Jens' Essen 2007 After-the-show list
Jens Hoppe
Denmark
Frederiksberg
What are you, like 80?
It's not the years, honey, it's the mileage.
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This year was the second time I attended Spiel in Essen. Last year - my first attendance - was fantastic: I was blown away with the size of it all, the sheer number of fellow boardgamers around me, and all the new games (not to mention all the old games I hadn't seen in decades). Feeling like a kid at Christmas, there was little doubt I had to go back this year.
My only complaint with 2006 had been the time I had available. Arriving Friday evening, I only really had the whole of Saturday as well as Sunday morning to explore the show and get my purchases done. I still managed to squeeze in a few games at the show, but the whole thing felt rushed.
So, this year, I wanted to be on the spot when the show opened Thursday morning. I wanted to buy stuff, of course, but more than anything I wanted to be able to take my time at the show, wandering around at my leisure, playing games at the stands, and generally enjoy the whole thing without getting too stressed out.
That goal was somewhat met. I did have much more time this year but really, three whole days (I had to catch a train back to Denmark first thing Sunday morning) still wasn't anywhere near enough to do everything I wanted. As a consequence, there were dozens of interesting games I didn't get to play as the days just rushed past too fast. 
Still, it was fun. Great fun! And I would do it again in a heartbeat. Who knows, perhaps next year will see me returning to Germany for the ultimate in gaming geekiness?
This year, a large group of Danes stayed at the Hotel Fortuna (about 20 minutes walk from the show), with nine of us arriving on Wednesday and four more on Friday. In addition the hotel had gamers from both Sweden and The Netherlands present, so the small breakfast room was crowded every night:
And finally, here's my obligatory loot pic. More pictures from the show can be found here.
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1.
Board Game: Brass
[Average Rating:8.08 Overall Rank:8]
Jens Hoppe
Denmark
Frederiksberg
What are you, like 80?
It's not the years, honey, it's the mileage.
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On Thursday, I had a few purchases I wanted out of the way. Not knowing how long Warfrog's supply of games would last, Brass was one of my first purchases (as it turned out, they didn't seem to sell out at all). Two copies, no less, since a friend arriving late on Friday had begged me to secure a copy for him.
I didn't get to play Brass at the show, but it looks like the type of game I will love. Soon, my precious...
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2.
Board Game: TZAAR
[Average Rating:7.73 Overall Rank:137]
Jens Hoppe
Denmark
Frederiksberg
What are you, like 80?
It's not the years, honey, it's the mileage.
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Tzaar was yet another game I had promised to pick up for my late-arriving friend, so I did. Am I kind or what?
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Jens Hoppe
Denmark
Frederiksberg
What are you, like 80?
It's not the years, honey, it's the mileage.
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At the Gen Four Two stand in hall 4, John Yianni gave me a brief introduction to his new abstract game. Like Hive, players build up the board with hexagonal bakelite tiles, but there the similarity ends. For one thing, Army of Frogs is a game for up to four players and there are no specialized pieces.
I got to play about three games of Army of Frogs during my days in Essen, and I really liked the game. With random draws of new pieces, the game is not completely deterministic, but even so there is plenty to think about. The frog pieces are kind of cute and lend the game a nice tactile feel. Definitely recommended, if one likes fast-playing abstract games.
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Jens Hoppe
Denmark
Frederiksberg
What are you, like 80?
It's not the years, honey, it's the mileage.
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Meeting up with another group of Danes, our way brought us by the Queen stand. While some opted to sit on the floor for a game of Giganten der Lüfte, a couple of us managed to get our hands on a copy of Eketorp - and a table.
Eketorp is a light/medium'ish game where players (representing vikings) compete to build the niftiest stronghold. Each turn, viking meeples are secretly allocated to different tasks; resource gathering, defense of the home stronghold, or attacking an enemy stronghold. Whenever vikings clash - both when someone attacks another's stronghold and when several vikings end up competing for the same resources - combat results. This is handled by simultaneous card playing, with the higher card winning the combat. The defeated viking is sent to the "hospital" (out for one or more turns), and in a stroke of originality, the cards played in combat are exchanged between the players involved. Resources gathered are used to build up your stronghold's walls, and succesful attacks on an enemy stronghold may destroy part of his walls. After the final turn, whoever has the most imposing walls wins.
I actually kind of liked Eketorp. Simultaneous, blind selection is not really a favorite mechanism with me, and this game has it galore but even so, the game was quite enjoyable. But not enjoyable enough to actually buy, of course.
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Jens Hoppe
Denmark
Frederiksberg
What are you, like 80?
It's not the years, honey, it's the mileage.
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Now with another group of Danish friends, we found a free table at the Amigo stand and settled on a game of Gangster.
This new Thorsten Gimmler designed game is set in gangster-era Chicago and players compete for control of the city's districts. Each player has a car which moves around the board from district to district, and players can load or unload passengers from this car. "Passengers" in the widest possible meaning of the word since enemy gangsters can be loaded too, only this time in the car's trunk. At the end of each of the game's three turns, points are scored for control of each district.
Beneath the thematic trappings, Gangster is an abstract area majority game. It has a few twists of course, the main one probably being the fact that first place in a district doesn't necessarily yield the most points - sometimes being 2nd or 3rd is better (making this, I suppose, almost an area minority game)! The somewhat nasty element of being able to remove the opponents' gangsters also stands out, and fits well with the theme.
I was not particularly impressed with Gangster. For a gangster game it felt a bit dry and abstract, and if I were to play an area majority game, I'd much rather play, say, El Grande. Still, the game obviously worked on the mechanical level, so if the gangster theme draws, the game might be worth a look.
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Jens Hoppe
Denmark
Frederiksberg
What are you, like 80?
It's not the years, honey, it's the mileage.
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Thursday afternoon I sat by and watched about half a game of Im Jahr des Drachen being played by a group of Danes. The game looks like typical alea/Stefan Feld stuff, with nice components, and many interacting mechanisms and matemathical puzzles underlying a game with a completely pasted-on theme and little player interaction.
I was actually intrigued by the game, but not enough to get a copy for myself.
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Jens Hoppe
Denmark
Frederiksberg
What are you, like 80?
It's not the years, honey, it's the mileage.
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Ever since playing 1830 for the first time many years ago, I have been a big fan of this series of train games. In later years, Tresham's 1825 has been the game of choice (it's plays quickly and is easy to introduce new people to) but I had my eye out for this new entry in the series.
Having only read the rules, Steam over Holland reminds me mostly of 1830. There are a few simplifications here and there, as well as a few new twists. The game also features something I haven't seen in an 18xx game before: A fixed number of turns!
Component-wise, Steam over Holland is the coolest 18xx game so far. Colorful company charters and stock certificates, wonderfully thick track tiles.
I have no doubt that Steam over Holland will be a succes with my fellow trainheads.
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Jens Hoppe
Denmark
Frederiksberg
What are you, like 80?
It's not the years, honey, it's the mileage.
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Being a big fan of Mykerinos (I actually think it is Ystari's finest game to date), getting this small expansion was a must.
Featuring new partial-river tiles which are placed in such a way as to create a fifth area each turn, as well as a new personality with unique powers, I can't wait to try out the expansion.
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9.
Board Game: Caylus
[Average Rating:7.97 Overall Rank:11]
Jens Hoppe
Denmark
Frederiksberg
What are you, like 80?
It's not the years, honey, it's the mileage.
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Having done my best not to get caught up in any preorder hysteria, I had nevertheless fallen for the new, deluxe edition of Caylus. Funny thing is, although I find Caylus to be an "ok" game, I am not a big fan of it. That didn't prevent me falling for this edition of the game - solely on looks! (So I confess to being completely shallow
 ). I picked up my copy at the Ystari stand and have been oohing and aahing over it since. But will I play it?
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10.
Board Game: Ark
[Average Rating:6.37 Overall Rank:1177]
Jens Hoppe
Denmark
Frederiksberg
What are you, like 80?
It's not the years, honey, it's the mileage.
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One of my fellow Danes had bought Ark and the expansion at the Doris & Frank stand and in the evening at Hotel Fortuna, I agreed to teach them the game.
Ark has been a hit with the hardcore gamers I have played it with, who have all cherished the puzzle of getting to play your cards without breaking the multitude of criteria. All my sessions feature players swearing at the sheer difficulty of figuring it all out, and in the end everyone seems to enjoy the game.
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Jens Hoppe
Denmark
Frederiksberg
What are you, like 80?
It's not the years, honey, it's the mileage.
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My group of Danes started Friday with a trip to the Nexus stand in hall 12. The demo table for the nomad-game-with-the-title-I-can't-remember was already taken, but the table for Garibaldi was free and we jumped at the chance to try something new.
An enthusiastic and friendly person - the designer, as it turned out - explained the game to us and actually stayed to assist us for the entire game.
Garibaldi is a deduction game where one player, representing Garibaldi, has to escape the map without being found and caught by Austrian patrols (played by the rest of the players). Players play cards to move along one of three different kind of connecting lines (or alternatively, play cards for events). The Austrians get clues to Garibaldi's whereabouts if they enter a location Garibaldi has visited within the last four turns, and since they're also able to see the kind of movement Garibaldi makes each turn (foot/horse/boat), it doesn't take long for the Austrians to begin to make qualified guesses. Time pressure is on Garibaldi who has to escape the map within 30 turns.
Garibaldi was not really my 'kind' of game, but that being said I enjoyed my experience with it much more than expected. The designer was very helpful, and obviously passionate about the subject (which, we were told, is one that all Italians learn about in school). The artwork is based on old paintings and the map is a historical one with point-to-point info overlaid. Lying somewhere between Scotland Yard and Fury of Dracula complexity-wise, Garibaldi is certainly worth a look if one likes this type of game.
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Jens Hoppe
Denmark
Frederiksberg
What are you, like 80?
It's not the years, honey, it's the mileage.
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Our path then led us into the Galeria and the Czech Games Edition stand. In a stroke of good luck - CGE had only two tables and loads of visitors throughout the show - we managed to get places at the League of Six table.
Now, League of Six was one of the game I had been looking forward to, and the half game we played was certainly intriguing. Players bid for access to the various towns in the game, in order to tax them for goods cubes. These cubes are then converted into VP. The mechanism that really stood out in the game was the auction for towns, which felt both somewhat similar to that of, say, Amun-Re, but was still different enough that it required a completely different approach.
My first impression of the game was good - but I didn't buy the game.
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Jens Hoppe
Denmark
Frederiksberg
What are you, like 80?
It's not the years, honey, it's the mileage.
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Later in the day we managed to get a table at the Rio Grande stand and got hold of a copy of Hamburgum. I had browsed through the rules before leaving for Essen, and this (keeping the rules book handy, mind you!) allowed me to explain the game to the others.
Hamburgum is a solid medium/heavyweight eurogame. Players represent wealthy citizens in Hamburg (or London, if you use the alternative map) who gain prestige (=VP) by donating to six churches in the city. Donations take the form of money and building materials, and since building materials cost money players have to earn these, primarily through the production and selling of goods.
Like the designer's previous games, Hamburgum uses the rondel mechanism to guide a player's choice of actions each turn, but all similarity ends there - Hamburgum is an economic resource-management game, very unlike, say, Antike. The components are very nice, in particular the little brick tokens which are actually made of some kind of ceramic material, and the church bell tokens which are little ... golden bells.
I managed to play three games of Hamburgum during my days in Essen and while I liked the game well enough, I wasn't blown away. Most people seemed to have been, though, and there was much talk about this one being the best gamer's game at the show.
To me, the game was a bit on the dry side. I don't mind the theme at all (I like history, even if it means producing goods and building churches) but the game never really caught my fancy. The rondel irritates me, and gives me the feeling my choices are being railroaded along specific lines. Turns pass very quickly, but this is mainly a consequence of each action being very limited ("Get two beer. Next"). So, while I liked my games of Hamburgum, I saw no need to get a copy for myself (and everyone I know bought one, so I can always play with their copy).
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Jens Hoppe
Denmark
Frederiksberg
What are you, like 80?
It's not the years, honey, it's the mileage.
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Not relinquishing our table at the Rio Grande stand (boo! hiss! ) we swapped our Hamburgum for a copy of Amyitis. This was another of the new heavy euros I had been looking forward to, so I was eager to give it a try.
In Amyitis, players participate in the building of the Hanging Gardens of Babylon, using farmers to produce resources, engineers to irrigate the garden's areas, traders to acquire camels (which are used to travel around Mesopotamia getting exotic plants for the gardens) and priests to maintain a presence in the city's three temples. When an exotic plant is bought it is planted in the gardens, yielding VPs as well as other advantages.
With many ways of scoring VPs and with caravan-loads of different, interacting mechanisms in the game, Amyitis was actually quite a nice game, which I enjoyed playing. It did feel a bit too abstract and a-thematic for my tastes, though, but if you like games like Goa and Caylus, this one should be right up your alley. And you guessed it, I didn't buy this one either.
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15.
Board Game: Oregon
[Average Rating:6.81 Overall Rank:526]
Jens Hoppe
Denmark
Frederiksberg
What are you, like 80?
It's not the years, honey, it's the mileage.
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One game I didn't have on my radar prior to the show, turned out to be a bit of a sleeper hit. Hans im Glück's new game Oregon was being played everywhere at the show and hearing positive comments from some passing Danes, I ended up buying a copy (it was only 22 euros...)
In addition to a couple of games of Army of Frogs, I got a chance to play Oregon that evening, and wasn't disappointed: Oregon is a simple tile/meeple-placement game, where placement of farmer meeples in the proximity of buildings (and vice versa) yields VPs. Your placement opportunities are determined by the cards you have, but these still allow you quite a bit of room for decisions.
Not the next Puerto Rico or Caylus, of course, but a very solid light/medium-weight game and the game of the show as far as I am concerned. Congrats to Norwegian designers Henrik and Ã…se Berg for an impressive debut!
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Jens Hoppe
Denmark
Frederiksberg
What are you, like 80?
It's not the years, honey, it's the mileage.
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I had had my eye on Histogame's latest, King of Siam, and at the end of Friday I bought a copy. It's a very nice-looking area majority game which I look forward to trying.
At the common Histogame / Simmons Games stand, Simmons' followup to Bonaparte to Marengo, Napoleon's Triumph, was being demoed. It looked ever so pretty, but I managed to resist (though I will undoubtably get the game at some point). And they even sold copies with slightly battered boxes for 20 euros!
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Jens Hoppe
Denmark
Frederiksberg
What are you, like 80?
It's not the years, honey, it's the mileage.
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Saturday morning, five of us managed to get a table at Matagot's stand. We were of course all eager to try their latest, veeewy pwetty game, Utopia. I had read the rules beforehand and was able to explain them to the others.
In Utopia, representing royal ministers to the king, players draft guest tokens and play cards to add and move "prince" tokens around the board. Three similar prince tokens in one area can be converted into a monument, which will yield points each turn from there on. Five different prince tokens on the same island can be converted into that island's wonder, which in addition to a one-time VP bonus will yield points every time someone builds monuments on that island. Repeat until someone crosses 50 VP, in which case the game ends at the end of the turn.
I really, really wanted to like Utopia, but I just couldn't bring myself to do it. The components, while gorgeous, were probably a bit too gorgeous, since I found them lacking in usability and functionality. As for the game itself, while it worked well enough mechanically, I just didn't find it particularly compelling. At our table, reactions ranged from "liked it well enough" to "lukewarm".
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Jens Hoppe
Denmark
Frederiksberg
What are you, like 80?
It's not the years, honey, it's the mileage.
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In addition to playing games (including another game of Hamburgum), Saturday saw me purchasing more things. Hurrican had finally received the correct cards for the Mr. Jack expansion, and I went and picked up a copy of that. Five new characters and a new rulebook detailing how to include them in the game.
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Jens Hoppe
Denmark
Frederiksberg
What are you, like 80?
It's not the years, honey, it's the mileage.
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I am quite fond of Pillars of the Earth (although the random factor introduced when drawing master builders from the bag annoys me), so getting the expansion was a no-brainer. A new board, new cards, new turn options and support for 5 and 6 players, all for 12 euros just can't be beat.
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Jens Hoppe
Denmark
Frederiksberg
What are you, like 80?
It's not the years, honey, it's the mileage.
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Hall 4 is a great place to find older games. Here's an example of a vendor specializing in old (and not-so-old) wargames...
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Jens Hoppe
Denmark
Frederiksberg
What are you, like 80?
It's not the years, honey, it's the mileage.
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I picked up a copy of the free Polar Bear mini-expansion for Zooloretto at the Abacus stand. Later on, I also bought Rio Grande's complete expansion package (which included the polar bear) and intend to give this to my parents-in-law who like Zooloretto but would like a bit more variety.
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Jens Hoppe
Denmark
Frederiksberg
What are you, like 80?
It's not the years, honey, it's the mileage.
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Finally, out of the blue, just as I was approaching the hall 12 exit of the show, my eyes spotted a game I have been on the lookout for for a while. Or rather, I spotted the price tag next to it: 44 euros, and GMT's grand card-driven wargame Here I Stand was mine. Now, getting it to the table is probably going to be a challenge, but seeing it at that price I couldn't resist. (Plus, the scenario book alone, with its historical background info, kept me occupied in the train the next day, as far as Hamburg!)
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23.
Board Game: Agricola
[Average Rating:8.25 Overall Rank:2]
Jens Hoppe
Denmark
Frederiksberg
What are you, like 80?
It's not the years, honey, it's the mileage.
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So, which games got away? Which games were no-shows at the show, and what were the games I just didn't manage to get to play?
Well, for one thing Agricola got away. The Lookout Games stand was crammed with people throughout and though the game looked interesting, I ended up being intimidated by the German text on the components and decided to skip it. My loss, possibly, seeing how popular it was but hopefully we will see an English edition at some point, and when that time comes I will be first in line to get a copy.
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24.
Board Game: Cuba
[Average Rating:7.30 Overall Rank:161]
Jens Hoppe
Denmark
Frederiksberg
What are you, like 80?
It's not the years, honey, it's the mileage.
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If there was one game at the show on everybody's lips, it must have been Cuba. It was played everywhere, and everyone praised it highly.
I, however, didn't manage to find an opportunity to try it out and so haven't played it - yet. More than one of my fellow Danes bought a copy, though, so I foresee opportunities to get this on the table in the near future.
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Jens Hoppe
Denmark
Frederiksberg
What are you, like 80?
It's not the years, honey, it's the mileage.
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To John Yianni's regret, the mosquito expansion for Hive was a no-show. Appearently it was held up in customs, and didn't manage to get to the show. I left my email address at the stand and hope to get a chance to have a copy sent to me at some point...
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where is the r{"Sausage [b]KING of b{Chicago"? 
"meh!" and here I was hoping for MY 'own' "Private Idaho Compound"! 
Melbourne
Victoria
Thanks for sharing your thoughts (and that photo of all those games!) with us
New York
New York
Boulder
Colorado
California
Salford
Greater Manchester
I guess that's a demonstration of how much there is to see, I don't recognise a single game you bought and I didn't realise there was a Zooloretto expansion collection to get. Of the games I bought you didn't mention Galaxy Trucker, Scandaroon, Container, Filou or Keythedral of which at least two will be long-term keepers for me. It's great to read of someone elses notes to know what I missed but then sad to think that I missed all of those you bought and some you mentioned. Great list.