inconsequential ruminations

I really enjoyed my first trip to Essen. It helped going with a fun group – Michael Longdin and his mates from Crawley. They have a lot more beer drinking stamina than me – enough said.

I had heard a lot about the fair and had a holiday job at the Earls Court convention centre as a student, so I was prepared for the scale of it. Rick Thornquist’s video sums it up nicely, but misses the crowds on Saturday.

Thursday

We arrived at around 6pm, so we headed straight to the Holiday Inn.

Tichu

Michael suggested playing Tichu, so I taught it to them. It did not go down well and I have revised my opinion of it a lot. I have never been comfortable with the ambiguity and fiddliness of the Dragon and Phoenix cards but the guys could not stand them. I cannot think of a game that has bombed so much in my estimations. I would like to try a variant without those cards if it did not unbalance the game completely. I might have to get Gang of Four, but it would be a pity to give up on calling tichus and the partnership aspect, which are a lot of fun.
Down to 3/10 from 8/10.

Friday

As with every day afterwards, we got up early and got to the fair for the opening at 10am. Apparently, this year’s Friday was very quiet, because normally the fair coincides with German half-term school break, but this year it did not.

Die Baumeister von Arkadia

Seeing a seat almost immediately at the Ravensburger stand, we sat down to Rüdiger Dorn’s latest offering. The guys enjoyed it, but I was lukewarm. It is too complicated and unintuitive for what it is. I suppose I might have enjoyed it with a better explanation and English rules. Apart from Goa, Dorn’s track record with me is poor.
4/10

Yspahan

After that, we wandered over to the Rio Grande tables and played Yspahan. The components are attractive, in a similar style to Caylus. Unfortunately, the game itself has problems. It is too long and the building special effects seemed too powerful. We might have been playing incorrectly, but we had the English rules and could not see a problem. I could be wrong, but I think it needs more development.
4/10 – but I am not sure.

UPDATE
We were playing this wrong. We were taking three actions every turn, instead of one, which slowed down the game and made it far too easy. I have updated my rating on the Geek.

Augsburg 1520

This reminded me of Princes of Florence in terms of the theme, auctions, game pace and structure. If you like PoF, you should enjoy this, but I am not a big fan.
5/10

Silk Road

You play medieval merchants travelling along branched trade routes. The player who gets the most profit from their trade goods wins the game. An auction takes place at the start of every turn to decide who chooses which branch. The chooser gets the first choice of several special actions which usually multiply your trade goods (coloured wooden cubes) or allow you to cash them in. There is one special action fewer than the number of players, so one person always misses out. They get the proceeds of the next special actions auction, so there is no rich-getting-richer syndrome.
I enjoyed this. The auctions felt finely balanced, it played quickly and it felt intuitive. It is just a pity that it is overpriced at €30 and overproduced in a full-size box.
7/10

Hameln

When we got back to the hotel after dinner we launched into Hameln. I was tired and this is not the sort of game to be learning at 10.30pm, so I may have judged it too harshly.
The pieces are as cute as you would expect from the people who made Shear Panic, but this effect is spoiled by an ugly, crowded board with dark, clashing colours and rough computer graphics.
Despite the cute theme and pieces, the rules are complicated, with lots of interlocking mechanisms and convoluted scoring. It felt contrived and unintuitive. I would like to give it another chance when I am fresh, but with so much competition, I can’t see this one getting the buzz of Shear Panic.
4/10

Saturday

Saturday was much more busy than the other days. Around lunchtime, I started to feel quite claustrophobic, but the morning and late afternoon were bearable.

Keymarket

My first game of the day was a playtest of Keymarket, Richard Breese’s latest prototype. It is a tile-laying game with an interesting scoring system:

• Largest group of tiles scores 1 point each
• Second largest group of tiles scores 2 points each
• Bonus points and events from special tiles that can only be laid if surrounded by enough other tiles. You get larger bonuses for tiles that require more supporting tiles.

I enjoyed it. There is plenty to think about. My only substantial criticism is that it felt too long for what it was. Otherwise, the game felt 95% complete. I hope Richard streamlines it as it could be very popular.
The playtest was the highlight of my day. Richard is a very nice guy and genuinely wanted to hear our opinions.

Perikles

After the playtest we were buffeted by the crowds for two hours, totally unable to get a seat at a table. In the end, we were lucky to find a table at Warfrog to play Perikles.
We played through only one turn, as it is a two to three hour game, but we could see that it is up to Martin Wallace’s usual standards. The game revolves around an area influence core, on the left of the map, where players compete to gain control over the cities of the Peloponnesian War. They gain victory points by fighting over the cities, on the right of the map, by laying tiles and throwing dice.
Although at first it looks like a complicated game, it flowed together quite smoothly and there is plenty of tension over the influence cube placements and the very confrontational combats. It is one of the most original games I have played recently and I might well get it.
7/10

Genesis

After wandering through the spotty goths and pungent leather smell of the RPG room, we managed to find a table at Face 2 Face games and played Genesis, from Reiner Knizia.
This reminded me of an easier, shallower, faster Tigris and Euphrates, without the viciousness, monuments or clever scoring. I liked it, but the others thought it was mediocre. The core mechanism is very clever, and typical Knizia. All players lay brown, blue, green and white tiles, trying to get their own tiles into herds, while blocking other players herd formations. The board has obstacles to make it easier to block other players.
If it was cheaper and if the components were better looking, I would definitely get it and rate it higher.
7/10

Megastar

After dinner, we whipped out this card game from Friedemann Friese. The cards are cartoon bands, for instance boy band, heavy metal, skater band, solo crooner etc. As you would expect, the mechanisms are unique. I have not played a game like it. A column of bands is laid out in a hit parade (that phrase reminds me of my Dad). Players then lay cards next to the hit parade to promote the bands and take cards from both a pool of already played cards and a draw pile. At the end of the game, you get more victory points for band cards in your hand that match the top of the hit parade. There is good tension between playing cards to promote the bands you want, or to keep the cards in your hand so they score later.
It works well, but I could not work out what I needed to do to play well, until the last quarter. It is an enjoyable, light game with a fun theme, but I am not sure how much replay value it has.
6/10

Great Wall of China

We also played Great Wall by Reiner Knizia. This felt like a cross between Battle Line and Ivanhoe. You compete over segments of the wall, by laying cards against the other players, which, rather like Perikles, invariably ends in a blood feud. Unfortunately we ran into an end-game rules question, which spoiled the fun.
7/10

Sunday

Sunday was much more relaxed and the crowds had subsided a lot. We had no problem finding a table at the Rio Grande area.

Gloria Mundi

This was an interesting game. The board and pieces are gorgeous. You are all Romans at the end of the Empire, fleeing Rome to Carthage from the approaching goths, but it is very abstract. Both the players and the goths run down a single track with the game ending when:

1. the first player reaches Carthage
2. the goths reaches Rome
3. the building cards run out.

In our game the goths reached Rome well ahead of the other two finishes, but that was probably a result of our inexperience and playing the game badly. Unfortunately, our teacher did not speak English fluently and the game is quite intricate and could do with some player references, or at least more text on the cards, so we made several mistakes, which threw off the results.
It is clever and interesting, but it could have run more smoothly. I will have to play it with the proper rules before my rating is meaningful. Bruno Faidutti suggests some rules tweaks.
6/10

Imperial

Imagine a longer, more intricate and developed Antike where the players, as manipulative tycoons, control several nations through a system of shares and you will have Imperial in a nutshell. Unfortunately, the board is fugly, with computer art and clashing colours. I hope Hameln and Imperial have not started a trend.
It helped that our teacher loved the game and spoke excellent English, but I really enjoyed this game, just from 40 minutes play.
8/10, but could go up.

Other Lowlights

• The food in the Messe is pretty bad.
• Not winning once.

Other Highlights

• Meeting Chris Brooks. He was busy whenever I saw him, but it was nice to grab a few minutes of his time (and my playtest copy of Cry Havoc!).
• Exploring the halls during quieter periods.
• (Inwardly) laughing at goths, moustaches and mullets.
• Meeting Keith Thomasson at the Mayfair stand.
• Bumping into John Mitchell of the Swiggers.
• Our taxi driver reaching 100mph on the autobahn on the way to the airport.

Games Bought

Before I left I made a policy decision to just buy Haba kids’ games and other German games I would struggle to get in the UK. I mostly kept to that, but weakness got the better of me a few times.

• Megastar – for my friend Rob
• Intrigue – looks like a lot of fun – with the right group.
• 1829 Mainline – I bought this from Tom Tresham, the brother of the designer, Francis. Initially I was going to get 1825, but I recently played it at FWTWR.com and found the rules impenetrable. I am glad I have 1829 Mainline now, as the rules are far easier to parse.
• Ca$h’n Gun$ – could not find it anywhere in Britain.
• Um Reifenbreite – only $5.
• Wo ist Shufti? – memory game for kids.
• Flinke Flitzer – Knizia kids game.
• mini-Rüsselbande – Alex Randolph kids game.
• Viva Topo – kids game, on Mikko’s recommendation.
• Schildkrötenrennen – Knizia kids game.
• Catan Event Cards
• Kapt’n Jan – Haba kids game
• Looping Louie – this would have been tough to get in Britain.
• Höchst Verdächtig – on Bruno Faidutti’s recommendation.

Tags: boardgames

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