Naturelich Games

Rick Thornquist has started posting the first pieces of information on the upcoming Spielemesse Essen 2006. As Rick updates this information frequently the following link will be among my favorites between now and October.

Boardgamenews.com Convention Preview Essen 2006

Usually this list gets very long and is an absolute vital resource in preparing a trip to Essen. Although the list is still rather short, there are already several items that have sparked my interest:

• Days of Wonder has announced a big game and yet another expansion to Ticket to Ride. This expansion is going to be somewhat bigger than Mystery Train and will cost around 10 EUR (available at the fair but also afterwards at game retailers).


• Eggertspiele has announced Imperial. Whether Mac Gerdts - who was responsible for Eggertspiele's last year hype game Antike is the author is not confirmed yet.


• Fragorgames has published a hilarious teaser for their upcoming release Hameln. Hameln (engl. Hamelin) is a small German city most famous for their Pied Piper of Hameln. It's an old German folk tale. This one is gonna be good :D


• Kosmos is working on a new Blue Moon (The Buka - Invasion) expansion as well as an expansion to the Catan card game: Künstler und Wohltäter (Artists and Benefactors)


• R&D Games is working on an expansion to Reef Encounter that looks pretty difficult to get. Check out the site to reserve a copy.


• Warfrog has another Martin Wallace title at hand: Perikles. The description suggests a euro-wargame hybrid with both an area control/voting mechanism as well as a military phase. Perhaps this is something many gamers have been waiting for? It's certainly something I wanna try this year ;)

Well, these were my personal highlights at least. I would love to see more and more information to be added to Rick's Essen 2006 preview. Boardgamenews, I'll see you in a couple of days... :D