Posted in: Board Games, Games, Review, Steamforged, Tabletop | Tagged: Godtear, SFG, SteamForged Games, unboxing

Review: Godtear's The Borderlands Starter Set By Steamforged Games

Published Thu, 10 Jun 2021 17:12:16 -0500

Yesterday, we reviewed Eternal Glade, one of the two starter sets from Steamforged Games' tabletop hex-grid board game Godtear. Today, we will be looking at the second starter set from this game, titled The Borderlands. Here is what we think of it!

The box lid for The Borderlands starter set for Godtear, created and released by Steamforged Games. — The box lid for *The Borderlands* starter set for *Godtear*, created and released by Steamforged Games.

As a starter set, this product's layout is nearly identical to the Eternal Glade starter set, and with good reason: why change perfection? Steamforged Games' system of creating starter boxes for Godtear seems reasonably solid and to change the layout at all would most likely be a mistake.

Knowing this, when we opened the box, we see the same rule book and game board components right away, followed by the tokens and markers for the game, and finally the character game pieces, the dice, and the shrink-wrapped stat cards.

The core rulebook for Steamforged Games' tabletop board game Godtear, as well as the game board for this game. — The core rulebook for Steamforged Games' tabletop board game *Godtear*, as well as the game board for this game.

It's important to note that the key difference between The Borderlands starter set and the Eternal Glade starter set lie in the aesthetics and the different miniatures (and of course the stat cards of these minis). The Borderlands still has that really nice, sturdy game board, but it has a different layout and style to it than the one seen in the Eternal Glade release. Plus, this release has different models of entirely different factions as a decent way to shake things up.

The miniatures, dice, and stat cards for Godtear's starter set The Borderlands, by Steamforged Games. Note the bend in the sword for the champion on the bottom, Finvarr. — The miniatures, dice, and stat cards for *Godtear*'s starter set *The Borderlands*, by Steamforged Games. Note the bend in the sword for the champion on the bottom, Finvarr.

There is a slight issue that we have noticed in games with pre-assembled miniatures, or even in miniatures that are cast as one singular piece, such as The Other Side by Wyrd Miniatures. The pre-assembled minis are often made of more-rubbery plastic than the kinds of minis one would have to assemble manually. As a result, many of these minis have components that are bend to a degree that can't easily be rectified off the bat (you might need a heat gun to fix a sword, a staff, or similar aspects of a miniature as a result). Unfortunately, it seems as though Godtear has this issue. Take a look at the sword held by Finvarr, the champion on the bottom of the above image, His sword is bent in such a way that makes it look rubbery and sloppy. At some point, miniatures companies all across the board will need to look at these kinds of quality control issues and fix them, lest other people complain in an even worse way.

In the end, the two starter sets for Godtear by Steamforged Games seem to be great complements for each other and we are happy to get some games in once an adequate competition is found. Till then, we'll just have to be content painting these splendid miniatures up and ignore the bendy bits.

Do you agree with this unboxing review? Have you played Godtear or other games by Steamforged Games already? Let us know your thoughts and opinions in the comments below!

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