Essen SPIEL ’18 Live Blog – Friday

It’s time to get stuck into Day Two of Essen SPIEL ’18 where we’ve got plenty more games to get stuck into, loads of prizes and much more.

Watch out for more from Reichbusters in the near future as well as Justin and Sam got to sit down with Az to have a run through how a particular game turn would play out.

Remember that Reichbusters: Projekt Vril goes live on Kickstarter November 20th 2018.

We stopped in with Gordon from Gale Force Nine to talk about what they have been showing off here at the show and delving into the wealth of new goodies that you can get a hold of for their Dungeons & Dragons range.

Win Vault Of Dragons PLUS 2x D&D Paint Sets (Heroes & Monsters)

As well as the awesome range of unique Dungeons & Dragons characters from a variety of livestreams and the expanded universe they have also been working on some great stuff for historical gamers with TANKS.

This new version of TANKS is working its way onto shelves soon and we’ll be covering it over in the studio in the near future too.

We got a chance to sit down and look through a game which is able to combine two of my favourite things, racing and betting in tabletop games!

Downforce is one of those awesome games which has been given a new lease of life by Restoration Games with IELLO as another of the publishers for it.

In the game you are playing as the people betting on the racing drivers, trying to work out what position they are going to finish in and also outwit the others at the table, locking racers in place and stopping their cards from having the desired effect!

It seems like a great mix of games like Camel Up and Formula D!

Horrible Games has been showing off Railroad Ink for a while now at shows like Gen Con and the like but now it has finally seen a release here at Essen SPIEL ’18 to the public.

It was the one game that I (Ben) was really looking to pick up at the show and I can’t wait to play it. The game is what’s called a Roll & Write and has you rolling dice then using pens to draw out the railroads that you want to create, hoping that it is all going to come together into a great network that banks you loads of points.

There has been a massive landslide of Roll & Write games recently and this is certainly one of them that stands out from the crowd…

…oh, and blue is best.

We managed to stop in with the folks from Micro Art Studio to find out what was new this year for them when it came to terrain.

Comment To Win An Aristeia Walls Terrain Set

We talk about some of the great terrain that they have designed for you to use in Star Wars: Legion as well as their utterly superb collection of terrain pieces which help bring the world of Infinity to life on the tabletop.

We got a chance to talk with Tez about what the plans are from WYSIWYG Games when it comes to bringing The Planet Of The Apes to the tabletop in the near future.

The game will be a cooperative experience where you play as the Apes from the popular movie franchise, trying to fight against the human forces that seek to hunt you down.

As well as a proper miniature-based skirmish clash on the tabletop between the two forces, where everyone has no real idea of what the capabilities of your foes are, you can also develop things with another side of the game that has you creating your village too.

Add into that the fact that they’re going to be working on an awesome look back at the old movies too and you’ve got a lot of ace things to look forward to here!

I am a big fan of HABA games and it is nice to see them expanding their reach beyond the simple kids games to something which can act as a branching product between those and more complex products.

Win A Copy Of Mountains

In this game, you are going to be working to try and match different sets of cards together to make sure that your packs are full of the right equipment as you head off to explore these masterful peaks.

I have tried my hand at some blacksmithing and it ain’t easy. So, it might be a good idea for me to instead try my hand at building swords in Swordcrafters from Adam’s Apple Games.

Win A Copy Of Swordcrafters

This game has you building up a sword from a selection of options, matching gems, working towards specific projects laid out by the game and also battling enemies too.

I love the fact that you end up with some amazing 3D creations!

We stopped in with Brain Games to talk about what’s new with them. They have a few new ideas for people to get stuck into including ICE COOL 2 which expands upon the dexterity-based game with more flicking action as well as Pyramids of Pengqueen which is a restyling of another game all about racing and hidden information.

Win A Copy Of Pyramids Of Pengqueen

We also delve into some of their other games, all with an awesome quick and easy feel to them. The first is a trick-taking game with a bit of a difference in Pikoko. This sounds like a fascinating game for a group of friends as well as younger gamers…how cool is that!

We also have Orc-lympics which is a little twist on the sports genre in card form where you will be pushing your luck to try and win certain events.