Right. That's it. We are now officially bi-monthly. We have been since the start of the year, really, and its time to make it policy and not just accident.
Its a massive issue this month as the material piles up whether I have time to deal with it or not. Thanks to all the busy contributors! Y'all are doing a great job. The translators have been particularly busy and I think we have at least rough drafts of just about everything cool from Nuremberg. We've even got most of the new games covered in reviews! I hope you enjoy them.
One big, but enjoyable, distraction last month was our annual trek to the Gathering of Friends. Thanks to the gracious, unctuous, and voluminous (and growing every year!) coattails of Brian Bankler, I was able to hobnob with the very pinnacle of game geekery. The war betwixt said Bankler and M. Sarrett continued unabated (okay, so there was a bit of baiting here and there). That suave and debonair Alan Moon cut a swath through the single females, as usual. And the prize table grew to obscene proportions (no connection to Alan's swath cutting was intended or should be implied).
Bohnanza was my favorite of the new games on offer. Lowenherz was played with no less than five different versions of the rules. A quick perusal of the new Cabinet edition of the rules shows that my group was definitely playing a variant.
Legend of the Five Rings is great in three player mode. I finally got to try it in multiplayer mode with Ray Pfeifer and Mike Schloth (making his triumphant return to the Gathering). I really can't say enough good things about this game. If you haven't tried it yet, jump on board now.
Doris & Frank had a prototype of their new game for Essen and it looked like a winner. Its a bigger, more complicated boardgame (but shy of Fugger, Welfer, Medici, to be sure).
Medici overtook Die Siedler as most popular tourney by one no show. Mick Uhl took top honors at Siedler unseating that upstart Brit, Theo Clarke.
Speaking of Theo and, by association, the other Furries, Games Game Games, the Small Furry Creature Press games magazine, ran a much editted version of my GAMA report this month. I'm always pleased to see my articles picked up and run like this but I was a bit disappointed to see how heavily it had been editted. The point of some of the paragraphs had been completely reversed! (Compare and contrast the X-Files coverage, for instance.) Understandably, most of the editting was focused on avoiding stepping on the toes of any game publishers. Wouldn't want to hurt your market, eh lads? Ah, well; capitalism ain't perfect but its the best we've got.
It was great seeing everyone but I hope I'm better rested going into The Gathering next year. I was a bit groggy this time around. I even had trouble sustaining concentration while rules were explained. So a try at Die Macher was right out. Bummer.
The upside to all that exhaustion is that ClickOver's products have been getting rave reviews from customers and analysts. And we've just hired a new wave of engineers (hurray!).
take care and see you in two months!
ken