Dale Yu: 2007 Essen Report Part Two – Notes from the Fair, Reviews and Session Reports

There is just far too much to see and do at Essen each year to make it fit all in one column – this week I’ll concentrate on giving a bit more depth to the information about some games.

Other notes from the Fair
Let me try to catch you up on the other news that I learned from the fair!  First, let me tell you a bit about the fair itself and then I’ll report back on the American companies that I talked to as it seems that many people (myself included) seemed to focus on the German companies in their original reports!

The fair was a bit bigger than last year, as one extra room was in use.  It was surprising to see that some of the booths had already started setting up on Tuesday afternoon when we first arrived!  In fact, there were as many as ten booths that appeared to be fully stocked and ready for business - 36 hours before the start of the event!  It also seemed like there were more shipping crates there on Tuesday.  In years past, it was always somewhat amusing to see the different exhibitors pace around waiting for their pallets from Ludofact to arrive.  I’m sure that there was still plenty of last minute anxiety this year, but there were many more booths stocked by Wednesday at lunch time than I’ve ever seen before!  This year, the halls were supposed to be smoke-free, but let’s face it, we’re in Europe!  There were still plenty of folks who were smoking, but it certainly seemed less noticeable than in the past.  The majority of smokers stood around the ashtrays, so it turned out to be minimally obtrusive at best. 

The biggest change that I saw this year was an increased security presence.  There were many more people in official Day-glo Yellow vests running around making sure that you were allowed to be wherever you were trying to go.  In fact, this may have been the last year of the “Free Wednesdays at Essen”.  In years past, pretty much anyone could walk around the halls as long as they looked like they belonged.  This year, I had my badge checked three different times on Wednesday.  Luckily, everyone in my group was either part of the Press or had a Exhibitor’s badge, because the guards were escorting those without proper credentials to the door.  Additionally, the guards were patrolling the grounds to make sure that the exhibitors weren’t selling games on Wednesday either.  Of course, it was still possible to pick up “review copies” and prepaid games, but it was made fairly clear that any transactions involving money was verboten.  Only time will tell (when I get there next year) whether the free-pass on Wednesdays will only be a happy memory of times gone by at Essen.  On the bright side, there was a better system for re-entry at the show.  This year, anyone who left the halls could get a wristband which allowed them re-entry.  This is a change from years past when you often had to argue with the guards to give you the bracelet to let you back in. 

The American companies seemed to all be doing well at the show.  I have already commented on how busy the Rio Grande booth was all week.  Given the excellent booth staff available there (including our own Scott Tepper), it has clearly become a destination for people who want to learn and play the new games.  Additionally, as Jay pretty much devotes every square foot of his space to tables, it is one of the largest areas in the fair to sit down and play games.  Not every new release was available during the Fair though.  I had talked to Jay early on Wednesday, and he was a bit disappointed that neither Year of the Dragor nor Oregon would be available in English during the fair.  The disappointment stemmed from the fact that the translations had already been done (by Jay) and submitted to the printers, but they could simply not be produced in time.  The bad news is that they weren’t at Essen, but the good news is that they should be ready and available in the very new future.

Z-man and FRED/Face2Face were across the way from each other in Hall 9.  There was a lot of good buzz about the new Z-man releases, most notably 1960.  In fact, I overheard more than a few Europeans wishing that there were more copies available for purchase!  It seems as if Zev had sold out of this title by Friday!  I know that Zev also had at least one new prototype at the Fair; however, I was not able to get a chance to play this so I don’t have any more information on this new game (yet).  Finally, Z-Man seemed to be in the thick of the rumors mostly because the word on the street was that Z-Man was going to get the first crack at doing Agricola (published in German by Lookout).  Duel in the Dark and the many expansions available seemed to be getting lots of plays (and purchases).

I stayed in the same hotel as the folks from Face2Face, and they also seemed to report a good fair as we chatted most mornings over breakfast.  Their new releases this year included Cheeky Monkey and Moai.  I repeatedly heard good things about Moai from the Europeans, but I must admit that I put an examination of this game on the backburner as it is something that I should be able to do here in the States at my leisure.  One of the convention specials was that if you bought Moai from F2F during the fair, you would get cool Easter Island head-thingy for free.  As I understand it, there are still a few of these cool figures left, and they can be had by purchasing a copy of Moai directly from Face2Face via their website (while supplies last of course).

FRED seemed to also be doing a brisk business as I walked by their booth.  Their newer games including Uptown and Blazing Aces seemed to be doing well.  Additionally, they had a pre-production version of Rails of Europe (the followup game to Railroad Tycoon) available.  I have had a small role in the deelpment of this game, and I must say that the new game will be as good as the original.  The new map does offer a few new strategic options to the players, and there are a few action cards which are different from Railroad Tycoon.

I also had a nice chat with the folks from Fantasy Flight.  They had a number of games garnering attention including Descent, Cold War: CIA vs KGB, and the beautifully produced Starcraft.  I look forward to trying out some of the new releases, and I am hoping to get my way into a playtesting group for a new Bruno Faidutti design.  Bruno pulled me aside on Friday afternoon to show me his newest design which is a cooperative game where the players are trying to escape a sinking submarine.  They are racing against a number of factors:  time, air, water level and engine heat level.  It appears that Fantasy Flight has picked this game up—and though I didn’t get to play it, I can’t wait to get my chance to do so.  Additionally, though the English version wasn’t available (or at least I didn’t see it), there was plenty of buzz around the fair for Tribune (the new Karl-Heinz Schmiel game which took first place on the Fairplay list).  I eagerly await the FF release of this game which should be in the very near future.

Bezier Games once again made an appearance at the Fair.  Bezier (pronounced bezz-EE-yay) is run by our own Ted Alspach.  Ted had his new Age of Steam boards available for purchase there.  He has managed to produce an astonishing six new boards for this year.  The production quality is also quite impressive using the same boards and finish as the original Age of Steam game did.  I would also like to report that one of Ted’s other designs, Seismic, likely sold out during the show.  When I talked to Ted around noon on Saturday, he only had one copy left!  It’s always a pleasure to catch up with Ted, and hopefully someday he’ll start giving me review copies of his AoS boards! (hint, hint).

Finally, I had my annual meeting with John Bohrer of Winsome Games.  Though we live less than 4 hours apart here in the States, I seem to only run into John in Essen.  As usual, Winsome had a collection of three games for purchase.  There were only 80 full sets available, and they were only available for those who preordered from John prior to the Fair.  Given the small numbers and high demand, the entire print run sold out (as it always does) in just 2 hours.  I think that there were only three reserved sets not picked up, so the lottery for the unclaimed sets was likely a raucous scene.  Of course, I have no idea what it was really like as I had picked up my games much earlier in the morning!  The games this year include a new AoS expansion map.  There is also a reprint of Trainsport which happens to be one of my three favorite non-Age of Steam Winsome games.  The other two are Robber Barons and Lokomotive Werks.  The final game in the collection is Wabash Cannonball which I have yet to try but has received almost universal positive reviews thus far.  John would really be an all-around great guy if he didn’t insist on wearing frickin’ Pittsburgh Steelers paraphernalia at all hours of the day.  Despite this obvious character flaw, his games are right up my alley, and I will continue to send in my pre-order annually to keep the games coming!

Mini Reviews

Palastgeflüster
This is one of the new releases from Adlung.  It is a nice hand management game.  Brian and I were able to get a quick description of the game from one of the folks at the booth, and we also played two quick rounds.  The idea of the game is simple - you lose a round when you are not able to successfully play a card to the table.  You are one of many nobles trying to impress the king.  Each round, you play a card representing a court character to the table.  There are 7 different court members that can be played, and your court is complete if you have six different court members played.  Each card has a special ability associated with it.  For instance, one card allows you to switch any two played cards (from any players in the game) with each other.  Another card allows you to take any card from the table and put it back into that player’s hand.  The game gets a bit more complicated as there is generally one type of card whose special ability is disabled (due to the action of one of the other cards).  As a final twist, the play order is determined by clever mechanism where the color of the previously played card determines the next player.  In any event, you play cards until someone cannot play a card successfully (in this case, all other players score one point) OR one player plays his sixth card to the court (in which case HE alone scores one point).  The game ends when one player has six points.

Bello
This was the other new Adlung release for the year.  In short, this one isn’t for me.  It’s a memory/party game.  The deck is mostly composed of different line drawings of dogs.  You quickly flip up cards and once you see an identical pair on the table, you yell out “Bello!”.  If you can point out the matching pair, you collect those two cards.  Additionally, you get a card from a different deck which depicts a dog and has a name at the bottom of it.  The catch of the game is that if, in the future, you collect a pair of matching cards which you also have the named card for; you have to yell out the name of the dog instead of the generic “Bello!” Therefore, as you are more successful in the game, it becomes much more difficult for you to collect future sets.  This was one game I was happy to learn the rules and then quietly and quickly slip away from the table.  I’m sure it has a target audience, but it’s definitely not me.

Liebe und Intrige
This game was almost unknown to me before I left for Germany.  I did get a quick peek at in the most recent issue of Spielbox which I read on the day before I got on the plane!  It is a new release by Goldsieber, and it is intended to target the fairer sex within the hobby.  The story of the game is very Austen-like:  you are father trying to marry off your three daughters first.  There are plenty of eligible men in your town (twelve to be exact) who will be fought over by those randy daughter of yours!  Each girl starts with some baseline scores in the three important characteristics of:  beauty, intelligence and virtue.  As you go through the game, you have the opportunity to visit different parts of town.  When you go to a location, you may get a modification to your stats (i.e. each trip to the theatre increases your intelligence by one point).  Additionally, based on the location, you have the chance to flirt with all of the men there.  The number of men available again depends on the location (there are only 2 men available in the theatre, but there are 7 in the pub!).  Each time you go to a location, you look at all the cards in the stack there and keep one card.  Additionally, after each visit, you draw an action card, which can be used in later turns, that allows you do a variety of things.

Once you have flirted with a man three times (i.e. you have three of his cards in your hand), AND your statistics meet or excced the standards of that particular gentleman, you can get married.  As you might imagine, the pickier men are worth more victory points than the less choosy.  Once you marry off your first daughter, you see what you have to work with with your second daughter.  The game continues until one player is able to marry off all the daughters.  Count up victory points and declare a winner!  Overall, it’s a cute game that takes maybe 30-40 minutes total.  I’ve played it twice, and it is an enjoyable filler.  It will never be more than that, but the pink box and the original theme will keep it coming to the table for at least the foreseeable future.

If I had one beef about this game - it is with the box.  I actually don’t mind the bright pink color to the box, what I don’t like is the shape.  The box is meant to emulate a book, and it is hinged on one side so that it opens similar to a book.  Unfortunately, the box doesn’t really stay shut very well.  I have tried to rubberband the box shut to keep the contents in - however the odd shape of the box makes this difficult as well.  There are lips to the box edges (similar to how the external edges of a hardback book cover overlap the pages somewhat) which have already been bent by the rubberband.  Oh well - the box took a pretty big ding in the cargo hold of the airplane, so what’s another blemish?

1001 Karawane
I was quite interested in this game as I read information found in the Essen preview.  It looked to be a good mix of tactics and bluffing.  After having the rules explained to me, I managed to play half of a game before I couldn’t take it anymore.  In the game, you are exploring the desert looking for three treasures.  The desert is split up into one known quadrant and three unknowns; one treasure is hidden in each unknown section.  Each section also has three special buildings that allow you to perform actions if you pass thru those spaces.  On your turn, you generally get to move three spaces on the board.  You move your pawn and then secretly look at the tiles which you passed over to see if you have encountered a treasure or a secret building.  If you have done this, you may announce at the end of your turn which action you have taken.  The other players basically will know that one of your three spaces in that turn contains the treasure or building that you have announced.  They can’t check the board to make sure you aren’t lying, as you are on your honor not to misrepresent the tiles available.  If it were this alone, the game might not be too bad.  However, there is also an action which allows you to pick up tiles and move then anywhere else on the board.  As a result, there’s no way of really knowing where anything is.  It seemed like our game was quickly devolving into blind guessing and hoping to randomly stumble on something.  Perhaps this would improve with repeated plays, but I’ll likely not find out because I didn’t bring one home with me. 

Session Report

Well, I got my first play of many of the new Essen games this weekend.  (I’m writing this part of the column on Saturday morning, so there is a high chance that you may have read some of this in Valerie’s Sunday column… so be it - I wanted to get these thoughts down before I forgot them!)

Brass
We only played this to the end of the first era - I’ll classify this game as a failed attempt due to some significant rules issues.  We missed the fact that you needed to pay for your canals which made the game exceedingly simple from an economic standpoint.  We both wondered during the game why the option to take a loan was even present as we never seemed to need the extra money!  Only when Valerie noticed the area on the board which outlined the costs for the canals did we go back to the rules to see what we had missed.

Before I sound too harsh, I should disclose that I really like Martin and his games, and I am working on the ruleset to one of his upcoming games.  I also very much liked the portion of the game that I had seen before we quit.  That being said, the rules to Brass are really laid out poorly.  The initial section is laid out to get you up and running as quickly as possible.  Those rules take up maybe three pages.  After that is a “Reference Section” which takes up the next 4 pages or so.  Since it was labeled a “Reference”, I didn’t think we needed to read it closely because it seemed like all of the important rules would have been included in the “Rules” section.  Well, as it turns out, I made a poor assumption.  At least one important rule, namely the costs of the canals, can only be found in the “Reference”.  Frankly, I don’t know how many other things we missed because I was a bit frustrated at the whole abortion of the game that we just packed it up to try something else.  I did manage to get a good feel for the flow of a normal game turn, and this will certainly help future playings of the game – but not until I read the entire rulebook.

Another complaint - The order of the turns was not that easy to remember, and I was frustrated that the excellent player aid is found only in the middle of the rulebook and not given to the players individually for reference.  Given the awkward organization of the rules, it doesn’t really work to have the only reference for the game be in a rulebook that needs to be referred to as well during the course of the game.

My current rating of this is: N/A - pending a complete and proper play of the game

Laborignes

This is one of the new Czech games that came out this year.  This is a farcical roll-and-move game where you get to make your own playing pieces out of clay.  You move about the board trying to be the last piece left with any energy (life points) from the 20 that you start with.  As you move around, you can be attacked by an Easter-Island-stone-like-thingy called Moa which causes you to lose energy.  Additionally, each step in the circular path could possibly be trapped causing you to take damage by being struck by lightning or drowned in acid or worse… you could contract a disease.  Of course, you can transmit this disease (and heal yourself in the process) later in the game when you land on the same space as another player.

This game is certainly not a brain-burner, but it is some nice light fun. Kids should also enjoy being able to build their own character out of the clay.  And, I will admit that there is something therapeutic about being able to skewer your opponents character with a toothpick representing a lightning bolt…

As it turns out, I brought home two copies of the game from Essen thinking that I was going to give one as a gift.  However, the intended recipient already managed to get his own copy of the game.  Thus, I have one to sell.  You can get it for me for a price less than that found online with a much quicker availability - i.e. now!  Contact me via email for more details at BGNAdvisor at gmail dot com.

Amyitis

I then wanted to introduce Valerie to Amyitis, the game which is still amongst my favorites from the show.  I have already made mention of it in my previous column, so I won’t repeat that stuff here.  What I will tell you is that the timing aspect of the game is critical.  Trying to maneuver your wooden cubes or the caravan to be in the right spot and the right time is essential to victory.  I must admit that I didn’t do a very good job of stressing this when I taught the rules as there were a few things which surprised Valerie as the game unfolded.  So, I would make sure that all players understand how the temples work.  It is important to know that the cubes stay on the temple from round to round so that repeat bonuses may be possibly earned.  Also, making sure that people understand how the passing (and earning money) works is essential!

In any event, we had a nice 2-player game, where the main difference is that you take three tiles out of the Garden that need to be built.  Valerie got off to a quick lead by irrigating and quickly planting a few tiles where she had irrigated.  I came back, mostly as a result of Valerie not fully expecting my cubes in the temple to reward me over multiple turns, which in turn was due to my poor rules explanation.  By then, my Red palace card train had started to grow and I took this train to the victory.  Of course, the whole game gets an asterisk because I had a supremely unfair advantage due to the rules explanation!  I look forward to playing this again with more than two though.

Trotofant

Full review to follow in the coming weeks – but a sweet HABA dexterity game using party horns as elephant trunks.  A complete blast!

Zoff if Huhnerhof

Another HABA dexterity game, this one with you flicking grain into the chicken yard.  Full review to follow as well in the near future. 

Crazy Diamond

I met the designer, Bas Kesting, at Essen this year.  This is actually a game released last year, but it first came to my attention at this year’s fair.  It is a route-management game.  Each player has an identical map over which they try to transport diamonds from the mine to the port city.  On each turn, one player rolls the die, but then each player gets to use that roll as they desire.  It does not take too many turns before the paths of the diamonds on each player’s board has diverged from the rest.  The players are also able to purchase control of some cities on the route, using diamonds that they have already collected, which will cause other players to not be able to use said city.  Other players can try to pay the owner of the blockade to allow them to pass, but this offer does not have to be accepted!  As the game progresses, it’s harder and harder to move your diamonds as the map fills up with roadblocks.  The game plays decently with two, but I think it will be much better with more than two as the number of roadblocks will greatly increase.  A full review will follow once I’ve played it more than once.

Karatino

This is the game found on the reverse side of the Crazy Diamond board.  It represents the continuation of the story in Crazy Diamond.  Now that you have transported the raw diamonds from the mine in Crazy Diamond, you need to then finish the stones and sell them in the market in Karatino.  This is a dice-rolling game where you try to strategically move your diamonds towards the market.  In this game, each player rolls for himself though.  There are some harsh rules concerning the movement of the diamonds; if you ever over-crowd a space on the board, all of those diamonds must go all the way back to the start!  To me, this game isn’t quite as good as Crazy Diamond; mostly because luck plays a larger role in this game, and there isn’t much there to mitigate that luck.  In any event, the game plays in 20 minutes, so it will still likely get a few more plays.

Agricola x 2 (wow! this game moves fast!)

After spending a few hours of my life and sustaining more than my fair share of paper cuts, I’m proud to say that I have one of the first Anglicized copies of Agricola on the block – sometimes it’s good to be a game reviewer!  I know that Zev has one copy as Z-man Games is currently in the process of evaluating the game to see if it needs an official English version.  (Note to anyone going to BGG.con or Euroquest – please look up Zev and give the game a try and give him your opinions!).  Since I’m sure that you’re all dying to know, I’ve managed to dig through the gaming supplies closet here at Chez Yu to find supplies for this game.  I’ve taken 360 deck protectors (many of them previously holding Magic:The Gathering cards) and some deck cases.  Each card has been placed in a deck protector, and the appropriate translation has been put on a little slip of paper which has in turn been placed in the protector.  The resultant card decks are quite thick, but it all fits back in the box.  I have then placed each separate occupation and minor improvement deck into a standard 75-card deck case.  When these are placed on top of the boards, the tops of the deck cases come right up to top edge of the box.  I have had to squeeze some baggies with chits into each of the deck cases to make it all fit, but it does all fit nicely.  I will admit that it was a lot of work to do the translation/cutting/stuffing of the cards, but I did enjoy getting a chance to read the text on all the cards and spend some time thinking about how they would work well in combination with other cards!

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** BREAKING NEWS ALERT ** I have spoken with Zev in the past day or so, and he tells me that he is actively considering producing the game in English and is already in contact with the folks from Lookout Games.  He may need to start a preorder system in order to gauge the overall interest in the game, and this level of interest may also determine, in part, the speed at which the game is produced.  PLEASE NOTE THAT THIS IS NOT AN OFFICIAL ANNOUNCEMENT OF Z-MAN GAMES PRODUCING AGRICOLA - THAT NEWS WILL COME DIRECT FROM ZEV AND Z-MAN WHENEVER THE ACTUAL DEAL IS MADE. And yes, I know that I’m yelling! I don’t think that a price point has been set, but IMHO, it is likely going to be in the $50-$60 range simply because it is going to cost a lot of money to produce 360 cards!  The actual amount of time that it would take to get these in English could be short as I know from talking to Hanno in Essen that the English cards have already been graphically set (as this was necessary to do the cards which are in the set that Zev has right now).  Furthermore, due to the excellent work of Melissa Rogerson, the English rules translation is already done!  Whenever the time comes for you to make your preorder, be sure to tell them that Dale sent you!!  (We now return you to your regularly scheduled Essen Report...)

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We went through the rules translation together, which is very well written and organized I might add, in about 20 minutes.  As I had not yet completed the full paste-up project, we played the basic E decks for both occupations as well as improvements.  Even with two players, there are 28 occupation cards available in the basic deck, so there are enough cards for two complete games with all-different cards!  The replayability of the game was already clear to us after realizing this fact.  The gameplay itself only furthered this opinion of the game for me.

For those of you not familiar with the game, it’s a game about farm building after the Plague.  You start with only 2 people in 2 dirt rooms.  Thoughout the fourteen turns in the game, each person in your family can take one action.  There are 10 basic actions that can always be chosen from.  There are also additional basic actions added for three, four or five players.  Furthermore, there is one extra action added to the mix at the start of each round.  Actions available include: gaining commodities, building additions to your house, collecting livestock, erecting fences to keep your livestock in pastures, making babies, collecting food, remodeling your home, taking on a profession or building improvements.

The game has a bit more variability in that the game is broken up into different phases.  The order in which the actions turn up within each phase has also been randomized.  Thus, I’m fairly certain that each game of Agricola that you play will be unlike any other game you’ve played before.  The beauty of the game is in the professions and improvements.  There are 166 different occupation cards in the game, and 136 minor improvement cards in the game.  At the start of each game, you are dealt 7 cards of each type to use throughout the game.  As a result, there are virtually an infinite number of ways for the game to unfold; I think the number is actually close to 4.2 bajillion, but I’m not entirely sure… Each of the occupation cards gives you a special ability in the game once you are able to play it.  Minor improvement cards also give some abilities but they tend not be as strong as they are easier to play in general.  However, the varying special actions that the players will encounter each game ensure that you will always have to be on your toes to try to find the best combination of plays based on the cards available to you.

Side puzzle: how many different ways are there for five players to play Agricola?  There are 166 occupation cards, and each player gets 7 cards from that pool.  To further complicate matters, there are 136 minor improvement cards, and each player gets 7 cards from that pool.  Can some math genius out there figure out how many different ways there are for five players to start a game of Agricola?  Then to further complicate matters, there are 4 different action cards in Phase 1, 3 in phase 2, 2 in phases 3, 4, and 5 - and the cards can come up in different order! I’m counting on the hive-mind of BGN to come up with the right answer!  My initial calculations have over a googol different combinations, but I’m not sure of my statistical methodology.

Well, back to the game, so as you go through the game, you plow and sow fields, grow your house, collect vegetables and other goods, breed livestock, make babies as well as purchasing cards.  Each of these things has an effect on your final score.  In fact, the scoring can be quite complicated.  The game has a scoresheet tally pad included in the box, and there are 14 different entries that need to be calculated to figure out what your final score will be!  Given the enormous number of scoring areas, it would be almost impossible to excel at all of the different areas.  But that’s another beauty of the game in that each player can try to find their own path to victory based on the action choices available to them each game as well as the combination of powers seen in the occupation and improvement cards.  Players have the ability to pick and choose which areas of the game that they’re willing to strive for points.  The particular strategy that you might take in a game will depend on which cards you’re dealt as well as which actions are left for you by your opponents.

In the game that we played, the first few rounds blew by in minutes as each of us only had two actions to make.  Starting around the fifth or sixth round, we were able to start making babies which increased the number of actions that we could take each turn.  Both Valerie and I were making good progress fencing in areas of land for our animals, though Valerie was clearly better at it than me.  I was instead using my occupation/improvement cards to allow me to quickly upgrade my house to a stone building.  In the end, the extra points from my stone building versus the clay building that Valerie had was one of the ways that I was able to score more points.

We were both impressed with the game, and quickly set it back up to play again.  The second game, involving two players who both knew the rules, took only 55 minutes; and this playing time includes a few minutes spent away from the game as I had to clarify a few card translations on the fly.  The second game played out much differently than the first.  In this game, neither of us went to breed animals, but instead cooked them immediately for food.  I was able to get a few nice bonus point combos based on the cards I was dealt, and this proved to be the difference in the second game.  I look forward to trying this with more than two players to see if it gets any better!

Phew. It’s a lot this week, but what do you expect after Essen? Over 6,000 words, and I still have so many more games to cover!

I’m in the process of packing up for Great Lakes Games this weekend, so I should be able to report on more of the new games after I get a chance to play them!  I also still have a report brewing on my meeting with HABA as well as the other children’s games that I was able to see at the Fair! 

Until your next appointment,
The Gaming Doctor

© 2007 Dale Yu

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Regarding the “Free Wednesday” in Essen, I have been wondering for the past two years or so, when they will tighten security on that day. Last year went to the press conference and because of my general laziness I decided to use one of the delivery gates to get in. No one asked any questions, no one seemed to care (everyone was busy getting their booths ready in time, so that was no surprise). To my surprise I was walking among open crates of brand new games and even though I was not really tempted to take anything, the thought crossed my mind, that this was practically an invitation for thieves. I could have just snapped up a few boxes of Kosmos games, grumbled something to the general public about this being a lousy job, while pretending to be a hired hand of some game company and walked out. I’m pretty sure that most exhibitors realised that this situation might lead to theft (or maybe even has in past years) and that they asked the Merz Verlag to tighten security. It would be a sad thing should the easy going and careless atmosphere of the Essen Wednesday vanish because of the new rules, but I can understand them just too well. For me this means that I won’t be around on Wednesday’s anymore, because last year was probably the last time that I went to Essen with press credentials for the foreseeable future. So it is good to know that an attempt to sneak in, would be futile in 2008. Changing the topic, I have to agree completely with your criticism of Liebe & Intrige. The game seems very interesting and I even like the fact that Goldsieber are trying to market it to a female audience. But the whole look of the box (plus I’m not very keen on the pink by the way) really gave me second thoughts. Where and how do I store this? Will it break if I put a few other games on top of it? Why on earth do they think women don’t like regular game boxes? But still, the game looks intriguing - which it rightfully should, given its name. Posted by Manuel Siebert on Oct 31, 2007 at 07:26 AM | #

Manuel, I do think that the increased security will change how people (including myself) look at the Wednesday in Essen.  Though I know that it will reduce the number of people that I can see on that day (and the number of games that I can pick up in advance of the crowds), it is likely for the better. I did think it was interesting to see a number of mothers pushing around children in strollers (prams) on Wednesday.  TBH, there is likely not a plausible story how the mother and child could somehow be truly involved in the setup of a booth! Dale Posted by Dale Yu on Oct 31, 2007 at 07:46 AM | #

Dale, If you’re interested in pulling out Brass at GLG look for me. I have a copy of the game in the mail, but I imagine it would be much, much easier to learn it from someone who has already played through half a game...Martin’s rulebooks tend to be, as you note, unique in their organization. Posted by Michael Webb on Oct 31, 2007 at 08:28 AM | #

Michael, as I am working on the rules of AoS 3rd Ed (which I may also have in tow at GLG if you want to see the new changes), I hope that I can break the string of ‘uniquely organized’ rulebooks… Brass will certainly be with me.  I’ll still likely need to rely on everyone else having read the rules as well to make sure we don’t miss anything! Dale Posted by Dale Yu on Oct 31, 2007 at 08:42 AM | #

Dale, For Agricola, assuming it doesn’t matter what order a player’s cards arrive and that once a card is dealt to a player it’s his/hers alone… There are 3.26816 X 10 to the 57th power unique ways to deal the occupations and 1.19369 X 10 to the 54th power unique ways to deal the minor improvements. Perhaps not quite enough variety, but I’d like to give Agricola a play anyway ! Posted by Randy Alton on Oct 31, 2007 at 08:48 AM | #

Randy, your assumptions on the cards are mostly correct.  There are some minor improvement cards that can change places once played, but that’s not what I’m looking for.... I’m just trying to see how many different setups can be had for five players. Thus, the order of the 7 cards in each hand does not matter… Dale Posted by Dale Yu on Oct 31, 2007 at 09:03 AM | #

Dale, you’re absolutely correct about the Brass rulebook.  Why Martin chose to organize it the way he did is beyond me--it makes it VERY difficult to learn the game from the rules.  There are actually quite a few important rules explained in the reference section, so you’re constantly flipping back and forth between the two sections.  It also didn’t help that they didn’t put the cost of the canal and rail links on the tiles or the player’s aid. However, I’m still very much looking forward to playing the game.  We would have gotten in a game last weekend, but we had five players.  Since the only copy of the game in our group will be with YOU at Great Lakes Games (curse you, Christian!), it may be a while before I get to try it out.  But I’m hoping it lives up to its promise. Fantastic news about Z-Man Games and Agricola.  Zev, I will preorder a game and plant a tree in Isreal if that’s what it takes to get you to do an English version.  Just tell me where to sign up! By the way, by my calculations there are 4.5 x 10 to the 114th power different ways the cards in Agricola can come out.  This includes all the combinations of Occupation cards, Minor Improvement cards, and Action cards.  I’m not sure, but this number may actually be more than 4.2 bajillion. Posted by Larry Levy on Oct 31, 2007 at 12:51 PM | #

Wait, what game is the next Fairy Tale? Posted by Dave Chalker on Oct 31, 2007 at 01:07 PM | #

Larry, glad to know i’m not the only one frustrated by the Brass rules… You know, if you’d ever get off your lazy butt and leave Virginia to go to Essen, you’d have all the new games too!  I’ll make sure to play Christian’s copy of Brass.  And maybe I’ll work on bending the board the wrong way so I could break it… Nah—I’ll wait till I have one of your games in my clutches before I exact retribution! Dale Posted by Dale Yu on Oct 31, 2007 at 01:09 PM | #

Good news on Agricola! I’ve had my hand hover above the purchase button for a couple of copies that are available on-line more than once only to back off as the sober realization of how much work adapting the game will involve. Zev - I’m in on the pre-order, too, if you opt to do things that way. I’ll be looking for you at BGG.Con to give the game a try, too. I *knew* that I had printed the rules out for a reason! I have not seen Brass yet, but I have to say that the rules were not an easy read (yes, I have been on a rules-reading kick… I had to do something while everyone else was in Essen!). Posted by David Reed on Oct 31, 2007 at 02:29 PM | #

Dale Sign me up for a game of Agricola at BGG con (and a FULL game of Brass with the right rules for that matter). Posted by Robert Ramirez on Oct 31, 2007 at 10:07 PM | #

Brass is a fantastic game, my second favorite game at Essen… only slightly behind Race for the Galaxy.  I actually thought the rules were just fine, provided you’re committed to reading the whole set of rules before starting to play.  The reference section is quite thorough.  This is definitely not a game you can play for the first as you read the rules… Posted by Ben Kindt on Oct 31, 2007 at 10:27 PM | #

Ben, then you’ll teach me at BGG con....Thursday at 9am when the con starts. Posted by Robert Ramirez on Oct 31, 2007 at 11:17 PM | #

Or on Wednesday when the pre-con starts in the hotel lobby! Posted by Ben Kindt on Nov 1, 2007 at 08:41 AM | #

Trotofant - Horrible game.  No fun at all.  And it takes up lots of space on the shelf. Do yourself a favor, and just send your copy to me.  You’re a good guy, and I’d hate for you to be stuck with such a stinker of a game. Please? Posted by Jon Theys on Nov 1, 2007 at 09:54 AM | #

It would have never occured to me before some punk stole my copy of Utopia from the cloak room in the press room at Essen, but I wonder if they are starting to have theft issues on Wednesday. As more and more folks venture over, maybe some are taking advantage and ruining it for the rest. Like I said, I would have never even thought it before this year and having a game stolen. Posted by Ward Batty on Nov 1, 2007 at 11:49 AM | #

I played a partial four player game of a new prototype at the Z Man booth, but I’m not sure if it’s the one to which you refer.  The game started out well and everyone enjoyed the theme and the mechanics but part way into our game it bogged down a bit.  I’m not sure if it was due our misunderstanding of the rules or if the game still needs some fine tuning. Posted by Curt Churchill on Nov 1, 2007 at 07:10 PM | #

The guards have been more strict for the last three years, noticeably so, and quite right too. Bloody freeloaders...! Thanks very much for the run down on Love & Intrige. I remain interested. Blazing Aces is a book rather than a game, and is a translation of the poker variant volume Reiner did a decade ago. Looks good.  I suppose if one was being awkward, if there is to be an English version of Agricola, where does that leave the English speakers who bought from Lookout and were promised the card layouts? 6,000 words? Try that by Monday after the show! Another Steelers Fan. Posted by Mike Siggins on Nov 2, 2007 at 10:14 AM | #

I really fail to understand the problem people seem to be having with the BRASS rules.  I don’t regarding myself as being excessively bright but I didn’t think they presented any great problem.  I agree that the cost of building the canal/rail links isn’t mentioned in the main section, which is certainly a major fault, BUT they are clearly stated in a prominent 2” x 3” box on the board, so it can’t be easily be missed. In fact, I’d say that the additional explanations in the ‘reference’ section is a bonus not normally encountered in game rules. - Derek Posted by Derek Carver on Nov 3, 2007 at 06:20 AM | #

The problem, Derek, is that there isn’t sufficient detail in the main portion of the rules to learn the game--you need the explanations in the reference section.  It also means that the main section contains a lot of generalities which makes for difficult reading (a disturbing trend I’ve seen in a few other rulesets this year).  I don’t know how you and your group like to learn rules (each group is different), but I want to be able to sit down with the rules and know how to play *every aspect* of the game before I start.  I know why Martin did it like this (to give both a rules overview for beginners and a reference section for those looking up things during the game), but it makes it very hard on those learning the game from scratch.  I much prefer the method used by Alea and many other German publishers (where examples and brief reference reminders are placed in the margin next to the relevent rules explanation). Posted by Larry Levy on Nov 3, 2007 at 11:11 AM | #

I haven’t seen the manual, but I think that simply sticking to writing the full rules together (ie not split into ‘general intro rules’ and ‘reference’) would be better.  I was kind of suprised/bugged with a classic way back when I started to play euros, which suffered from the same malady (to a lesser extent of course):  Settlers of Catan. Posted by Robert Ramirez on Nov 3, 2007 at 11:17 AM | #

Mike Siggins wrote: 6,000 words? Try that by Monday after the show! How about by the Saturday of Spiel itself? My report reached about 10k and I still have a follow-up report in the works. Despite all that, I still missed a few hundred games. Sigh… Eric Posted by W. Eric Martin on Nov 4, 2007 at 12:25 AM | #

Larry: Love the “plant a tree in Israel” line. To all: I know you are anxiously awaiting news on an English version of Agricola. I am still talking with Hanno. The issue is the ablity for Lookout/Uwe and Z-Man to make _some_ profit out of this. With the horrible exchange rate it is not easy. And if it gets worse it definitely will not get done. A preorder system will be needed in some form to make it work and we are discussing that as well. Hope to have some news very soon. Zev Posted by Zev Shlasinger on Nov 4, 2007 at 11:14 AM | #

Thanks for the update, Zev.  I got a chance to play Agricola yesterday and it’s definitely worth an English version.  Not only is it an excellent game (which will probably become great when played with the cards), but even in the Family version, the lack of English on the action cards and spaces slows things down a bit.  It is still quite playable, but it would be even more enjoyable without having to constantly scour cheat sheets or squint at resource costs.  I hope you two can work this out, as the game deserves the greater exposure and would certainly do very well in English. Posted by Larry Levy on Nov 4, 2007 at 12:25 PM | #

Believe me, Larry, I want to do it. Hanno wants to do it. There is no creative difference between us - it’s purely financial, but not that we can’t agree on money; it’s because of the exchange rate and the high cost of printing this thing. If the dollar was much stronger it would have been a done deal at Essen. Zev Posted by Zev Shlasinger on Nov 4, 2007 at 12:48 PM | #

Zev, a preorder system makes a lot of sense for this type of special product, especially with a retail price in the $60 range. Despite the wailing that might ensue, I’d suggest just pricing the game at whatever level it needs to be to make a decent profit on it. Valley Games has broached the $70 mark with Titan, and Big City, Container and Brass are all $60. As Torben at Valley told me, that’s the price needed to ensure the company makes money on the games, and if anyone doesn’t like it, too bad. If the game needs to be $60 (or $65 or $70) to match your usual margins, then set it at that price, start the preorders, and see what happens. I’ve played only once, but thoughts of Agricola have been swimming through my head since Spiel. I bought the German edition, but would gladly get an English edition, even at $70. Don’t cheat yourself of $5 or $10 a game to reach some unrealistic price target. Eric Posted by W. Eric Martin on Nov 4, 2007 at 01:02 PM | #

Eric: What you say makes a lot of sense. A lot. However, the realities of the market will not bear this out - in my opinion. I have trouble believing people will buy this at $60 in a B&M store, which means this relegates most sales online. At $70 I think you might even have people balk at what the online price is going to be. Also, compare what else sells for $70. You say Titan - oodles of counters (plus a history). Battlelore - oodles of plastic figs plus board, cards, etc. Descent and other “coffin-sized box” FFG games go for $80 - but look at what you get inside. Agricola cannot compare to them in this way: the _perception_ would be that $70 would be too high for this sort of game. Now, all of you love this game and will buy it. OK, so let’s say that translates into 500, 750 maybe even 1000 hardcore gamers who will buy this because they know this game and truly believe it is worth it. But what about everyone else? There will be many who don’t know the buzz about this game, see it on a shelf and shudder at the price point. Yeah I can say too bad that is what it is worth, but if all I get is 1000 sales you’re still talking very little money made after paying printing, shipping from the printer and then shipping in the US (it is going to cost around $3-$4 a game to ship in the US - terrible)! And royalties. Even Lookout wouldn’t make a lot from it. So I’d love to price it for what it is really worth to make it work, (as I would all my other games - and in 2008 I will be raising the value of the new games being produced) but I fear the realities of the marketplace will not bear to see a $70 game in Agricola. Of course, I could be wrong :) Zev Posted by Zev Shlasinger on Nov 4, 2007 at 01:27 PM | #

Zev, I’m sure you two have already considered this, but...Hanno mentioned that the game has so many cards because Uwe designed the expansions (or expansions) ahead of time (always an excellent idea) and then they decided to just include them with the base game.  I think this turned out to be an inspired idea for Lookout and greatly increased the attractiveness of the game.  But maybe for Z-Man, it would make more sense to have a base version (with the Action cards and the “Easy” Occupation and Minor Improvement cards) and an expansion (with the other two decks of Occupation and Minor Improvements).  For online buyers, you might provide a small discount for folks who buy both at the same time. You also might be able to cut the number of boards in half; Lookout did a great job with including all this stuff to help with organization and game flow, but not all of them are essential and some of them just add to the table space required.  I’m sure you’ve thought of all this, but I wanted to mention it just to show that there’s at least one gamer who’d accept a bit less in the box if it meant an English version could be produced. Posted by Larry Levy on Nov 4, 2007 at 04:02 PM | #

Zev and others, I’ll restate an idea I tossed out elsewhere, Agricola the CCG. How many cards does it take to play the game with a single set of the variable cards (14 of the variable cards?) Start by selling the starter kit with everything needed to play the game the first time.  Or maybe with 28 cards, instead of only 14.  How much would the MSRP of this be? If it takes off, sell additional packs of 14? 28? The boosters don’t have to be random, they could be A, B, C, etc., but sold in basic foil packs. Runebound is already doing this, but with cardboard packaged boosters. - Jonathan Posted by Jonathan Franklin on Nov 5, 2007 at 02:08 AM | #

A further comment upon publishing an English language edition of AGRICOLA. Although the main driving force behind boardgame production comes from Germany, German is not a universally spoken/learned language.  It is perfectly clear to anybody visiting Essen that the lingua franca is English - even German players being often courteous enough to switch to English if an English speaker is present at the table. So an English language edition will mainly cope with the rest of the world (except, maybe, France who, bless ‘em) What is more there is a large population of naturally English speakers in America.  So it would seem to me that a sensible way forward would be a joint publiction between an American and an EU based publisher. Whilst profits would not be so high for either, the risk factor would also be reduced (or even eliminated). I’m sure those directly involved have considered this possibility - and might be actively considering it - but I felt it worth tossing into this discussion. - Derek Posted by Derek Carver on Nov 5, 2007 at 09:10 AM | #

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