Essen SPIEL ’18 Live Blog – Thursday

KOSMOS has been working on a game this year which takes you back into the world of Prehistory called Tribes. It allows you to play out 30,000 years of civilization in 45 minutes.

The players start with a small tribe with the immediately surrounding area explored. They discover new land and send the members of their tribe out to discover valuable resources. Who will be the most tactical leader and guide their tribe to victory?

This game has been revamped from its Kickstarter release and looks very pretty indeed.

We might have seen that we’ve been talking about Valhalla on the website over the last couple of weeks. This is a game by Go On Board which is showing off here at the convention whilst they run a Kickstarter for an English version of the main game and the expansion.

You can check out the Kickstarter HERE and get stuck into the game now you know a little more about it!

Come and check out the rather fantastic looking Mystical Seeds from Two Plus Games which has players working as botanists collecting and grafting together seeds to understand their mystical properties.

Once you have worked out your findings you then publish them to gain prestige amongst those in the botanist world.

The game LOOKS beautiful and I am quite a lover of nature and the wilds so plants are always for me.

We got a chance to talk to Isaac Childres of Cephalofair Games about what is happening in Founders Of Gloomhaven and what lies ahead for him as he explores the expansion to the original (and expansive) Gloomhaven.

Founders Of Gloomhaven allows you to find out what happened when the city was created, introducing the races that became popular in the massive dungeon crawler all with the aid of euro-mechanics.

The new expansion for Gloomhaven also throws into the mix a new character class which will make the different combinations and card plays of the game even more deadly for the foes you encounter.

Justin stops in with Mantic Games and talks about what they have brought here to show off at the show. The first of these is the final production miniatures for Hellboy which are looking stunning!

Win A Copy Of Here’s Negan

We also get a little bit of a lowdown on Here’s Negan which is what we’re giving away as a prize on this video.

As well as that make sure to check out Kings Of War Vanguard which is out right now giving you the ability to delve into skirmish gaming from the world of Mantica.

The whole of SPIEL ’18 is jampacked with happy gamers. It’s pretty insane that even today, on a Thursday, in the middle of the week, there are people here playing games and getting really stuck into everything tabletop.

It’s quite inspirational to see people of all ages playing old games, new games, big tough games and even smaller fun diversions.

We’ve still got lots to come for Essen SPIEL ’18 so watch this space.

We stop in with Jane from Medusa Games to talk about what’s happening with Magnificent Flying Machines. This is a game that we’ve been looking at before at events like UK Games Expo and the like.

Win A Copy Of Magnificent Flying Machines

This game is a lot of fun with plenty of room to expand and change it as you see fit. Taking flight with your exceptional pilots in their incredibly haphazard planes makes for a game which not only looks towards the inspirational age of flight but also the funny daring calamity which befalls you in this game.

I thought this would be an excellent time to ask what YOU do when it comes to conventions.

Do you go out of your way to see as many games as possible or do you focus in on just a few?

Do you sit down to play demo games that you’re interested in, or do you prefer to do some shopping and make sure those shelves groan when you get back home?

Everyone approaches conventions differently and some people even come along JUST to take part in tournaments and events of a competitive nature.

What do you do?

PlastCraft Games is exploring EXO now that the Kickstarter is over with a Late Pledge Manager and soon after the game arriving on peoples doorsteps.

Win A Crashed Plane Terrain Set

We have done some great Let’s Play content with the guys for EXO over the last year or so, so make sure to check it out in more detail HERE.

For now, though you can win yourself a great piece of terrain from the PlastCraft Games guys for use in your post-apocalyptic games.

Essen SPIEL ’18 is a massive convention that not only attracts folks who like their board games but also those that want to expand beyond the tabletop and cover their homes in wonderful geeky artefacts too.

That means wonderful toys, accessories and even pieces to adorn your house including decorations and more.

It sounds quirky and it very much is! Come and explore Ludi Creations’ Mr Cabbagehead’s Garden which is a wonderful game for 1-2 Players which has been re-balanced and tweaked from its early days as a single player print-and-play game.

It has gone through Kickstarter since then, expanding to garner support online and proving to be a fantastically eccentric puzzle which is easy to learn and hard to master.

Matt Leacock has a new family game showing at Essen Spiel. We stopped off with him to find out more about Space Escape.

We have been seeing a lot of people having fun with Reichbusters: Projekt Vril here at the show and TOMORROW we will be doing a gameplay video with the folks from Mythic Games!

With that in mind, we thought we’d close in on some of the awesome looking miniatures for the Nazis which have been hitting the tabletop.

The quality of this game is looking great and we hope to be able to delve into it a lot more over the coming weeks as well with the team.

We wrap up our coverage of Day One of Essen Spiel 2018. It’s been a day chock full of interesting games, from wargames and board games, to role playing games and family-friendly activities.

The event has been filling up as the day went on and there promises to be even more on the horizon for the next three to come.