Convention Report: Spiel 2008

By W. Eric Martin

Here are my reports from Spiel '08, the giant game convention in Essen, Germany which took place from October 23-October 26, 2007 in Essen, Germany.

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Convention Report: Spiel 2008 – Catch Me If You Can, Street Paintball and Plimil

By W. Eric Martin
December 28, 2008

Okay, time to cover three more lesser-known games that appeared at Spiel 08 and clear away some of my guilt for taking so long to finish this convention coverage. (Perhaps I should look on the positive side, however – at the current rate I have enough material to keep posting these reports until April!)

Let’s start with a game from Dutch designer Lieven d’Hondt, who assembled a limited print run of fifty copies for his first design. Catch Me If You Can combines elements of Stratego with, well, other elements of Stratego.

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Convention Report: Spiel 2008 – Kimaloé and Colors

By W. Eric Martin
November 18, 2008

Is anyone still interested in Spiel reports? I’ve been somewhat distracted since returning from Germany, but as no one else has reported on these games, it’s time to translate some of my notes into print, starting with a new game from two-thirds of the crew behind Animalia and Jamaica.

Sébastien Pauchon and Malcolm Braff are the main forces behind GameWorks, a Swiss design company that creates custom games for clients. The two games listed in the opening paragraph were both commissioned by an insurance company, for example. GameWorks’ newest release – with Dominique Ehrhard on board as co-designer – is Kimaloé, which was designed for Terre des Hommes, a Swiss non-governmental organization that focuses on children’s rights. The game will be released on November 20, 2008 to coincide with Universal Children’s Day, and the game will be distributed by Asmodee.

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Convention Report: Spiel 2008 – Codename: Ancient and Valdora

By W. Eric Martin
November 9, 2008

One of the reasons I attended Spiel 08 was to get a first look at titles coming out in 2009. No, I’m not bored with this year’s releases – I just want to keep track of what’s coming out when so that I can report such things here on BGN. Jackson Pope at Reiver Games, for example, showed off a design from Dirk Liekens, whose just-released Wind River from Argentum Games was getting decent reviews at Spiel.

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Convention Report: Spiel 2008 – 24 Hours

By W. Eric Martin
October 28, 2008

After spending far too many hours on the final day of the Spiel game convention punching, bagging and stacking (and restacking) my cardboard treasures in order to fit everything in my two suitcases – a challenge that failed, leaving me to tote three games in a plastic bag in addition to my weighty computer bag – I grabbed a few hours of sleep before waking at 6 am to eat, shower and prepare for the long trek to Düsseldorf airport and, eventually, home.

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Convention Report: Essen 2008: October 25, 2008 – Day 4

By W. Eric Martin
October 26, 2008

Spiel 08 is over, so let’s start the final summary report with one bit of news from the closing moments of the show:

• FRED Distribution will release a new version of Richard Borg’s Battle Cry, which has a working title of – wait for it – Richard Borg’s Battle Cry. Borg mentioned that some elements of the game will be updated, but the release will remain the same game and not be a sequel. No helicopters will be included, and marshmallow guns have also been nixed.

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Convention Report: Essen 2008: October 25, 2008 – Day 3

By W. Eric Martin
October 26, 2008

Saturday happenings from the Spiel game convention in Essen, Germany:

• Here are the Fairplay standings as of 18:15 Saturday:

• Dominion
• Machu Picchu
• Nefertiti
• Comuni
• Diamonds Club
• Pandemic
• Im Schutze der Burg
• Age of Empires III
• Chicago Express
• Wind River
• Cavum
• Space Alert
• Snow Tails

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Convention Report: Essen 2008: October 24, 2008 – Day 2, Part 2

By W. Eric Martin
October 25, 2008

Items from the Spiel game convention in Essen, Germany:

• The Fairplay rating chart, which tracks how gamers are rating new titles, has been fluctuating rapidly as first impressions pour into the voting box. At 15:00 on Friday, Oct. 24, the second full day of Spiel, the chart read:

• Comuni
• Diamonds Club
• Machu Picchu
• Dominion
• Fauna
• Im Schutze der Burg
• Lungarno
• Borneo
• Flussfieber
• Pandemic
• Nefertiti
• Le Havre
• Powerboats

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Convention Report: Essen 2008: October 24, 2008 – Day 2

By W. Eric Martin
October 24, 2008

Time to continue the quick hits from the Spiel convention:

• The Kingsburg expansion, the title of which is still in the works, should be released in early 2009, and it consists of five expansions that can be used singly or in combination, such as 24 governor tiles – with players choosing one of three to keep throughout the game, with a special power associated with each – and tokens to be used during the winter battles. Instead of having a random number of troops assigned to you, each player will have a set of six tiles numbered 0-4 (with two 1s). You choose one of these tiles for each round, and the remaining tile at the end of the game gives VPs equal to the number on it. Kingsburg has been extremely well-received and will even appear in a Russian-language edition before the end of 2008.

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Convention Report: Essen 2008: October 23, 2008 – Day 1

By W. Eric Martin
October 24, 2008

Rather than cover everything I’ve seen, heard or played in depth at Spiel, then die due to falling asleep in the middle of a busy German roadway while walking to the Messe, I’m sticking to a few quick notes from day 1 in Essen:

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