OK… have to post this (perhaps Avalon Hill is monitoring this board)…
First off, I really miss the old styrofoam holders for the game pieces. In the new version, you get some non-reclosable plastic bags that once cut open leave all of the pieces to spill loose all over the place. I have already taken some “sewing floss” boxes to put the pieces in (scavenged from some old D&D figure boxes), but these are too large to fit inside the main game box.
In Classic, at least the old Milton Bradley version, you had styrofoam holders with spaces for all of your peices, and the container was just the right size to be “covered” by the set-up card for the nation. 1 or 2 rubber bands to hold the set-up card on top of the container, and your peices stayed put.
Avalon Hill really needs to look at some sort of holder for the pieces in future releases of their game.
Second, the “cut” board instead of the old tri-fold but un-cut board is a bad idea. A couple of accidental “wrong folds” and the game board will tear on the seams. My old game board is 17 years old, and no problems. The new one… I doubt it will be 2 years before I have to use duct tape on the back side to hold it together. Cut game boards were a bad idea when they first hit the market with Trivial Pursuit, and should never have been continued.
And the board colors… They talk about how the colors are now so “bold” and “distinct”. Why then is UK baby blue and neutrals cornflower blue??? And why are all of the AA and IC’s gray (a shade lighter than germany, a shade less blue than UK) instead of WHITE like in the old game? Never any question about WHITE pieces, so why not stick with it?
Sorry, had to vent.