Well I checked out the older version of this and you did some fine improvements. My thoughts...well the pieces are still a bit rough on the edges..smooth modifier or Meshsmooth should probably be applied. Next I would UVW map the wood textures. Its easy cuz most of them would be made on a lathe so cylindrical UVW mappaing corrdinates would work fine. Next would be the lighting. Take one of your spot lights and look in the modifier panel and choose overshoot. This will add a nice full light without the harsh circular shadows. On the remaining lights turn off cast shadows and use em as fill lights. This will of course require you to carefully match the fill lights in your scene so that their sharp edges are not quite so obvious..Your getting there. Keep it up!

I cant agree with previous text. Look at the white pawns. they re wictims of cylindric map. You can cleary see seam on their front side.
I can suggest use of PLANAR mapping coord, then select sub obj-gizmo, and rotate it bit, click FIT on command pannel and you are home. Adjust gizmos on all figures, so they dont lok all the same.
Almost forgot, this requires texture of wood cut straight across the grain. Or, there is one good in maxs default textures, i think its "asshen.gif" or something like that.