A lot of great games are coming out at Essen SPIEL ’16. Almost too many great games. I wish I could grab them all, but money (and room) gets in the way of such foolish dreams. I’ve made list after list to narrow the field of games down, but only partially succeeded. I do however have some clear favorites.
Essen SPIEL has been the highlight of my year for a while now. It’s a fantastic experience. Meeting so many great people. Playing so many great games. Spending way to much buying them. It’s an experience I would not be without and I can’t see myself not going again, again and again.
In a nutshell Via Nebula is a very attractive and clean “pick-up and deliver” game where you race to be the first to construct 5 buildings and score the most points. It does have some very interesting twists, while retaining a very simple rule set. Will you have the skill and wit to outmaneuver your opponents and get the most out of the shared resources?
Picking my Top 6 Publishers was no easy task at all. There are so many great ones out there, that make sure we are never bored. While most of them pretty small, they all add something special to the world of board-gaming. Spending time playing and buying board games you start to become aware of the different publishers and what they do differently from each other.
Targi is a fantastic game. One of the best 2 player games out there. If you don’t believe me you should check out our review of it. Now, after many years of waiting patiently, we finally get an expansion for it. Targi: Die Erweiterung is designed by Andy Steiger who has been super kind to give me an exclusive interview about it.
Rattle, Battle, Grab the Loot might have the most descriptive title ever. It tells you exactly what the games is about. First you Rattle some dice and throw them in the box. Then you resolve a naval pirate Battle based on these dice. Finally you Grab the Loot. So is this game just as great as it is silly and fun? Read on to find out.
Phil Walker-Harding is the man behind some of my favourite lighter games. Actually 3 of them are games I play regularly: Sushi Go!, Cacao and the fantastic Imhotep. He has been kind enough to take some time to give you a little insight into his fantastic mind.
Imhotep is fantastic game with clean easy to teach rules, great components and so many interesting choices to make each turn. And it only takes around 40 minutes to play.
UK Games Expo 2016 was the first boardgame convention outside of Essen Spiel I had the pleasure of attending. And what a great experience it was. It’s very different in both size and feel compared to Essen Spiel. It’s not as big and there is much more focus on playing games and great seminars. I’ll be back again next year for sure.
Scoville is a game all about chilli-peppers. Planting them, crossbreeding them, selling them and cooking them into deviously hot dishes. Planting and crossbreeding is done on a shared field and getting the right chilli-peppers at the right time is what this game is all about.
Matt Leacock the man behind the number one game on BoardGameGeek Pandemic Legacy: Season 1 is one of the hottest names in the boardgaming world right now. He has been kind enough to take some time to do an interview. And answer a few extra questions about legacy games in general.
Jonathan Gilmour is the man behind many great games, most noticeably the fantastic game Dead of Winter. He also made a great little game called Vault Wars, that I personally think is a lot of fun. He’s been kind enough to gives us a little insight into his wonderful mind.