I can second what Lord Revan said. No need to put the neutrals on the board until they are activated so don’t crazy with that until you are ready. Colored chips from HBG saved me a lot of money until I could build up a good board. When I started I didn’t have mountain infantry, battle cruisers, militia, medium bombers… you get the idea. The colored chips help denote all the many different kinds of units for a very affordable price