I like this board, it makes for a fun and interesting game with little risk of a protracted standoff ending. I prefer the free holders scenario to the lord holders as it seems to me the lords in the lower section of the map has an initial advantage to the ones in the upper section, but as I won my only game starting in the upper region it can't be too bad. For the free holders I'd say this is the better Pern board, but both are worth playing.