Essen 2007 preparationsPublisert: 12.10.2007In a week from now I’m in Essen drivelling over my new hot games. In the meantime I can try to single of all of the best games. I’m not going to Essen with a good intention of restricting my purchases; the limit will be between 40-50 games. The space in the car is the limitation, and with the a station wagon with a ski box on the roof, and only three people in the car on the return journey – no I’m not worried.
After reading nearly all the rules that are already released I believe that this year will be the best year ever in terms of quality games. That’s what I thought last year too.
Starting with the “will buy games” I’ll update this blog as I have time to write more. Hopefully I’ll be finished by this weekend. The pictures are linked from boardgamegeek, boardgamenews and cliquenabend.de.
The trip to Essen is more than the sheer delight of revelling in the new games and the experience of the Messe Halls, it’s also a social happening. In my first year in Essen, four years ago, we were six travelling together. This year we’re 27 travelling together. The trip from Oslo to Essen starts with the Oslo-Kiel ferry, 18 hour passage, and by car to Essen 4-5 hours. We stay together at the same hotel and this time it is the Mercure Hotel Plaza Essen hotel. Essen is a rare opportunity to meet and play with old gamer friends and to meet new ones. In addition I know of others Norwegians travelling by air or from other locations in Norway. The board game interest is on the rise in Norway, and no doubt why, we can thank the Internet.
I have every intention of blogging when I Essen too, a little about the games I’ve played and pictures. So, to the games I want, have prepaid or will most certainly buy.
Age of Steam: All the six expansion from Bezier games
Bézier Games, Ted Alspach
Rules: http://games.bezier.com/Jamaica-PuertoRicoRules.pdf
I am a fan of Age of Steam, though I haven’t played it in a long time, but yet I buy it? It was the two players and solitaire opportunity that drew my interest. And I’m getting a discount buying the lot, I can’t resist the discounts. Secondly I like buying games from the smaller companies. Last year I bought the all the four Stratamax games.
Agricola.
Lookout Games, Uwe Rosenberg
I’m buying this game with a large, BUT, it has to be the English version, and I know that the English version isn’t for sale yet. There is going to be an English version? Normally I don’t mind buying the German games even with a little text on the cards, but this game comes with a lot of cards with a lot of text, and then I pass. Agricola is a farmer games, and who doesn’t love to plant the seeds and see the crop grow. It does help that this game receives high praises. I’m going to look up the game, and possibly buy if it turns out to be manageable for gamers with non fluent German language skills.
Galactic Trucker.
Czech Games Edition, Vlaada Chvatil
Rules: http://www.boardgamenews.com/index.php/boardgamenews/comments/first_impression_galaxy_trucker/
Now this is the game that I have the highest expectations of all the games released at Essen. The fun factor is sky high, the theme is exiting and the originality is there. From the reports that I’ve read, this game can not be a miss for me. The session reports I’ve supports my belief in this game. The game consists of two distinct phases. First the players build their spaceship, and all at the same time competing for the same ship parts. The players must build the ships as big as possible but also as “structured” as possible. When the shipbuilding phase is over, the spaceships depart on their journey. The ships travel in order, and the player having his ships first in the line is to decide on his action. During the flight the ships will encounter perils but also adventures that can be very rewarding. During the flight the players must make decisions whether they will use their limited power supply to fight pirates, deflect asteroids, or try to sustain minimal damage. With an “unlucky” hit a spaceship may literally break in two. My guess is that this game undoubtedly will see playing time the first evening at the hotel.
League of Six
Czech Games Edition, Vladimir Suchý
Rules: http://www.pd-verlag.de/hamburgum/pdf/rules_hamburgum.pdf
My first impression of this game was dull and grey. The players are tax collectors who travel around and collect taxes in the villages trying to impress the king. Then I read the rules and became convinced enough to pre-order the game. I had to, I got a €5 discount, and could not resist. There are several interesting choices that a player must make in this game. A round starts with choosing which cities the players choose to bleed dry. Only one player can visit a city and there are as many cities as players. The players bid which city to visit, like the auction mechanism in Amun-Re, but a player also have to pay for travelling to the next city bid on. The player may save his resources by taking the cheapest city, or go for the desired city cost what it may cost. Then the players can rotate a disc and decide which resources he wants to tax. The player must choose carefully and have many alternatives on how to score points later in the round. Finally the players present their resources for the king and public. This is the climax of their efforts earlier in their turn and now they are rewarded. This phase also contains interesting decisions. Visualize a bookshelf. Each shelf has room for a specific resource which yields a given VP. When a player in turn starts filling a shelf, the player must try to complete the shelf, and then the players in clockwise must continue to complete it if possible. When a shelf is complete, the player next in turn must choose a new shelf to fill. This gives room for a lot of scripted actions. The game looks light and fast played, but with a lot of interesting decisions.
Cuba.
Eggertspiele, Michael Rieneck & Stefan Stadler
Rules: http://eggertspiele.de/down/cuba/cuba_regel_e.pdf
Unfortunately for me I was too late to get the de luxe edition in English. Cuba has many similarities to Puerto Rico, but is a little more complex and has more game mechanichs. As in Puerto Rico players grow crops, build buildings, ship goods and choose roles. But Cuba is more. Where Puerto Rico kept it smple, Cuba has developed more complex played and has added more flavour to the game, of I wish i had gotten one of those de luxe games with a sigar box. Cuba is much more thematic and offer many more choices of play. I doubt there are so many obvious strategies in Cuba as in Puerto Rico.
Civitas Hamburgum.
Eggertspiele, Mac Gerdts
Rules: http://www.pd-verlag.de/hamburgum/pdf/rules_hamburgum.pdf
I decided on buying this game after reading the rules. Pre-realising the rules seems to become the trend for the good of us players and the publishers. I’m buying more games when reading the rules beforehand. It’s a teaser. Of the 20 rules I’ve read so far, only two games have been a disappointment. Civitas Hamburgum is about church building. To become the most prominent church builders, the players must first develop an economic base by trading. The players move around on a rondel selecting actions. The players may only move three steps each turns, and must pay to take extra steps. The players may take goods for free, beer, cloth, or sugar, and with guild buildings they may take more goods. They may sell these goods, and with more ships the may sell more goods in one action. They may buy building materials to build guild buildings or make donations to the church. The economic cycle seems to work well. With many buildings the players may get more goods, though the prices go down. With more ships the players may sell more goods. The player has only one type of action each round but can perform this action as many times as desirable. But the players must not forget that this is about contributing to building churches, and as much as the players want to build a solid economy, the richest players doesn’t win this game. The players must carefully balance church donations with building the economy. The donations give some advantages too i.e. victory points, but I may have a concern. A church needs six donations before it is complete and the player to contribute with the last donation get all the glory, or so it seems to me. Donations get more expensive as the church draws near to completion though. I hope this is not a problem.
Uptown
FRED Distribution, Kory Heath
I’ve mainly heard about this game on the many boardgames podcasts out there. The game is simple, fast, yet very intriguing. The player must play pieces in a grid. The goal is to connect all your pieces in one group. The player with the fewest groups wins. Players may select to move other player’s pieces, as long as they don’t break a group in two, instead of playing an own piece, though this will also help the other player. This is a game you have to play to get the feeling for, so I’m buying this game for its good recommendation only.
Oregon
Hans im Glück, Åse & Henrik Berg
Rules: http://www.riograndegames.com/uploads/Game/Game_234_gameRules.pdf
Hans im Gluck is very secretive about their games. Oregon is the first published German game with Norwegian designers. I visited the Åse and Henrik last week, but they have been told to not speak about the game. The game is inspired by the PC game Cæsar III. Oregon is their first game they ever completed a finished prototype of. Hans in Gluck was the first company they approached. Rio Grande games will publish an English version. The rules are now released
1960: The Making of the President
Z-man games, Jason Matthews & Christian Leonhard
Rules: http://www.zmangames.com/boardgames/files/1960/MoP_Rules.pdf
Jason Matthews also was one of the two designers behind Twilight Struggle. Is this a clone of Twilight Struggle? Yes, it’s basically the same system. The theme is of course, different, but it’s a very good theme, especially for the Americans. This game is simpler and faster than its predecessor. The game also has parallels to die Macher, it's all about politics. So do I need the game. Oh yes I do.
Entdecker: Im Reich der Jadegöttin
Kosmos, Klaus Teuber
All though I’m no big fan of Settlers, I like many of his games and this surely seems to be one of them. This looks like a good explorer game as they will ever come. A no brainer purchase. This is the first game in a trilogy.
Kogge: Bornholm
MoD Games, Andreas Steding
This is an 5 player extension only, for the Kogge game. I really like Kogge opposed most others. The game was sold out 21/9 so there must be a few other fans out there too, or it’s a very small print run.
Chateau Roquefort
Rio Grande games, Bernhard Weber & Jens-Peter Schliemann
Rules: http://www.zoch-verlag.com/de/spiele/ba/srba_en.pdf
This game I’m purchasing as a game I’ll play with my kids. The board is built in layers with sliding tiles. As a player you’ll guide your four mouses collecting cheese, but watch out for the mousetrap. The players slides the tiles and a mouse can fall trough the trap and into the game box where it will reside until the end of the game. As its popular cousin, Niagara, this game will probably not offer much strategy or tactics, it is probably most sheer fun and enjoyment of watching the other players’ mouse disappear into the black void.
Race for Galaxy
Rio Grande games, Thomas Lehman
Rules: http://www.boardgamenews.com/gamepreviews/raceforthegalaxy/Race_for_the_Galaxy.pdf
This is a much awaited game and finally it is here. Reading the rules it struck me how similar it is to San Juan, but it is so much more too. It’s much much more complex, a bit over exaggerated perhaps? Reading the rules I was intimidated by all the combinations you could make. This is definitely not a game you will succeed in the first time you play. The game also resembles Lehman’s other new released game, Phoenicia, in that the players must maximize their cards and production utilizing the special powers the card gives you. I like these kinds of games, but this is not a game for everyone. The graphics is extraordinary beautiful and awe inspiring.
Origins: How we became humans
Sierra Madre Games, Phil Eklund
This is a civilization type game, but not one of those “ordinary” civilizations games. No, your destiny is to guide our species on to the current stage as modern humans. What a fantastic idea. I really hope this game lives up to its expectations for me. I’ve had a really bad experience with one of his former games, where my companions struggled for three hours trying to understand the game. I did the dishes, did the dishes again, and learned some other games before we played for one hour before we concluded one of us had to study the game further to play it. Finally I realized why we couldn’t cope with it, Phil Eklund states on his website that he designs intelligent games for intelligent people – we should have guessed!
Kingsburg
Stratelibri, Andrea Chiarvesio & Luca Iennaco
Rules: http://nuke.goblins.net/modules.php?name=Downloads&d_op=getit&lid=2211
This game is about dice; in fact it claims to be using dice in a new and original way, like in Yspahan. It’s not a luck based game in spite of the numerous dice. It used the dice in an allocation system, so a roll of 1, 2 and 3 is not inferior to 6, 6 and 6. The players place the dice on the King’ advisors, one set of dice in turns. There are 18 advisors with a value from 1 to 18, from the least powerful advisor numbered 1 to the most powerful advisor numbered 18. The most powerful is roughly as powerful as advisor 1 advisor 2 and advisor 3. Only one set of dice can be placed on each advisor, and the total value of the dice set must match exactly with the value of the advisor. Dice that can not be allocated are lost. An advisor will give you resources, gold or soldiers. The game is played over 5 years. In each year there are four seasons and the first three of them are productive season, in which you get the dice and can influence the advisors. In the winter the Goblins attack and you better be prepared. The winner is the player that has acquired the most VP. A season consists of placing the dice and influencing the advisors. Then players may build buildings and recruit soldiers. The buildings help you in battle, give you VP or advantages influencing the advisors. At the end of the season the King may reward the best “gouvernor” player, or the “gouvernor” that has developed the least. When the winter comes and you win in battle you get VP, but if you loose bad things happen, like loosing buildings, goods or VP. This looks like an interesting allocations and developing game. Don’t let the number of dice scare you away.
I'll try to write som more during hte weekend and it'l be about these games.
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Valley Games, Franz Benno Delonge
I don’t know much about this game. It’s a game about production and transport of goods. I tried to pre-order the special edition for pickup in Essen, but valley Games didn’t offer that.
Hannibal. Rome vs. Cathage
Valley Games, Mark simonitch
Finally I can get hold of this praised war game. I’ve never played it.
Brass
Warfrog, Martin Wallace
Rules: http://www.warfroggames.com/images/rules_eng.pdf
The theme for this game is intriguing, the industrial revolution where it all started with the cotton industry in Lancashire, England. This is a game on the same level of complexity as Martin Wallace’s latest games, Perikles and Byzantium, and they all have in Common a very strong and well incorporated theme built into them. The game is divided into two periods, the Canal period where the players use the canal routes to transport goods, resources and establish links, and the railroad period where railroad the players use railroads instead of canals. In the game the players build canals/railroads for transport, coal mines/iron which produces resources, cotton mills that produces cotton, shipyards and ports needed to sell the cotton. The actions you can make in the game are card driven. For some action you need a specified location card or an industry card. Some actions merely require you to play any card. The game contains a fairly unique mechanism. Any players may make free use of the other player’s buildings and the resources. If I pick up another players coal, I don’t pay. The players owning the buildings get VP when the buildings are used or their resources depleted. When there are no available resources on the board, then you have to pay for them on the market. It is obvious that this game requires much thought and planning, and it’s not a short game, it’s a gamers’ game. For the right crowd, I think this is an excellent game.
Amyitis
Ystari, Cyril Demaegd
Rules: http://www.ystari.com/amyitis/AmUS.pdf
Ystari has not yet failed in not delievering a good game yet, and they have not failed with Amyitis. The theme is weak, where the players try to gain the most prestige by building the hanging gardens, irrigation networks, and providing the necessary support for the gardens. This is euro game to the core and an excellent one, judging by the rules. I’ll refrain from delving deeper into the game mechanics, it will take to long. For me it’s an obvious purchase.
Prophecy
Z-man games, Vlaada Chvatil
Rules: http://www.zmangames.com/boardgames/files/prophecy/Prophecy_Rules.pdf
Prophecy is a Czech game that is not published in English. The designer is releasing Galaxy Trucker and did Through the Ages last year. I’ll buy anything this man creates, without any pre knowledge of the game. This game is a mixture of Talisman and Arkham horror. I would say that Arkham Horror and Prophecy, in context, is nearly the same game. Of course there are differences, but the players are doing the same thing in both games. One exception is the end game. The players may attack each other, though this doesn’t make much sense before the end game. In the end game there is but one winner, and the players must make each others. It’s difficult to create fantasy board games. Descent was a great disappointment to me. I have high hopes for this game.
Altamira
Zoch, Peter-Paul Joopen
I’m buying this game based on picture; oh well, I had read about the game too, but not found it that interesting, but put in some small figures with freak hair and….. The players are sent back in time to 7850 BC where the players must hunt the sabre-toothed tigers and cave bears to survive.
Crokinole
This is an old Canadian board game, from 1876. I tried the game at a game convention this autumn and I’d very much like to own it. The game isn’t available at Essen but I’ve made arrangements with a supplier and he’ll meet at my hotel. It’s not a cheap game, “only” €198m but this will definitely be a great success at home.
Im Jahr des Drachen
Alea, Stefan Feld
I haven’t read the rules on this game, they are not available yet. From the review I‘ve read it’s a good classic Eurostyle game a little more complex than Feld’s former Notre Dame.
Down under
Bambus Verlag, Günter Cornett
Rules: http://www.bambusspiele.de/download/e_downunder.pdf
This is a build your longest path like the Tetris game, except that the tiles are square, not hexagons like in Tetris. Also a tile contains a player’s colour and a neutral colour. The neutral colour can be used by every player. The Tetris game has several flaws, like all the forced moves and all the limitations in the end game. My only inclination against not buying the game is that the present edition is small and of lesser quality. A new and better edition is on its way. I’d like to see the game first and if the quality is ok, buy it.
The Circle
C4 /creative cell, Folker Jung
This is new company and Folker Jung’s fourth game. It is always exiting with new companies and I hope they succeed with this game. I plan to contribute to this by probably buying their game. The game is set in 1898 and an evil conspiracy, ”the Circle”, wants to take over the world. Each player controls a powerful nation that tries to infiltrate “the Circle” with their spies. Sometimes the players need to co-operate but the goal is to win over both the game and the other players. This sounds like a little of Illuminati to me, and that’s not a bad thing,
Antler Island
Fragor Games, Fraser & Gordon Lamont
Rules: http://www.boardgamenews.com/gamepreviews/antlerisland/AntlerIslandEnglishrules.pdf
I’ve yet to experience the sensations of acquiring a Fragor Games in Essen. This year I hope they realize that they have to produce enough games. In the game each player plays a stag that tries to … kiss … as many does as possible. This should not be an unfamiliar setting for most of us. The board is built in three levels and the does always travel to the top. The problem is that most of the food is on the lower levels. A stag needs food to increase his strength and develop his antlers. A stag will of course not allow other stags in his territory, so except lots of fights with a high testeorone in this game. I Fragor games has any games left by Thursday afternoon they will have one less left when I leave.
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King of Siam
Histogame, Peer Sylvester
Rules: http://www.histogame.de/siam/SiamRules.pdf
Thailand was never colonized by any European power, though the British were lurking in the shadows. This game is set in a critical epoch in Thailand’s history. An internal power struggle could end with a British take over. Three factions are fighting for power. The game is played over 8 turns and in each turn the struggle for one province is determined. At the end of the game, the player that has control of the faction that won the most provinces, is the winner. All the faction pieces are placed onto the board at the start of the game. The players have perfect information during the game. Players can use one action card each round that moves the faction pieces that may change outcome of a province. As a last action each player picks one faction cube from the board. This may also change the outcome of a province, and this faction piece gives the player influence over the game. There are no events or randomness in this game, it is influenced by the players only. The game is played by three or four players (two teams). This system sounds interesting to me, and it is a short played game. I recently heard a spoken book about the history and culture of Thailand and so it seem only fitting that I buy this game too.
Perry Rhodan: Die Kosmische Hanse
Kosmos, Heinrich Glumpler
A two player game with trade in space. The designer is a big fan of Merchants of Venus, and so am I, or at least, was.
Rattlesnake City
La Haute Roche, Sylvie Barc
Rules: http://www.lahauteroche.com/LHR_06_TELECH/RC_rules_US.pdf
This is a game from a small French company run by a married couple. They have several games out before this, but I’m not sure in an English version. I’ve never heard of them before. The game is yet another game that tries to capture the “Western” atmosphere in a board game. Will they be successful in this, I doubt it, but there are several interesting player interactions in here that will create tension. Mostly the game consists of building cities and generating income, but once I a while players can try to rob the other players banks ending in shoot outs, or stage poker party. A poker party may end in violence. If a player looses he may accuse the other player of cheating and once again this may end in violence. It might be a good game, and I’ll bet my money on it. Anyone, call me?
Robotics
Pegasus Spiele, Mario Coppman
Robotis, a game about building robots, parts for parts. Anyone getting associations to Fun Factory? Fun Factory was fun for a while, but too little player interaction took the fun out of the game. This game is a little more complex as it seems that each player has to build a production chain. Dirty tricks are allowed. Good enough for me.
Key Harvest
R&D Games , Richard Breese
A new game from Richard Breese in the key- series. That’s a game I can overlook.
Felix - the cat in the sack
Rio Grande games, Friedemann Friese
Rules, http://www.riograndegames.com/uploads/Game/Game_238_gameRules.pdf
This is an auction game where you don’t know what you get when the auction starts. As the name hints of, you may get the cat in the sack. You are bidding on cats, dogs (scare a cat away), rabbitt (useless) that have various values, mostly positive but also negative. Each player places one of the nine pre dealt cards on the auction table, so all the players know the identity of one of the cards for auction. The number of cats for auction is the number of players. Every player that passes gets money, 2, 4 or 6 mice money. The player who wins the auction, pays the bid and get all the cards. For each player that passes, a hidden card is turned over, so the players who stay in the auction get more information about what they buy. The player with the most valuable cats wins the game. This sounds like awful fun, and fats auction games are always popular. A must buy.
I would have like to write more, but I started on this blog to late. I pack tomorrow and drives my luggage to a frien in my gaming group who wil ldrive. This is good news for me since I get transport for all of my fresh purchased games to my doorstep. Last year when I was dragging my two suitcases, three bags and two plastic bags to my office, a complete stranger asked me if he could drive me somewhere. I was a bit embarrased but also relieved, thanked and accepted the kind offer. My friend is a newbie in Essen and has some wonderful days ahead for himself. We'll meet at the ferry terminal at 12:30. The ferry leaves for Kiel at 14:00 and we have some quality time playing games and get to know each other. I only know half of the people in this year's record breaking 27 people Essen contingent!
These are the games also on my list.
Interested in purchasing
Jantaris
Laboriginals
Utopia
Wadi
Moai
Anno 1701: Das Brettspiel
Patrician
Power & Weakness
Tribune
Handelsfürsten – Herren der Meere
Giganten der Lüfte
Auf Achse
Steam over Holland
Pick & Pack
Could be purchasing
BOL (Balls of Light)
1001 Karawane
Borneo
Quest for the Princess
Cheeky Monkey
Dust
Medievalia
Ming Dynastie
Napoleon's triumph
Animalia
Der goldene Kompass
Daedalus
Porcellini (love pigs)
Easy School
Conquest of Paradise
Looked into but not very interested
Gangster
Gipsy Kings
Money Lisa
Battue: Storm of the Horse Lords
Oil field
Ghost for $ale
trond m.