While Spiel Essen may be Eurogamer heaven, there are some wargames presented there. More than a few, actually. Thanks to Eddy Sterckx (@eddy_sterckx on BoardGameGeek) who posted a BGG GeekList “Spiel 2023 – a wargamer report” wargamers can see some of the wargames/historical conflict simulations shown at Essen.
Several European publishers of note are present; some old and some new. That pretty much describes the wargames too. The mix of “old” (i.e. previously published) and “new” (either nearing publication or in prototype stages) wargames are always great to see. I would love to have maybe eight of the games shown but too often I suffer from the same issues European wargamers have when coveting wargames published in the U.S.; challenges in availability, cost, and shipping. That said, there are a few wargames here I will be keeping an eye on to see if they can be (reasonably) acquired in the future.
Interestingly, one of the GeekList entries covers UGG (Udo Grebe Gamedesign out of Germany) that apparently is known to longtime Spiel attendees as the booth with the camouflage netting. This year they were not present…sort of. As Eddy explains:
About a week before the fair someone at the Spiel forum posted about not being able to find the UGG booth on the hall plans. That was simply impossible as the UGG booth, with its distinct camouflage netting had been a fixture of every Spiel since at least 2004.
People speculated back and forth if the mysterious “GMT” booth which did appear on the hall plans was maybe a camouflaged UGG. So on Thursday I headed to the location to sort it out and found Richard from UGG manning a much smaller booth than usual, selling GMT and some other wargames as well. He told me the reason for UGG having a much smaller presence than the previous decades was because Metz Verlag (Spiel organizer) had put them in a really crappy location last year and it simply didn’t make any financial sense anymore to have that big booth. As they’re GMT’s partner in the EU they’re trying it this way.
I sense there is more to the story here than simply a convention organizer assigning a poor location but I have no personal insight into the matter nor have I read on the issue elsewhere. Brant from Armchair Dragoons likely has similar stories about the War Room at Origins.
Feature image courtesy BGG
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