had a closable, hinged plastic cover. Yet it seemed incongruent they went all out inside the box and the box itself was so poor. Expansion #2 (Eastern Front): I wasn't too happy with its plastic inserts. There were two. The first was nice and was molded to hold two terrain tile stacks and some badges. The other... well, its one of those blister packs that holds all its contents (the plastic Russian figurines) rigidly in place... until you open it. Then you get the feeling you've got 15 pounds of sausage and only a 10 pound bag to put it in. Expansion #3, the desert/snow map, was only protected by cellophane and a sleeve that only covered about half of it. And once you remove the cellophane... I'm afraid its going to get scuffed up, as there's no way to put it in either the base game's box or an expansion box. Due to the tribulations with the interior of expansion #2's box, I ended up putting all its terrain tiles in box #1. Removing (I may discard it, pity) the nice plastic terrain tile insert from box #2 (also with a closable, hinged lid). I had to do this to make room for the Russian figurines in some semblance of order. The only other way was to just throw the armor, artillery and infantry all together in one big jumble. Something I don't care to do. What I'd have really liked was a box that would hold all three expansions. I don't look forward to dragging four separate items to game night at my local book store every time I want to play a Russian front scenario. So, I guess I'll scrounge around for a box of the appropriate dimensions. Yet I know it will be hard to find. Oh, I almost forgot about the rule books. At first glance they look 100% first class. But I noticed several terrain tile types provided in expansion #1 that weren't mentioned in the rules. I realize most are just variations on a theme. But for completeness they should have all been shown. Specifically: railroad cross tracks (1), "Y" road intersection (3), cross road (1), curved road over a hill (2), large lake without a river (4), curved river (2), straight river (3), airfield - straight (2), village (4), and tokens: bridge (2). Plus there's one blank badge. And neither expansion #1 or #2 list their contents. I opened them up and wondered as I do with all new games, "Do I have everything I'm supposed to?" So I went along in my expansion rule books recording how many of every tile, token, and badge I received. It just seems weird to me that Days of Wonder did everything 100% first class in the base game: components, rule book, packaging, etc. Yet took the cheap route on certain aspects of the expansions. I'm still very glad I bought them, but they could have been better. And they can't say they were rushed. They originally said they'd be out (well, expansion #1) in early July. But they held all three until October. You'd think with the wait all the bugs would have been fixed. - Michael Ward Fort Worth, Texas ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~--> Get fast access to your favorite Yahoo! Groups. Make Yahoo! your home page http://us.click.yahoo.com/dpRU5A/wUILAA/yQLSAA/grQolB/TM --------------------------------------------------------------------~->