Day 4
An early visit to the Blackrock Games booth for a wonderful meeting with Caroline about everything coming from their huge portfolio with a variety of publishers presenting their games. Again, Caroline all the best with the pregnancy and I hope to see you again at Spiel 2020. Some of the games we saw:
- Globe Twister
- Nemeton
- Cubirds
- Fertility
- Finding the Dragon
- Banquet Royal
- Huns
- Affinity
Now of to some of my personal favorites, I keep saying that right, to have a talk about the things happening at 2Tomatoes Games. We talked about these games:
- New Corp Order
- New expansion Peak Oil, Spillover
- Togas & Daggers was a project name and is now named: Vae Victus (coming to Kickstarter SOON! Watch the blog for that)
After that, I had a little time to get to my next meet-up, so I walked the halls a little and ended up in Hall 1 for some random photo opportunities.
- Solenia
- Pandemic Fall of Rome
- Monumental
- The Sanctuary Endangered Species
- Interview Eric Lang
- Vejen
Almost done, but not quite there yet folks. Let’s share some afterburners and fun moments from another fantastic Internationale Spieltage Essen with fellow geeks and friends!
It’s always a pleasure to spend time at the Portal booth with Ignacy and my Dutch board game friend Rindert. It helps Portal Games always bring their A-game to the con, on the fact we bring cookies for Ignacy obviously.
- Monolith Arena
- Detective: A modern crime board game
- Neuroshima Hex
Portal Games Booth 
Monolith Arena by Portal Games 
Detective by Portal Games was sold like cookies at Spiel 2018 (pun intended with Ignacy being a cooky monster) 
Monolith Arena by Portal Games 
Neuroshima Hex expansions by Portal Games 
Monolith Arena by Portal Games 
Monolith Arena by Portal Games
And what about a quick talk with my fellow Dutch geeks at the Quined booth? Fun chats with the awesome demo crew, big waves of laughter and some talking shop with big Paul and what about playing some fantastic euro games?
- Firenze
- Counterfeiters
- Raiatea
Counterfeiters by Quined Games demo 
Counterfeiters by Quined Games 
Firenze by Quined Games 
Spiel 2018 Firenze by Quined Games 
Raiatea by Quined Games 
Counterfeiters by Quined Games
And no Spiel visit is complete without dropping by the Stronghold Games booth and have an in-depth chat with Mister B!
- Futuropia
- Forum Trajanum
- Auztralia
- Paper Tales
Spiel 2018 Stronghold Games Booth with show master Stephen Buonocore 
Futuropia by Stronghold Games and art by Harald Lieske 
Forum Trajanum by Stronghold Games 
Auztralia by Stronghold Games by Martin Wallace 
Paper Tales by Stronghold Games 
Auztralia by Stronghold Games. By Maetin Wallace 
Futuropia by Stronghold Games and designed by Friedemann Friese
And as a closer, another Dutch publisher we always need to see what they are bringing to Essen is White Goblin Games.
- Montana & Gold Rush expansion
- Bali
- Claim Kingdoms
Montana Gold Rush by White Goblin Games overview 
Montana Gold Rush by White Goblin Games 
Bali by White Goblin Games 
Montana Gold Rush by White Goblin Games 
Claim Kingdoms by White Goblin Games
And let’s close down with some random pictures from around the Messe and from long and whiskey filled game nights 🙂
- Konja
- Hokkaido
- Battle Wizards
- Arraial
Konja by Pleasant Company Games from Robert van Zyl 
Konja by Pleasant Company Games from Robert van Zyl 
PLaying some hilarious games with Rob from PLeasant Company 
Awesome designer Michael Luu 
Architectura late night play 
Hokkaido from Lautepelit is a great little game 
My dear friend Adnil pitching his game 
Well there were animals too 
Dicium is a clever little dice chucker 
Whoops, that’s a car load 
I don’t want to in the middle of that queu when i need to pee 
Cheers mate 
More heavy strategy games are being played 
Yes, this is a real thing people 
MEBO had a big hit with this title 
Let’s make Mario proud and tetris some dancing pieces 
We made it to the end people! 
Good night Messe, see you tomorrow!
Well that’s a wrap dear readers, it may have been a delayed post from almost a year, but trust me when I say, Spiel 2018 was everything I hoped for and more!
Thanks dear publishers, thanks dear gaming friends and thanks fellow geeks for being part of another year of my board game life!
~ Marlon
El Crosso a board game life! 