SPIEL ’22 was fantastic for me. I finally got to meet international publishers and designers who I had previously interacted with solely online and had never met in person. There were also many kind, friendly gamers who approached me to say hi and tell me they are digging my Cardboard Creations interviews and/or the new BGG podcast. Plus, I got to check out a bunch of new games which was very exciting! Let’s just say I left SPIEL with a huge heart and a legit haul of board games.
SPIEL is a huge event. Even after 4 full days of rummaging through the massive halls with wide eyes, I could’ve used at least another 4 full days to really soak everything in. My mind is still processing and recovering from board game sensory overload, but I wanted to share some photos I captured while I was there.
• Woodcraft was a popular new release at SPIEL from Delicious Games and designers Ross Arnold and Vladimír Suchý. I walked by several times hoping to jump into a demo, but the tables were always full. The unique and thematic dice manipulation in Woodcraft sounds very interesting, so I’m looking forward to playing it at BGG.CON.
• My partner Matt and I demoed Fateforge: Chronicles of Kaan and Vengeance: Roll & Fight – Episode 1 together at the Mighty Boards booth after I met with their team.
Fateforge is an action-adventure, story-driven, co-operative campaign game created by Gordon Calleja, which was successfully funded on Kickstarter in September 2022. It has elements of Gloomhaven and was also reminiscent of Destinies since it is app-driven, yet it has its own puzzly feel. The combat is quick and simple with a clever dice allocation and skill system. I also really appreciate that it is intended for each session to be set up and played in a couple hours or less, so you can potentially play multiple sessions in a weeknight evening. We both thoroughly enjoyed playing Fateforge and look forward to digging into it more when it’s (hopefully) out in Q4 2023.
Fateforge: Chronicles of Kaan prototype
I snagged a copy of Gordon Calleja’s new book Unboxed: Board Game Experience and Design, which I started reading on the plane ride home. It has awesome cover art by Philipp Kruse, the artist for Excavation Earth, and is a fascinating read so far.
Somehow I never got a chance to try David Chircop‘s Hamlet: The Village Building Game while I was there, but that was Mighty Boards’ big SPIEL ’22 release and people seemed to be digging it a lot. This is another game on my list to check out at BGG.CON.
Matt and I also got a quick, but fun, taste of Vengeance: Roll & Fight, which is a unique, real-time, roll-and-write game designed by Gordon Calleja, Noralie Lubbers, and Dávid Turczi, where players compete in an action movie setting taking down gang enemies and a main boss via fast-paced dice puzzles evolved from Calleja’s original Vengeance game from 2018.
Vengeance: Roll & Fight
• Speaking of Dávid Turczi and Noralie Lubbers, I got the chance to meet them both at the Mindclash Games booth.
Me with Dávid Turczi & Noralie Lubbers
The Mindclash booth was always poppin’ when I walked by, with full demo tables for Voidfall, Septima, Astra, and Perseverance: Castaway Chronicles – Episodes 1 & 2.
Voidfall prototype
Septima prototype
Astra
Septima and Voidfall are both targeted to release to backers in Q2 2023, with standard retail editions coming in Q4 2023. There are also more games coming down the pike in the Mindclash Play line following Astra.
I also discovered Dávid Turczi is going to be a dad soon. To celebrate, he launched a crowdfunding campaign on Gamefound for the “Turczi Junior Promo Pack”, which features 7 new promos for some of his games (Tekhenu, Tawantinsuyu, Imperium, Perseverance, Voidfall, Vengeance: Roll & Fight, and Venice) .
• Taiwanese designer Kuan Chen and his publishing company Kolor Deep Studio ran demos for Pathogen, a new abstract strategy game where 2 players compete as the Doctor and the Plague.
• I spotted Eric in the wild as he was checking out Toko Island, a new, quick-playing, co-operative, memory game from Marie Fort, Wilfried Fort, and Swiss publisher Helvetiq.
• At the Nuts! Publishing booth, I demoed Jean-Philippe Barcus and Pascal Toupy‘s Saigon 75, which is an accessible, asymmetrical wargame for 1-2 players that plays in 1-2 hours, simulating the struggle between North and South Vietnam from summer 1973 to spring 1975. I was really impressed with how easy it was to get into, how quick it plays, and how much tension stems from the asymmetry and event cards. Saigon 75 should be available at U.S. retailers in Q2 2023 and I’m looking forward to getting myself a copy to play it more.
Saigon 75
I also got a sneak peek of the map and cover art for Port Arthur, a follow-up game to 300: Earth & Water, from the same designer, Yasushi Nakaguro, which is targeted to release in late Q2 2023. I’m already loving the map and cover art from Maud Chalmel, and I’m stoked to play the game since I really enjoyed 300, which I posted an overview of in May 2021.
Teaser images of Port Arthur
• Looks like we’ll see some new Flamme Rouge releases from Lautapelit.fi in 2023, which I’m sure many will be happy to hear. I knew Flamme Rouge: Grand Tour was in the works, but Flamme Rouge: BMX was a surprise to me.
In addition, Markus Kettunen‘s All Roads is a quick-playing, new release from Lautapelit.fi, where 2-4 players play tiles to develop the surroundings of Rome.
All Roads
• I really dig the table presence of Hybris: Disordered Cosmos, which is a new, interesting-sounding worker placement game from Damien Chauveau and French publisher Aurora Games Studio, where 1-4 players compete as Olympian gods to rule a universe mixing Greek mythology and steampunk.
• Vital Lacerda was schooling some folks on Weather Machine, which looked absolutely gorgeous at the Eagle-Gryphon Games booth.
• This giant Carcassonne had me tickled. I’m a sucker for jumbo versions of board games.
• On that note, Artipia Games had a jumbo version of Gustaf Sundström‘s unique, sci-fi worker placement Ceres, which is coming to Kickstarter in November 2022.
Jumbo Ceres
They were also running demos normal-sized Ceres and Christian Giove‘s area control, word game WordCraft.
Ceres prototype
I picked up a copy of WordCraft at SPIEL and have since played it three times at various player counts. The area control and special achievements you can score make you think differently when you’re coming up with words. It’s very interesting and has been a hit with me and my friends who I’ve played it with.
WordCraft
This space-person approved of my visit to the Artipia Games booth
