Fractured Sky Components Overview and Impressions

If you want to get your hands on the Fractured Sky Super Deluxe version with all the machine painted miniatures your chance is coming up soon as the game is coming back to Kickstarter with an expansion on April 30 . The game is very impressive to look at and the component work really well when playing as well. I think I’ve buried the lead at this point, but let’s check it out!

Everything in Fractured Sky is top notch, although after playing three IV Studios games in the past week, it’s actually a bit of a standard for this company. It’s worth noting we are looking at the Super Deluxe version of the game which includes machine painted minis. But I’ve had the pleasure of seeing the other versions in other settings, and all of them are impressive in their own way, based on the price point of entry.

Let’s start with the board and the cards. Everything here is beautifully detailed and of solid quality. Some will call the game board really busy to look at, and while that is true, I think the spaces allocated for markets and towers are very visible, as are the lines connecting those locations to various sky islands you will be traveling to.

The card quality is superb, as it is in all the games IV Studios makes. The only thing I wasn’t really crazy about was the board where hidden locations are placed. The plastic base, along with the cardboard top, felt just a bit light to me and I never felt like the cardboard topper sat perfectly in the spot allotted for it. It’s a minor gripe – and my only gripe – but a gripe none-the-less.

The miniatures included in the box are phenomenal. As I said before, I have the machine painted miniatures, so they have extra detail you won’t find in the Deluxe version of the game. These are phenomenal though, and while functionally they don’t provide you any benefit you wouldn’t get from the non-machine painted minis, they do seem to elevate the game by making it look so much better. While this isn’t the place, I have long spoken about how a really good looking game elevates the gameplay experience. Don’t ask why, it just does.

The snap-on magnetic bases for your airships are fantastic as well. The numbers are really easy to see and the magnetic connection between the ship and the base is perfect – it’s not to soft to allow your hidden number to fall off in view of other players, but also isn’t stuck so hard it’s difficult to change your mind or reset after each round. More and more games are using magnets to attach pieces together, but this is the best I’ve seen yet.

The player boards are great as well, as they provide really nice spots for all your player pieces, and a great place to track you resources. I have long said that I prefer to have piles of resources to collect and spend as opposed to tracks, but with so much going on, having tracks for this game seems to make sense. Again, I’m not sure I like how the cardboard tops fit to the player boards, but again it’s a minor gripe.

The game also includes little plastic starfalls which are really nice as well – there is an option to purchase an upgrade pack for these from the IV Studios website that makes these metal, but the plastic variants are more than OK!

Overall, I’m really impressed with Fractured Sky. Besides a few nitpick issues, I think this is one of the better produced games that I have seen in the last little while. I think if you want something that is a lot of fun, and has a great table presence, check out Fractured Sky when it relaunches on Kickstarter with an expansion on April 30!