I’m probably an outlier, but I prefer the old unit graphics. It was much easier to tell the difference between the units. I prefer the horse and ship units in profile in the original edition, as opposed to front quarter view here. It was a little hard to see the horse archer’s horse at first. I might mistake it for a missile unit instead of a cavalry unit.

Also, maybe it’s nitpicking, but the horse artillery graphic has the cannon barrel pointing the wrong way for a limbered cannon.

Option 2 Papyrus on the Benin card is very clear and readable.

Also, on the Maruyans/Guptas card, Option 2(?): with a straight light tan papyrus back but include a letter code for the action in the corners inside a circle of the same colour as the heading and title of the action.

Concerning unit graphics, basic is better. We don’t need “action graphics” from comics or video games. I very much second the comment by Hans (Hans Feldmann on 1 Dec 05:38) above.

Thanks for your comments, very interesting and much food for thought, both with the cards and the counters. I get the general gist is that simple and elegant that makes the text as clear as possible is the best way to go.

As to the counters, these are the kingdom units (see option 10 in the rules) and the player’s units are in lighter colours so most are black text onlight colour (only some of the darker second colours are inverse printed like the kingdom units. We can (and will where possible) print the counter images without the white shadow behind.

Finally the discussion about unit type clarity. All the units of the same type have the same value now with the darker veteran empires +1 primary value while the bi colour elite empires are +1 primary and secondary value. So you quickly become familiar with the different unit types but we will do what we canto ensure the differences between otherwise similar units. The ships, cavalry and planes are presumably pretty obvious (being the only units with a ship, plane or horsie in them) but we could have all missile units facing say left while all infantry face right so you can quickly tell between them if that helps.

Thanks for your help, much appreciated.

Dark text on light background the best for easy reading. Functional over pretty.

I will repeat my counter comment from the campaign. I think all units should face the same way (against a common enemy) and facing right seems the most common.

The new (blue, brown, red) cards are a fun attempt at punching up the layout, but they are significantly inferior to the previous Option A in readability and magnify the less important title and number at the cost of the text. I think Option A (or B, I don’t see much difference) is by far the best version shown. The white on dark text for the number was successful at helping make it pop and, for me at least, compensated for its small size. I appreciate your efforts on these improvements, as these cards are going to be much better than the originals.

Blue A

Brown B is the only one tolerable – the other two new offerings are light text on dark background, which is nigh on unreadable for me. My vote remains for A) Plain Papyrus, no border.

Blue A

Option A (plain papyrus, plain border) with letter code seems to me the easier way to always get the minimum requested information, but without a too « baroque » design, giving too many data (colors, etc.)

Option B

Hi,
I do like the “both” option with reservation as I would appreciate the card number in it’s own light box please because these numbers are getting lost in the new edge colour.
Cheers.

Option 3 is the best. If not option 1, but never option 2, you go one way or the other but halfway is never the answer.

option A is best, the lighter the Papyrus the better and please no borders with metallic colours. So I vote for no borders or borders in basic plain colours with no shinny effects. To me even more important: Remove the borders from the letters

Plain Papyrus

A) Plain Papyrus, no border

Papyrus background (option 2)

I prefer Option A for the Events. But my highest preference is for not delaying the printing process at all!

Option A seems clearer than B or C for events. Can’t imagine what option D would need to be to be better than A.

I can’t really see the event background in the originals, it’s kind of hard to tell what it’s supposed to be, so I’m definitely in favor of the papyrus background. I also like the idea of the action letter, so my preferred option would be 3, with option 4 a close second.

As for the unit graphics, I don’t have a problem with the originals at all. I personally feel like some of the new mock ups are too over the top. The first spearman, particularly, looks like it’s out of a video game and that archer—why would he twist all the way backward to fire? I’d prefer a more realistic look. The new chariot, for instance, looks period appropriate, like it might have come off a Greek tomb wall. Just my preference, but I’d rather the art favor realism over cartoonish, video game aesthetics.

Option 3 all day long. Papyrus with the letter code showing when it can be played. Adding the letter code is a great idea and be implemented. The papyrus without all the coloring like the blue on other options is better. Papyrus is easier to read.

Thanks for giving us the chance to give our thoughts on the card design.
Please use papyrus as background – make it as readable as possible and please use icons instead of these metallic looking colours. To me card number 3 counting from the top looks best. Also, I would love so see the metallic frames around the boxes removed

Code letter is a must. Will really help new players.
Foe the 2004 edition I made cards for each artifact, religion, leader type (draw the card(s) of your leader’s expertise) and governments explaining the effects of each on the card.
Any chance of cards for Artifacts, religions etc.?

Thanks for your efforts Harry (and crew).

keep them in basic papyrus but with a code letter for the action the event can be played

The papyrus is way better with its plain background. For the upper part of the card, if you absolutely want an illustration, set all data on the left or right side of the box and the illustration on the other side. Otherwise the readability is terrible especially for the Egyptian card where Thoutankam head just prevent a good read… And i am reading this card on a big PC screen, ti should be much worse on a true game card… To gain place, you may lower the size of the font of the people (example “Pharaonic Egyptians” as on the contrary, it appears easily.

regards,

Bernard.

No background would be the best. From the options you offer, obviously papyrus.

I agree that Papyrus is the best choice (of those 3). I would also strongly recommend black font; it may be my screen, but to me the fonts appear shades of grey or even brown. Lack of clarity is as important to the letters as it is to the sentences. Also, please avoid white on black (which I have not seen in 7 Ages, but just in case!).
On a related matter, may I suggest that the Card No be shifted to the bottom right corner. This would give you most of another line to enlarge the text into. Every iota of improvement is a big deal – especially as my memory is as bad as my eyesight, meaning that I have to repeatedly read my cards.

Obviously, papyrus. All others are hard to read. And even papyrus can be hard to read. The beige background at the bottom could be lighter; the image of the lady as well. Any black font on grey, or worse images, is hard to read. If there are background images they should be really faint 🙂

Starting to look pretty definitive. What about different light background colours (still with the same papyrus pattern, so immediately you can see which event you can play in this action? They would all be really light (I’d make this standard one even lighter than it is now so that there is no impediment to the text) and still have that moldy edge feel.

These changes are relatively easy and only take me about a week to do, so just tell me what you want and I can show you final samples before the end of the gamefound campaign.

Papyrus background looks best to my eyes.

The 3rd option is much better because the text is on a solid plain background making it much easier to read. Several players in our group have a tough time reading text on a graphic style background.

Papyrus is the clear winner IMO

I would like the Papyrus background.

Thanks.