Review of e-Raptor Insert Terraforming Mars + All Expansions: Standard, UV Print

Blurb from the publisher: 'The e-Raptor Insert compatible with Terraforming Mars and all its expansions is a perfect accessory designed to organize and improve the gameplay of the board game.

The insert is durable and made of high quality HDF. No glue is required to assemble it. You can hold all the game's components inside the box, including the board and the manual.'

What you get: This is a combo review of two different inserts, both of which accessorize Terraforming Mars, a game that proudly holds a position in the top-5 of BGG and is widely considered a modern classic.

- Terraforming Mars + All Expansions (EUR 45,50)

- Terraforming Mars + All Expansions UV Print (EUR 65)

Both items are identical when it comes to their components and design. Their only difference is that the exterior parts of the UV printed item have a UV print on them depicting the alien landscape in every conceivable hue of red.

Upon opening the organizer one is greeted by 5 HDF panels containing 67 laser-cut wooden elements. Two plastic elements are also included. When one finishes with assembly, he ends up with three different trays for the game's cards, cubes and tokens. The size of each tray's unit takes into account the size of the cards when sleeved.

In the interest of full disclosure, I used the tray for the base game and the following expansions: Hellas & Helysium, Venus Next, Colonies, and Prelude. I don't have Turmoil yet, so there.

The strong points: Terraforming Mars is a modern classic, it is also however a game with high setup times. It is thus no coincidence that many publishers produce inserts for it. E-Raptor's take is that of an insert only, as opposed to the The Broken Token Terraforming Mars Organizer which went for the insert and game organizer combo approach. Two of the organizers' trays seal with plastic lids, in order to keep all the components in place, while the position of the trays inside the box, aided by gravity itself, does the rest of the work. Rest assured: everything stays at the place you left it, irrespective of whether you store you box horizontally or vertically. The design of the plastic lids relies on simple pressure. No matter how much you shake a box, it will not open unless you press the cover at just the right spot. The trays are well-designed and perform their duties without issue. There is ample space left in my tray; I am confident that it will be able to handle Turmoil without any problem. The card tray has many separators, for those of us who enjoy keeping the cards of the expansions separate. It also takes into account the size of the cards when sleeved, which is one of the prime requirements from such inserts. Compared to a non-accessorized game, setup time is definitely improved. During the game your table is also bound to remain cleaner.

The inserts of e-Raptor are light years ahead of the competition when it comes to the quality of the laser cutting process and the lack of saw dust, splinters, and any kind of wood residue. It is always a good idea to clean the panels before assembly, yet you might not always need to. All the interlocking components have a lock of sorts in order to be easily assembled and disassembled. In that sense, they require a single clicking motion, not raw power. They also do not grind against their interlocking components. When e-Raptor says that you don't need glue, they really mean it.

Assembly is very easy once you understand what you need to do, and shouldn't take more than 15 minutes. The pieces are sturdy, with zero risk of breaking anything.

Compared to the insert of The Broken Token for the same game, e-Raptor's version wins hands down when it comes to durability, assembly and aesthetics, irrespective of whether one uses the standard or the UV printed one. The insert has two handles that allow you to effortlessly take it out of the game box, should you need to. The wooden texture leaves zero splinters and dust residue, something that inserts from The Broken Token are infamous for. Assembly-wise, e-Raptor's 'locks' (for lack of a better term) make the whole process a walk in the park. That cannot to be said about Broken Token's approach, which often leads to damaged tray components since assembly is based on 'push as hard as you can', and even then, you might still need to apply glue in a couple of places. I needed 15 minutes to assemble either of the two e-Raptor inserts, while it took me two hours (!) to assemble the insert of The Broken Token. Following assembly, e-Raptor's inserts look, and feel, more durable and less sensitive than their Broken Token counterparts. When it comes to the box closing, there is no real difference. Taking the expansions' many maps into account, the lid closes a full cm less irrespective of brand. E-Raptor's inserts however can handle the additional material from Turmoil; in The Broken Token's insert there is literally zero space left for anything, if you sleeved all the cards.

Aesthetics-wise, e-Raptor also comes on top. The brown colour in the simple version is far superior than the washed beige of The Broken Token. As for the UV print version, there is simply no contest. There's an astronaut walking on the alien landscape for crying out loud! All that having been said, The Broken Token insert performs better in a couple of other categories; keep on reading.

E-Raptor's line of inserts supports more than 60 different games up to now. Even if you don't play Terraforming Mars, you are very likely to find an insert for the games that you play the most.

The weak points: As much as I am comparing the present two inserts with The Broken Token's release, I will repeat again that they are not built for the exact same purpose. These inserts facilitate storage as well as the token arrangement during the game. They do not however provide player trays; e-Raptor sells those separately. The Broken Token's insert on the other hand included player trays, and arranged things so that player cubes are already in their trays inside the box..

This means, that by definition, and compared to a naked game, the insert from The Broken Token reduces setup time even more than the present inserts. It also serves the experience better in-game, with trays that firmly keep the cubes in one place. It also provides additional gadgets that allow you to see which achievements are still unclaimed, a first player token and, my personal favourite, two different trays for the gold, silver, and bronze cubes, instead of the standard single tray that the present inserts offer. This means that in a full table a tray can be placed next to every player, reducing clutter and arm-stretching. E-Raptor's inserts doesn't do any of that. The publisher sells player trays separately, one by one, but no additional gimmicks. Thus, if you intend to fully accessorize the game for all players following e-Raptor's approach, you will get a better performance out of the insert, yet the final tally will pass EUR 100.

To put that in fewer words: e-Raptor's approach is great, but the game insert, combined with the separately sold player trays, should have cost less. Much, much less.

Terraforming Mars is not housed in the most sturdy of boxes. If you transport your game around a lot, you will have to treat it more gently than before, lest the added weight and two protruding edges of the insert structurally weaken it.

Both products are luxury items addressed to deep-pocket gamers. The cheapest costs as much as a medium-sized game, let alone the UV printed one. If that sounds expensive to your wallet, it probably is. Incidentally, and in case you didn't figure that out, by using the present product you will have to dispose of the game's original insert or store it elsewhere. It's not a loss, for sure.

Conclusion: Both e-Raptor inserts for Terraforming Mars are an excellent upgrade for a much-loved game. Compared to one another, and depending on how much you can afford to splash, they perform equally well. Yet, they tackle things differently to other competing inserts on the market, and do not support some aspects of the in-game experience. It ultimately comes down to money: e-Raptor's inserts outperform their competition, yet fully accessorizing Terraforming Mars through e-Raptor costs more and takes up more space.

To find out more about e-Raptor and its inserts for Terraforming Mars plus its expansions take a look at http://e-raptor.pl.

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