Dear fellow Runners and CEOs
Today I want to spend some time to write about something which is as essential as snitching or scoring agendas. The tokens we all are using during our games.
I think FFG did a great job with their design and I still love the "2 different sides" design of the vanilla 1 credit tokens. In general I cant really complain about it.
The only thing which really annoyed me after a while was the lack of 2 or 3 credit tokens. We all might agree that it is absolutely not necessary to use other tokens but sometimes we just want to.
For me my interest lit up with the acryl tokens (click marker) I won during the regionals 2013. They felt so good, were durable and I really liked the simplistic design. The FFG credit tokens are also very nice but you need at least 2 sets to be able to play with it but I only have one set.
New tokens:
During the last month several great companies like Team Covenant who makes the best Netrunner videos out there, Brokenegggames, Litko and Go7gaming spend money, time and effort into designing special equipment for Android: Netrunner. In the future I want to order more tokens from different companies to review but the shipping is very expensive at the moment so we will see how this will work out.
Today I want to review tokens from Brokenegggames which they send me for free. I was very skeptical at the beginning about the design of the credit tokens but during some weeks of playing with them I don't want to miss them. Please excuse the different angles and quality of the pictures. I am still experimenting with my lighting setup and camera.
Overview:
They offer 2 general sets, cyberpunk tokens and cyberpunk credit tokens. However you can buy single tokens. Credits are available for values of 1, 2, 3 and 5 plus bad publicity which has the same size as the credit tokens. Usually one token can be bought for 1 $.
Every credit has its own design which I really like. It is plain and simple and really good to see although you get more used to colors.
Only the value 3 credit token is a little bit more difficult to see but not as bad as on the picture. Every token has the same size and I am very pleased with their thickness and haptic. You can't snap them (only with brute force) and I expect them to survive many years. I used them a lot already and I was not really careful. The barely show scratches or other damages.
The size of the token is sophisticated. Don't get me wrong they are really big but that is useful because you can easily grab or flip them. They slide over your playmat which speeds up the whole game.
Talking about a certain style of playing I prefer to pile my tokens and that is something these tokens really shine:
To load Kati Jones or Daily Cast is so much faster and easier to keep track of. You can pile all those tokens and I don't waste time piling up 1 credits or changing money. For me that's simply beautiful and my number one argument if I would recommend it (see below).
The black color of the bad publicity tokens needs getting used to but they are so eye-catching you will never forget your 1 credit as the runner or corp.
The cyberpunk tokens are also brilliant. I arranged most of them so you get a feeling for their size.
Again, all tokens are of high quality and and are very neat. No sharp edges or other flaws. My favorites are the brain damage and virus tokens which are just stunning and useful. Brokenegggames definitely are players and they know what is useful and what is not. For me it is sometimes important to keep track of brain damage. If I or the runner forgets it it can be really annoying. This red and shiny brain is something you won't overlook.
The recurring credit is useful for cards like NBN: Making News or Cyberfeeder. You can flip them or push them down from the card. It is a nice little token to have.
The virus tokens are not too big and you can pile up a lot of them on a Datasucker.
In contrast to all the well designed tokens I am unsure about the ones with the nice lightning symbol on it and the advancement tokens. I found my self reluctantly at first but later always using the regular credit sticks for advancing cards. Nevertheless I really like to use them for hosted markers like Astroscript or Project Atlas but I don't use them for advancing cards. Maybe I am just to lazy but I want to mention that.
I never use the other token with the lightning symbol. I guess it should be used for MU but that's something I really don't need tokens for. Please let me point out that this is a highly specific criticism. You could use them for Femme Fatal markers or whatever.
Regarding storage I use the Ultra Pro Satin Tower box for my two decks. This box has a separate module for storing tokens which is perfect for one credit token set.
My other tokens are stored in a standard DIY market box for 5 $ / €.
It is pretty solid and will survive some punishment during tournaments. It is not the best solution and I will appreciate if others could come up with a better idea but for now it works. I want to have a system which is as small as possible but still as convenient as possible.
Conclusion:
It may be a very bad comparison but with tokens which are not really necessary for me it is the same with good whiskey. You don't really need it but when you have it you will really appreciate it and use it. If you want to have some variety and if you live in the USA I can really recommend those tokens. If you live in Europe like I do ask a couple of friends to combine orders to reduce the costs for shipping.
I love my tokens. they really speed up the game play, they are durable and have a nice haptic. They don't look cheap and you get this little poker chip / jetton feeling when you let them clatter which is awesome!!!! Sorry, couldn't resist to mention that.
If you want to buy them:
