We did notice that last night, though we just assumed the originals had worn down more than we thought from play. The new ones are very shiny and very smooth!
Also: In the three games we played last night (first ones ever with the expansion), using the preset starter books, the Forcemaster won pretty easily for everyone who played it. While this is likely just a local play group statistic, does anyone else have simular findings? At least with the starter books?
I have not experienced this. I have won with the forcemaster a couple of times, but I've seen it go down it's fair share as well. As long as players are smart to move their mages away. The forcemaster can hack away fast with that force blade that does a 4 dice double strike as a full action. As the prestiess I relied on a lot of heals and my creatures to do the deed. The next game I changed up to a wizard and one very quickly, with lots of lightning attacks and a royal archer.
Great game!