Spiel is one of the most important dates in the tabletop gaming calendar, so we’re sure you’re itching to hear more about it. If that is the case then you’re in luck, carry on reading and immerse yourself in the highlights of Spiel 2019.

As ever, Spiel 2019 had a huge range of sights to see and tonnes on offer, with Hall 6 dedicated to traditional miniatures games, while Halls 1-5 were far more board-games focused. The convention saw its biggest attendance since it began and it’s safe to say it was a manic few days, however, we made sure that we got around to snap a few pictures of games, ranges and events that really grabbed our attention.

Just read on...

What caught our eye? 

As predicted, the Messe convention centre was packed full of brand new releases, and you can bet that we found time to go and have a peek at as many as we could. Now, we don’t like to single out just a few products, but we have got a few that we particularly liked the look of. 

Conquest by Para Bellum was definitely one of our favourites and for a very specific reason. Have a look and see if you can spot the ‘happy accident’ that makes us love this game even more.  

Ok, Bob Ross aside, if pirate miniatures are more your thing, or you’re just looking for some new parts for that  Mordheim Warband you’ve always wanted then Freebooters fate is the brand for you. Check out some of the incredible minis from their display.

Now, we couldn’t possibly end this section without giving Drowned Earth a special mention, they had their latest additions on offer, and we can confirm that they’re pretty amazing. To top it off, they even came complete with a brand new paint job from Angel Giraldez. 

What was on offer?

If you believed that Spiel was just games and nothing else, then you’d be mistaken. In addition to a staggering 1,200 exhibitors and even more games, there was a variety of events and panel discussions that were open for people to attend. 

Spiel showed its serious side with panels sitting to discuss topical issues such as the steps the board games industry is taking to protect the environment. Big questions were tackled including, whether games should be produced using wood or plastic, and what is the lifecycle of the contents of a boxed game. To some, conversations like this may seem out of place at such an event, however, it does go to show that the board game industry is environmentally conscious.

What we picked up

It simply wouldn’t be right if we departed Essen without picking up something to try out ourselves, and what better game could we choose than ‘Dune’. After all, 2019 did mark the return of the popular strategy game, so we felt obliged to see what Gale Force  9 had done with it and we certainly weren’t disappointed. We played it as soon as we arrived back at the hotel and we simply cannot recommend it enough, it served as the perfect past time in the evenings.

For those of you who didn’t attend this year, we hope this has given you a good summary. For those that were lucky enough to be there, we hope this has made the ‘post-Spiel blues’ a little easier to handle.

With so many amazing games on offer it was almost impossible to choose just a few, but if you did find something you loved at Spiel this year, then make sure you head over to our social media and let us know what it was.

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Thanks for reading!