Rise of Babel Components Overview and Impressions (Legendary Edition)
When Rise of Babel was heading to crowd funding, we had the chance to preview the game and share our thoughts on what was a really great tile moving and placement game, driven by cards. We really enjoyed Rise of Babel, and I cannot wait to play the final version and post our thoughts about that as well. But first, let’s take a look at the games components.
I think I’ll start with what I don’t like about this release, and that is how everything gets stored in the box. There are a ton of different sized boxes that have all the deluxe components for the game, but no single storage solution for it all. If I want to play Rise of Babel with the 3D towers, deluxe tiles, nicer bags, etc. I need to open up so much stuff to get it all out. I would have LOVED a complete custom insert for the game, perhaps specific trays for each expansion as well, that would have made setup easier. That is my one and only gripe, because after that…I’m very impressed.
Let’s start with all the 3D pieces – the game comes with miniatures for the elephants and the carts – you will be using these to transport goods from your camp to the tower during the game. I think I would have preferred if they had used wooden or acrylic elephants and cards instead of the plastic miniatures, but they do look really cool. They are a bit finicky – carts don’t reach the ground on some of the elephants – but that is more of an issue with plastic injection molding as opposed to the actual design – with a little warm water, I think I can get these to harden nicely in a better orientation.
The 3D towers are also impressive, and give the gameplay area a really nice aesthetic boost. Each tower has a slot to place the tower tile into, and for the big central tower, each piece stacks on the next as you play. The towers were shipped with small pieces of plastic inside to keep the molds square, which was really appreciated – no, those aren’t for the game, feel free to throw them out!
The game also came with a bunch of Kickstarter extras, including a 3D (chunky) first player marker and a number of miniature expansions, one that includes a neoprene mat! Another that I’m really interested in trying is the log rolling mechanic, which uses a small box and little wooden dowels to move goods from A to B – I’m not sure how it works yet, but feels really thematic for the time period being recreated. The game also comes with a few deluxe bags for drawing tiles. These bags look and feel a lot like the original bags but are A) much larger; and B) have a flat bottom so they stand on their own on the table. It’s a nice touch.
There are a lot of cardboard bits in the game and the first major expansion, and they all punched out nicely. Most get replaced by the deluxe acrylic tiles, but a few don’t. There are also a number of player boards and other boards that are beautifully detail, some with a lenticular design and most dual layered. I love the look of the boards, and despite warping that plagues all dual layered boards, these feel really nice.
The crème-de-la-crème though is the acrylic tokens. These are nice and chunky, feel great to hold, and are so much better than the cardboard alternatives. I do worry about the screen printing on the resources on the tiles, and how long before that begins to scratch and wear. But for as often as we play our games – we have so many! – I think its going to be more than OK! I feel the same way about the cards as well – the quality is really good, and I doubt I’ll need to sleeve them anytime soon.
It all comes down to the insert, though – I wish it was so much better and that storing the game was a bit more intuitive. As it stands, I have bits of the base game in multiple different boxes, so getting this setup is going to be a pain in the butt. Once it is on the table though, I think its going to look great! It is worth noting I was missing one single tile in my legendary edition box, so make sure you do a head count. As far as I can tell, I’m not the only one, but I think the company is doing what they can to fix these issues!
Article By Adam
