I'm very excited to have received our first ever boxed version of After the Empire! This is the first major step in making a few updated playtest copies, spurred on not only by wanting it ourselves, but our very first customers! They played our game at PAX and have been waiting to get it ever since. We agreed to send them a couple mid-production copies for Christmas, and we're very honored these folks would want to get a version of our game at this point, as we still have a ways to go with art, graphic design, and a few other fine tunings. This box only came with the cards and chits, so we're still waiting for wood pieces from Denmark and game boards from Print and Play games in Vancouver, WA (they're not slow...I JUST emailed them the files today) in time to send off the games!
The down side of all the great progress we've made and continue to make is I know what is already out of date in this box! Our more recent art updates, like the awesome title logo by Patrik Hell, the Refugee deck card backs by Tomas O. Muir, the Fortified Keep by Baconstrap, and everything else between now and then, will have to wait for the next pre-production edition! But, what it does have is LOTS of great new art and pieces, tiny rules updates on the cards, and last but not least...the very intimidating roll out of our transition from text-heavy cards, boards, and other game pieces to an iconography dominant style (although I couldn't help adding some reminder text all over the place). We expect a few bruises, but I'm sure our playtesters and fans will get us whipped into shape quickly!
