ESSEN SPIEL 2012. The boardgame exhibition that pauses every gamer’s October calendar. Boardgamecafe.net was there for our first time last year (2012). Find out what did we do on the Day Before the event as we arrived in Essen via Berlin.
We took the downtime (stock arrivals) to test out a few newer games but also some older faves like HANSA TEUTONICA and TICKET TO RIDE. KEMET, LE PETIT PRINCE and ROBINSON CRUSOE also saw some actions. Find out what’s the buzz about Robinson Crusoe.
Time for us to pay homage to another prolific boardgame designer as we rolled out MARTIN WALLACE games for tonight’s meetup. Wallace simply has too many games for us to cover but tonight we checked four of his faves AGE OF STEAM, LIBERTE, DISCWORLD: ANKH-MORPORK and GETTYSBURG.
Gentlemen (or ladies), start your engines! Interested to take part in a 6-race Formula D league where 5 teams of 10 drivers race over 6 world-class F1 tracks to determine the winner for the Constructor and Driver’s title. Find out more…
Back to KICKSTARTER Theme Night as we covered another three Kickstarter games tonight with FLEET (card), MANHATTAN PROJECT with THE SECOND STAGE expansion and ZONG SHI. Non-kickstarter games like ESCAPE and CARGO NOIR also were in play.
After two weeks of KICKSTARTER fun, it’s time we switch tack to another boardgame publisher known for their wargames but have lately been spinning off into non-wargames. Best known for their TWILIGHT STRUGGLE which now occupies the #1 spot in Boardgamegeek, OTK gamers took time to try out Volko’s first COIN CDG wargame, the highly anticipated ANDEAN ABYSS. Also on the OTK tables tonight were Chad Jensen’s URBAN SPRAWL and Rick Young’s LEAPING LEMMINGS.
Extending last week’s ARTIPIA Meetup into our KICKSTARTER NITE #1 as we aim to get more kickstarter games onto the table. Which we did. GLORY TO ROME, ALIEN FRONTIERS, MARS NEED MECHANICS and GET BIT were showcased. And 18 other non-kickstarter games including two heavies in POWER GRID BRAZIL and 18TN TENNESSEE & KENTUCKY.
Back to Theme Nights with ARTIPIA GAMES hogging the limelight with BRIEFCASE, DRUM ROLL and AMONG THE STARS. Non-Artipia games also saw some play-time notably NANUK, PANIC ON WALL STREET and CHINA. This is Kickstarter Nite #0 of many more kickstarter nites to come.
Missing the BGC Retreat? Would like to get to Essen? Enjoys the green nature? Why not do it ALL in the upcoming BGC RETREAT 2013. Bonus: Play AGRICOLA in a real stone house? Read on… and grab the limited seats early. This is an EXPERIENCE you do not want to miss!
No Theme night means we get to play whatever we fancy… so after weeks of harvesting, we finally got VIVAJAVA THE COFFEE GAME back to the table even if it’s just with 7. AMONG THE STARS (hinting at an ARTIPIA Theme Nite soon), TZOLKIN, SUBURBIA and ASARA were played. SPACE CADETS made a brief appearance but….
One of our quieter nights where OTK regulars meet and drink to our boardgaming friendship ala VITICULTURE! KAHUNA and RIVER DRAGONS were also in session.
No theme, just free-n-easy and more than 10 different games hit the tables from the oldies like SETTLERS OF CATAN to Knizia’s RA, the chaotic TOP SECRET SPIES, and some newer games like TZOLKIN and RIVER DRAGONS. Hmm.. Maybe we should let things go more free-n-easy in future.
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