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tabletopontap · 5 years

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Top 30 Anticipated at Essen Spiel 2019 (#30-21)

Welcome to my Top 30 list for Essen Spiel! I wanted to do a shorter list than Gen Con, but what can I say? When there are over 1,100 games on the SPIEL ‘19 Preview List (found at www.boardgamegeek.com --thanks to W. Eric Martin for putting the list together!), then it’s no wonder that I couldn’t trim it down. However, since I had more time to put this list together than I did for Gen Con, I’m actually putting games in order from my least-to-most excited about. Keep in mind that I haven't played any of these games before. My impressions are based on information found on BGG and Youtube. All pictures found in this blog post were taken from BGG. Thanks to the people who posted photos of these games. Now, without further ado, let’s take a look at the list.

30. Pangea - Coming from Redimp Games, Aleksander Jagodziński is the designer/graphic artist, joined by Joanna Kwaśniak for the artwork. Speaking of which, the art looks fantastic! Player pieces look like fossils encapsulated in different colored rocks. The player boards feature realistic creatures that could easily pass as some long-forgotten evolutionary species that predate dinosaurs.

In this game, 1-4 players will spend 1-1.5 hours evolving and migrating their creatures across Earth in an effort to survive the catastrophic event at the end of the game. I believe there are a few different catastrophes, such as a giant meteor, to give the game more variability from play to play.

Although the game looks beautiful, I have reservations about how much I would enjoy gameplay. I like the sound of researching the time track to try to figure out where on the board the disaster will hit, but the main mechanism is area control. In general, area control isn't my favorite game mechanism. I also worry that the game might be too heavy for my tastes. Boardgamegeek (BGG) weights it at 3.5/5. In the past, I've found that my gaming group always acts interested in heavy games, but then they seldom hit the table. At the end of the day, I'm left wondering if this is a game with cool components but just so-so gameplay for my personal taste.

29. The Aquicorn Cove board game - Based on Katie O'Neill's graphic novel, she's listed as the artist for this board game, which I think is pretty cool. I like it when original content creators get involved with other iterations of their work. The publisher is Renegade Game Studios, and a team of designers worked on it: Ben Eisner, Tim Eisner, Steve Ellis II, and Tyler Tinsley.

There isn't much information on BGG about this game (for instance, there's no estimated time length or age range listed), but what caught my eye is the environmental theme and the fact that it's co-op. I like that this game is about being good stewards of the earth, highlighting human interaction with an aquatic environment. The main question I have about this game is the audience--is it a family game geared toward younger kids, or is it challenging enough for adults to enjoy, too?

28. Greenville 1989 - Designed by Florian Fay with art by David Sitbon, this looks like a darker version of Mysterium. This game is for 3-6 players in 20-45 min. and is published by Sorry We Are French. I noticed the recommended age group is age 16+, and I believe this rating is due to some graphic game content.

In this cooperative game, players have experienced a supernatural event and must describe their location, so their friends can find them. The card art evokes horror/suspense.

For example, a card might depict a creepy clown or zombie arms reaching out to grab you.

Whenever players don't guess the correct location, that character gets pulled closer to the void on the game board. If a character is lost, all players lose because this is a co-op. Together you stand, divided, you fall.

27. Race for the Chinese Zodiac - Designed by Christina Ng Zhen Wei and Yeo Keng Leong with artwork by Ray Toh, this is a racing game for 3-5 players in 40-70 min. There are two publishers listed, Starting Player and Simply Complex. I'm not sure if it's because it's an Asian game and has to go through different distributors to reach a worldwide market.

I dig the theme here. Players are animals of the Chinese zodiac, racing to be the first to reach the Heavenly Palace. Whoever comes in first will be honored as the first in the twelve-year zodiac cycle. Players simultaneously play 2 cards from their hand in order to make progress in the race. There are a couple of YouTube videos out there to help learn how the game plays (look up Heavy Cardboard and/or Jon Gets Games).

The main reason this game doesn't rank higher on my list is because my main gaming partner and I have had bad-to-neutral experiences with other popular racing games. I suspect you need higher play counts to properly enjoy most racing games.

26. AVGhost: Paranormal Investigation - Published by Mystical Games, the designers are Beatriz Alvarez and Pablo Miras, and the artists are Henning Ludvigsen, Pablo Miras, Jarrod Owen, and Nicoleta Stavarache. This horror-themed game is for 1-4 cooperative players age 16+ and takes 1.5-3 hours to play. It's a move and explore game that seems similar to Mansions of Madness (2nd ed.), but darker. Again, note the age limit.

The twist is that every character pawn has a flashlight. This game is meant to be played with the lights off. There are different flashlight lenses that will change the light's color. I think to get rid of certain spooks or to find certain clues, you have to have the right colored flashlight equipped. It seems cool, but I worry it might be a gimmick game only to be played once for novelty. Also, I'm not really a fan of horror, despite how many horror/suspense games have made it onto my list this year. What can I say? I can't get enough of co-op, and horror seems to be the popular theme for cooperative games this year. Maybe it's the success of Stranger Things and the revival of It. Who knows? I'd say it's because Essen Spiel falls close to Halloween, but that's true every year.

25. Chakra - Published by Blam! and designed by Luka Krleza with art from Claire Conan, this is going to draw eyes to the table. The gems are so shiny, the player boards are colorful and pretty. This game supports 2-4 players and takes about half an hour to play.

I'm hesitant about this game because respected board game reviewer, Tom Vasel, posted a critical review of this game on YouTube. His main complaint is that you can spend the whole game getting chakras aligned on your player board (ie. getting 3 of the same gem color lined up in a row), just to find out after the fact that the particular chakras you aligned aren't as valuable as another color you could've pursued. This makes winning feel more luck-based than skill-driven. If your opponent happened to get lucky in completing higher-valued chakras than you, you have no way to mitigate that. Despite Tom's valid critique, I would try out this game if I had the opportunity. I'm always looking for eye-catching games with simple rules that I can play with friends who aren't yet familiar with modern board games.

24. 50 Clues: The Pendulum of the Dead - Next up is the first of many "escape room in a box" type of games that made my list. "Escape" puzzle games is a fairly new genre that has taken tabletop enthusiasts by storm! This one appears to be self-published by Jeppe Norsker under Norsker Games. It supports 1-5 players age 16+ and takes about an hour and a half to play.

This is the first of a trilogy of games that should be played in order. It has adult content that can be very, very dark, so you if you're squeamish about violence, don't pick this one up. I have no experience with the game, but another reviewer on BGG who has played it warns that the content can be too heavy for some people. He wrote, "One of my co-players ended up leaving the table in the middle of playing the second story-box, and they did not want to return for the third. I have never seen this strong of an emotional reaction to a board game (not even playing This War of Mine)" (https://www.boardgamegeek.com/thread/2273440/review-escape-room-enthusiast). In case you aren't familiar with it, This War of Mine is about living in a war-torn country, so that should give you an indication of how dark this game can get. I consider myself to be the type of person who doesn't prefer violent/dark/scary content, but because this is an escape game and it has a rich storyline, I'm curious about it. I realize I've been warned, yet I'm still drawn to it!

23. It's a Wonderful World - This card drafting game for 1-5 players is created by Frédéric Guérard, illustrated by Anthony Wolff, and published by La Boîte de Jeu. It takes about 30 min. to an hour to play. I'm guessing it only stretches to an hour with 5 people or one analysis paralysis (AP) prone player. I like card drafting and engine building, although my spouse tends to beat me at this style of gameplay. I like the sound of the campaign mode, but from the BGG description, it sounds like you would have to buy expansions to play it.

22. Skytopia: In the Circle of Time - Published by Cosmodrome Games, designed by Ivan Lashin, and illustrated by Timofey Mazurenk and Andrey Pervukhin, this game supports 2-4 players and takes 40-60 min. to play.

Honestly, the only reason this game is on my list is because it has a big golem on the cover that reminds me of Century: Golem Edition. Kudos to the artists for grabbing my attention!

As far as gameplay goes, I don't have enough details, but I know it's a worker placement card game with a clock/rondel that determines cost of the cards. It's hard for me to judge this game because there's so little information. Even in terms of images on BGG, there's only the cover art! I'd be cautious with this one due to lack of information.

21. Rolled West - This is a roll and write game set in the same universe as Gold West. One of the illustrators, Adam P. McIver, is the original artist for Gold West, but this time around he's joined by artist, Ariel Seoane. The publisher is the same, Tasty Minstrel Games (TMG). TMG is known for high production games, such as Orléans, Yokohama, and Chimera Station, but they've had misses, too. They were criticized for the artistic direction they took in the reprinting of Colosseum. The designer for this game is Daniel Newman, who didn't design Gold West. Originally, I was more excited about this game, but I saw mixed reviews from Tantrum House on YouTube (https://youtu.be/zGNnZ40om5s), so I've tempered my enthusiasm.

That concludes my bottom 30. Stay tuned for my next post as I count down to my #1 most anticipated game at Essen Spiel 2019!

#boardgames #EssenSpiel #Essen2019

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