02.11.13 Establish a product chain in three years, put raw materials into semi-finished and final products, and ship these to score points. Is it that hard? Well, actually, yes. As first a player needs to acquire different coloured money to be able to buy the production houses that, subsequent, again for money, have to be built. But first of all he needs to place his aide-de-camps and struggle for a first position: send them to the bank, queue to hopefully be the first to be allowed to build a production house, apply for a building plan (but in fact buy a production house) and make sure to also be present at the craftsmen guild in order to produce final products.
This results in quite a hassle, intensified by strange and frustrating rules: the production houses to be bought must be paid by with accordingly coloured money cards. When a player does not have these, he may auction the card, and when overbid it’s just bad luck and his turn was in vain. When he did manage to acquire a production house, it must be taken in the hand as the building phase was just a phase before, so he just will have to wait until next turn. Only then the new acquired card may be built but watch out: the colour of the card must match with the placed cards either at the left or right side of his chain. But when a player was the first to take this action, he does not have to comply with this condition. The first player to complete a full production chain of any kind receives a bonus chit that scores additional points at the end of the game.
All this airy writing suggests there’s nothing wrong, but reality is different. Fitting sequels of the production chain do not show up in the window, are fetched by an other player, or the card simply cannot be paid for because of a financial challenged position, as to differently describe the phrase being short of cash.
Producing is done with cubes that are cumbersome shifted hither and forth over the cards, resupplied, and finally arrive at the market, at the traders, or on the ship. The considerations a player must make again and again, when placing his workers, when buying and producing, result in long downtimes for the other players, and these downtimes cumulate to a playing time that is of unprecedented magnitude. Three players played in two and a half hours; four players easily (well, easily...) tapped four hours playing time. One should have been warned by the indicated playing time but yet, if in substance there was a good game inside, this would not have been a problem.
One wonders: why make a game so difficult? An in essence simple development game has been dressed up with all sorts of details, that players are busy with superfluous fringes and get confused time and time again. Now this phase must be completed and players must slide discs, then has to be determined who receives the privilege chit or what the playing order will be (with the inevitable confusion: ‘oh, is it my turn?’) None of the players felt the need to do this exercise - because that was what it was - again.
Finally an aside: may politically-correct people just die, please? Because with rules that have phrases such as ‘Wenn der/die letzte Spieler/in am Zug war, hat der/die erste Spieler/in’ things don’t get more readable. Oh, great, your attitude to life, but please don’t bother me with it!
And when Korrektmenschen  in a certain and obscure games periodical whine a full page long about alleged women (and children! don’t forget the children!) discrimination by a well respected reviewer in the best games magazine of the world, it is time to find yourself another stage ànd another hobby...
Craftsmen, the first game of the elaborate harvest of Essen that turns out to be a disappointment. It must be feared, with the quantity that Spiel 2013 brought us, that more will follow...
Craftsmen, Krzystof Matusik, G3, 2013 – 2 to 5 players, 10 years and up, 120-180 minutesxxtop

12.07.13 BINGO! Oh wait, let's start at the beginning. We are representatives of emperor August, and we have the ambition to become consul. To achieve this goal we seek the support of influential senators, and aim to conquer as many provinces as possible. The game consists of a big stack of objective cards depicting either a senator or a province. Each player has three objective cards in front of him. Each card depicts two to six symbols, and there is a cloth bag with 23 tokens with these same symbols. The starting player draws a token and shows this to the others. Each player may now take one of his six legions and place it on a corresponding symbol on one of his three objective cards. Then, the next token is drawn, until... BINGO! Exactly: until one of the players has covered all the symbols on one of his cards. But instead of 'bingo' he cries 'Avé Caesar'. And he is not awarded with a crocheted tea cosy or a bottle of home-brewed cherry brandy, but he simply transfers his card to his 'fulfilled objectives' area and draws a substitute from the five open available objectives. Some cards have an effect that has to be resolved immediately, such as taking an additional objective card, rearranging all his legions, or removing legions from opponent's objective cards. Additionally, bonuses are awarded for fulfilling objective cards with specific provinces or senators. The first player to fulfil seven objective cards triggers the end of the game: after completion of his turn, all points are scored. Augustus is more than just Bingo with a twist. For starters, one can choose his objective cards and therefore willingly commits himself to a card with many or few symbols, rare or common symbols, a card with a desired additional action, or one that can yield the player a bonus. But it is not a truly strategic game: you can be unlucky with respect to the symbols drawn from the bag, or regarding the available objectives when it's your turn to choose one. With four or more players an ailment pops up which is reminiscent of old-fashioned Bingo: with each 'Avé Caesar' the attention slackens, and when there are three players with a full card at the same time (which is not a rare event!), the game comes to a full stop. But with a game time of hardly 30 minutes this doesn't have to be a big problem. The advantage of the familiar gameplay is that the rules are easy to understand, and the game is therefore suitable for all players: more and less experienced alike. Definitely a featherweight, but very good in its class! Barbara van Vugt
Augustus, Paolo Mori, Asmodee/HurricanGames, 2013 - 2 to 6 players, 8 years and up, 30 minutesxxtop

05.02.13 Dice are the thing these years! And Feld uses them this year too! The setting is tropical; players deal with populating huts and offering to the gods, the men increase their status with tattoos, and the women collect shells to buy jewelry with. What a peaceful world!
At the beginning of a round, players throw three dice, after which they allocate them one by one onto action tiles: build a hut on an island, populate a hut, send a priest to the temple, or use the helper tile to trade the cast of the die for resources and other items, all this in order to score points during and at the end of the game. Players may place a die on an already occupied action tile only if the cast of their die is lower than the lowest die on the tile. This makes the placement of dice quite tactical if a player wants to perform an action or on the other hand prevent another player from taking a specific action.
Each player has a player board on which he has twelve huts, one of which he may place on an area of one of the islands on the board at game start. The space where the hut stood now is available for population by placing a die on the 'woman' or 'man' tile. On the board is a row of six tiles of each gender numbered from one through six; a player may choose a tile up to the cast of the die he placed on the man or woman tile. These tiles show various actions that can be taken in the next phase, from taking another man or woman tile, expanding and placing a hut, taking  a god card or offering, and more.
By placing a die at the helper tile, a player may also use a man or woman tile; tattooing scores the corresponding number of points on the status track, and women take the shells. At the end of a round, the progress on the status track scores points, and decides the player order for the next round. The player markers on the status track are then reset to zero. Shells can be used to buy jewelry that are worth one to nine points at game end.
The gods can be called in to adjust various actions or die rolls; each player starts with two randomly dealt cards but more can be collected during the game. In order to play a card, an offering chit has to be turned in first.
Players started the game with three task tiles on their board; at the end of a round, all players have to complete one of these and score six points for it. If they can't they must discard one and don't score anything for it. The tasks vary from having three specific building materials in your supply, have two necklace jewelry tiles, have a hut in each of a specific region on the board, and more. The items only have to be shown, they don’t need to be discarded or turned in. After this, in new player order, players choose a new task tile. A new round then begins.
The game ends after the sixth round; there is a final scoring for fish tiles next to the huts on the island, the jewelry tiles, and having completed certain areas on both main and player board: huts added to all regions, all man/woman spaces filled with tiles, etc. The player with the most points is the winner, not quite surprisingly.
Do not get misled by the setting: this game is a monster! Lightning has struck professor Feld and he has either constructed a totally insane game, or a brilliant one - but the latter definitely applies. Ever since Puerto Rico has been published, players have waited for a game in the Alea line that could match the classic. To all waiting comes an end: Bora Bora is here! Players who embrace Trajan with its scattered almost non-connecting elements will hug Bora Bora even more: almost even more elements, but all nicely intertwined. The atmosphere is well taken, the rats nowhere to be seen and there is no punishment to suffer either. What could a player want more? BoBo is here!
Players should reserve enough time as even two players exceed the indicated minimum playing time by fifty percent; four players will have to take into account a playing time of two and a half hours, at least for their first couple of plays. The complexity, indicated as 6/10, may certainly be scaled up to a 7 or even an 8; this game is a real brainteaser!
Bora Bora, Stefan Feld, Alea/Ravensburger, 2013 - 2 to 4 players, 12 years and up, 60-120 minutesxxtopxx

11.08.12 A piece of the East Coast of the United States surrounded by a large pond of water, a handful of coastal and inland cities and some foreign ports; this is the map on which ‘Blockade Runner’ is played. It is 1861, and the war between North and South is in full swing. The Southern States need war goods that can only be obtained through foreign ports, while cashing their cotton and tobacco there. The Northerners meanwhile lurk, trying to block ports or raid somewhere along the coast, possibly inflicting losses to the South. Each of the players who all represent the Confederates receive a few ships and some money, and pick a harbour for each of their ships . The Union side is abstract and the jammer it is, is effectuated with all kinds of tables, cards and dice. Jointly supplied war goods reduce the number of ports terrorized; another table closes one or more ports after a die roll, the Northern blockade is permanently effective there.
A player may choose from five actions: load, unload, sail, auction a ship or play a card and refill his hand. In a turn four actions may be made that very well could be the same. The goods to be loaded have a fixed price per type; when selling the revenues are dependent on previous transactions for that type of good and usually will be lower; at start all goods start at an intermediate position on the various price tables. The ship’s capacity can vary per ship; the same goes for the engine power. Some ships can sail two zones, others three and a few four. Those larger vessels cost more though, and, when a player chooses to bring one to an auction, goes to the highest bidder who may sail away with it. Cards, five dealt to each player, provide extras of all kinds, especially when it comes to keep the ships out of the abstract hands of the Northerners.
There are black market goods that earn a lot of money, and obviously that’s all what it is about in this game. But when a ship carries more black market goods than war goods, revenues plummet down considerably. Still the revenues for reduced black market good often remains high enough so players soon take an indifferent attitude: WTF war goods and general interest, I don’t mind being selfish and take the reduced income for granted, it’s money that I want!
The rules are a bit obscure in construction; almost everything is there, but annoyingly it again needed an internet consult - a FAQ - to get everything clear.
It is an interesting and intriguing story that is told on the last page of the rules: the hope of the Confederates for a British and Confederate benificial intervention because of the demand of - originally Southern, but later Indian and Egyptian - cotton from the British textile industry. The succesful diplomacy of the Union, the battle on the water with the first succesful attack by a submarine, the fear of the North for an attack by the South that sky rocketed the insurance policies; it’s a fascinating story and it is understandable that all this has led to ‘Blockade Runner’. Unfortunately it has become more of a simulation, and rather little of a game. Tables are consulted, dice are rolled, modifiers used; but if we put these complicating factors aside, we are left with a rather dry and average freight game in which almost everyone does the same and the earnings at the end of the game are not surprisingly not shockingly far apart.
The choice for the American Civil War as a subject for a game ofcourse is more obvious for an American than it would be for an European, who will have relatively little knowledge of the facts of this war. Once involved, interested readers in history encounter movements such as ‘Abolitionists’ and ‘Freesoilers’ that were active prior to and during the Civil War. It is because of ‘Blockade Runner’ that I picked up an old, originally German, history book from 1887 - ‘from the beginning of the French Revolution till our days’ to further read about this war. That’s a positive side effect. But the game itself has brought little fun, and that is unfortunate. Sometimes you just want to like a game, but in the end it turns out not what it promised to be.
Blockade Runner, Patrick & Alex Stevens, Numbskull Games, 2010 - 2 to 6 players, 12 years and up, 90-180 minutesxxtopxx

The Wild West is a relatively underused theme in board games. Perhaps that players rather play 17th century nobles or or help with building Greek temples or medieval French cities? Come how it may, in this game we are fortune seeking cowboys. The board displays a track on which several action can be chosen and a grid with parcels on which buildings can be built. The intention is to claim country and then subsequently build on it. To do this each player controls a number of cowboys, which he can place on the board during a round. Each turn players one after another place  their cowboys on an action; most squares allow only one cowboy to perform the action. When all players have finished placing their cowboys, the actions are carried out in order.
To claim land a player places his cowboy on an empty parcel on the grid; the more already cultivated parcels that surround it, the more expensive it is to purchase the parcel. To subsequently build on it the players will have to place one of their cowboys on of the buildings that are available for purchase and pay for it. There are several types of buildings like banks, saloons and ranches; the income of a building depends on the neighbouring fields. A ranch, for example, produces more income when no other adjacent lots are built whereas a saloon earns more income when adjacent tiles have buildings.
Furthermore a player can select actions to collect guns, buy roads and earn money. Also there are actions where money can be converted into points. This is an important action because it is one of the few possibilities to convert money into points, and also because the money which can be taken to the next round is limited. This limit depends on the character which is chosen by the player at the beginning of the round. Where the banker can take 120 dollars to the next round, the outlaw can keep only 20 dollars. Money in excess of the limit can be converted to victory points against the rather unfavourable ratio of 10 against 1. Each character also offers an advantage, for example the possibility for recruiting extra cowboys or to build a building for half price, and they also dictate the player order for a round.
The game is a standard `worker placement game', and the author succeeded in making it into a good variant of this type of game. Besides this there is also the possibility for some direct conflict. Almost every action can be carried out by only one player. Should a player fancy an already chosen action then he can he can also place his cowboy on the same space and start a shoot out. This provides the game with the needed additional spice. After four rounds best investor in wild-west territory wins! Marijn Vis
Carson City, Xavier Georges, Huch & Friends, 2009 - 2 to 5 players, 13 years and up, 90-120 minutesxxtop