First of all let me state that i really really love Magewars and play it regularly with a couple of friends and that i own every single expansion as well as first and fourth edition of the basegame along with all the extra stuff like markers spelltomes and extra spellbooks. When Magewars came out i was immediately hooked and me and my friends love this game so much.

Sadly i have come to notice that the quality of the product has gone down significantly since the production was moved to china. I had to request a substitue for the cards in "Forged in Fire" since the cards all sticked together and got completely destroyed when trying to seperate them http://www.pic-upload.de/view-28498759/ForgedinFiredamagedcards.jpg.html
note that i got a substitue set of cards sent to me immediately by arcane wonders after i contacted my dealer (im from germany) so i got what i paid for, but the feeling of "cheap" quality of the product still stuck with me. For example the new cards feel just weaker and not as stiff as the old cards and also the varnish feels just worse.

Today my brand new copy of Battlegrounds arrived and my excitement for it (since we are normally 3 players this would be the perfect way for us to be albe to play all at once) took a major hit: The cards were fine, but all the terrain pieces were damaged at least from the backside, many also on the frontside and one piece even lacked cardboard in the outer edge of the connecting part (see pictures).
http://www.pic-upload.de/view-28498748/BattlegroundsTiles2.jpg.html
http://www.pic-upload.de/view-28498747/BattlegroundsTiles3.jpg.html
http://www.pic-upload.de/view-28498746/BattlegroundsTiles4.jpg.html
http://www.pic-upload.de/view-28498754/BattlegroundsTilesfront1.jpg.html
http://www.pic-upload.de/view-28498756/BattlegroundsTilesfront2.jpg.html
http://www.pic-upload.de/view-28498757/BattlegroundsTiles.jpg.html
http://www.pic-upload.de/view-28498753/BattlegroundsTilesmissingcardboard.jpg.html
http://www.pic-upload.de/view-28498733/Battlegroundsmanual3.jpg.html
http://www.pic-upload.de/view-28498738/Battlegroundsmanual2.jpg.html
Also the Manual had visible wear on it straight from the box. It seems to me that the terrain pieces were stacked before they were completely dry so that they "glued" together and the movement of the box from the shipping etc caused the paint to rub off of the cardboard pieces. This looks really ugly and i am going to contact my dealer to get perhaps a new set of terrain.

So why am i posting this you may ask? The thing is that i want Arcane wonders to hear my voice and that of my friends who play with me regulary and also own all the Magewars Stuff: We love the game! But our enjoyment starts to decline just because the quality of the new product that is released is worse than what we were used to. Note that we would gladly pay 20% or even 30% more if it would result in a quality like the first basegame or the first expansion! Also note that i really dont want to take the hassle all the time to get replacements for the damaged parts of my orders. At this point i am questioning weather i should even buy Mage Wars Academy solely for the fear that the quality also will be mediocre. I also own sheriff of nottingham and here i can also see the cheap quality of the components, for example the sherrif cant be assembled without using glue due to the fact that the cardboard is stanced out slightly incorrect.

I dont think that this game deserved this! I really love playing it and i want it to grow and become popular so that there are many more expansions and sets for me to play and discover. I just want to let you guys at Arcane Wonders know that me and my friends would gladly pay more for the game if it resulted in a better overall quality of the game. What frustrates me about this particular incident is that Battlegrounds was delayed due to quality problems. I really liked the decision by Arcane Wonders to delay it and assure a better card quality. When i heard that announcement i immediately thaught of the damaged cards of my first forged in fire expansion and was glad that they wanted to fix it. What i do not understand is how after they supposedly fixed it it is possible that i get that product in such a bad condition!

I would appreciate some feedback! Am i the only one who thinks that the overall quality has gone down? Have others gotten damaged / bad quality product in the past or am i an exception? Am i overreacting? Are the damaged tiles fine and i shouldnt claim replacement? I would love to hear some other peoples opinion on this and of course i appreciate any feedback from Arcane Wonders. I sincerely love your games, please keep on making them!

best regards
Felix

Well i dont know if someone already metioned this, but all the Products until Forged in Fire that i own state: "Proudly made in the USA" on their back. FIF however states: "Made in China" And the qulity is poorer, in my first copy of FIF one pack of Cars was completely useless since they were glued together, seemingly a result of being Packaged too early before drying, resulting in them sticking together and not being able to seperate them without destroying them. Also one card (Warlord Stats) was missing completely. Also the Cards have a slightly different Colour tone on the edges as well as a different "smell". So to me it seems like the quality went down a little in correlation with moving the production to china. Pleas note that i am still 100% satisfied, i got a very quick replacement copy of my FIF. My copy of the 4. edition core sat hasn´t arrived yet so i cant comment on the quality of this. I will post here as soon as i get my hands on it. I am suprised that nobody here mentioned the change of the production location as stated on the back of the products.

Yes they fit perfectly into the spellbooks. I bought them at my local gameshop which is kind of strange since they only have Magic and Games Workshop stuff, but apparently they also ordered these sleeves.

I already bought both variants. Its 50 per Pack so i had to buy 2 packs each. Dont really know what you mean with Glare Pro Matte variety Wildhorn.