Another year, another Essen season is upon us! I just thought I’d make the most of my train ride to Essen by once again sharing what my approach for this year will be. A lot seems to be different this year, so should be fun! 😀
Pre-Fair Coverage, Pre-Orders & Demo-Only
It’s quite noticeable how many people have received review copies of hot games this year before the doors of Essen even open. Daitoshi, Resafa, SETI, virtually every game that has been announced had someone write about it or show it off on camera. Not sure how I feel about that. On the one hand, it makes my life easier as there are a number of games where I lost any interest of demoing them. On the other hand, with all the preview lists and pre-fair coverage, a little bit of the excitement is gone. I always love strolling through the halls and suddenly finding something unexpected. Like last year’s announcement of World Order that I saw just by chance when I walked over to Hegemonic Games’ booth. Well, let’s see. Maybe this year I’ll finally manage to run into Jeroen or Joris from Splotter, that would be a nice surprise. I’ve played so many Splotter games for the first time this year, I’d have tons of admiration and a lot of questions!
There also seems to be an increased number of games that will be demo-only, each of which will likely only be shown at 1-2 tables. I’m wondering what that will do to the feel of the fair. Since I’ve been a teen, I’ve always gone to Essen to meet friends, play games, and buy those I liked. With the German national holiday coinciding with the first day of the fair and 4-day tickets having actually sold out, even Thursday will likely be very busy. I’m curious to see how much playing I will be actually able to do.
Much more stuff is available for pre-order this year as well. I missed out on two that are must-buys for me, but I was also able to reserve two I’m quite excited about. While most of the pre-orders feel crazy to me (a lot of games will be available retail in a month or two anyway), there are some limited quantity games where pre-ordering might really have payed off.
Press Day, Interviews & Daily Coverage
Biggest change for me personally is that the kind folks of SPIEL have granted me a press pass this year, so I’ll be able to attend the press conference and the new releases show. Would be cool to run into some fellow reviewers there, but I work under the assumption that nobody knows who I am anyway. Maybe I should start a YouTube channel or print T-shirts after all 😀 I also again packed my camera and interview kit, so if all goes according to plan, I’ll be able to bring you once again daily coverage. Fingers crossed!
And with that out of the way, let’s talk games! As always, I plan for a small haul, like 2-3 big box games and the rest only tiny stuff. A) I always find these boat loads of games some people buy rather excessive and b) I have the natural limitation of not having a car! Having to haul your purchases back on a 300km train ride really helps with the sensible spending 😀 I’m still quite happy with my selection of last year, even if Kutna Hora and Witchcraft! left my collection rather quickly.
So drum roll, queue the music, these are my picks for SPIEL Essen 2024:
The One to Get
I deliberately don’t do extensive research on any game before Essen because I like the surprise and feeling of discovering a new favorite game. But from all I could gather, Daitoshi by Dani Garcia is the one to get this year. I really liked Barcelona (and its expansion), Windmill Valley was great but a bit too light for might taste, and this one is supposed to be heavier. Artwork also looks great.
Pre-order was already sold out a couple of days ago, so this will be the first game I’ll try to pick up on Thursday! Fingers crossed I’ll be able to get a copy.
The Suchy of the Year
Vladimir Suchy’s games are such a staple for me each year that it felt right to give it its own category. Resafa sounds like it could be a good one, though likely lighter than an Evolution or Underwater City, which doesn’t have to be a bad thing. Not sure about that artwork of the board and components though. I really hope it looks better close up than on the screenshots. But every one of Vladimir’s games I’ve played was unique and interesting in its own way, so this is pretty much a must buy as well.
The How-Did-I-Miss-That?!?
Okay, this one is pretty niche, but I think it will make a lot of people go “how did I not know this existed?”: it’s the Roats & Boats scenario book. As far as I get it, it was created to help finance SplotterCon with official sanctioning by Splotter Spellen. I don’t know much more than that, but since it also contains solo scenarios that incorporate elements of the et cetera expansion, I’m highly interested. Already pre-ordered my copy and available copies seem to be very limited. If you want one, you should get it quickly!
The Game To Demo
For me, this one clearly goes to World Order by the fine folks that brought us Hegemony. Ever since Vangelis told me about it at last year’s Essen, I’ve been dying to try it. Back then, he said they were originally aiming more for a two hour experience but were adding more depth to it due to all the popularity of Hegemony. I’m very interested in the international systems part of politics anyway, so curious to learn more what the game actually plays like.
The “What Took You So Long?”
This one clearly goes to Flamme Rouge: Grand Tour. I pre-ordered my copy, but I still can’t believe this expansion will finally come out. For the longest time, my quickly taken snapshot of last years prototype was the only image out there to indicate this expansion existed at all. Flamme Rouge is an excellent game but we have been waiting for this so long and Heat has stolen so much of Flamme Rouge’s thunder, I’m really eager to learn if this can relight the fire!
Left Field
My “out there” pick goes to Kartini, a game about educating women in Indonesia. I missed out on the Kickstarter, but since then I really got interested in historical inspired games like Votes for Women, Shores of Tripoli, I Napoleon, John Company 2nd Edition, etc. This might be my chance to finally give it a try and see if I really missed out or it just was the hype that got me.
Already On Their Way
Both Tranquility the Ascent and Steam Power I would be really excited about if I hadn’t backed them and they were basically on their way to me. So this is more as a shout out for those that haven’t to give them a try.
Sure, I’ll Take one!
This is not a must buy but I’d be happy if I manage to get a copy. For this year, it’s the expansion to Sky Team! I haven’t even played through all of the scenarios for the base game, but I sure as heck want the expansion. 😀 This and Daitoshi were unfortunately the two pre-orders I missed out on. Well, let’s see. If it doesn’t work out, I’ll have no problem waiting for the retail release.
O Brother, Where Art Thou?
One thing that is surprisingly absent is: there apparently is no new Concordia map / expansion for this year! Granted, I already have tons of maps to chose from (to be honest all that exist), but still, I really like my anual dose of new Concordia content to pull out Solitaria again and take it for a spin. Well, might as well use this slot to give a shout out to Mac Gerdt’s 7 Empires. He showed me a prototype back when I interviewed him for Origin Stories and it seemed really interesting. I’m not much of a “conflict gamer”, but I can see why people are excited for this one to come out.
… And Over to You
So hope you got some inspiration what to look forward to in the next days. If you’re in Essen and want to catch up, send me a message! And of course let me know what titles you’re excited for or want me to check out for you! Have a great SPIEL 2024 everyone!