Dale Yu: Essen 2007 Report Review

Well, it’s almost been an entire year since I was last in Essen, and now seems like a good as time as any to go over the games that I brought home from Europe last year.  This list of games is copied from my initial 2007 report, which you can re-read here… In this review, I’ll go over the games that I brought back from Essen in 2007 and tell you how much I’ve liked them or what happened to them…

Games bought on Wednesday

Amyitis - when I left Essen, this was the “Game of the Show” for me.  It has since been eclipsed by Agricola – but this is still a solid release, and one that gets to the table.  Amyitis will likely be a mainstay of the game collection as I am still a big fan of this one.

Ystari T-shirt - I was a bit surprised that I was an XL in French sizing.  After another sedentary year, XXL may not be out of the question soon

Mykerinos expansion - I only played this once (and it was my only play of Mykerinos since Essen).  From what I remember, it didn’t add that much more to the game.

League of Six - this was a blind purchase, bought on the recommendations of the Mulheim rabblerousers (you know who you are!) – I have very much enjoyed this one and feel it was the best of the Czech games from last year IMHO.  This game did take a while to grow on me – it took a few plays before I really liked it… I am looking forward to seeing what the expansion will do for this great game.

Galaxy Trucker - a fun game, but not my style.  I want it to be a beer-and-pretzels romp, but it really does require a bit more concentration at it if you want to do well.  This is one of those games that I’m happy to play, but I would probably never ask for it.  On that note, I still have my copy, and might be persuaded to part with it for an appropriate offer.

Antler Island - Cute figures and an average game.  I sold this one before Christmas while the secondary market allowed to recoup my costs.  As a result of this and Hameln, Snow Tails is now on the try-before-you-buy list as opposed to the must-preorder list.  I know that this might mean that I don’t get a copy of the game as the Fragor releases have always sold out early, but that’s a risk I’m going to have to take this year.

Agricola - This is the new “Game of the Show” for me after a year has passed.  I’ve played it over 200 times since Essen and became a part of the development team.  I think my recommendations helped tighten up the solo game rules for the 2nd Edition.  Also, there may be a totally cool expansion (or four) coming out for this at Essen.

Key Harvest - Richard Breese’s latest release is a game that I love, but I can’t find anyone else around here who likes it – so it doesn’t get played much.  I like the complex interaction between resource collection as well as the fight for necessary tiles on your mapboard.  This one remains in the collection because I really like the game and because I have all the Key-games….

Bohnanza Fan Edition - I bought this for John Palagyi.  I have never played it, and frankly, I don’t know if John has ever played it.  But, he collects all the Bohnanza expansions, and this just adds to that.

NiShiKi - Last year, I said that this was a “cool Japanese game with sliding tiles/cards”. This year, I can say that it is a “Japanese game”.  This one never really caught on with me as it seemed like it was a fairly random chess-variant where battles were controlled by a d6 roll.  This game is now a part of Shiela Davis’ 9000+ game collection.

Magical Athlete - An interesting drafting/racing game.  We’ve played it two or three times, and it seems to be a decent game. The game is a bit long for what you get – about an hour to play a 5P game, but the special abilities of the different characters make sure that each game – and even each race – are different experiences.  (BTW, it is not the next Fairy Tale)

Origins of Failing Water - an extremely strange trick taking game played in reverse.  I think we’ve got the rules right, and I still don’t really have a good idea how to be successful with this game.  It stays in the collection due to the unique mechanisms.  (BTW, it is not the next Fairy Tale)

Master of Rules - A trick taking game where you try to win points by having a trick match a certain rule.  A lot of weird double think at times, and a lot of hands where you don’t have many decisions at all.  I liked it, but Michelle and Earl loved it – so they are now the owners of it. (BTW, it is not the next Fairy Tale)

Goita - Beats me.  Haven’t played it yet.  Haven’t sold it yet either.  As far as I know, it’s not the next Fairy Tale.

Festival - An interesting drafting card game with cute graphics.  It’s not too bad, but it’s also not too great.  This has been sold.  (BTW, it is not the next Fairy Tale)

High School Election - a card game with a theme about winning a high school student council election.  The game isn’t that great, but the graphics on the cards are awesome.  If you’re into manga highschool girls in short skirts, this is the game for you.  It’s also the reason why it stays in my collection for sure. (BTW, it is not the next Fairy Tale)

Fleet 1715 - I’ve played a few scenarios, and it’s a decent game.  My main misgiving with the game when I bought it was that there was only a finite number of games available in the rules… However, since we’ve only played it a few times, this could remain viable for years – and at that point, we won’t remember the solutions to the earlier scenarios

Old Town Solo - gift for a friend.  I have no idea if he has played it or not.

Games bought on Thursday

Age of Steam: Pittsburgh - Sadly, this one still hasn’t made it to the table.  With the emergence of Agricola as a co-favorite game, Age of Steam didn’t make it to the table quite as often – and when it did get played, it was often playing some prototype maps for Ted A. or Mayfair.

Trainsport - The new colored graphics are a great addition to this game and make it a lot more visually appealing. I’ve found that it was easier to get non-Winsome gamers to at least consider playing it due to the improved graphics.

Wabash Cannonball - This was one of the hidden gems of Essen.  I’ve been getting the annual selection of Winsome games each year to find great games such as this (and Lokomotive Werks and Robber Barons).  A great game that I’m happy to see be picked up by a major publisher.  Not sure if I’ll but the new Chicago Express as I don’t mind that graphics of the original…

Age of Steam: Iraq/NY Subway - Sadly, this one still hasn’t made it to the table.  With the emergence of Agricola as a co-favorite game, Age of Steam didn’t make it to the table quite as often – and when it did get played, it was often playing some prototype maps for Ted A. or Mayfair.

Siedler von Hessen - thankfully, I was able to play this once Mark Jackson translated the rules (my price for sending him a copy of the game).  Though I don’t think that Settlers really needs new scenarios/expansions, but you can’t beat it for the price.

Glik - This has become one of my favorite abstract games, though it is a bit troublesome in that it really only plays well with exactly four.  There is a nice amount of planning in the game, though one player can possible run away with the game if he is able to set up a good path to his goal square.  If that happens, however, the game is over quickly and can be set up again without much effort.

Siedler Steiermark - thankfully, I was able to play this once Mark Jackson translated the rules (my price for sending him a copy of the game).  Though I don’t think that Settlers really needs new scenarios/expansions, but you can’t beat it for the price.

Jantaris - I was not a fan of this at all.  This was either sold or given away on the prize table at Great Lakes Games.  My desire to move this on was so strong, I can’t even remember how it left the collection. 

Laborignes - I almost resold this at the Fair as it’s quite heavy and I wasn’t sure that it would make it home.  However, it ended up being resold to David Fair which allowed me to make a not-very-clever play on words here.  The game just didn’t turn out to be quite as fun as I thought it would be. 

Macht & Ohnemacht - a very interesting two-player game which seems to be well balanced.  I liked the game in the few plays that I had of it, but eventually it was sold off because it’s so darn hard to get 2-player games in with my current gaming companions.

Der Wiege der Renaissance - I bought this on spec.  It took a few reads thru the rulebook to muddle through the Adlung-ese.  It’s a fairly interesting game, and I don’t think that I sold it – however, I have no idea where the game is right now.  If you bought it or stole it from me, could you please let me know?

Funny Fishing - a kids game from Drei Magier Spiele which my kids really like.  It received a lot of play in the first few months after getting home, though it has been pushed aside lately as my kids have decided that they want to belong to the Cult of the New just like their daddy.

Mausekarrusel - a memory game for kids with cute little wooden mice which turned out to be a bit too much for my kids to handle at the time.  I’ve played it with them recently and they seem to handle it a lot better – though I think the jury is still out whether they’re going to want to continue playing this or not

World Cup Game expansions 1+2 - I haven’t played this one yet as it’s so hard to find people willing to play soccer games.  There was a good tournament set up at Gulf Games this year, but I wasn’t able to get into the game as I was busy playing something else…

Duel in the Dark expansions (8 total) - for a friend… I don’t even own DitD!  I’ve also never played Duel in the Dark – so I don’t know if this was any good or not.

Tichu decks with special Bayern Munich backs - sweet blue and white diamond pattern on the backs which made excellent Christmas presents.  I didn’t even keep a set for myself (as I still have a drawer full of stiff red decks).  I’m assuming that these special edition sets play just the same as the normal decks.

Wooden Tichu storage box - birthday gift for a friend which was a complete hit.  To the best of my knowledge, it’s still being used though it does need to have a custom top made to keep the box closed.

Neuroshima Hex and 5th army - This is still a great partnership game to setup and beat the crap out of each other.  I only played with the 5th army a few times, but it seemed to give a few more options to make the game more interesting.  I’ll likely add the 2008 expansion to my box given the success of the 2007 expansion.

Brass - I’ll admit that the poorly organized rulebook to this game caused me to abort all three of my learning games as we found each time that we couldn’t get it right.  I frankly don’t have gaming time to throw away trying to decipher games with crappy rules.  As it stands, I have no extra gaming time to throw away trying to decipher a ruleset and then be forced to abort.  Thus, I essentially have no desire to try this again.

Gondoliere - a Schacht game that you have to cut the pieces out yourself – a chore which I have found to onerous to undertake thus far. I will likely not buy any more of these cut-for-yourself games as I’m finding that I never actually cut them up

Spank the Monkey, 2nd ed. - a fun little cardgame that I enjoyed when I first received it 4 years ago – I played the new version a few times and it was still fun

Force Ball - card game about a futuristic sport where you try to score goals and which is now owned by someone else

Crazy Diamond/Karatino - Crazy Diamond is a route optimization game which looked really good on the booth demo.  It made it to the table a few times, but it seemed to lose its magic with each successive play, though to be honest, I can’t remember what it was that made it less fun.  In any event, this one was moved on.

Leonardo da Vinci expansion - picked up for a friend; I haven’t played Leonardo da vinci nor the expansion since before Essen 2007.

Borneo - a complex card game where players fight for position within shipping companies while trying to maximize their points from filling shipping contracts.  I’ve played the game twice, and I still don’t have a good idea how to play the game well.  Partly because of this, Borneo remains in the game collection for now.

Friday
Spielbox subscription - Let’s face it, we all want a subscription to a magazine that is written in a foreign language.  OK, it’s all about the freebies.  As far as I can tell, the magazine is full of German text I don’t have the time to translate, lots of nice pictures of games and the super-cool freebie expansions in almost every issue.  If the EUR/USD exchange rate were a bit better, I’d consider doing it again, but it’s a lot of money to spend otherwise…

Hamburgum - My favorite rondel game.  I really liked it when it first came out but further plays felt formulaic.  As such, I traded the game off at the Gathering of Friends.  However, I missed the game so much that I managed to pick up another copy to re-add it to my collection.

Starfarers of Catan figurines - a free giveaway at the Kosmos booth which turned out to make great presents and Prize Table giveaways

Utopia - This game had mixed reviews all week in Essen but I couldn’t not have those cool plastic pieces.  I should have fought off those temptations.  I think there is a decent game here, but I kept getting frustrated at having to stare at these super small circles to figure out which visage was on it.  Then, I had to try to remember which face when with which type of building… In the end, the graphics (which beautiful) made gameplay so hard that I had to sell the game off.

Rugby World - A great rugby simulation.  I played it a few times at conventions but since then I have found it too difficult to find anyone else who wants to play a rugby game.  As such, it was sold to make room for newer games.

Medievalia - interesting looking card game where you get resources to build buildings which I never played because of the dense rulebook.  It appears that the rules have been re-done and posted online, but I just have never managed to get it onto the table.  I still want to try this one, though, and I have kept it in the collection until I get that chance.

Perry Rhodan - a new addition to the Kosmos 2-player line which is really quite good.  The sci-fi theme is essentially pasted onto a nice pick up and deliver game.  As you can see all the resources that will be available at a given planet, you can really try to plan ahead for some spectacular moves.  The game is easy to play with the awesome card cheatsheets available online.

Ubongo Extreme - Ubongo with Hexes – what could be harder?  This is a lot of fun, just like its older square-based cousin – but at times it can actually be a bit too hard.  Rarely does a game go by when there is a round where all four players are unable to solve their board.  The level of difficulty is raised even higher with Ted Alspach’s Craxy expansion.  That version is only for the most sadistic gameplayers…

Die Saulen der Erde expansion - I never did manage to get this to the table.  In fact, I don’t think I’ve even played Pillars since last Essen. 

Anno 1701 - I was hoping this is as good as 1503.  In reality, it was about the same but only longer.  One play was enough to tell me that it wasn’t for me.  Luckily, someone else in that game loved it and offered to buy it!

Garibaldi - A Scotland Yard like game which has some action cards that makes it a different game.  I have probably played this almost ten times now, and I still really enjoy it.  The action cards make each game a little bit different and they force the Austrians to work together as a team rather than simply having one person boss everyone else around.  Additionally, this game scales a lot better than Scotland Yard as players who control more that one Austrian get no extra cards – thus any advantage gained by having better coordination of action is balanced out by having fewer cards to choose from.

Tobynstein - From last year: “card game where you try to reanimate your dead pets.  If I don’t like it, I’m sure I can sell it to Frank Branham”.  True to form, I didn’t like it, and I sold it… (you’ll never guess to who though!)

Dead End - From last year: “A game about zombies. If I don’t like it, I’m sure I can sell it to Frank Branham”.  True to form, I didn’t like it, and I sold it… (you’ll never guess to who though!)

Filou - a hilarious little auction game from 2F.  I played the prototype, then named Pig in a Poke, at the Gathering.  This copy was for a friend, and it was well received.  I’d probably never ask to play this one, but I’m happy enough to play it if someone else wants to get it to the table.

Stoplights - new little card game from Sean Brown, one of the folks involved with FRED.  It’s cute enough and is a nice option for that category of games that fit into my back pants pocket.

Giganten der Lufte - another one of my favorite games from the Fair.  I like the varied options that you have each turn.  You can choose to play it safe and slowly build your blimp with pedestrian cards, or you can push your luck and take a chance on adding more powerful cards to your blimp.  The ability to be able to re-roll at times gives the player even more ability to impose strategy on a dice game.

Games purchased on Saturday

Black Box+ - Black Box with hexes – what could be better?  Well, first, it would be better if there was a computer behind it to correctly place the answers down after someone makes a guess.  This one turned out to be more work than fun.

Liebe und Intrige - I needed a game in my collection where I have to marry off my daughters, and for the first few games it was a really fun game.  However, each game played just like the last one and this lack of replay value made it easy to sell off.

Mr. Jack expansion - five new characters to use in the game.  This was delayed due to a problem with the die cuts on the cards.  I decided to put this on the Great Lakes Games prize table, and as a result, I never got a chance to play it.

Animalia - card game with beautiful artwork that made it to the table once and was then traded away. 

Lexio - Korean tile game that I found at a used dealer and was used as an excellent surprise gift for a good friend.  I still don’t have a copy of this game, and I wish that I did – so I might keep my eyes open for another copy this year.

Palast Gefluster - Adlung hand-management game which is surprisingly good.  This made it to the table a lot until April – when I went to the Gathering of Friends.  Somehow, the game didn’t make it back into my pile of games and I haven’t had the chance to replace it yet.  I will definitely be picking up another copy (or two) of this when I return to Essen.

Kingsburg - I was quite impressed with this one initially – a fairly innovative mechanism using dice to choose your actions.  However, the game seemed to be a bit long.  Further, the appearance of the enemies lacked any tension as they were too easy to overcome (especially with the die roll for the King’s support).  After a few games, this was sold off before BGG.con.

Gipsy King/Territories - A great abstract game where you place RVs to take control of hexes around lakes.  This game is full of tough decisions in a 20 minute package.  I’m glad that I brought copies of this home, though I will admit that having a 10-pound jacket full of wooden pieces from two copies of this game was a bit uncomfortable on the ride home.

King of Siam - a strategic game where you try to control the factions in Siam – unique in that you get only 8 actions in the whole game and you have to choose when to use them.  I played this three or four times and it’s a fairly solid game.  However, the partnership rules are completely ridiculous, and I’ll likely never play this with four again.

Essen 2008

Well, that’s enough dwelling on the past.  In a very short while (tomorrow!), I’ll be leaving for Europe for another fun-filled 10 days in Germany.  I can’t wait to get there, and I’ll tell you all about it when I get back!

Until your next appointment
The Gaming Doctor

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