The Opinionated Gamers

While Essen is where the boardgaming industry introduces many of the new games for the next year, BGG.CON is where many non-Europeans in the community get to play those games. I usually try to get to BGG.CON at least one day in advance to get the lay of the land, catch up with friends I haven’t seen in months and get a little bit of pre-con gaming in before the serious gaming starts. This year I arrived early Tuesday afternoon, and at 2 p.m. there were already a few tables of gamers in the breakfast area playing games they have brought with them. The ballroom/conference center area was a hotbed of activities, with hotel staff, convention organizers, and many volunteers working to set up the variousrooms that will be packed with gamers starting on Wednesday.

I dropped off my copy of the 2-F games (Power Grid: First Sparks, Power Grid: Robot, and Friday) for the BGG library and spent the next few hours help setting up games in the Hot Games Room. As I have already played most games that are in the Hot Games room, I have volunteered to teach games there this year. The intention is for some high-demand/low-supply new Essen games to be set up in the room so groups of gamers can be rotated through session within a couple of hours. Some popular games may not be on the list as they may be available for purchase from vendors so there’ll be plenty of copies. Here’s a list of the games that are currently set up in the room:

• Dungeon Petz (2 copies)
• Vanuatu
• Hawaii
• Die Burgen von Burgund (not Essen release but still in low supply in the US)
• Tournay
• Last Will
• Power Grid: First Sparks (2 copies)
• Ora et Labora (2 copies)
• Trajan
• Village
• Belfort
• Poseidon’s Kingdom
• Eclipse
• Ab in die Tonne
• Drum Roll
• Colonial: Europe’s Empires Overseas Continue reading →

I remember the first time I was in Essen, many years ago. The fair was really smaller than now and not so many foreign publishers (foreign means non German) were there. Italians, both publishers and gamers, were isolated. StudioGiochi, with Leo Colovini, dV Giochi (actually DaVinci) and few others. I remember Emanuele Ornella first debut with Fantasy Pub and the first time for Angelo Porazzi, with me in an epic travel across the alpes with the caravan full of Angelo boxes. Mik Svellov Brett’n Board was one of the fews lights for english speaking in the darkness of great number of German publishing available only in German and, It seems impossible nowdays, BGG was just moving the first steps.

It seems I’m talking of other ages but it was just less then 10 years ago …

Now, walking along the halls, it happens to me often to listen Italians gamers speaking about the novelty and almost all Italian publishers attend the fair as long time veterans. Almost all publishers are releasing English version of the rules and, anyway, it seems a deadly sin produce a game with language dependant components. Non German companies are now much more than German ones and the game world has now border that extend far away from the black forest.

I’m just gone to ask a short comment about the fair to all Italians publishers I was able to contact (for Italians publishers the post Essen is always really busy since few days after there is Lucca Comics & Games, Italian greatest event alongside PLAY: The Games Festival, that, luckily, it is in March).

Angelo Porazzi Games

Angelo were in Essen with its last release Assist (read my pre Essen article to know something more about this project) and with the usual pack of Warangel expansions for the fans that years after years are waiting Essen to look and get the last races to fight! Angelo booth was, as usual, a crossroads of international routes: a nice place were meet friends. Continue reading →

For those of you who followed Patrick Korner’s Essen Mule Train reports, the train made a few more stops (Vancouver, B.C. -> Everett, Washington -> Redmond, Washington -> Issaquah, Washington) before finally arriving at the venue for this year’s Sasquatch Boardgame Festival in North Bend, Washington, with most of the games in surprisingly good condition (they were transported in duffel bags). About 50 gamers gathered at the beautiful Moon Mansion from 11/2 through 11/6 to play games and catch up with each other.

Continue reading →