Tag Archives: Essen

Gearing up for Essen Spiel 2014

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Essen Spiel is just a month away. It’s the biggest event on the European board gaming calendar and arguably the most important gaming event in the world - so what makes it such a big deal?

Size isn’t everything, but 58,000 square feet of exhibition space across five halls - and over four days - can’t be ignored (that’s the size of Earls Court One and Two put together). And neither can the fact 500+ new games are released here every year; far eclipsing even the big US conventions. In worldwide terms, this is the big one.

Essen is also tied in with both the best board game magazine available (Spielbox, printed in English and German) and the industry’s most prestigious awards, the Spiel des Jahres. Winning the SdJ can add millions to sales and has helped games such as Carcassonne, Settlers of Catan and Ticket to Ride cross into mainstream stores.

It differs from many typical conventions in that it’s pretty much solely about retail - but at the same time isn’t about the hard sell. You go, play and buy games, then leave as if you were at a shopping centre. Then thousands of gamers meet up in the evening to play their new games; but in hotels, apartments and bars - not the venue itself.

It is also very cheap - from memory, last year it was about 20 euros for the full four days. for that you get 800 exhibitors from 41 nations; 850 new releases and world premiers; tonnes of competitions and exclusives. But it’s not for the faint of heart - be prepared to share the space with 150,000 other gamers.

for me this year it may be extra exciting. My first game design, Empire Engine, is being published by AEG and should hopefully make its début at Essen. While it may end up being a small fish in a very big pond there is currently a pretty nice buzz about it despite a low key build up, so fingers crossed!

If you’re into your board games, you owe it to yourself to go to Essen at least once. Tickets for the show are sold on the door and while hotel space is probably thin on the ground now, you’ll certainly be able to find something. It is easily accessible by flying into Dusseldorf or Dortmund, or train via Brussels and Cologne. See you there…

CONtemplation: Essen Spiel 2014

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This week’s league post assignment was CONtemplation, with the idea being everyone would talk about the San Diego Comic Con. But seeing as I couldn’t give a monkey’s about the ‘SDCC’ I figured a nice positive post about a con I do like would be preferable to one criticising one I don’t.

For me, there is but one con: the International Spieltage at Essen, or simply ‘Essen’ for short. It’s a four-day board and card game trade fair in October - with the twist being that, despite being a trade fair, it is open to the public. This gives it a uniquely chaotic feel, as publishers try to juggle paying consumers, business owners and game designers all in one packed convention space.

Over the four days something like 150,000 gamers head through the turnstiles into what feels like the world’s biggest jumble sale. Household names with huge elaborate stands such as Hasbro share the space with tiny one-man-band publishers, and all in the name of shifting units and striking deals. There is not a room to play games, or a series of lectures to attend - this is purely about demos and dollars.

Thursday morning, Essen 2012, just before the floodgates opened

But this is the biggest annual event in the world for new releases (500 games are launched every year), so people come from all over the globe - and come for the four days, taking over every hotel in the city.

Convention hours are for testing and buying - the evenings are for heading back to your hotel, reading your rules, then heading into the packed bar to game with friends and strangers alike.

While it may sound odd versus a normal con, I love this clear delineation between shopping and socialising; when you think about it, it’s actually far more natural. And it really is a standard shopping experience; there are new releases, second hand stalls, bargain knock down stock, plus everything in between - as long as it’s a game. You’ll find a few comics, accessories etc, but it must be less than 10% of the con space.

And the shopping aspect adds another unexpected benefit: an almost total lack of hard sell. The people coming to Essen WANT to give the stalls their money. They’ve been saving up, godamnit, and they are going to spend their entire gaming budget on stuff RIGHT NOW. When you see a booth worker without a customer you can guarantee they’ll be taking a breath, having a drink; they know someone will be along to hassle them soon.

A typical demo table at Essen

Last year I went as a designer too - at the lowest of low levels. In fact I only attended one publisher meeting, which was scary enough.

Hopefully this year I’ll be going as a designer with a game that’s actually on sale, adding another dimension to my Essen experience. And if I can get some of my games other prototypes to the next level in time, maybe I can take another small step up the designer ladder too.

But whatever happens, I’ll be there first and foremost as a gamer. I will queue pointlessly on the first morning and be swept along by the excited masses, wide eyes and mouth open, as we squirm into the halls. Then once the wave of enthusiasm has broken I’ll just drift around the stands, a stupid smile plastered over my face, keeping a keen eye out for bargains and spaces at interesting looking demo tables.

I don’t think that’s the average Essen goer’s experience, but as someone who has spent much of their former life in crowds I actually find it quite soothing. I spent years living in London, working in retail, working/attending conferences and generally fighting a crowd. It’s novel and strangely peaceful to now bob around in one. I can do it all day, every day, for the whole four days, watching the little changes - a game sold out here, a price drop there.

It’s still three months away, but I’m already starting to plot my bargain and new release lists. My hotel is booked and as today is payday, this weekend I’ll book my trains (Germany is a pleasant train journey from England now, thanks to Eurostar). And no, cheeky, I can’t tell you how many sleeps it is to go. Ask me again in a few weeks…

More extraordinary blog posts:

The Empire Engine: one year on

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It’s been a year since my first (generally accepted to be) finished card game design crawled tentatively into the world.

I’m pretty proud of it, and it may be the only one that ever makes it past prototyping, so you’ll have to forgive me for going back to talk about it some more (if it’s new to you, the designer diary is here).

In brief: I started the design, Matt Dunstan helped bring it to a playable state, Seb Antoniou added his artist skill and finally Brett Gilbert polished both the rules and graphic design; a stupendously rich team for a very small and humble game. It had been put up on Brett’s Good Little Games print and play website - but what happened next?

The Geek

Seeing the game up on Board Game Geek was a tremendously proud moment - but also a terrifying one. As a journalist I’ve written thousands of reviews; now I was on the other side of the divide with my baby out there at the mercy of all you miserable bastards.

They say never read your reviews, and definitely don’t take them personally. Right. Good luck with that. I subscribed to the page immediately, determined to read everything as it came along, as well as being around to answer queries. Luckily Brett’s popularity meant his site was getting some traction and the involvement of Matt also raised the profile; but it was still ‘just’ a print and play in a world of posh published games.

To date, comments and questions have been polite and each gives me a thrill. As for ratings the way BBG’s are worded I’d decided 6 or above was fine; even 5s for people who don’t like this style of game. But I’d be a liar if I said the first 4 didn’t hurt! It was actually a 3.8, and (last look) was still listed by them as ‘owned/want to play’ - and as they also rank Kingdom Builder a 3.8 I’d say we’re in good company!

And beyond

I’d essentially designed The Empire Engine for Brett’s website, using his 18-card restriction as a way to try and fuel my game creating juices. This has proved really successful in terms of reach; in just a year The Empire Engine has been downloaded more than 2,000 times!

But with my Essen trip for 2013 booked, Matt and me decided it was worth trying it with a few publishers while there - especially as he had arranged meetings to show off some other games anyway. What did I have to lose?

I only went to one, with Stephen Buonocore at Stronghold, which was as exciting as it was terrifying. Despite Stephen being really nice it was somewhere between a job interview and a first date; luckily Matt did most of the rules explanation as I’d have probably made a massive cock up of it. Stephen didn’t bite, but to my immense pride somebody else did.

We found out the day after Essen, on the Monday. I was halfway home in a bar in Cologne with friends when I heard the news - and duly celebrated with some of the world’s best beers. If things went to plan, my little idea was going to be in the shops!

The slow (but awesome) BGG burn

Another highlight was getting a nomination for the BGG Awards 2013 in the print and play section.

Unfortunately it was a crossover year in terms of eligibility, while the rules allowed games that had been P&P but as part of successful Kickstarters to be included, so we didn’t really have a chance of winning. But a nomination was enough!

And it started to become clear people were really digging the game, or at least the idea of it. The P&P community is a truly brilliant one, as well as amazingly resourceful. Both the cards and rules had soon been translated into French, German and Russian - and then Ilya Baranovsky did an awesome sci-fi redesign of the cards (pictured). All of this work was totally unsolicited and hugely humbling.

The first proper Empire Engine BGG review was exciting, getting ranked even more so (4,345th like a bullet!) - as have been the first few bits of podcast coverage (On Board Games, The Game Pit and Printin’ & Playin’). And all this before it has been ‘properly’ announced in any shape or form.

The next year…

So as we approach Essen again, a year later, we know the cards are with the printer and the publisher is hoping to have a copy in its hands in time for showing to some folks at GenCon. I’ve booked a six-day trip to Essen just in case it happens and am determined not to miss a single moment - this could be the one time this happens to me. If there was any way I could afford to go to GenCon too, I’d be on a plane.

Of course so much can still go wrong. A similar game may come out next week and the publisher may cut its losses; it could get printed but the boat sinks; zombie apocalypse. Or worse still Tom Vasel might hate it - or more seriously, most people might hate it. Today we had our 50th rating on BGG - an inglorious ‘5’ to mark the occasion…

But I’m still playing ‘my little game’ and enjoying it and whatever happens, I know that something I created has brought a bit of enjoyment to some people in a hobby I love - and that’s good enough for me.

My board gaming life: 2013 highlights

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This time last year I did my first blog post in this style, featuring my 2012 gaming highlights. Thankfully I think I’m still in minor (rather than major) obsession territory, as my collection grew about the same amount (up by around 40 games) and I played about the same amount of games (total plays went from 444 last year to around 400 this).

I again had three game related trips away, with my second trip to Essen and a couple of trips to Eastbourne. Unfortunately we failed to make it to Paros, but the flights for our May 2014 visit are already booked and paid for.

I’m sticking to last year’s ‘highlights’ format, with the addition of a bit of looking back to last year’s predictions - but the word count is lower, promise! If you’ve got any comments or suggestions please add them below.

My 4 best gaming experiences of 2013

In no particular order:

  • The Empire Engine is a very small game, but it’s mine and I made it and it’s finished and I’m proud (along with Matthew Dunstan of course - but I’m sure he’d tell you that, deep down, it’s my baby). Seeing it go online was chuffing; playing it with friends and them enjoying it was brilliant; showing it to publishers was pant-wetting in more ways than one; and who knows where things will go in 2014…?
  • Essen was, again, brilliant. I spent a similar amount of money (£150) on a similar amount of games (13), while getting to show The Empire Engine to a few publishers - which was ridiculously exciting, especially when they didn’t hate it. It was nice to go with old friend Matt too, who had a great time - and also gave the opportunity to turn it into a bit of a road trip on the way home. We took in Cologne and Brussels, but mainly for more beer and board games. Good times.
  • Space! While moving from Cambridge to St Ives did more to hinder my chance of playing games than help it, moving away from the people I play with most often, it did give me the chance to turn the kitchen-diner into a games room-kitchen-diner! Zoe is very patient with my minor obsession, probably because it isn’t really bad for me and she doesn’t hate it. And no matter what you think of them as a hobby, they certainly fill a wall rather handsomely.
  • Eastbourne (with London on Board) was brilliant fun, again, twice. We’re already booked in for Easter too, which is lovely to have to look forward to. November’s was a bit different, as we played quite a lot in couples with some really lovely people. It meant I missed out on playing some big releases I really want to get a go at (Francis Drake, Amerigo, Pathfinder, Caverna, etc etc etc…) but what I missed in hype I made up for with a fantastically relaxed weekend.

My top individual game plays of 2013

I looked back through my gaming year blog on BGG and picked my most memorable individual plays.

  • January: I unexpectedly received the card game Uruk: Wiege der Zivilisation from my Secret Santa and instantly fell in love with it. I played the hell out if it that month and I’m now into double figures. Great game.
  • February: My first ever game of Basari was a real highlight. This was a début win, which is always good, and over Lloyd, which is even better - but I did genuinely fall for it on the spot. Having played since I still love it, but haven’t found a copy yet.
  • March: It was the month I thought of The Empire Engine as my game’s name, but a big win at Ra on 62 points (about 20 points clear) had to be the gaming highlight.
  • April: Being taught any game by London on Board’s Rocky is always a treat, but a game as thematic as Dungeon Lords - and while at LoB-sterCon in Eastbourne? No contest.
  • May: A new tweak of the rondels from Matt finally saw all of The Empire Engine parts fall into place - and what better location to come to this conclusion than on holiday in Prague with Zoe? Good times.
  • June: The wonderful Copycat was often one of the highlights of my gaming month, so this might be here purely on countback. A great four-player game saw us all separated by five going into the final round, with Andy sneaking the win on 97.
  • July: Its the final play of the game. I’m three points down, a distant 38 yards from the end zone. I go long - and roll three sixes! The crowd go wild (Zoe still has nightmares today)! Touchdown! 16-12! Only Pizza Box Football can do this.
  • August: A draw between finding an original version of Merchant of Venus on eBay for £20 and falling in love at first play; or losing Ingenious to Zoe for the first time - a game she thought she’d never get good at.
  • September: This had to be my first game of Rialto, which I thought I was doing well at right up until I came third. I’ve wanted it ever since, and got it for Christmas, so hopefully it’ll be seeing the table a bunch in 2014.
  • October: A hilariously protracted game of the rather wonderful Blueprints with old friends (Matt, Keith and Clare) and new friends (the design/booth team for Cornish Smugglers) alike at a random bar in Essen.
  • November: While lots of ‘couples’ games with both Karl & Ann and Donna & Paul came close, the one stand out game was my début at Twilight Struggle. Both Martin and me were new to the game, and it showed, but it was truly magnificent.
  • December: A Boxing Day game of Can’t Stop! with Zoe and her parents, who had bought it for me for Christmas. It was probably the only game I played all year with non-gamers, which is a real shame. Must try harder!

The best 12 not new but ‘new to me’ games of 2013

A slightly shorter list than last year, but it was just as good a year in terms of quality. I still don’t feel like a board gaming expert, or even a well seasoned player in comparison to my peers, but I’m happy with that - discovering all of these brilliant older games was once again a highlight.

Bought

  • Merchant of Venus: The grand daddy of space exploration is still the best, because the cleverness of the mechanisms still haven’t been bettered. Fact.
  • Rosenkonig: Probably my favourite abstract game, as well as my favourite two-player game, this is a one-on-one masterpiece.
  • Uruk: Wiege der Zivilisation: The best small box civ game I’ve played. Fantastic card combos and strategy in a small box.
  • Nefertiti: A quick and clever bidding/set collection game with a closed economy that really ramps up the tension.
  • Manila: Is it a racing game? A dice game? A push your luck game? All of the above? I’m still not sure - but I love it.
  • The Castles of Burgundy: A clever and puzzley use of dice in a game that’s all about efficiency. That doesn’t make it sound good… but it is.
  • Tikal: I’m not normally keen on area control, but the action selection and score timing randomness really made it shine for me.

Not bought (yet…)

  • Twilight Struggle: A truly remarkable card-driven two-player war game that perfectly captures the history of the Cold War.
  • Dungeon Lords: Thematic, funny, nasty and hard: a brilliant combination that perfectly hits the spot.
  • Arabian Nights: A storytelling/choose your own adventure experience more than a game, this is a fun and beautifully realised change of pace.
  • Basari: A great quick-and-dirty game of chance mixed with set collection, I’m looking forward to checking out the new version in 2014.
  • Lady Alice: Cluedo, made into a ‘proper’ game with something closer to real deduction, with bluffing thrown in.

Of last year’s ‘not bought… yet’ list I only actually picked up Kingdom Builder, which I’ve had a lot of fun with. Glen More, Galaxy Trucker and Die Macher are still on my wishlist but more to look for cheap than to reach the top of it. Cards Against Humanity I’ll pick up soon, now the UK version is out, while Fairy Tale has fallen out of favour as I’m sure there’s a better card drafting game out there - even if it’s still in someone’s head!

2013 really wasn’t a year of expansions for me. Kingdom Builder: Nomads is very high on my wishlist, while Ticket to Ride: Nederland looks like a lot of fun. And it looks like we’ll finally get Race for the Galaxy: Alien Artifacts…

My most played games in 2013

It was another year of experiments. Out of around 400 total game plays in 2013 some 80 of those were games I only played once - many of which I wish I’d never played at all! When you add more than 60 plays of unpublished prototypes and 18 games played just twice, that’s almost half my plays in odds and sods. Only a few made double figures:

  • 22 - Race for the Galaxy
  • 13 - Ticket to Ride (various maps)
  • 13 - Uruk: Wiege der Zivilisation
  • 10 - Kingdom Builder
  • 10 - Snowdonia

Just below these were Ra, Copycat and Tzolk’in: The Mayan Calendar.

But what’s really sad is the games that sat unplayed in 2013. Cuba was the biggest surprise, while Earth Reborn, For Sale and Lost Valley also failed to hit the table - all games I’m really keen on and another reason why I need to curb my spending in 2014.

My 7 favourite new releases of 2013

I don’t feel qualified to talk about the ‘best’ games of 2013, as I’ve been trying to catch up on classics more than chasing new releases. Of the current hot 10 releases according to BGG, I’ve only played one!

But here’s a few of my favourite 2013 releases; they may not be the highest rated, but I’ve really enjoyed them (and bought all except Bruges and Sail to India):

  1. Bruges: Tons of individual cards means masses of variation in this really thinky euro, while there’s also room for chaotic and nasty player interaction.
  2. Rialto: A really clever card mechanism made this area control/card drafting/bidding board game an instant favourite.
  3. Concordia: A fantastic resource and hand management euro game, with fast gameplay but a multitude of tricky decisions.
  4. Blueprints: A clever use of dice makes this super filler endlessly replayable, with a nice dollop of push-your-luck and deduction thrown in.
  5. CV: My family game of the year. Its a cute take on the Yahtzee mechanic, with wonderfully evocative artwork that really helps each game tell a story.
  6. Sail to India: The first of the Japanese microgames to really pack a lot of game into a small package. A complex exploration game in a tiny box.
  7. The Little Prince: Make me a Planet: Another great filler, this time with cute artwork and a clever take on the tile laying genre.

Alongside these, honourable mentions go to: A Study in Emerald (bonkers Cthulu themed randomness), Coal Baron (a by-the-numbers yet compelling euro), Relic Runners (a great route building family game), Händler der Karibik (a lovely push-your-luck card game) and Enclave (a sci-fi euro I wish I’d had time to play a full demo of at Essen).

Best forgotten…

Last year I had a good whine about Kickstarter - sadly a recurring theme this year, as nightmares I’d backed dragged on. I don’t intend to mention them again after today though; true to my word I haven’t backed a game on Kickstarter since and neither do I intend to - if a game is good enough to be released, it will find its way to market.

Race for the Galaxy: Alien Artefacts didn’t make it out in 2013 but I’m reliably informed it is in stores now - just not in the UK. How on earth does this happen? It’s going to have to go some now to live up to two years’ worth of high expectations!

I did play some real turkeys this year, but I don’t want to dwell on them: all I’ll say is, I suggest you avoid Packet Row and Mauna Kea like the plague…

Bring on 2014!

With flights to Paros paid for in May; the hotel for the next London on Board trip to Eastbourne booked, and a visit from gaming buddies Karl and Ann in the calendar for February, its already shaping up to be a good year. And of course I’m already looking forward to Essen in October…

I’ve also promised myself I’ll play more games with casual gamers this year, as well as gaming friends further afield. An extremely protracted house move (aren’t they all?) made it a bit of a chore to make arrangements, but now we’re settled I hope to make amends and get back on the evangelical trail!

I’ve started work on several more gaming prototypes, including a new one in collaboration with Matthew Dunstan, so I’m hoping the game design and playtesting also continues apace. And it was a real privilege to be involved in testing one of the recent expansions for Snowdonia; hopefully I can keep myself in that loop too.

As for new purchases I really am going to try and rein them in, but when I haven’t I said that? But I may actually keep the promise this year. I’m only really in the market for Bruges, Dungeon Lords and Basari at the moment - but there are so many of those lovely 2013 releases I haven’t tried yet - Francis Drake, for one, looks amazing. And there will be so many bargains in the sales…

See you in 2014!

Top 10 Essen Spiel 2013 wishlist: The aftermath

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After a surprising number of views of my initial Essen Spiel 2013 post a few weeks back, I thought it would be a good idea to follow it up.

My second trip to Essen proved to be every bit as fun, and successful, as the first. With the exception of a slightly fraught boarding process on the return Eurostar at Brussels, all the trains and accommodation went without a hitch (except for the Wi-Fi, or lack thereof - more on that another time…). But did my top 10 pan out the way I’d expected?

Essen Wishlist Top 10 Revisited

  1. Concordia: “This will be a definite buy for me.” And it was, although it wasn’t as definite as it could’ve been. Once I’d started to pick up some bargains I decided I’d only pick up one 30+ euro game, which Concordia was at 35. So I had a good look at quite a few competitors before finally caving in on Saturday morning after a sadly fanboy chat with designer Mac Gerdts. I’ve now played it twice and its looking like a great decision; it plays much like you’d expect from a Gerdts game (short turns, tight play, tricky decisions) and the usual lovely components (including history lesson).
  2. Snowdonia expansions: “Again, these will be definite purchases.” Actually these didn’t turn out to be purchases, as designer Tony Boydell generously gave me them for nothing (I presume for the help with play-testing, rather than me being an upstanding guy…). Due to the wealth of new games sitting on my table Snowdonia hasn’t yet hit the table, but my experience of one of the expansions previously (Mt Washington) means I’m already pretty sure I’m going to love them. I just have to get all the other shinies played first.
  3. Bargains! “Games at crazy discounts – already on the list: Dakota and Artus.” After reading this a friend generously offered to give me their copy of Dakota in return for a copy of The Empire Engine - even more of a bargain! I did pick up Artus for just five euros, while also grabbing a German edition of The Little Prince: Make Me a Planet for only 10 euros and Briefcase for 14 euros. Best of all was grabbing two older games I’d really hoped to find: Rosenkonig for 11 euros - quite the Grail game for me as its been unavailable since I first played it on Yucata.de several years ago - and Nefertiti (plus expansion) for 15 euros. Lastly I got the very poorly rated Anasazi for only two euros - figuring it has nice bits, so if it’s as bad as people say I can cannibalise it for prototype parts!
  4. Warlock: “Auctions/bidding, deck building, tile placement/tableau building and hand management – it ticks all the boxes.” We managed to get a demo of this one and it did seem to tick all of those boxes. However my friend Matt was just as enamoured with it as I was, so I let him make the purchase. It means I won’t get to play it that much, but it wouldn’t have fitted in the suitcase anyway! And our demo was pretty confused, so it will need some more plays before I make a final opinion on it.
  5. Dice games: “Two are standing out for me at the moment: Blueprints and CV.” My research certainly seemed to pay off this year, as both of these games ended up coming home with me. I’ve played Blueprints three times with eight or nine different people and they’ve all loved it; it’s quick and thinky with a surprisingly small amount of luck for dice game. CV is simply charming and my two plays so far have again been enjoyed by all participants. The artwork is remarkably comical and whimsical, while the marriage of theme to the game really helps set it apart.
  6. Gritty sci-fi games: “Our group likes gritty sci-fi, so why not give them what they want?” While I still stand by this statement, while looking at both Infamy and Enclave I just kept thinking, “Why should I? Its my money and they won’t appreciate it”. And that’s not a knock on the players - they’re simply not into the hobby as much as me and in their eyes we have more than enough games to play already. Infamy looked OK but just sat on a table and wasn’t being demoed whenever we went past. We did get a play of Enclave but it turned out to be an enjoyable if unremarkable euro with a tacked on sci-fi theme - Waterdeep in space, perhaps. OK, but not 30+ euros OK.
  7. Card games: “Yes, there will be hundreds.” And there were, but the two I’d noted didn’t come home with me - three others did instead. I’m pretty sure Cheaty Mages didn’t make it (we found the stand, but it wasn’t there) while we couldn’t get a demo of S-evolution, which at around 20 euros was too expensive to get on a whim when surrounded by so many other bargains. Instead I found a game Zoe had wanted for ages (Nicht Die Bohn! - or ‘not the bean game’, as it’s known) and paid 10 euros for this year’s two games from the Austrian Spiel Museum: Handler der Karibik and Sissi! The former is a nice light push your luck card game, the latter a new take on the classic Bohnanza - the actual bean game. Strange coincidence!
  8. Nice looking euros: “These are my Achilles heal, so I’m bound to come home with at least one other fascinatingly themed gem.” Well who’d have thunk it - I didn’t crack! Our Craftsmen demo was disappointing, while the tables for both Yunnan and Rokoko (which sold out) were permanently packed. Both Madeira and Bruxelles 1893 also looked really good, but my resolve held. I predict one of those four will find its way onto my shelves some time in the near future, but then I said that about Terra Mystica and a few others last year.
  9. Silly racing games: “Both will need to shine to see me part with any cash.” While The Sheep Race won on cuteness, there was hardly any game there at all - especially for the crazy 30+ euro price. I had a test of Banjooli Xeet and that was enough to sell me on, especially as it was under 20 euros. We’ve only played once so far and it went a bit wonky at the end, but hopefully a little rules tweak will make it sing. The art and components are great, as was the first half of the play, so I’m sure we can make this one work.
  10. Mining games: “Not a topic I am drawn to any way…” but luckily I was travelling with a geologist! Again we failed to get a play of Rockwell, which did look really interesting, but on the other hand we didn’t hear a single report from anyone about it either. We did get to play Coal Baron though and it was excellent. Again I left it to Matt to buy, and then we thrashed him into last place that evening! It’s a really great euro though, so he got the last laugh - and he did the same to me at Concordia.

Of the other games I mentioned I just didn’t get a strong enough feeling to take a punt on Origin, but another friend picked it up so hopefully I’ll get a play soon. Lewis & Clark is also still on my list to play, but sold out, while Nations got a very lukewarm reception.

Matt also bought A Study in Emerald and we got a chance to play on the way home in Cologne. It clearly isn’t meant as a two-player game, but we both saw enough to think it’s going to be a lot of fun with more. Crazy, swingy fun perhaps, but fun nonetheless.

In the end I spent the equivalent of £150 on 13 games and more than 10 expansions and promos - pretty good I reckon! I’ve already played and been very impressed with eight of those, with only the cheapest ones left to come, so I’m going to call it as a win. Now, time to start looking for a hotel for next year.