Rick Thornquist: Essen Games First Impressions

’Essen Game First Impressions’?  How can I be giving my first impressions of Essen games when the fair is still a month away?  Well, fortunate guy that I am, I have been able to get copies of some of the games in advance of the fair which gives me a chance to play them and give you my first impressions.  I’ve already posted my first impressions of some games in the Essen Preview - here are a few more for your consideration.

Graenaland
The first game I’d like to talk about is Graenaland from Czech Board Games.  Ladislav Smejkal was kind enough to send me a prototype of the game all the way from the Czech Republic.  I’ve played the game twice so far and I must say that I’m very impressed.

In Graenaland, each player is leading a clan who are settling the coast of Greenland.  You get resources from the land and with these resources you build settlements, buildings, armies, and other units (which can move between regions).  Players can also create public works in regions, which can be created cooperatively, and benefit all players who occupy the region where it’s built.

The way the resources are distributed is the core of the game.  Basically, a player proposes how to distribute the resources in a region - who gets what.  There’s no negotiation at this point, the player just makes a proposal.  Then everyone votes on the proposal (there can be negotiation here).  The more settlements / buildings / armies, etc, a player has in a region, the more votes he gets.  If the vote passes, the resources are distributed as proposed, otherwise they stay there for the next proposal.  I very much liked the way this worked - the mechanic eliminated endless negotiations but kept things fun and interesting.

In the basic game, there are five victory conditions - things like building 8 settlements total or building two buildings.  The first player to reach three of these five victory conditions wins the game.

The game does have many Settlers-like qualities to it - the whole idea gathering of resources and building stuff.  Whether this is a plus or a minus depends on whether you like the familiarity, or dislike the unoriginality of a game that has similar qualities to Settlers.

In my opinion, though, the game has so much good in it I don’t so much mind it being similar to Settlers.  As far as complexity is concerned, it’s medium to perhaps medium-heavy.  The game has many aspects to it - resource management, building, negotiation, bluffing, and much more.  I thought it was sleekly designed, with interesting mechanisms and a good amount of strategy.  The game moves fairly quickly and there’s a lot of interaction. 

One more thing - I was very impressed with the rulebook.  I know it’s very hard to write good rules, but the rulebook for Graenaland was excellent - very clear and well written.

Obviously I like this one a lot - it’s one of my favorites of the Essen lot so far.

Krumble!
Krumble! is from Italy’s Tenki Games.  I played a pre-release production version and played the game twice so far.

A comment on the components - they are very nice.  The illustrations are done in a great cartoony style.  The rules, which are multilingual, could have used a bit of editing on the English side, but I was still able to get through them.

The game has a very original theme that I’ve never heard before - players play explorers who are fleeing from a crumbling temple.  The board is a set of tiles and players move forward through these tiles to reach an exit and escape the temple.  While this is happening, the temple is crumbling behind them - whoa be it to an explorer who gets caught in a section when the temple crumbles - unfortunately, he dies and becomes a ghost (but still participates in the game and can still win).

Players start with some tiles in their hands.  In a typical turn, they draw a tile, play a tile and then move their guy.  To move between tiles you have to pay resource markers.  Though these are supposed to represent your strength, agility and knowledge, in practice they are all just resource markers.  At the end of your turn you see if a section of the temple crumbles.  When all the explorers have either becomes ghosts or made it out, the game ends and the player with the most resources left wins.

There’s a bit more than that, but that’s basically the gist of it.  There are a decent amount of rules, but once you get going it’s pretty simple.  I’d categorize this one as more of a family game - there’s not a great deal of strategy and the game has a fair amount of ‘take that!’ to it, where players can hammer other players.  The winner in my games was usually the player who got hammered the least and / or was luckiest.  In the end, I like the theme and the components, but I though the gameplay was just okay.  This may be just too chaotic for gamers, but it may be enjoyable as a family game.

SnakeLake
SnakeLake is also from Italy’s Tenki Games.  I played a pre-release production version and played the game twice.

As with Krumble!, the components are very nice.  The illustrations are very well done - fun and bright - and the component quality is very good.  As with Krumble!, the rules are multilingual and the English bit could use a bit of work, but I ended up being fine with them.

SnakeLake could be described as a cross between that snake game that you play on your phone (otherwise known as the Tron lightcycle game - there’s a reference for you) and RoboRally.  There is a gridded board that starts strewn with obstacles (trees).  Basically you are moving your snake onto the board and as you move your snake he gets longer and longer.  You are trying to hit spaces with apples to eat them (which are worth big positive points) and avoid mushrooms (worth negative points) and obstacles (which can force you to start off the board again).  You are also trying to avoid other player’s snake’s bodies, but this gets tough when everyone’s snake gets pretty long and the board gets crowded

To move your snake you have a set of cards which you allow you to move forward, left, right or stay still.  You plan out your next three moves - a la RoboRally - and when it’s your turn you execute your first move, shove your cards over, and then plan your last move.  You then draw an even card which places an apple or a mushroom, or does something else.

You can get knocked out (actually, it’s almost a certain to happen at least once a game) and when this happens you start again at the edge of the board.  You get to keep all your points, though

Play continues until one player reaches a certain number of points.  When they do that, they win.

The game is light to medium weight.  There is a lot of interaction.  Like Krumble, there isn’t much to strategize, and the chaos can completely undo your plans.  Luck is a big factor too.  My main criticism is of downtime - there can be quite a bit, especially with more players.  In my two games some found it to be moderately enjoyable and others didn’t like it very much, mainly because of the downtime.  I think gamers may shy away, but I do think this may be moderately enjoyable in a family game environment, if the people don’t mind the downtime.

That’s it for first impressions - I’ll be back next week with, if all goes well, a first impression of Shogun.

Games Played
This was another busy week where I had to grab game time when I could.  I played Leonardo da Vinci x 2, Terra Nova, High Society, Augsburg 1520, Puerto Rico and Thurn und Taxis.

The two playings of Leonardo were of a pre-release production version.  I quite liked it when I played it in the prototype stage and I like it even more now - a very nice gamer game.  This one has also become one of my Essen favorites so far.

That’s it for this week!

© 2006 Rick Thornquist

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Comments:

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I do not understand why there is not more buzz on Leonardo. Prolly because daVinci is not regarded as a “gamer’s game” editor. Anyway after one play, Leonardo strikes me as a very good game. Maybe even very very good. And by far, the best game of 2006 so far (yes, really) Posted by Olivier Reix on Sep 19, 2006 at 04:30 AM | #

Graenaland does look promising, but the impression given on the Czech Board Games entry on the Essen list is that it will only be there in prototype form.  Is that, in fact, the case? And Leonardo is number one on my Essen buy list ... Posted by Brian Robson on Sep 19, 2006 at 05:24 AM | #

I’m been really positive impressed by Leonardo. I think it will probably one of the best game in Essen this year. I have played it 8 times far now, with 2,3,4 and five players and all the games was nice. All the games I have played are with the final version. I’m ready to write a “first impression” about it but I think reader prefer something by a more famous reviewer than me: i know Rick has a copy. The designers of Leonardo are really gamers. The Acchitocca team (3 of the 4 are designers of Leonardo) has won this week end the TdG Master, the Italian qualifier for European Game Master and Stefano (one of th 4 Acchitocca) get the 2nd place. I hope soon will start the buzz about Leonardo because it is really a good game! good play Liga Posted by Andrea Liga Ligabue on Sep 19, 2006 at 08:19 AM | #

"whoa be it to an explorer who gets caught in a section when the temple crumbles” And woe be it to the English language, Mr Thornquist. Posted by Andy Parsons on Sep 19, 2006 at 11:33 AM | #

Olivier and Liga - I have a feeling Leonardo will be getting more attention - it is a very good game. Brian - According to Czech Games, there will be production copies of Graenaland available at Essen.  I should be hearing more about this shortly. Andy - > And woe be it to the English language, Mr Thornquist. Sometimes I just can’t help myself. :) - Rick Posted by Rick Thornquist on Sep 19, 2006 at 12:09 PM | #

Good news about Graenaland, Rick.  The two games listed in the Essen review from Czech Board Games (this and the provocatively titled Civilization: The Card Game) both looked fascinating, but there were plenty of reasons to keep my excitement in, uh, check:  unknown publisher, unknown designer, possible language issues, overly ambitious themes, all that stuff.  So your first report is most welcome.  Actually, if I had done a bit of research, I might have been more enthusiastic earlier.  On a whim, I put designer Vladimir Chvatil’s name into the Geek and found that he also created the well regarded Proroctvi (Prophecy), which has the rep of being Talisman done right (and also is supposed to have very good rules).  So we may be dealing with a talented new designer here.  This makes me even more interested in hearing about the Civ Card Game! Posted by Larry Levy on Sep 19, 2006 at 01:52 PM | #

Hear, hear, Larry! Posted by Jeffrey D Myers on Sep 19, 2006 at 03:34 PM | #

Larry - > This makes me even more interested in hearing about the Civ Card Game! Here’s something to whet your appetite… The publisher tells me that he thinks Civilization: The Card Game is an even better game than Graenaland (and he also says it’s deeper than Graenaland).  I’m very much looking forward to trying it. - Rick Posted by Rick Thornquist on Sep 19, 2006 at 03:45 PM | #

Aaaaaah!!!  Must...take...flight...to...Czechoslovakia!!! Posted by Larry Levy on Sep 19, 2006 at 05:15 PM | #

Just checked out the Czech Board Game website and evidently they’ve come up with the final name for what they’d been calling Civilization: The Card Game.  It’s now called “Through the Ages”.  Nice name; now let’s see what the game is like. Posted by Larry Levy on Sep 19, 2006 at 07:40 PM | #

These looks reeeeeeeeeeeeally good. I hope they will be ready for the show. The Essen show, I mean. Posted by Olivier Reix on Sep 20, 2006 at 04:54 AM | #

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