Spiel : Boardgames in the UK

We tried out this Reiner Knizia game published by Playroom Entertainment last night. It turned out to be quite a bit more thinky than I had expected. On your turn, there are lots of places to play and you want to be sure that you’re not setting someone else up to freeze you out of claiming a tile. And the scoring has got that typical Knizia wonkiness that gives you even more to try and work out. We quite enjoyed it and Chris managed to pip me on the tie-break for the win by a single artefact symbol.

Shaun Derrick emailed me to let me know what is happening with the next expansion to his great football (soccer) game. This is what he said:

“Expansion set 6 is in the design process. It will include:

• 2 boards for the 2010 World Cup
• 20 New cards that can be added to the current deck. Each card represents one year in which the World Cup took place from 1930 up to 2014. However, it is entirely the players choice which cards to add to the deck and which to leave out. Some cards such as the 2014 ‘Goal-line technology’ can be used in all World Cup Games even though the subject matter may not be appropriate for that year.

Expected release date is 30 September.”

Having mentioned that the nominees for the IGA were announced in the latest issue of Counter, it’s a bit remiss of me not to actually publish the details. Well, I was actually waiting for an official announcement from Greg Schloesser to appear online, which has now happened so I can now confirm that the nominees for the two awards were:

General Strategy Games – multi-player

• Age of Industry, by Martin Wallace (Treefrog Games)
• Dungeon Lords, by Vlaada Chvátil (Czech Games Edition)
• Egizia, by Acchittocca (Hans im Glück)
• Endeavor, by Carl de Visser and Jarratt Gray (Z-Man Games)
• Fresco, by Marcel Süsselbeck, Marco Ruskowski & Wolfgang Panning (Queen Games)
• Glen More, by Matthias Cramer (alea)
• Hansa Teutonica, by Andreas Steding (Argentum Verlag)
• Last Train to Wensleydale, by Martin Wallace (Treefrog Games)
• Macao, by Stefan Feld (alea)
• Power Grid: Factory Manager, by Friedemann Friese (2F-Spiele)
• Rise of Empires, by Martin Wallace (Phalanx Games/Mayfair Games)
• Shipyard, by Vladimir Suchy (Czech Games Edition)
• Vasco da Gama, by Paolo Mori (What’s Your Game?)
• World Without End, by Michael Rieneck & Stefan Stadler (Kosmos)

General Strategy Games – two-player

• Burger Joint, by Joe Huber (Rio Grande Games)
• Campaign Manager 2008, by Christian Leonhard & Jason Matthews (Z-Man Games)
• Claustrophobia, by Croc (Asmodee)
• Jaipur, by Sébastien Pauchon (GameWorks)
• Stronghold, by Ignacy Trzewiczek (Portal Publishing)

I think the winners will be announced around the end of September with the awards being presented at Essen.

Three days left to go on my Ebay sale which includes:

• the classic climbing card game, Tichu;
• Michael Schacht’s two player tile laying game, Architekton;
• Die Sieben Weisen, the small box Alea game about changing alliances in a struggle for power;
• Alan Moon and Aaron Weissblum’s card game, Im Schatten des Sonnenkonigs; and
• the infamous Time Control - see what all the fuss was about.

You can see all the items up for sale here.

The fourth English issue of Spielbox has now arrived. This time, there is a report from UK Games Expo (including slightly cheesy photo of the Ragnars); a report on the Spiel-des-Jahres result; reviews of Glen More, Long Shot, Samarkand, Asteroyds, Titania, Workshop of the World and 11 Nimmt, among others; plus a free expansion for Spiel-des-Jahres nominated A La Carte.

Further information is available on the Spielbox website.

The next release from Fragor Games at Essen 2010 will be Antics! - a game about, well, ants.

Prey and leaves abound nearby - if only those other ants would not take what is rightfully yours. Players attempt to have their ants bring back prey and leaves to their anthill. Only the best ant colony will survive and the winner proclaimed The Ant Queen. The game is for 3-4 players, ages 10+ and lasts for 60 minutes. It features Fragor’s “ant-hill system” - a revolutionary new game mechanic.

The game will cost 35 Euros and can be preordered at the Fragor Games website.

The 50th issue of Counter magazine arrived yesterday with a glossy full colour cover to celebrate the fact. I just wanted to congratulate Stuart, Alan and Mike for reaching this milestone and giving me endless entertainment with the great writing that goes into every issue. Thanks also to the various contributors over the years for making an indispensable quality gaming publication. I still remember receiving the first issue way back in May 1998, when there was little else to read on the international gaming scene - even BGG was not yet born. Great stuff guys.

This issue includes the IGA General Strategy Nominations (Multi-player and two-player); a report on Origins; a celebration of Leisure Games silver jubilee; a preview of Martin Wallace’s London; reviews of 11 Nimmt, Age of Industry, Egizia, Fresco, Glen More and Workshop of the World among others; and the usual letters and general gaming articles.

The title says it all but, with many of the items still to receive a bid, there are likely to be some bargain prices to be had. Statis Pro Football is one of those without a bid and, for a big game, only played once, a starting price of just £3.00 is extremely low.

The list is here.

I’ve got another batch of 25 games up for sale on Ebay, with the auctions due to end on Thursday 19th August. These include Piranha Pedro, Statis Pro Football, Linie 1, Abilene and the fun balancing game Auf Der Kippe. The full list is here.

The next UK game convention is taking place this weekend. ManorCon XXVIII will be held on 16th to 19th July 2010, at Stamford Hall, University of Leicester. 

Manorcon is the largest UK convention and has plenty of organised events. Tournaments will include: Diplomacy, Dominion, 18XX, Acquire, Puerto Rico, St Petersburg, Race for the Galaxy, Midnight Party and Croquet. There will also be plenty of non-tournament games on offer – far too numerous to mention! Other events will include the a games stall, a pop quiz and a treasure hunt.