Review Summary: A well-designed insert for yet another token intensive game that let you out to dry.

Blurb from the publisher: 'The e-Raptor Insert compatible with Cyclades and its Hades, Titans, and Monuments expansions is a perfect accessory designed to organize and improve the gameplay of the board game.

Thanks to this insert you can arrange all its components and keep them in order - no more mess on the table while playing. No more looking for necessary elements during the game.

You can hold all your miniatures, sleeved cards, tokens, dice etc. in one place without being afraid of losing control of the setting. They can be easily accessed and do not take as much space as during the game without an insert. Also, when the box is closed, the components are still kept in order, ready for setting another game quicker than ever before.

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, the player aids and the manual.'

What you get: Your EUR 48,50 or equivalent will buy you the e-Raptor Insert Cyclades + All Expansions, an organizer that can accommodate the base game and all the expansions of the Cyclades game line.

Upon opening the organizer one is greeted by 5 HDF panels containing 67 laser-cut wooden elements. Eight plastic components are also included. When one finishes with assembly, he ends up with six trays with a lid for each player's miniatures and tokens, one tray with a lid for all the remaining tokens and minis, and one partially covered tray for the game's cards and remaining tokens and minis. The tray for the cards 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 three of its expansions: the Creatures Crossover with Kemet, Hades, and Titans. I still don't own Monuments, so there.

The strong points: Aah, Cyclades. Another game where the publisher didn't even try to make it a pleasant experience to set up and store. Funny how come publishers feel that their responsibility ends by delivering you the game components safely, without putting some thought in a game-specific tray. In any event, that's what the present insert is here to rectify.

To start with, everything now fits the box tightly. The compartments are very well made, and keep the components separated while allowing them some space to breathe. I lack Monuments, as I already stated, yet even after I finished with the placement of the components in the box, there was ample space left in order to accommodate the components of that expansion. The arrangement, as expected, seriously reduced set up time and kept the table partially cleaner during the game.

All my personal requirements are met. Sealable boxes mean that you can store either vertically or horizontally without worrying about components falling off. The design of their plastic covers 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 and slide it outwards. The tray that caters for sleeved cards is inclined. No card will ever fall down, even if you turn the box upside down and shake it violently; the game now packs all its components tightly, remember?

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 rather easy once you understand what you need to do. The whole affair shouldn't last more than 15 minutes. The pieces are sturdy, with zero risk of breaking anything. Read however the manual carefully before assembling the personal army boxes; keep on reading about that.

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

The weak points: The only serious weakness for which I considered docking a full point (but ultimately didn't), is that you have to be extremely attentive to the assembly instructions. Thanks to a quirk in production, placing a particular component one direction or the other appears to make no visual difference, when it makes a difference of around 0,5 mm. These 0,5 mm will prohibit your from properly assembling the personal army boxes. Initially I had done only two out of six correctly. My increasing efforts to conclude the other four partially damaged two of them, at which point I disassembled and reassembled them, correctly this time. Ultimately, there is no harm done: none of them was permanently damaged. I didn't pay that close attention to the rulebook, my bad. Still, my advice to the publisher would be to expressly avoid designs where the direction of placement looks unimportant, yet which ultimately risks damaging the trays' components. In all honesty, rulebooks of accessories like this should be there to glimpse upon, not to meticulously study.

With all the materials safely tucked in, the box now closes some 3 mm less than it should have. Since everything is tightly tucked inside however, and there is no chance of the components moving around or falling out, it is not a biggie.

You will not be able to use most of the insert's trays during the game. The cards cannot remain in the card tray, while your armies and navies should be deployed in front of you in order to have a faster visual confirmation of the units that remain at your disposal. In other words, this is an insert mostly dedicated to storage and set up. Out of the eight trays overall, expect to use only one of them during the game.

Cyclades 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 few protruding edges) of the insert structurally weakens it.

This is a luxury item addressed to deep-pocket gamers. It actually costs as much as a game itself. 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.

Conclusion: The e-Raptor Insert Cyclades + All Expansions is a solid accessory that will facilitate the life of everybody who enjoys the incessant bidding and calculating of Cyclades. Read the manual carefully before assembly in order to avoid surprises, and enjoy the newfound order.

To find out more about e-Raptor and its insert for Cyclades and all of its expansions take a look at http://e-raptor.pl.

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