Top 100 Essen 2019 Board Games | #1-10

0:00 good afternoon to you well as of the time of this recording we are mere days away from this planet's largest annual board game convention the essence Pele were darn near a thousand board card and tabletop games in a variety of languages are going to become available for demo and purchase now do I have the endurance to list my top 100 picks we're gonna find out over the course of the next few weeks leading up to the ession spiel I am gonna release several installments of this list of the games that have caught my eye interest me the most explain why now for this list I'm gonna focus on the games and I haven't covered in other recent convention overview videos and I'm also gonna focus on games a 2019 or 2020 release date I'm also going to be focusing on games that are available in English because well if you've watched this channel for any period of time you know that I have a difficult enough time with my own native tongue let alone trying to learn and teach games in foreign languages so even with all those restrictions this still leaves a substantial list to go through a list that I present to you in absolutely no specific order whatsoever I'm gonna be as surprised as you to find out which games I'm including in this first installment installment which starts with number one okay number one on our list is echoes first continent a modular tile placement game by AEG now here's a

1:32 question for your smart guy what if the formation of earth had gone wee bit differently well an echoes first continent players are forces of nature who are molding the planet but with competing visions of its grandeur so you as a player will have the chance to create part of the world similar but different to the one that we know so you'll have to choose which landscapes habitats and species will thrive for you and which ones you want to use now gameplay and echoes is simultaneous each round one player reveals element tokens from the element bag giving all players the opportunity to complete a card from their tableau and shape the continent for their own purposes elements that can't be used can still be converted into energy cubes or additional cards in hand or they can be added to the player's tableau to give them a greater set of options as the game continues to evolve mountain ranges jungles rivers seas islands and savanna each with their own fauna all lie within the scope of the player's options so given your druthers how would you redesign this muddy sphere that we all dwell upon well the game at ghosts may finally give you a chance to put your ideas into motion in a tabletop aspect at least number two is Ragusa an economic commodity speculation game set in the Renaissance by capstone games Ragusa charges players with the task of building the city in the 15th century constructing its great towers boosting trade with the east and finding their fortunes how do they do

3:05 this players will build houses on the spaces between three hexes gaining access to resources on rural spaces and actions in the city spaces which means that the house effectively functions as a worker that's being placed but triggering three spots at a time a players use resources gained in the countryside to build buildings conducts trade and craft valuable commodities the value of which varies as ships come and go from the harbour and the city players will gain access to actions with each spot representing the three actions that surrounded this simple little worker placement aspect of it gives way to a deep engine building mechanism as not only will buildings around the production spaces utilize the houses that you've already built in the countryside oh but also building your other player's houses will reactivate them reactivate them even boom stuffs happening there goes the houses giving all the players valuable opportunities outside of their turns the game continues until it ends and it ends once players have placed all of their houses and then the player with the most points for all their sources wins the game one thing that capstone games does really well it's make a big meaty beefy game and then Ragusa appears to be one of those which is one of the reasons why it catches my eye because when a company does something they do really well I want to know what they've done and I can't say it better than that number three is probably called aqua mirabilis an action point allowance area control game set in the age of reason by

4:35 Gotha games in aqua mirabilis no in aqua Mirabel mirabilis oh my word here's how it's spelled okay good aqua mirabilis you in this game take on the role of a perfumer whose goal is to produce novel and exquisite perfumes to the king and his court it all starts or most perfumes do with flowers orange belmonts Jasmine lavender narcissus and of course the rose now through a variety of production methods you transform these flowers into the corresponding sense and use them to complete a perfume recipe not only will perfumers have to master the art of processing flowers and mixing fragrant essential oils fixative and solvents but they also have to continuously develop their knowledge and learn new techniques by studying and traveling around the game and in the game this is represented by acquiring apprenticeships and City tiles that provide unique benefits to the owners who owned them additionally players also have to nurture their social position among the nobles to try and influence the king and his court sounds like it could be simple except that it's not because it's going to be easy for players to get lost in the frost and the folly of the nobility in their perfumery of the court of Versailles where all of this is taking place now when perfumes are presented to the king and the court they'll score prestige points based on how fashionable and original they are and in the end the player has gained the

6:05 most prestige points wins the day number four is cat cafe a dice rolling press your luck game that uses paper and pencil by alley cat games in this game players are charged to make it their corner in the cat cafe the best one it could possibly be players will entice cats over to their area by literally drawing toys for the cats to play with then they'll place the toys in the most favorable ways possible allowing them to attract the most cats and accumulate points a cat cafe is a reimplementation and slightly altered version of the korean game cat tower by mandu games cat cafe is a light roll in right game in which players draft one die per round and have access to other unused dice as the game progresses both of these dice are then used to draw a particular type of cat toy and place it on that level of a particular tower placing a toy in a particular position is important because it gives players points in very specific ways place a bowl next to a different and unique set of other toys or place cushion high up so a cat can sleep while watching from way up high and judging all of us or give the cat's you learn to play with which they love each of these different approaches will provide the player with a different opportunity of how to score their cat and cat accessories number five is Inquisitor a cooperative murder-mystery game based on a novel with a historical religious setting by red IMP game's Inquisitor is a game of detection based on the series of

7:37 best-selling short stories by Jack Akira that take you to the Grimm fictional world of the inquisitors joy in the 15th century the flame and the cross have become the symbols of the Holy Office the institution whose sole purpose is to spread and defend the one and true faith but as people are bound to do these symbols also contradict each other before one represents Persian mages of fire and the other righteous Christians who fight with them so whoops unsurprisingly this leads to a petty world where fear paralyzes the hearts of all those who would shy away from the ruthless eradication of any signs of evil or corruption this world is not even full of secrets but surrounded by them inside and out just saturated what with the secrets and players cannot get away from any of them whenever an answer to a question is found 10 more questions appear maybe Lee but as for me the only question that I'm currently left with is if I was to consider purchasing a product what fine product would that be I'm Chaz Marlar with a special message from paradise paradise with captions generously provided by visual captions LLC using their patented honest caption technology as you know a pair of dice paradise creates informative and entertaining videos discussing tabletop board and card games and what you might

9:09 not know is that the Channel's seventh year has just begun and that's why I need your help in order for pair of dice Paradise to continue providing its coverage of current and upcoming games game experiences and insights into our industry the fundraiser for this seventh year has been launched which you can find the link below your support of this year's fundraiser goes a long way towards helping create the content that this channel produces plus you can learn some pretty nifty rewards along the way so thank you for considering a pledge of financial support every little bit received helps and I greatly appreciate it so thanks and take care hey and welcome back number six is La stanza a game of set collection powered by strategic area movement bike wind games Quinn ed Quine oh my word la stanza is a fast-paced board game in which players take the role of patrons of the arts sponsoring the most brilliant creators of the time and commissioning the best works of art all while creating more wealth and increasing their social status and prestige you didn't think they were just supporting the arts just to be altruistic did you oh come on there's prestige to be earned here on their turn players will move their patron through different rooms to recruit the characters that better serve their interests along the way these characters will increase the strength of the different actions that the players may perform in the room that they end on commission the best artists invest in

10:40 new discoveries and trading routes promote culture build universities gain the trust of Kings and create the new wonders of the Renaissance again while assisting your own personal prestige Liston's is played in continuous rounds with the goal of creating dynamic turns and a challenging gameplay in which players will enlighten the world while becoming the most prestigious patron during the Renaissance number 7 is kingdoms candy monsters a take that press your luck party game buys Emillio entertainment here is what I know about this game in kingdoms candy monsters you are a villain eager to accumulate candies to accomplish this you will use monsters as servants to help you in your mission but if you don't feed your monsters they'll eat all your candy and run away so you'll use sugar cubes to cast spells and active foster abilities because of course you will control monsters and steal candy that's what this game is all about okay number eight is Robin von Locksley a modular grid based racing game set in the infamous times of Robin Hood by wormgold troubled times these be England has been blighted since the good and just King Richard the Lionheart was captured during the Crusades and meanwhile he got Robin of Locksley out there to stealing up all the money from the rich Norman Lords and using it to go free the King everybody just calm down in Robin van Loxley you aim to collect

12:13 loot tiles with your Robin and then sell Luke collections all of the same colour every field you encounter will give you a task which you can use to gather more and more fame so you can either fulfill that task or actually you can just spend a gold to pass it by but why would you rather keep going than earn fame because whoever first circles the racing track twice actually wins the game so you have some interesting choices there balancing the Fame ballot versus balancing the gold versus balancing your placement on the track and I hope that all of those things accumulate into a game in which players have to make a lot of tactical decisions decide how exactly they want to cross that finish line and win it number nine is Aquatica a deck building game with variable player powers and a nautical theme by Cosmodrome Games Aquatica is a deep no pun intended but easy to learn family engine builder about underwater kingdoms in this game you'll become one of the mighty ocean kings or Queens struggling to bring glory to his or her realm and to win the game you will need to capture and buy locations recruit new characters and complete goals because each of these actions gives you victory points at the end of the game you'll do so by playing cards from your hand each of which has a unique set of actions available on them which you can play and combine in different ways so things aren't quite as simple as they may seem so you'll need to develop a really good strategy during your turn because you can take up to 10 actions in a row if you have a good plan

13:44 over the course of the game you'll encounter plenty of mysterious ocean creatures and take them into your fold and with their help you'll explore the unknown locations of the depths and bring resources into your kingdom now mechanically this is represented with the help of three layered player boards a unique mechanism of card and just what is card rising I don't know because that's where the the description of the game left off however I am interested in finding out more about this game at Essen particularly a description perhaps even a demonstration of what kart racing is and number 10 is cities skylines the board game this is a cooperative modular tile placement city building game by cosmos a city skylines the board game is a cooperative game based on the popular computer game of the same name by Paradox Interactive and this tabletop version gameplay starts with a variety of land boards being visible the specific number varying depending on this specific scenario that you're playing but the goal no matter how many tiles are shown is the same to finish a number of milestones and make the inhabitants of your city happy easy enough oh yeah making people happy is a breeze at the start of each milestone one additional board is bought flipped over from its nature side to its develop side and then play continues players then have personal cards that show what they can build and ideally they discuss and plan with the other players how to

15:15 best develop their city to help players determine this the cards show what affects the buildings will have on the city for example increasing the need for garbage collection or decreasing crime or giving a bonus if placed next to a park and when the players do develop the city to the next milestone well then they choose which new board to buy to expand their city further they score their current happiness well the game's happiness not their own personal happiness because that's it's all another game in general and then play continues until they reach their last milestone and when that's finished the game ends and the total scores are accumulated and players see how they did a series of scenarios teach the game in steps with each new step introducing new parts of the game each step is easily varied such as for example switching out which unique buildings are used during that play session so it's all of that seeming variability and potential player interactivity that really makes me interested to see how cities skylines actually plays out on the table and one of the reasons why it's number 10 on my list of the games to check out in essence and with number 10 we end this particular installment but join me again in just a few days as we continue on to the next batch of my top picks of games coming out at this year's session spiel trade fair until then I have been Chazz Marlar from pair of dice paradise take care get ready to rock with this metal inspired design of the pair of dice paradise logo wear it around as you drive your 87 Trans Am to

16:46 the next Dakin concert this thing is guaranteed to mill your face off metaphorically