Welcome back to Aeon’s End week! Today concludes the War Eternal highlights with a review of The Broken Token’s Aeon’s End wooden insert! Seen above is the packet and my trusty hobby hammer. I do recommend having a small/light hammer or mallet of some sort for all insert assemblies, it makes getting things SO much easier.

~|Assembly|~

All the sheets! There are 7 total, though 1 “sheet” is actually just the 1 large back piece for the nemesis and sundry tray.

Here we have the finished large pieces with the trays that fit inside each. See the last section for the “filling” of the trays to see how they go together and what goes where.

All the finished pieces stacked the way they go in the box. You’ll note the 2 large sections from the previous picture as well as the 2 smaller trays that join them.

~|Inserting|~

|War Eternal/2nd Edition box|

This is how the bottom/main tray fits into the War Eternal box. It was at this point that I started to get worried. Broken Token had emailed everyone that pre-ordered this insert, as well as warns within the insert listing on their site, that due to various factors the final version of this insert causes lid lift in the 2nd Edition/War Eternal boxes, but I didn’t quite grasp the extensiveness until I was actually assembling it.

This is everything stacked how it’s supposed to be inside the box. You can see here just how much it sticks above the box bottom.

They include this rubber band with the insert to help keep your box closed and tight, but this shows just how much the lid is lifted, around an inch or so.

|1st Edition box|

If you backed or purchased the 1st Edition of Aeon’s End, like I did, then you have another option for using this insert. This is how the main/bottom piece of the insert fits into that box. So much more room!

As seen above, the stacked trays fit much nicer into the 1st Edition box going only slightly over the top of the box bottom.

This shows the tiny amount of lift with this box. You wouldn’t (or at least I don’t) need the rubber band with this setup.

|Opinion|

I really do not like lid lift. If you read my insert review for Dead of Winter: The Long Night, you’ll know I cringed just from the small amount of lid lift with that insert. As such, I am glad I have the 1st Edition box to use with this insert because I wouldn’t trust it in the War Eternal/2nd Edition box with that much lift (even with the rubber band). With a move coming up in my near future, I shudder to think how it would hold up getting jostled about or with other games stacked on top of it. That may just be me thinking the worst, though, and if you don’t mind lid lift then feel free to use the insert with either box.

~|Transfer|~

Here are the upper trays with all the assorted counters and accessories nicely snuggled in their respective compartments. This insert was designed with the Accessory Pack in mind (check out this past Tuesday’s article for the details on what all comes in that), which I have, so it was nice that everything has a place.

Having decided to use this insert with the 1st Edition box, here is the main piece of the insert complete with all the cards and breaches (which are underneath the health tray). There is some room for expansion but not a ton. If they release another War Eternal-size stand-alone expansion, this insert will not hold all that content. But it’s plenty for the current content in Aeon’s End.

And here are the filled trays stowed on top of the main insert piece. The nemesis and mage areas are just large enough to hold the current mats and wouldn’t have room for any further expansion content. But the current content, as mentioned above, fits nice and snugly.

~||~

I mentioned above my concerns with using this insert in the War Eternal/2nd Edition box, so I would caution you to consider the lid lift when deciding whether to buy this if that’s the only box(es) you have. However, if you have the 1st Edition box, I would definitely recommend this insert. It’s much better than the 1st Edition cardboard insert, and the War Eternal cardboard insert is something I don’t even want to talk about (hint: it’s awful).

Overall, this is another solid insert from The Broken Token. The main frame isn’t quite as sturdy as, say, the Legendary insert, but it holds up nicely enough to keep the trays stacked on top in place. You can buy additional dividers from TBT’s website if you need more ways to divide things, though with the dividers that come with the various packs I found the amount of wooden dividers that comes with the insert to be more than sufficient. The trays themselves organize things in a very logical and helpful way for use during the game as well.

Game on!
Scott – The Solitary Meeple