#essenspiel

[613mandi]

We had a chance to play Wreck Raiders during a break today. Your divers are trying collect treasures, from the beach or wreckage, for your vault and to complete your displays. A nice game to play with the fam jam! @kidstablebg #essen #essenspiel #boardgames #games #gamer #tabletop #wreckraiders #geek #geekgirl #fun #divers #dicetower #todieforgames #famjam (at Messe Essen) https://www.instagram.com/p/Bpci5pxjeFO/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=1691r7i0xfm0x

[meeplegamers]

What a great game! Cute and smart. Played with a 6 year old. She loved the cute minis, and the idea of different monsters attacking throughout the game. • @vesuviusmedia_games #dwar7swinter #boardgames #boardgamesofinstagram #boardgame #tabletopgames #tabletopgaming #tablegaming #jogodetabuleiro #juegodemesa #jeuxdetabuleiro #messenspiel #essenspiel

[613mandi]

Thanks for the mention @eriksafvenberg! The issue is gorgeous. I’ll need to translate it, but I can’t wait to read it! @dicetower #essen #bradspel #magazine #Germany #podcast #boardgames #essenspiel #friends #new #feature #photo #potd #smile #strong #fun #pic #goodday #nerd #geek #gamers

[escapevelocitycollection]

[Image descriptions: a huge box of boardgame Ceres accompanied by an alien, dice in the ruin stall of Dakota Irish, game pieces of Voidfall, Dune: House Secrets and Quest, a wooden d&d table by Rathskeller, a banner of Dungeons & Lasers, an assortment of coins, and an overview of the stand of boardgame Eclipse]

Last week I went to the world’s largest public fair for boardgames: SPIEL! Hall after hall is filled to the brim with stalls full of games, dice and merchandise (like beautiful D&D tables!). Everywhere publishers present their new games on tables where visitors can sit down and try them. The fair was a little smaller this year due to you-know-what, but still there was more than enough fantasy and sci-fi themed games to gawk at. Unfortunately, I only got to play a couple of games, but a review of the quick social deduction game Quest is coming up! - Key

[trele-eu]

It was just one play of #Deranged by #HobbyWorld at #Spiel19 but I was immediately in :D Concept worth of checking with great artwork. @hobbyworldint @spiel_messe #Essen #essenspiel #boardgame #boardgames #game #games #playgames #analoggame #analoggames #tabletop #tabletopgames #gryplanszowe #gry #grybezpradu #planszowki #semicoop #horrorgame (at Messe Essen) https://www.instagram.com/p/B4cymS_h--R/?igshid=1ffz80hcentol

[trele-eu]

After #Spiel19 Reviews will come :D #essenspiel #Essen #boardgame #boardgames #game #games #playgames #analoggame #analoggames #tabletop #tabletopgames #gryplanszowe #gry #grybezpradu #planszowki #review #spiel @spiel_messe https://www.instagram.com/p/B4Rxpv1gNmS/?igshid=150qh4i21ldn2

[tabletopontap]

Top 30 Anticipated at Essen Spiel 2019 (#10-1)

Now is the moment you’ve all been waiting for--the top 10! Don’t forget my usual disclaimer that any photos seen here were taken from www.boardgamegeek.com (BGG). Thanks to BGG users and publishers for posting their information and photos there.

10. Rune Stones - Published by Queen Games with artwork by Dennis Lohausen, this game caught my eye because of the well respected designer, Rüdiger Dorn. He previously brought us Istanbul, Karuba, Las Vegas, and Montana, just to name a few popular titles. This is a deck construction/ destruction game where 2-4 players age 10+ will spend approximately an hour building artifacts and rune stones to gain points. The first person to teach 65 points triggers end game, and whoever has the most points is the winner. 

The publisher calls this game a deck builder, but deck destruction is built right into the game. Whenever you choose to play cards, you have to play 2 together, and the higher numbered card is removed from your deck. This means you have to be careful about how you play your cards if you want to use its effect more than once per game. Your other options for action are to acquire new cards or forge artifacts/create stones. 

I'm confident in Rüdiger's ability to create engaging games, and I'm looking forward to eventually playing this one. My one hesitation is because of the publisher, Queen Games. I Kickstarted one of their games a few years ago and didn't have a positive experience.

9. Mystery House: Adventures in a Box - Cranio Creations offers a physical twist on "escape room" games with this design by Antonio Tinto and illustrations by Daniela Giubellini and Alessandro Paviolo. In this app-assisted game, 1-5 players age 14+ will spend an hour searching for clues to escape the labyrinth-like box.

The game box itself is broken into a grid of sections marked by letters and numbers. During setup, cards are inserted into specific sections in the grid. Players will look at the cards and box sides, looking for anything unusual in the scenes visible to them. As cards are removed from slots during gameplay, images that were previously blocked from view will become visible. You have to look inside the box at all angles in order to discover some of the hidden clues. This concept is definitely different, and I'm interested to experience it, myself. 

8. Ocean Crisis - Designed by Jhao-Ru Chen, Hsien Pu Jan, and Chi Wei Lin with artwork by Meng-Jung Yang, this game brings environmental conservation to the forefront. The publisher is Shepherd Kit, Inc. In this game, 2-5 players will work together to prevent trash from polluting rivers and oceans. If they can survive 6 rounds, which will take approximately 30-60 min., then all players win! Players can spend actions trying to move their meeples to certain spots on the board to unlock bonus powers that will help them with cleanup. This looks like a challenging and fun game with unique game mechanisms that distinguish it from being a Pandemic clone. I also like the theme. I'm happy to see more games tackling such an important subject.

7. Flotilla - Published by WizKids, designed by J.B. Howell and Michael Mihealsick, and illustrated by Bartek Fedyczak, this is a game for 3-5 players age 14+ that takes 1.5-2.5 hours to play. Be prepared to sit down and play for awhile. 

What's notable about this game is that there are two modes of play: Sinkside and Skyside. Everyone starts out on Sinkside as a fleet commander, exploring ocean tiles, collecting resources, and rescuing people from the sea. At any time, you can flip over to Skyside. You'll develop trade with players still on Sinkside, conduct research, and build sonar stations. It sounds to me like Sinkside is more focused on exploration and pick up & deliver, whereas Skyside might be more about trading and engine building, but I could be wrong about that. I need to watch some YouTube reviews of this game to get a better idea of how the game mechanisms work. 

6. Maracaibo - Published by Capstone Games, this is the big game of the year by popular designer, Alexander Pfister. The artists are Fiore GmbH, Aline Kirrmann, and Andreas Resch. The game supports 1-4 players age 12+ and takes 1-2.5 hours to play. Players sail around the Caribbean playing different actions, such as delivering goods. I don’t know much about this game, but I like Alexander Pfister as a designer, and I’m hoping for something that feels like Great Western Trail. 

5. Masters of Renaissance: Lorenzo Il Magnifico The Card Game - This game is published by Cranio Creations, designed by Simone Luciani and Nestore Mangone, and illustrated by Klemenss Franz and Roberto Grasso. Both Luciani and Franz worked on the predecessor, Lorenzo Il Magnifico. This card game is for 1-4 players age 14+ and takes about half an hour to play.

I'm interested for one reason alone. Taken from the BGG description, which likely comes from the publisher, this card game "recreates the atmosphere of Lorenzo il Magnifico with simple rules and a limited duration." 

Lorenzo the card game is a card drafting set collection game with some kind of marble dispenser track reminiscent of Potion Explosion. I’m not sure how this fits into the gameplay, but I’m really excited to find out! 

4. Fuji Koro - Published by Game Brewer, designed by Jerome Demeyere, and illustrated by Miguel Coimbra, this co-op is for 1-6 players age 12+ and takes 1-2 hours to play. The dragon miniatures that come with the Deluxe version look fantastic! I'm wondering why CMON didn't publish this beautiful game with minis (c'mon, Cool Mini or Not, pick up these cool projects). In this game, players are Samurai who are trying to rescue precious artifacts and monks from an active volcano before it erupts! 

As another reviewer (I think Tom Vasel) already said, why did these monks decide to build their sacred temples inside the volcano in the first place? Oh, well, whatever the reason, it's making me want to play this stunning looking board game. Hopefully, gameplay lives up to its looks.

3. Escape Tales: Low Memory (or Escape Tales: The Awakening) - Board&Dice published this "escape room" style card game from designers Jakub Caban and Bartosz Idzikowski. Two artists worked on this game, Jakub Fajtanowski and Magdalena Klepacz. It supports 1-4 players age 14+. I'm not listing the game time here because estimated game length listed on BGG seems unreasonable, unless the publisher meant for the times to indicate playing all three stories in the box back-to-back, as opposed to the average length of time to play a single story.

What I like about this escape room game is that players will get to experience the main plot from three different characters' perspectives. I think that's an interesting twist in this genre.

2. Merchants Cove - Published by Final Frontier Games and designed by Carl Van Ostrand with art by Mihajlo Dimitrievski, this asymmetrical game is for 1-4 players age 14+ and takes 45-75 min. to play. What's different about this game is that every player is playing their own mini game. It reminds me of Root in that way. 

From BGG, "Using a unique set of role specific components and gameplay mechanics, each merchant will compete to satisfy the demands of the bold adventurers who arrive each day to spend their hard earned coin at the famous market piers." This game includes a time track and rondel. Merchants (aka the players) must pay attention to how full boats are with customers, because once the boat is full, customers will arrive at the markets to buy goods that the players have spent time making. Which merchant will reign supreme?

1. Atlantis Rising, 2nd Ed. - This game is published by Elf Creek Games and designed by Galen Ciscell and Brent Dickman. The infamous Vincent Dutrait provided artwork, as well as Peter Gifford. This co-op game is for 1-7 players age 10+ and takes 1-2 hours to play. 

The board is a funky shape; it looks like a starfish. It reminds me of Forbidden Island in the way that the island is slowly sinking. In this game, the outer edges of the starfish will sink first. You have to be careful about where you deploy your meeples. Although the shoreline provides more rewards, if your meeple winds up on flooded land, all their actions will be for naught. 

I never heard of the original edition, but from what I've gathered, the second edition is more than just a prettier implementation of the original game. Some new rules are introduced, as well. 

This concludes my Top 30 of Essen list. I hope you enjoyed it! 

Stay tuned for my next blog post. I'm thinking about tackling big themes in boardgaming year over year. If any stand out to you, let me know in the comments.

[trele-eu]

So many games, so many people and so small amount of time to play... it was great, I can't wait for next year! #Spiel #Spiel19 #Essen #essenspiel #boardgame #boardgames #game #games #playgames #analoggame #analoggames #tabletop #tabletopgames #gryplanszowe #gry #grybezpradu #planszowki #fair #convention @spiel_messe (at Messe Essen) https://www.instagram.com/p/B4LP_6oB4OK/?igshid=1bq3ffbdnmk8s