Terraforming Mars: Big Box Review with Tom Vasel

Tom Vasel takes a look at the big storage box and tiles for Terraforming Mars!

Intro 0:00
Overview 2:24
Final Thoughts 10:31

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[bruno]

This is exactly what you’d expect from a big box put together by those who came up with the components for Terraforming Mars

[boardgameknight]

Glad you reviewed this, Tom! Totally took care of my FOMO. ;)

[simonadams]

that box was $100 + shipping. Insanity.

[Pantenkind]

I got it, im glad I did, but I will never support another stronghold kickstarter again. They had a chance to really make this nice. Even the insert itself, though functional, does not seem custom at all. Add the poor quality control and other issues and you really have an underwhelming product that we paid a very premium price for

[wayner]

The instructions for placing the game components did come with the box on mine. Unfortunately, it was attached to the plastic covering for the box.

Just letting you know that how you placed your components were different from the official instructions. Basically, on top of the 1st tile tray held both hex map boards and the rulebooks. The top 2 trays are for your 3D tiles. The 3rd tray held your player boards, expansion boards, prelude cards, and the various cubes minus the original big white cubes. The bottom tray held all your expansion components. I don't own all the expansions (just prelude and the map board) so I used the bottom tray to hold all the original hex tiles from the main game.

My biggest issue with the big box is that it is very hard to take out the 3rd tray once it's filled with components. I was disappointed that it did not come with the upgraded player boards nor the domes.

[tttopolis]

Totally agree! Anachrony had a great gyide to how to organize everything in the huge mega box. No reason for companies not to theow this in!

[brianw]

As someone who doesn't have any etsy stuff, it is a nice upgrade. Definitely could be a lot better but whatever, at least I can store all my TM stuff in one place

[thomasblaine]

Completely agree. I was underwhelmed. For a deluxe upgrade, it was lackluster. And not having an instruction sheet was maddening!

[thomasromanelli]

Overall, the product is competently made and has delivered reasonable value for the content vs. price point. It doesn't really wow (especially compared to other 3rd party, more expensive tiles) but it remains a significant improvement over the base game. The real issues that will make me pause before I ever back a project from Stronghold again:

1] Incomprehensible QC faults from an experienced publisher- promo cards that are different sizes and barely fit the expensive, custom sleeves? Card box insert wrong size? Metal cube packaging (which wasn't their fault entirely)?

2] The poor and unprofessional communication from SHG in the forums. I DO NOT excuse any rude or derogatory comments from backers, but a publisher doesn't have the luxury for talking down to its backers, ever.

3] The "unsolicited refunds" to backers deemed to be "problematic" in their negative commentary- which sets a terrible precedent for KS.

Tom Vasel summed it best- I'm glad I ordered it and will have it in my collection, but will be even more glad when fulfillment is all behind me.

[ninehundred]

ORGANIZATION FIX! Not having an organization guide is annoying and it frustrated me for a few minutes but I just printed off the portion of the original ks page that shows where everything goes. It’s about half way down the page in a section titled “Organization”. I printed out that section and stuck it in the box. I know it’s dumb that they didn’t do it but we can’t fix that side of it. Hope this helps others!

[liambest]

Agree with Tom here, in that I'm glad I have it, but only because it's better than nothing at all. I definitely don't feel like I got my money's worth since it cost $120 (including the fleet ships and first player marker) and that's not even including shipping (which was not cheap to the UK)

[wayus]

I was sad I missed the Kickstarter. Then, I was glad.

[firststrikewrestling]

I love my TM Big Box. It serves its purpose of holding everything together in one place. It sure did replace the flimsy original box that's for sure. The only thing though is that it's not as portable as before; I cannot be bringing that around everywhere.

[sds]

The kickstarter updates have a new layout update. Lays out all the inserts and where it all goes in the box.

[JohnQSpartan]

I must say I received my Big Box the other day, and I'm completely happy with it. I think the box and tiles are beautiful and the insert is well thought out. As mentioned it should have had instructions on how to sort everything into the box, but that's about the only criticism I can levy against them, which isn't much in my books.

[Monkeyby]

I'm glad I didn't get this one. However, one that I wish did come out would have been a Big Box for Western Legends... They didn't even consider it in their last kickstarter which finished up the series.
Hopefully companies will take notes on how to run things better in the future.

[chrisnelson]

The only original parts I have left are the cards, player cubes and rule book. Everything else has been changed.

Also, to bad you didn’t get the cubes. Would’ve loved that video.

[ClockworkWyrm]

I never could have backed this because the price is prohibitive but I'm still glad I didn't. It's a nice idea, as the multitudinous amounts of upgrades on Etsy attest, but poor execution. Heck Even Wingspan which had no insert printed a packing guide on the side of the box, it's not that hard.

Also, unrelated, you've come a long way over the years Tom and it's great to see you still going strong. Thank you for all you do for the community.

[JeSuisLaChic]

Great honest review Tom! Perfect timing after that "Ugly but beautiful inside" video where you all talked about Terraforming Mars and its lackluster game components, and needing to do so many upgrades.

[suorastas]

I really like TM but I’m quite content only having Prelude and Hellas/Elysium. The game doesn’t need to be any more complicated and it all fits in the original box.