Spiel 2013: Other Games on my Spiel List
Posted by James (admin) on October 22nd, 2013
Spiel in Essen is almost here. Like previous years, I will be tweeting about the games I get to play so tune in to @Metagames for that.
In the run up to Spiel this year, I have read the rules to 70 games (!) and posted 40 previews. However, there are still many games being released which I didn’t have time to preview. So, here are some of the other highlights on my list in no particular order:
- Amerigo (Queen) – Excellent looking game by Stefan Feld
- 1775 Rebellion (Academy Games) – Looks like a good strategy game without being too complex
- Yunnan (Argentum Verlag) – Excellent looking eurogame with quite a lot going on
- Archon (Artipia) – Worker placement game with interesting method using multiple workers (or big ones) for increased benefits
- Damage Report (Break From Reality) – Real-time sci-fi co-op
- Kings and Assassins (Galakta) – Asymetric 2-player game of assassins trying to kill king before he can reach destination
- Nauticus (Kosmos) – Another Kramer and Kiesling game with ship-building theme
- Nations (Lautapelit) – A civilised civilisation game with worker placement
- A Study in Emerald (Treefrog) – Great looking Martin Wallace game with strong theme and secret identities
- Karnickel (Lookout Games) – Push-your-luck game with rabbits collecting carrots and trying not to get hit by the train
- Pelican Bay (Three Hares in Evening the Sun) – Charming-looking tile placement game
- Cheaty Mages (AEG) – A card game with few cards by the same designer as R and Love Letter
- Malacca (Loris Games) – Players are ship captains in this short group game
- Concordia (PD-Verlag) – Mac Gedts’ new game
- Longhorn (Blue Orange) – Short and simple Bruno Cathala game
- Bankraub (Spieltrieb) – Players jostle until one of them launches a bank robbery, then all other player try and stop it
- Space Cadets: Dice Duel (Stronghold) – Looks smaller and quicker than Space Cadets with interesting game mechanics
- Corto (Matagot) – Game of token placement based on French comic strip with very strong artwork style
- Twin Tin Bots (Flatlined Games) – Cute looking game that has a lot in common with RoboRally but faster.
As I seem to say more and more these days: “So many games, so little time.”
James.
November 24th, 2013 at 2:28 am
Is this a list of games you’ve preordered? The ones I’m most interested in (and preordered) are Caverna, Concordia and Madeira. I’m holding off on Nations until I read more about it. If you cover these I look forward to reading your take on them!
November 30th, 2013 at 4:49 pm
Hi Jacob,
Some I pre-ordered, some I intended to buy, and some just to look at. Overall, they were just games that had caught my eye in the lead up to Spiel, especially as I had read the rules to almost all of them. Since then, I have played Concordia, Madeira and Nations and have liked all of them. Proper reviews to come starting this week. I haven’t played Caverna – I’m not sure I know anyone who owns it either – however, I’m not a big Agricola fan (I find it’s just a bit dry and unforgiving for me), so I doubt I’ll play that one.
Cheers,
James.
November 30th, 2013 at 6:14 pm
Looking forward to your reviews. Now that the store I order from has told me the release dates were pushed back and I won’t be getting them until after Christmas I need something to help me during the wait. I ordered Madeira directly from What’s Your Game? – they said they don’t have a North American distributor.
Agricola is dry and unforgiving? That’s exactly why I’m interested in Caverna! I almost think the publishers knew the release date would be Dec. 20, but they first said Nov. 30 to get people like me to preorder. Then they change the date and I’m left looking for people who went to Essen or BGG.con to write reviews. This is all a big waiting game.