First impressions of Spiel Essen 2010

First of all it was good to meet Schweig and Sydo, who is an altogether good guy. Nice to get to know more Fatties. We scavenged for Dogmatix's freebies (we managed most of your wishlist dude, Sydo will post them with the Thunderstone promo from Czechia when he gets back) and then played Barons and Glory to Rome (a Schweig fav) at Cambridge Game Factory.

The rest I'll just give to you my tweets, hope it makes sense, and if not, don't be afraid to ask!

Thursday

First game of the day: survive http://twitpic.com/2zghd4. Survive is a fun game, new Stronghold version has meeplified it, and combines original US and European versions

Nice bits in the new Kings & Things, esp the keeps & castles http://twitpic.com/2zgwhm.
More kings & things http://twitpic.com/2zhdrw

London by Martin Wallace, luxury edition. We're trying to get in a game http://twitpic.com/2zhtlf

Terrible start with London. I've got the paupers in chech, but too many building sites. This is not a happy city. See for yourself http://twitpic.com/2zi6xv I'm playing yellow. In the end it was very close and I managed to ease before. Happiest citizens as well. Incrrdible. Ok game. Not much interaction, though

Dixit, nice guessing game, great props http://twitpic.com/2zjq53. Fabula and Dixit both beautiful and inspiring artwork. But interaction in Dixit works for me, while competition in Fabula falls flat

And now a game of Merkator. Lots of pastel coloured cubes. This has me seriously worried. In the end Merkator offers an interesting puzzle but it still is spreadsheet game with early modern trading theme #9078. No soul.

Friday

Ok, I ran out of my abroad data limit on Friday morning. Probably due to sending images. Something to remember for my next twitter adventure abroad.  Last thing I caught was Sid Meier's Civilization start up setting http://twitpic.com/2zqmjh

Tried out Ruthenia, an old skool strategic wargame set in medieval southern Russia. Promising! Needs some polishing and a western publisher

Teamed up with Simon & Thomas in afternoon and played Barons & Glory to Rome. Both left me cold but GtR has clever use of cards

Resistance by Indie Boards & Bits good fun, if Werewolves redux. Hard to win for the humans

Zombie State a blast! Really feels like unstoppable waves of doom. Started optimistic but humanity succumbed in the end (ie 2 am)

Saturday

Saturday we didn't go to Essen but played in a roadhouse on the way back. It started with Tikal II, much different, faster, more fun than prequel. Great artwork, to put the rules introduction in comic book format is brilliant

Antics, ugly board, but more fun than expected to build antheap and collect leaves. Also to steal, deny access and block

Tight game of Navegador to finish it off. Roundel feels in place, game feels like a race. My colonial strategy almost worked

At the afterparty we played the hilarious card game Campagne about this year's Dutch elections. Spot on charicature!

Loot: Kingpin Colombian gang, Silezian Gambit for Maria, Tikal II, Road Kill Rally, Gosu, The Resistance, Dixit and Ruthenia,  Escape from the Aliens in Outer Space and Campagne. All in all a good year!

Friends gave good vibe for After Pablo, but sold out. Colombian drugs theme cool, and matched by mechanics. Deserves your support

But Cadwallon & Earth Reborn we re sorely missed. Only demo version. Both look great, remain high on want list