Actualol Newsletter - September 2022 (Patreon)

Greetings my royal recipients,

I hope you enjoyed this month’s hidden movement game video. In this month’s newsletter I’m sharing my Top 10 Anticipated Essen Games.

This month, I made a guest appearance on the Chance and Counters podcast, a board gaming podcast where the guest has to come up with a gaming situation, and the hosts make suggestions. My scenario was needing a game to keep a group of scouts awake so they wouldn’t get killed by a bear.

Top 10 Anticipated Essen Games

I won’t be going to Essen this year - it seemed like the wrong time for such a big (and overpriced) expense, with the price of everything going up. I’ll be getting most of the games sent to me - so all I’ll really miss out on is the delicious bratwurst.

And rather than do an Essen video, I’ve decided I’d rather focus my time on recommending games that I’ve played thoroughly. I’m keen to contribute less to the “buy all the games” narrative that happens around conventions. But I have still kept an eagle eye on all the new releases, and I thought I could share my 10 most anticipated games from this year’s crop.

1. HEAT: Pedal to the Metal is the spiritual sequel to Flamme Rouge (a game I find a bit boring), but they’ve added a lot more to this one and I’m really hoping it’s more exciting, because I’d love to fall in love with a racing game, and this one looks gorgeous. Days of Wonder rarely deliver a dud, and I loved Deep Blue from this design/publisher team.

2. Gardeners  is the spiritual sequel (give it a rest!) to Magic Maze. In this one you’re cooperatively building a garden, against a timer, without talking. You’re each given specific requirements that the garden has to conform to, but you can’t tell your teammates what it is - they have to intuit it from your actions. 

I actually have an early copy of this and it’s fun so far. I’m not sure it’s better than Magic Maze, but it is also quite different. Serena prefers it because she thinks it’s less intense.

3. Mists over Carcassonne turns Carcassonne into a co-operative game! The tiles have mist and ghosts on them, and you’ve got to work together to balance the town, whilst also getting enough points, so you don’t lose. This one could go either way, I could definitely imagine it being a big waste of everyone’s time, but we’ll have to wait and find out!

4. The Great Split is the new game from Lorenzo Silva and Hjlamar Hach, the team at Horrible Guild who have a great track record together with Railroad Ink, The King’s Dilemma, Potion Explosion etc. It’s got an attractive 1920s theme, and it’s an “I split, you choose” game. There aren’t many good “I split, you choose” games - the more complicated the things you’re splitting become, the more AP it induces. 

I trust these designers to keep it streamlined, but I’m wary over what looks like a seriously overproduced product. And lots of abstract looking “tracks”, which doesn’t inspire complete excitement.

5. Fun Facts is a new coop party game with whiteboards from the makers of Just One and So Clover!, and the designer of Magic Maze. You ask yourselves a question “Out of 100, how much would you want to skydive?” and you all write a secret answer. Then you take it in turns to rank yourselves against the others - then reveal. I love the sound of it and I hope it works in practice! My game collection is missing a game about understanding your friends (I’ve even tried to design one!), but I expect it won’t be nearly as successful as Just One because it will only work amongst good friends.

6. Splendor Duel is the new 2 player only version of Splendor. I don’t really care for Splendor, it’s a little too dry, but this promises to make it more cutthroat and exciting. And Bruno Cathala has a great reputation for 2 player remakes that are better than their original with Sobek: 2 Players and 7 Wonders Duel.

7. San Francisco / No Mercy / Gang of Dice are all new games from Reiner Knizia. I’ll be honest, I don’t bother doing too much research into Reiner Knizia games, I do my best to try them all and find the good ones. It’s been a year or two since he’s wowed me, but I won’t give up on him! And I find it hard to trust other reviewers judgement, since letting LLAMA pass me by for so long.

8. Swindler - I have my eye on Matthias Cramer - if a human can create something as brilliant as Watergate, what else can they achieve? Swindler is very different - it looks to be a family weight push your luck game, set in Victorian London - but those things are all very much up my street! Why not set a game in Charlesian London, though!?

9. Ready Set Bet is a real-time horse race betting game that’s getting some hype, from AEG and the prolific John D. Clair, of Mystic Vale and Space Base fame. It’s been compared to Panic on Wall Street which was a chaotic, shouty negotiation game that I liked in theory more than practice. I’m not sure if I’ve got the resolve for games like this anymore, but I do really love betting games.

10. Hellton Palace - is a quirky game from IELLO, that may or may not be available at Essen. When I’m trawling through Essen lists, I’m drawn to reliable publishers/designers, but also anything that stands out from the norm.

This game has an interesting theme - running a hotel for guests from hell. But an even more interesting mechanism - that your hotel is destined to fail, you just have to keep it going longer than the other player! How cool is that?!

What are your most anticipated games coming out at Essen this year? To those of you that are going, I hope you have a wonderful time, and please let me know if you come across any hidden gems!

Been Enjoying Lately:

• Trekking Through History

• Noggin

New Game Arrivals:

• Caesar’s Empire
• Tenpenny Parks
• Wonderland’s War

Song of the Month - Scarlett by Holly Humberstone

Now Watching - House of the Dragon

Actually yours,

Jon