Games to Watch For: Nurnberg '06

The Eurogaming year is centered on two points. Toward the end of the year we get the huge consumer show at Essen, and then in February we get the Nurnburg Toy Fair. Nurnberg is a different sort of show than Essen. It's not open to the public, and there are more prototypes shown off, which might not become actual games for many months. Nonetheless, there's cool stuff to be seen.

Last year in October I wrote about the newest releases at Essen, and now I'm going to follow that up with Nurnberg '06: a look at a new set of games that may be making their way to us between now and ... next Essen. As before, I've picked my top ten, mostly focusing on gamer's games, with my top contenders marked with a star(*).

I should note that, as I commented on in my year-end round-up, much of the gaming fare continues to get lighter. Many of the games I selected are on the light-to-medium side of things, and many designers who have done heavier work in the past are emphasizing lighter games now. Over at BoardGameNews, a translated Nurnberg report seems to make the same point.

Augsburg 1520*

URL: http://www.boardgamegeek.com/game/21892
Authors: Karsten Hartwig
Synopsis: auctions, economics, resource management
Background: Germany, 1520
Like: Chinatown, Louis XIV
U.S. Publisher: Rio Grande(?)

Alea has two games demo-ing at Nuremberg, this one and For Rum, Renown, and Honor. The latter looks to be pretty light, and has put a few people off Alea from its previews, but Augsburg 1520 seems to be in the old Alea mold, just like Louis XIV was last year. It's about Jakob Fugger, and is a game of economics, auctions, and favor trading. I'm guessing it's going to be another somewhat dry game, also like Louis XIV. Karsten Hartwig, the designer, just has two games to his credit: Chinatown and Lucky Loop.

There's been no actual word on U.S. publication, but I think it's a fair bet that Rio Grande will step up.

Bison*

URL: http://www.boardgamegeek.com/game/21287
Authors: Wolfgang Kramer & Michael Kiesling
Synopsis: exploration, majority control
Background: Native America
Like: El Grande, Goldland, Lost Valley
U.S. Publisher: Phalanx Games

There's two Kramer & Kiesling games out this Nurnberg. Unfortunately K&K's other new release of this season, Celtica, has already gotten pretty trounced for the crime of being a family game. Not so Bison, which looks to be a new gamer's game. It follows in the footstep of Phalanx's Maharaja, which didn't exactly set the world afire, but was a solid tactical game. This one looks a like like Kronberger's Lost Valley, and no doubt will combine tactical play, resource management, and (I think) exploration. There's apparently majority control with a unique twist, as different place players score for different things.

Blue Moon City

URL: http://www.boardgamegeek.com/game/21882
Authors: Reiner Knizia
Synopsis: card management, city development, majority control
Background: Blue Moon City, after the war
Like: Maharaja, Tower of Babel
U.S. Publisher: Fantasy Flight Games(?)

Most Reiner Knizia big-box games are cause for attention, and this one seems to be no exception. It's a unique building game, where you're using hands of cards to rebuild Blue Moon City. You can use stronger cards to build faster or weaker cards to give you special advantages with their powers. Blue Moon City has two pretty uncommon features for Knizia. First, the game seems to have a pretty strong geographical basis, something you find in Knizia's tile-laying games, and just about nowhere else. Second, there's some majority control, with people who help a lot in a building rewarded more than people who help less. We saw majority control in last year's Tower of Babel, but it's again a pretty rare Knizia element. (If Knizia does a third majority-control-based game this year or next, we can call it his "Majority Control Trilogy".) Don't get your hopes up too high for another Tigris & Euphrates or Through the Desert; I'd guess this is going to be medium-light, but if you liked last year's Tower of Babel and Palazzo, I'd bet this one will please too. As with Augsburg, there's not yet a confirmed American producer for this title, but Fantasy Flight Games is a pretty good bet.

California

URL: http://www.boardgamegeek.com/game/21464
Authors: Michael Schacht
Synopsis: house development, resource management, tile laying
Background: California, modern-day
Like: New England
U.S. Publisher: currently none

This was one of my last additions to the list because the theming looks sooo bad. It's Beverly Hill Billies California, full of movie stars and billionaires, and you're trying to decorate your house. Yet there's an interesting looking "house construction" game with tile-laying that's very reminescent of New England (or Eden) for that fact that you're trying to match certain patterns. And some of Schacht's other Abacusspiele games in this same size (Hansa and China) have been great. So, it's a wait and see. Of course it might be a long wait because there's no American publisher on board that I know of, and Uberplay who did Schacht's last few from Abacusspiele, isn't doing co-ops with Germany anymore due to the precipitous plunge of the American dollar.

Cleopatra & The Society of Architects

URL: http://www.boardgamegeek.com/game/22141
Authors: Bruno Cathala & Ludovic Maublanc
Synopsis: card management, palace development, brinkmanship
Background: Egypt, 1st century BC
Like: Big City, High Society
U.S. Publisher: Days of Wonder

Days of Wonder produces light yet beautifully produced games. This one looks like it's going to blow the doors off their normally high production values, with its promise of high-quality 3D pieces that you use to build Cleopatra's palace. Personally, I'm a sucker for Egyptian themes, and even if it's light I'll be happy to see this new game beside Ra and Amun-Re. It looks like there's some card management here but that the real catch of the game is that if you use too many "good" cards, you end up out of the game, which is shades of High Society, where the biggest spender loses. The mechanic isn't innovative, but always introduces an interesting dilemma into the gameplay.

Emira

URL: http://www.boardgamegeek.com/game/18931
Authors: Paul van Hove & Liesbeth Vanzeir
Synopsis: auction, economics, palace development
Background: Arabia
Like: Princes of Florence
U.S. Publisher: Mayfair Games

This was literally the last item I added to the list, and that was because of the theming. Originally called Harem. Though it's now called the much more empowering Emira, it's still about collecting women. Now, I'm by no means a prude, but I know a game who's theming is going to make it hard to get it to the table when I see one, and I'm afraid this one could sit next to Relationship Tightrope, gathering dust. In any case, Emira won the 2004 Hippodice Game Design competition, and with its publication it'll join luminaries from that competition such as Chinatown, Mississippi Queen, and Vino. The gameplay doesn't sound terribly innovative, but it looks like you have interesting economic decisions and auctions as you try and improve your palace and yourself in order to attract women. From here the similarities to Princes of Florence look strong.

Gloria Mundi

URL: http://www.boardgamegeek.com/game/13286
Authors: James Ernest & Mike Selinker
Synopsis: card management, resource management
Background: Rome, c. 500
Like: The Settlers of Catan, Der Untergang von Pompeji
U.S. Publisher: Rio Grande Games

Just last month I was talking about how Rio Grande's inability to do their own productions might be putting them into a death spiral. And here they are producing their first original big-box game ever. James Ernest isn't really known for doing complex games, but his collaborations with Selinker seem to be his higher concept releases. This one has some resource management, but the need to constantly protect those resources from invading hordes. The race to flee the fall of Rome reminds me of the similar flight from Pompeii in last year's Klaus Jurgen-Wrede disaster game. Of course it coule be a while before we see this game, because it was on the Essen '05 lists too, and RGG's last self-production works, the Bohnanza supplements, certainly took a long time to come to fruition.

Leonardo da Vinci

URL: http://www.boardgamegeek.com/game/21920
Authors: A group of designers
Synopsis: auction, resource management
Background:
Like: Princes of Florence?
U.S. Publisher: Mayfair Games

I have some reluctance to include a daVinci game (the publisher, not the inventor) here, because frankly they don't have any track record for gamer's games. Don't get me wrong, they did a great beer-and-pretzels game (Bang!) and a number of good family or party games (Dancing Dice, Farfalia, Lupus in Tabula, Tuchulcha). Contrariwise, however, their attempts at gamer's games have had various flaws in them, including the weird complexity of Oriente, the endgame failure of Fredericus, and the chaotic craziness of Palatinus. Given that pedigree, I'd be pretty tempted to take a wait-and-see attitude toward Leonardo. However, Leonardo has gotten a lot of press as a real gamer's game, and as a result I feel like I have to include it. In addition it's been picked up by German publisher Abacusspiele, which I believe is a first for daVinci. So, I've got some concerns, but hope.

The mechanic is apparently using auctions to buy resources to build inventions, and I think the success of the game will mainly depend on how well those auctions work. I've definitely played many American auction games which just plain didn't work, and many German ones which largely did; I'm hoping this falls into the latter category, because the theming could produce a very evocative game. (I pretty arbitrarily listed Princes of Florence as a similar game because it's a rare game where you auction items, then do something useful with them rather than just collecting. I've actually seen just about no info on how the game works, so it could really be like anything.)

Thurn & Taxis*

URL: http://www.boardgamegeek.com/game/21790
Authors: Andreas Seyfarth & Karen Seyfarth
Synopsis: connectivity, logistics
Background: Germany, 18th century
Like: China, Medieval Merchant, Puerto Rico
U.S. Publisher: Rio Grande Games

Thus far Andreas Seyfarth remains a one-hit wonder; well, perhaps one-and-a-half, since he added San Juan to the Puerto Rico family a couple of years ago. Nonetheless a new Seyfarth game bears at least some attention, especially when it's being produced by Hans im Gluck, who has a good reputation for serious games. This one is going to be lighter than Puerto Rico. It looks like a pretty simple connectivity game where you're constantly getting points for laying longer routes based on cards in your hand (but about mail coaches, not railroads). It's got some action roles too, ala Puerto Rico (or moreso: Age of Steam, since they're an extra effect on a turn, not the main thing).

Ticket to Ride: Marklin Edition*

URL: http://www.boardgamegeek.com/game/21348
Authors: Alan R. Moon
Synopsis: connectivity, delivery, set-collection
Background: Germany, recent centuries
Like: Ticket to Ride
U.S. Publisher: Days of Wonder

I'm not sure the third iteration of Ticket to Ride still qualifies as new and exciting, and it's certainly not as much of a gamer's game as some of the other things I've mentioned here. Nonetheless, I suspect it'll get more plays in my house than anything else on this list. This new game is set on a German map. However, Moon has taken a step beyond, and continues to make sure that each new edition of Ticket to Ride has new mechanics and thus some notably different gameplay, which I think does a lot to keep the franchise fresh. This time around we have passengers and merchandise and a 10-point endgame reward for the most tickets rather than the longest route, all around resulting in something new and different.

Other Releases of Note

Nurnberg truly seems to be the season of the expansion, especially if you're the SdJ winner, so we have the fourth Alhambra supplement, the fifth (eighth?) for Carcassonne, and the first for Niagra, as well as the first for the non-SdJ-winning War of the Ring. And I've already covered the newest Ticket to Ride, being offered as a new game rather than a supplement. Queen is taking a similar route, rereleasing Wallenstein as Shogun (though I'm not convinced we'll see it before Essen, because I don't see it mentioned in any previews, else I'd have included it here).

Beyond that there are many more releases, and no doubt I've missed something notable. I've already mentioned two near misses from this list: Celtica and For Rum, Renown, and Honor, each of which appear to be very light big-box games. They were my first eliminations from my original list of 15, shortly followed by Reiner Knizia's Double or Nothing and Tom Lehmann's Um Krone & Kragen. I'm not sure the first is actually being released at Nurnberg, and they both look like lighter dice games. My #11 which barely missed the list was Mykerinos by Ystari Games. It looks lighter than Ystari's previous releases, and it's by a brand-new author, so I eventually let if fall off the bottom.

If anything was missing from my list, hopefully it's one of those five and not something I overlooked entirely.

Essen Mini-Followup

Finally, I want to do a short followup on the games I highlighted in my Essen watchlist, last October. I'm going to write a full column on it at some point in the future, but since they still qualify as new games, they're worth a short note here.

Of the 10 games I mentioned there, 9 have been released, with Tempus being the stubborn hold-out. In addition I feel like I missed just one game of note: Antike, which despite its issues is an intriguing Mediterannean logistics game. Of those 11 games (including Antike) I've played six. Here's my thoughts of them, in the form of blog entries or reviews. I'll write a more extensive entry on them all when I've gotten to play most of the rest.

My Reviews: Antike (C+), Caylus (A, with caveat on length), Elasund: The First City (B+), Hacienda (B), Mesopotamia (B-), Railroad Tycoon (B+)