Blue Panther JCD piecepacks: some notes

["Ron Hale-Evans" <rwhe@...>]

As Marty mentioned, I got my new birch JCD piecepacks the other day
from Blue Panther and was thrilled with them. I also brought them to
game night and they were much admired. The sets have been pretty
thoroughly described on the list already, so I'm just going to give a
few impressions that no one else has mentioned.

1. I playtested one of the competition games (no, I won't say which
one) with JCD Set 1 at game night, and the set worked very well. Every
time I handle the set, it's obvious how much loving care has been
given to making the JCD sets ergonomic, and this is even more true
with the latest revision Jonathan did for the Blue Panther sets, with
the bigger pip icons and so on.

2. The dice are especially nice. They are significantly larger than
any other piecepack dice I have seen (although I haven't measured
them, I estimate they're an inch on a side). They also show the suit
icon on every side, which is very useful if you roll a null, so you
don't have to squint to see which suit the die is if you're rolling
more than one. Finally, they have directional ticks like the coins on
every side, making them easy to use as directional pawns and so on
(and of course the pawns have suit icons on them, making them
directional too). I don't know whether directional ticks were always a
feature of the JCD dice design, but either way, good going Jonathan!

3. This didn't bother me at all, but a couple of my friends remarked
that the tiles were unpleasantly slightly sticky, probably from the
fixative they were sprayed with. I wonder how long it will take to
wear off. Steve?

4. The box each piecepack comes in is surprisingly small, but has
ample room for all components.

5. Great customer service! I made a special request to Steve, that
instead of engraving my name into the lid of the box, he use my
monogram:

http://www.ludism.org/~rwhe/rwhe.jpg

He did so, and the result is striking. I can't speak for Steve, but he
was more than willing to use my "laser-ready" art on request; perhaps
he would be willing to do the same for you if you have a simple
graphic you'd rather have engraved than your name.

All in all, a fabulous couple of sets, and another step forward into
the mainstream for the piecepack.

Ron

--
   Ron Hale-Evans ... rwhe@... ... http://ron.ludism.org/
Mind Performance Hacks book: http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/mindperfhks/
	   Center for Ludic Synergy: http://www.ludism.org/
(revilous life proving aye the death of ronaldses when winpower wine has
		   bucked the kick on poor won man)