Story on Board #6

Here it is - STORYonBOARD dedicated to Essen 2012. It is the most important show here in Europe. This is the moment of the year. We work whole year to bring our best game to Essen, to promote it, to show it to players and publishers and end a year with a smile on face.

This year we were in Essen with Robinson.

It was a great adventure. We write about our Essen, how we experienced the show and what was important for us during these few crazy days.

It was the most important moment of 2012.

We are looking forward to 2013. Will we come to US conventions? Will Origins, Gen Con or BGGcon became the new most important event of the year.

I don’t know. But I am looking forward to new adventures. It will be fun!

Ignacy Trzewiczek PORTAL PUBLISHING, ul. Św. Urbana 15, 44-100 Gliwice, POLAND portal@wydawnictwoportal.pl, www.portalpublishing.eu Editor: Ignacy Trzewiczek Translation: Marcin ’Joker’ Karbowski, Danai ’Smoczyca’ Chondrokouki Design, layout and DTP: Maciej ’Scorn’ Mutwil

5

Essen, behind the scenes

18 How to spend...

20 Through the ages 22 Why I hate Tom Vassel 24 Impulse (riddle) 27 Neuroshima Tactics - Toxic Clouds

We have released sheet with stickers for pawns for Robinson Crusoe (as a PDF file).

Pawns will look nicer and what is more it will be easier for you to explain the rules to new players with sticker or brawn meeple on pawn! Have a good time with Robinson!

Z-Man announced that new print of Robinson will be available in March 2013. Few copies of first print (from Portal) were available during BGG.con

We gathered all questions from BGG forums dedicated to Robinson and created a FAQ for Robinson. We hope it will help you with playing Robinson without doubts and questions! Big thanks to Mr Mjeh for his support and help with FAQ! Here you will find the file. http://files.neuroshima.org/RC_FAQ_v1_ ENG.pdf

There are new reviews of Robinson on BGG, here and here. Both reviewers strongly recommend the game and bad news is that Robinson is sold out… New print in March 2013. This is crazy! http://boardgamegeek.com/thread/888008/ thank-you-for-this-game http://boardgamegeek.com/thread/888074/ metagames-review-robinson-crusoe

In Gallery section we posted few new photos of Robinson Crusoe. In Files section we posted PDF file with items from scenarios. If you find it easier for you to play – you can print them and put them on main board to remind you that you can build them. Check out Robinson’s page.

We posted a short video to show you how our booth in Essen looked like and how we were doing during Essen 2012. It takes 4 minutes, is has English subtitles and we hope it gives you a glimpse of atmosphere in Essen! You can watch video here! https://vimeo.com/54533145

One of the most respected BGG users, ThinWhiteDuke (author of great articles about strategy in Stronghold) published a deep, great review of Robinson Crusoe. We strongly encourage you to give it a shot and read this amazing piece of work. You will find review here. http://boardgamegeek.com/article/10654470#10654470

We are happy to announce that we signed new contracts – Robinson Crusoe will be released in 2013 in Russia (published by Hobby World) and China (published by MYBG Co.). These are fifth and sixth local editions along with previous English (Z-Man), French (Filosophia), German (Pegasus Spiele) and of course Polish (Portal).

photos: Piechu, Merry

Ignacy Trzewiczek:

bit nervous. Did you hear about

Day 0 – Wednesday,

stage fright? Yes, I did hear

8:00 AM. Hulk.

about it too. So I am there, but

Have you ever been thinking

BGG schedule is torn in pieces.

how these all games get to

They have 30 minutes of delay.

publishers booth? I’ll tell you

I have to wait and trust me,

how - we bring them there. I

waiting is not helping. Waiting

may not look like Hulk, but this

is making me nervous. Waiting

is exactly how it works – trans-

is making me think about few

port company like UPS delivers

things... That English is not my

palettes of games to halls and

native language. That BGG has

then we need to unpack all

delay and I have to shorten

these palettes and take all ga-

my presentation because they

mes to out stand.

want to lower this time pro-

1500 copies of Robinson.

1000 copies of Convoy. 1000 copies of Winter. 1000 copies

blem. That in a few minutes I am going live. Worldwide.

Sophie from Z-Man Games

of Dancer. 1000 copies of older

appears at BGG stand. She

stuff like Pret-a-Porter, The

greets me. She wishes me a

New Era, 51st State or Steel

good presentation. She will

Police. Nearly 20 palettes all

keep her fingers crossed. I

together.

tell her that I am prepared. I

And there are three of us to

tell her that demo of Robinson

do that. Rest of the team arri-

will be great. I tell her to not

ves to Essen in the evening.

worry.

I may not look like Hulk

There is only one thing I

but being honest, after day 0

don’t tell her. I don’t tell her

and unpacking few thousands

about stage fright. Yes, it just

copies of games I am not sure

got me and hold me tight.

why the hell I don’t look like

Finally BGG is ready. They

Hulk. On Wednesday we carried

give me microphone. We can

few tons of games. I talked

start. We start. I am no more

with Petr from CGE – they had

nervous. No more care about

nearly 10 tons of games. They

stage fright. I just do what I

don’t resemble Hulk neither.

can do the best. I talk about

Well, some publishers look

my beloved Robinson. And this

little bit tired in the first day of

is live. And worldwide. Yes, it

the show. Try a guess why...

is.

30 minutes later we are

Day 0 – Wednesday,

done. My mobile starts to

2:00 PM. Willson.

beep every few seconds. Many

At 2 PM I have demo of

friends from Poland send me

Robinson on BGG live stream.

immediate feedback. They say

I go to BGG stand. I am a little

it was good demo. I am happy.

Few days later, when Essen is done I finally can watch it. Robinson’s demo happens to be – as far as I can see - most popular video from Essen 2012. 1800 views.

Woow.

Day 0 – Wednesday, 5:00 PM. Z-Man’s crew That day at 5PM demo guys from Z-Man came to our stand. We did teach them how to demo Robinson and Convoy. You know, doing demo during convention or fair is not a piece of cake. There is no space for improvisation. This something you have to prepare for.

We’ve spent whole week at Portal’s office training how to explain rules of Robinson in the easiest way possible. At the beginning it was taking us 30 minutes. Later that week we were able to explain rules of Robinson in 10 minutes. It was hard work and lots of trainings.

You need to cut off the crap. Cut off all rules that are not important at the very beginning. Cut off all unnecessary details. Be focused. Be clear. Be understandable.

You have to remember about one important thing – in Essen you will meet gamers from Germany,

unboxing

from France, from Italy, from whole damn world, ga-

Robinson

mers for whom English is not a native language. Your demo has to be simple. Your demo can not involve sophisticated vocabulary. Your demo has to be easy to understand for any one who can barely speak English.

We spent an hour with guys from Z-Man. We did teach them a special, dedicated for Essen set up for the game with the easiest events and cards, set up that makes demo easy. And we were lucky. Z-Mans crew was a bunch of great gamers. They picked up things in a second. I was sure we were in a good hands.

Later on I visited Z-Man’s stand to check if everything is going well and if they need any help. They showed me that they changed a little bit set up of the game.

They start demo from second turn so the game speeds up from the very beginning. It was a great idea. They knew what they were doing. No need to worry. I was happy.

fication building the forti

Day 0 – Wednesday, 7:00 PM. Everything is set At 7PM we were ready to go, 11 hours after leaving hotel, 11 hours of work without lunch break, dinner break, any break. Few thousand games were set at our stand.

Demo of Robinson was live on BGG site. Z-Man’s crew was ready to present Robinson and Convoy.

We were tired. We were hungry. And yes, we were damn happy. Man, it’s Essen.

We were waiting for that day for whole year!

Day 1 – Thursday, 11:00 AM. Frank.

I have a demo game of Robinson scheduled with Frank Kulkmann. For those of you who may not know it – Frank is one of the most famous and respected German reviewers.

He runs an amazing website at boardgame.de and year after year he reviews tens of games that are released in Essen. His Essen reports are extremely popular in Germany. During this 4 days of Essen Trade Shows he plays tens of games and reviews them right during fair.

How is it possible?

Frank reads rulebooks before the fairs. He doesn’t waste time for publisher to explain him the game. He just sits and plays. He’s prepared. He’s

scorn and his banner

a professional.

So, Frank comes to our stand. He sits to Robinson with two other gamers who were also interested in testing Robinson and... starts to explain them the rules. Just like that, he sits and he teaches them how to play. I try to help, but Frank says that he can handle it. I go to the second table to present Robinson.

Yes, Frank is a pro.

Day 1 – Thursday, 01:00 PM, Tables, tables!

We have two tables to play Robinson, 8 people at one moment can play the game. Is it enough? OK, try to guess.

We are under a storm of gamers. I made a huge buzz and now I am in trouble – we are crowded with gamers who want to test Robinson.

We need to react. We need to redesign our stand. We move tables, we take one table from Rebel, we put it all in new order. Now we have two tables to play and one table to explain the game - short explanation just to give a glimpse of the game. From the moment we make it available, till the very end of Essen fair it is crowded with people. We talk about Robinson all the time.

Three people are assigned to this table. It’a a very exhau-

h truck wites our gam

sting work, you have to talk all the time, you have to talk loud because of the noise all around, you have to repeat the same monologue time and time again. We take turns every 30 minutes. It’s tough.

Day 1 – Thursday, 06:32 PM. BGG BUZZ I receive a SMS from a friend from Poland. You are on the 7th place in BGG Buzz ranking. Woow. We were so busy, I forgot about it. I forgot that BGG is making this poll to check which game is the most popular. Our hall and our booth is far away from BGG booth. I am so happy that despite of that some players went there and voted for us.

I am very tired after 9 hours of explaining Robinson. However, this BUZZ news gives me new adrenaline boost. I am

joker expl aining neuroshima tactics

happy that people like Robinson.

Day 1 – Thursday, 09:00 PM. Hotel tournament Before Essen my wife Merry scheduled a little tournament with gamers from Hungary: Gabor and Krisztina.

ignacy

Gabor states that he managed to have 128 points play-

in wor k

ing Winter (he is one of our testers and had Winter many months before its release in Essen). My Merry couldn’t believe it. She said she will meeet him in Essen and kick his ass.

Yeah.

Merry convinced our friend from Gdansk, Hubert, to join the game. Two players from Poland, two players from Hungary. They were waiting for that for a few weeks arguing on FB chat who will win.

So they meet in the hotel. They sit at the table, ready to show who is best 51st State player in Europe.

Ready to rock. I smile. I ask them: ‚BTW, anyone has 51st State with him?’

They look at each other. I start to laugh. No one has the game. Brilliant.

Day 2 – Friday, 09:00 AM. Fluency It’s the second day of the fairs. We no longer have problems with English, our demo games and presentations are smooth and fluent. Number of players wanting to test Robinson is ridiculous. We decide that we have to shorten the demo games. We ask players to finish after 4th round of the game. They understand. They see queue of other players wanting to test the game. We were afraid how players will react when we ask them to stop after the 4th round but players act awesome. They understand the situation. They test the game, and then they make space for other gamers. Geeks play fair.

Respect for all of you!

n

obinso r g in play

Day 2 – Friday, 01:00 PM. Interviews During Essen many people want to do make an interview with me, want me to talk about Robinson. They don’t know it is a risky business to talk with me about Robinson. For Friday I have schedu-

also need at least one table to talk about Robinson, to explain it, to present it in a just few words. This was a hardest spot, it was most exhausting part of the job, it was place where work was so hard that we had to take shifts. I mentioned that in a previous post.

Czech Games Editions had a beautiful big demo version of Tzolk’in. Always crowded. Always busy.

Since 9:00 AM till 7:00 PM. No break. No single pau-

ignacy and friedemann f riese

se. Always crowded.

This demo version of Tzolk’in was managed by one person. One. Just one.

I am not sure if he was a human. I’d rather say he was some kind of android. Terminator. Cyborg.

led interview with Paco from G*M*S Magazine. Paco

At the beginning we were working hard and he

asks me about Robinson so yes, I talk about Robin-

was working hard. But then, we died (all 3 of us) of

son. And you know, when I talk about Robinson this

exhaustion. He didn’t. Czech android.

is like ‚Fatality’ in Mortal Kombat series. You can’t defend. You can’t resist. You are unprotected.

Paco didn’t know that. This lesson costs him 45 euro. We finish the interview and then he buys Robin-

Some about 4:00 PM it was getting ridiculus. It was his 7th hour of talking about Tzolk’in. Without a damn break.

At about 5:00 PM Merry came to him and give him

son. 24 hours earlier the same mistake was made by

a chocolate. We were afraid that he will – sooner or

John Knoerzer from BGG crew. He sat with me when

later – just faint. He said ‚Thanks’, but he couldn’t eat

I was presenting Robinson on BGG live. He shouldn’t

it. He had to explain Tzolk’in. Without a break.

let me talk about Robinson... Yeah, 45 euro from his pocket to mine...

Never, ever let me talk about my games.

It was about 6:00 when we spoted that Tzolk’in demo version is empty and Czech android is gone!

OK, he died we thought. He was damn good. He worked for 9 hours without a break. Let him rest in

Day 2 – Friday, 03:00 PM. Going green At some moment of the day our booth is visited by His Green Majesty Friedmann Friese. He buys Robinson. I congratulate Friedmann that Friday finally

peace... Few second later we realised he sits with a group of players at the table and he teaches them how to play Tzolk’in... This was really crazy.

After the fair, on Sunday we came to the guy and

found his master and we have a good laughter. Then

congratulated him his work during Essen 2012. His

I have this crazy idea - Let’s make a photo together!

name is Jan Kudela. He is the hardest working demo

Robinson and Friday!

guy I have ever seen in my life. And man, trust me,

Friedmann has sense of humor. He immediately agrees. My Merry takes a photo of us. Few days after Essen

I saw a lot. Jan, if you read it, once again I’d like to say: ‚You did an awesome work this Essen’

I upload it on BGG. Immadiatelly we are on #1 place in gallery on BGG. We have a nice souvenir from Essen.

Day 2 – Friday, 09:00 PM. Winter has come Second evening in the hotel. Hungarians against

Day 2 – Friday, 06:00 PM. Android Jan In previous post I mentioned that on Thursday we decided that we need not only tables for play. We

Poles. 51st State competition. Krisztina and Gabor against Merry and Hubert. I am going to watch and be judge if there are any problems with rules.

They look at me. They want me to play. They don’t need judge. They want to play with me.

I am tired. I don’t like to play my games. But what the hell, Essen is once in a year. I play.

Krisztina plays well. Gabor plays very well. I play with Merchants and I have difficulty to burn him down and stop him.

Other players are either blind either stupid not getting him and kill him. In round third I finally do my best and my peacefull

on

robins g in h c ea

Merchants visit Gabor and start burning. It is at least one turn too late. He is already damn strong.

I am pissed off. I won’t let some Hungarian player kick my

ignacy

t

ass! No way!

60 minutes later it turns out that I will. Gabor is fuckin’ good. He kicks my ass. And Merry’s, Krisztina’s and Hubert’s ass too. At the end of the game Gabor has more points than Merry and Hubert together. This is knock out. I am second, but far away from Gabor.

Merry invites Gabor and Krisztina to Poland. They will visit us again. Kicking ass is on the way. I don’t think I can defeat that guy...

Day 3 – Saturday, 06:00 PM, Marvin Gaye I start to sound like Marvin Gaye. For 3 days we were taking all medications we could to protect our throat and voice but now, after 3 days of presenting Robinson on our stand they don’t work anymore. Because of that noise in the Essen’s halls

alek

you have to shout when you present or explain the game.

You can’t shout for 3 days in a row without consequences.

Se here they come. The consequences. I sound like Marvin Gaye. I kinda like it. Merry likes it too...

Day 4 – Sunday, 08:00 AM, It will be hard day Half of our team has to go back to Poland. They were our supporters, but they don’t work in Portal, they have their normal jobs and they have to go to work on Monday morning.

There are only 3 of us left on the stand. We are – however – not scared. For many years Sunday was boring day for us. On Sunday halls are always crowded with avarage German families not geeks. Games like Neuroshima Hex, Pret-a-Porter or The New Era never atracted them. On Sunday we were always bored and had nothing to do.

Soon it turns out that Robinson is interesting for German families. We have as much work as every other day. We are

adrian fro m nst team

scorn and his banner again talking again and again...

ur crew o f o t r pa

I have moments of weakness. People come to the table and wait for explanation and I have no strenght to come ther and explain the game. They walk away after looking just on components of the

crowded. They want to play. They want to listen about the game. The theme is very interesting for them.

And there are only 3 of us. One is selling. One is explaining. One is teaching. No coffea break.

Day 4 – Sunday, different hours, Prototypes Before Essen I set meetings with different authors for Sunday. I was going to play prototypes and see if there is something interesting out there.

On Sunday I was going to have spare time.

Situation however is different. Our stand is crowded. We are selling Robinson, we are demoing Robinson, we have hands full.

No chance to play prototypes. I have to say big big sorry to authors who had a meeting with me. I have no chance to play. I feel awfull. I feel guilty. In a fact I am guilty. I should feel awfull.

I promise them I will play these prototypes as soon as I am back in Poland.

Day 4 – Sunday, 04:00 PM, Fatality I am extremely tired. We have no shifts on demo table. Piechu sells, Scorn teaches how to play, I have this demo table. I feel like Czech android – whole day

game. I feel guilty. But I am terribly tired.

At some moment another group of three people comes to the table. I take a deep breath. I look at them. And finally I come to the table. I am pissed of on myself and my weakness. I motivate myself in my mind. I promise myself to never ever give up. And I start again: ‚Robinson is a cooperative game. You are castaways of deserted island and your goal is to survive. There are 6 different scenarios in the game and I will talk about them later on...’

I do my best. I find every bit, every single piece of passion I have left and I use them.

From among these 3 people that listened me, all 3 decided to buy Robinson. And what is more, one gamer who was just walking by and saw that they are very excited after my presentation and they all buy the game... He decided to buy the game too.

Three people listened. Four Robinson boxes sold.

I am very tired. But I am back in action.

Day 4 – Sunday, 06:00 PM, The End On 6:00 PM lights dims. Essen 2012 is done. Whistles and applause fills the hall. Every publisher here is extremely tired. Every publisher here is happy that

this is the end. This is tradition since few years. Li-

It’s 11:30 PM. Yes, we are still there working...

ghts dims, and hall burns into whistles and applause.

It is hard to believe, but this is really really true –

This is for short moment. Than we have to go to

when I reached our car on Essen parking it was exac-

work. Every published here has to clean the stand.

tly 00:01 AM. Very symbolic moment. After these all

All games not sold have to be packed back into

days of work during fair we needed to find strenght

boxes, then on palletes and then on trucks.

and pack all these boxes of games for another 6 ho-

All games sold to distributors need to be packed on

urs. Without a break.

We reached our hotel at 00:40. Would be 00:20 but

palletes and moved to their stand.

All furniture, banners, stuff have to be packed into

I was so tired while driving that I got lost in Essen. At 01:00 AM we ate small lunch. At 08:00 AM we drove

boxes and put on trucks.

I think that if I did a poll right here and ask you how much time we need to do all that stuff, no one would know the right answer. Let me show you...

It’s 07:00 PM, you are probably taking shower after great fair. First hour of moving heavy boxes...

It’s 08:00 PM, you are probably at home already eating dinner. We are packing games.

It’s 09:00 PM, you are tired after fair, but you are very excited and you are unboxing games you bought. We are packing games. Still.

It’s 10:00 PM, you checked all games you bought.

You search internet for news after Essen. We are packing games. We dream about lunch. We had no time

back to Poland...

That’s my friends Essen behind the scenes. I hope you enjoyed this ride...

Post-fair psychotherapy Essen Spiel 2012: Flashbacks Text: Michał Walczak, Rafał Szyma, Marcin Karbowski Yes, we went to the fair. Yes, we were impressed.

Yes, we came back exhausted. And yes, we wanted to tell you all about it. This time though, instead of a

for lunch today.

It’s 11:00 PM, you are tired. You go to sleep. We are packing games. It’s 15th hour since we left hotel.

We dream about anything to eat.

piechu wit h friends our wv...

intervie g in r du

general review, we’ll share with you a couple of anec-

Multidej:

dotes – the things that made Essen Spiel 2012 stand

A taste of the fair

out from the previous editions.

Day of arrival A soup with minced meat and melted cheese.

Walec:

Thick, but not too much, filling you up without that

Merc graveyard

feeling of grogginess. The taste – surprising, well-

We started out for Essen in an ancien mercedes.

-ballanced, detached from its original components,

The brand name can bring into mind images of posh,

now transformed into a new entity. The dish was

luxurious cars, but in our case it was a vehicle with a

prepared accordingly to the the aintopf philosophy

loose clutch, unable to go faster than 130km/h. The

(germ. „Ein Topf” – one pot). Accompanied by a lager

speed wasn’t really a problem, though, because only

beer.

someone with a death wish would speed in a car with

First day

crooked brake discs…Basically, we drove to Essen in

A deceptively small lasagne, which upon consump-

a car, that apparently knew it was going back to its

tion proved to be equally tasty and filling. One of its

motherland. And decided to die there.

greatest pros proved to be the texture of the pasta,

100 kilometers away from our destination, after 12 hours of driving, I happily declared that we’re just about an hour away… 90 kilometers from the hotel, I was excited to see the name of the town on the billboards. 80 kilometers from the much-desired hotel beds we heard an ill-boding hiss… At 74 kilometers the clutch was still loose, the brakes rattled – everything was bad, but steady. Except for the wedge belt, which melted. The power steering, accumulator charger and engine cooling also went down.

So, it’s 2:36 in the morning, we’re just a stone’s throw away from our hotel. By pure momentum we managed to roll into a small parking lot and we called our boss, who said something along the lines of „Look, I’m very sorry, but everyone’s asleep, you gotta take a nap on the parking lot, in the morning someone’ll pick you up, and then I’ll kill you.”

Pondering the last night of our lives, we wrapped ourselves in whatever we had handy, and fell asleep.

After a 12 hour drive even a car seat seems like a decent place for your night’s rest.

Disregarding what the car had in mind, we didn’t let it die in peace in its motherland. We had it fixed at a arm-and-leg price and came back home. The interesting fact is that for the past three years the car never failed me – it only decided to do so when we left for Essen. The moral of this story?

Never trust machines!

soft and pliant, withouth a trace of unwanted hardness. Accompanied by a lager beer.

Day two Meatballs and potatoes with a side of – watch it - bouillon. This gave the diners the possibility to choose between having a thick, starchy and meaty soup, or a solid dish, drizzled with a light sauce. Each of the diners needed to answer this tough question for him/herself. Accompanied by a lager beer.

Day three A filleted fish, served in four different styles: breaded, with mushrooms, with spinach or with cheese. The taste – dazzling, in spite of its origin being a hipermarket. Boiled potatoes and cauliflower rounded the dish perfectly, making me ignore the pangs of fullness sent out by my desperate stomach and continue the feast.

Accompanied by a lager beer.

Day four A gas-station hot-dog, supersized, and a standard coffee. Nausea within

bearable limits. We’re going home.

Cash&Guns for 5 e?” . I couldn’t miss an opportu-

Joker:

nity like this. When I was standing in the line, the

Discreet charm of sales

C&G box in my hands, I spotted a WoW - Adventure

The Essen expo is a real test of will. It’s not even about saving home budget – with that kind of mind-

Game. For 10 e. Well…Since I had already broken my vow anyway…

set, it’s better you don’t go at all – it’s about not

Day two

ruining it utterly and completely. I knew about that

WoW is now two times cheaper. I feel like a noob.

for about a month before going, and I dreaded the

So I get another game, to cheer myself up – Ubon-

event, because when it comes to board games, I

go. It’s supposed to be great. The others also buy

have an exceptionally weak will. In the end, I retur-

it – even Scorn, who doesn’t do board games. Later,

ned victorious, but it was tough.

I ask people what the game’s about. No one knows

Day one

a thing. But everyone bought it. It’s some kind of a

I promised myself I would refrain from purchases

mass madness. In the end I manage to reach the

at least on the first day. I lasted about 30 minutes.

source of all this hassle: „’Cause, you see…Alek came

I would probably manage a bit longer, if it wasn’t

by in the morning, and said that the game was wic-

for Alek (our friend, living right next to Essen), who

ked awesome”. I should’ve known better.

dropped by our NST stand. „Do youknow they’ve got

s.o.b. team with gunter

Day three

sandwiches and taking some photos. That’s how I can

The crescendo of sales. Percents everywhere.

work ;)

-30%, -50%. Games that usually cost around 40-50

So my job was to meet with some publishers and

e zł, now selling out for 5. I’m trying just to hang out

designers, so I met Martin Wallace, Friedemann

and survive untill Sunday. But, alas, in the afternoon

Friese, Max Holliday (Eaten by Zombies), Denys

Alek visits again. I buy a Wow expansion. A couple

Lonshakov (Ruthenia), Filip Neduk (Goblins, Inc.). I

of hours later Piechu, with a condescending smile,

also talked to guys from CGE, Lookout Games, Indie

explains to me the subtle difference between WoW-

Boards & Cards, Pegasus Spiele, Eggertspiele and

-Adventure Game and WoW - the Boardgame, for

more. Quite nice for a guy who’s the first time in

which I bough the expansion. I got an expansion for

Essen, huh? ;)

which I don’t have the core game. Oh, well, at least it was cheap.

Return Finally came the glorious moment when I was back

Scorn: I don’t like to write. Never liked. That is why I do graphics, photos and music. I’d love to share with

home with all my spoils (and there were quite a few,

you my photos from Essen, but... but I didn’t take

some not mentioned earlier), and had a chance to

camera with me to Essen! I won’t write a song ne-

have a closer look at them. That’s when I noticed my

ither. So here I am writing...

Cash & Gun was in french.

Essen 2012 trip for me was a conclusion of my first year in Portal. In Essen debuted Robinson, the game I was preparing for two months day and night (with a

S. O . B . t eam ag ai n Piechu: My first Essen This year it was the first time I attended SPIEL fair in Essen. If you haven’t been there but have seen some photos, read some reports or heard some stories, you know what to expect. The halls are huge, there are hundreds of games and thousands of people buying them. And they don’t buy 1 or 2 games but a dozen or two. AEG was selling special bags for games, bags so big that you could carry a small man inside it. If only there was more space at the halls, you would probably use a shooping trolley. It’s crazy but it happens only once a year.

Apart from explaining Robinson Crusoe at Portal’s booth, I was there as a representative of a Polish boardgame magazine Świat Gier Planszowych. My first task was to attend a press conference opening the fair. It was held in German and I don’t speak German so while other guys were unloading a track full of games, I was sitting in a warm place, eating

help from Multidej and Moracz). Countless number of hours spent on the game. Not seeing home too much those days...

I was terrified when we reached Essen. I havn’t seen final product in Poland. First time I put my hands on box of Robinson there, in Essen. Moment of huge tension and... Uff... Everything is OK. That was a moment of relief. That was a moment I could start to enjoy Essen.

It didn’t last long for me. 4 days passed like a moment. I will - however - remmber it for a long time...

At nights I had additional events - I was visiting industrial museums in Essen, old factories etc. It was great.

Yeah, I can’t believe I didn’t take camera to Essen...

on top o f heap

es dscap n a l rial hr area t s u d n i ru from

tetra

eder

I met Silent few years ago.

He came to ‚Pawn’, convention that I organize in Gliwice since 2006. He was like many gamers who attend con - had a bag full of games, had a passion in his eyes and was able to play games for two days without taking even a 5 minutes break.

After ‚Pawn’ he joined our gaming club. He lived in a different city but for a man with passion this is not a problem.

He was coming to Gliwice every single week.

Another edition of ‚Pawn’ was coming. Silent came to me and said: ‚I will help. I won’t play. I will explain games to new gamers.’

We formed Orange Team.

Most devoted members of our gaming club. During „Pawn” Orange Team didn’t play a single game.

Two days of gaming and they didn’t play even once. They were helping other players.

They were explaining rules.

For whole damn weekend.

That was incredible. At the end of convention I asked them to come to the stage.

And then whole room burst into applause.

Now, 6 years later this is tradition. Every Pawn is supported by Orange Team. Die Hard Gamers who decide to spend weekend on game convention and yet play no single game...

Every single Pawn, at the

end of convention I invite them on stage and every single time there is one minute of ama-

We shake hands. Two friends ready to go together to the end of the world.

zing applause. 400 people claps their hands ***

to say ‚Thank you’.

Goose-bumps... ‚It’s worth it’ Silent once said to me. It’s worth to explain rules for two days long, but to be there on the stage in that very moment, to see this 400 people in the room who say „Thank you”. This is moment of magic. *** Silent was one of this first squad in the

First Pawn was in 2006. Since then about 20 new conventions appeared in Poland. Pawn was first board game convention in Poland.

Orange Team was first supporters group. We all started that. Now you have Yellow Team in Gdansk, you have Blue Team in Wroclaw, you have such teams in every single board game convention in Poland.

And Poland is not an island.

Orange Team. It was 6 years ago. This week-

There are conventions all over the world.

end we do XIX edition of Pawn. Quite close

There are people like Silent working hard to

to a nice anniversary. Six years passed like

help you gamers all over the world. People

a flick.

who don’t play, but help. For whole damn

Silent no longer can afford to be member

weekend.

of our gaming club. He has job now. He lives

Silent, thank you.

in other place. He got married. Years passed.

Orange Team, thank you.

He has no time for playing games as he used to have when he was 24. Life finally catched him and holds him tight.

And yet...

I met Silent two weeks ago on a football pitch. ‚We do new edition of Pawn, you know’ I said. ‚Nice. When?’ ‚In a two weeks’ I said. ‚Do you need a help?’ he asked. ‚Try a guess...

But well I know it is harder every time...’ ‚I never turned you down, did I?’ he said. ‚You never...’ ‚I will be there. I am Orange Team. It won’t change.’

All teams and all supporters all around the world, thank you.

You guys do an amazing work. I salute you.

[this is my old text written almost three years ago I publish it because of two reaons. First: many of you probably didn’t read it. Second: it has a new ‚2012 conclusion’] It is called Das verructe labyrinth. Known also as The aMAZEing Labirynth or just Labirynth.

Published by Ravensburger in 1986 roku was then republished in 16 different editions and gave a birth of whole range of games with Labirynth in name. True classic. Best-seller. And – what is more – the boardgame of my childhood.

I do really have no idea how it got into my house. It was a deep communism in Poland then, no boardgames in stores. It must have been sent to us in some ‚help package’ from western Germany. I don’t know. It doesn’t matter. What matters is that I spent countless hours with it.

It’s been more than 20 years ago. I still remember playing it with my parents and brother. I still have old photo in my photo album with me playing the game. I loved that game. I believed then I will play it till my last day. Well, unfortunately, I grew up.

I got to know Role Playing Games, I got to

know

do.

My

hundreds box

with

of

exciting

Labirynth

things

to

disappeared.

Lost in time. Adventure has been finished.

It seemed for ever. Well... Not for ever.

Three years ago my friend Adam Hammudeh brought his copy of Labirynth to our gaming club. When I saw box, I felt thrill. My eyes opened wide. Heart beat stronger. Memories become live again. I asked Adam if I can borrow the game. ‚No problem. Have a good time with your kids’ he said and I took Labirynth with me.

It was nearly 15 years since I have it last time.

It was amazing. It was time travel. I was sitting at my table, with my kids and I was playing

Labirynth.

Magical

moment.

Co-

uld I – 20 years ago – believe that when I will be adult, I will still play this game? I couldn’t.

We played for a few months. I sat with my kids

said. Me playing Labirynth... It is over again. Labi-

and together we fought to find best track to our

rynth goes at the bottom of wardrobe. I will miss it.

goal items. Every single game of Labitynth with my

My youngest daughter has 2 years. In three

kids was like a best game ever. I had a great time.

years I will pull out the box from wardrobe. I will

Unfortunately,

my

kids

grew

up...

I’ ve just packed my Labirynth to box. The adventure

put it on my table. And again, I will be the happiest man on the planet.

is finished, again. My son wants to play Galaxy Trucker, Nina wants to play Kingsburg, and in a fact, Descent

[2012 conclusion.Lena is almost 5 years old now.

is their favourite. ‚Dad, Labitynth is a kids game’ they

It’s time.]

[disclaimer: today I was going to post final part of my re t port from Essen, bu m in the meantime To 0 finished his Top 10 and I really needed to celebrate this to and say something Tom] You know me much ew better than you kn o. me a few months ag These days you know othat I can talk ab ut my games. You know that I really n. can show my passio lk You know that I ta with a 100% belief in my games. And this belief is my My strongest weapon. . weapon. The Weapon Tom Vasel can speak with passion too. Tom can speak in a way that we ga mers are often defenseless. He uses the exact same weapon as I am using. od And damn, he is go at it too.

When you let me

talk about Robinson, you will loose 45 euro. I will make you buy the game. I open my mouth and you lose 45 euro. When Tom g talks about Nothin Personal, I loose 60 bucks + 20 for shipping. And you know, I am from Po land. 80 bucks for us is 16% of avarage moth sallary in Poland. 16% of avarage sallary in US is... It’s like you’d pay 560$ for Nothing Personal.

Quite a price, right?

Yes, Tom is good...

But this is not why I hate him. I use my weapon on innocent gamers.

Tom does it too. It is a fair trade.

But... [there is always ‚a but’, right?]

Tom makes his

Top 100 vide os.

He talks abo ut 100 games other th an Nothing Personal.

He talks abo ut them with the sam e passion.

He talks wit h the same fire in his e yes. He talks with t he same belief – he be lieves that the game he is just describing i s for sure the best gam e on that very planet.

He uses The Weapon a gain.

This is not fair anymore. Few days ago he convinced me to buy Star Tre k Fleet Captains.

Guys, I hate Star Trek.

I really hat e this movies. Star Trek sucks! And s till, I decided to b uy the game...

I can not bu y all of these 100 games. I sim ply can’t...

And you know ,

there are ga mes on Tom’s list I d on’t like. I played them and I think they suck. T his is the moment of re lief. ‚Ha!’ I think to m yself when Tom talks ab out game I don’t like. ‚We like different ga mes! I shouldn’t trust him! He knows nothin g about good games!

His recommendations s uck. Ha!’ I am safe. I neutralised The Weapon.

10 seconds l ater Tom starts t o describe another game . Game I don’t know.

And again I start to t rust him.

Again I beli eve that this is the awesomest game on the planet.

Again he use s The Weapon.

He uses The Weapon against me!

Against The Weapon Master!

Stop it, Tom .

Stop it now!

I’ve devised the mechanics of today’s riddle a couple of years ago for a supplement of the Neuroshima RPG game „Moloch - Escape from the City of Machines”. As a bonus, the box contained four puzzles, similar to the one I’m presenting today. If you happen to enjoy it, I promise more episodes utilising the „Impulse” rules. bled quarter, etc.). Instead of

[IN],

coins, of course, you can use

lead it according to the rules,

your memory or notes, and

untill it reaches the Short Cir-

the Impulse can be lead by

cuit field, loops or exits the

[IN] to the exit [OUT], in

pointing a finger at the paper.

board.

such a way, so it doesn’t get

Place the Impulse token on

OBJECTIVE Your objective is to move the Impulse through the Labyrinth, from the entrance

eliminated on the go. In order to do that, you can use

the enterance field [IN].

Then use up to THREE to-

THREE of the many available

kens, to activate the Switches

Switches, which will change

of your choice (you’ll find the

the qualities of the labyrinth.

description below). There is at

The particular fields and pa-

least one combination of ac-

ths of the labyrinth have their

tive Switches, that will allow

own rules, described further

the Impulse to reach its tar-

on.

get without hindrances. The To make your task a bit

marked Switches are active

easier, you can use a couple

from the beginning to the end

of tokens (e.g. coins). You’ll

of the Impulse’s movement,

need: 1 Impulse token, 3 acti-

changing the rules of the bo-

vated Switch tokens, a couple

ard elements accordingly.

of additional ones (to mark

Pick the direction in which

e.g an inactive fuse, inactive

the Impulse will be pushed

Paths, leading into an disa-

off from its starting position

and

afterwards

just

Note: After picking and activating the Switches and pushing the Impulse from the [IN] field, the rest of the game is played out automatically, and the player cannot interfere in any way. You can only watch and see if the Impulse reached its target.

BOARD ELEMENTS

[IN] - the enterance field [OUT] field

-

the

exit

WHITE PATHS - ba-

RESISTOR - is a re-

pulse is supposed to go.

sic Paths the Impulse

SHORT

can move on.

IT - if the Impulse

BLACK PATHS - to

reaches

CIRCUthe

Short

be used by the Im-

circuit field, it is eliminated.

pulse,

Game over, try again.

those

paths

need to be activated first, by

JUMP - if the Impul-

using the Black Paths Switch

se reaches the Jump

[BPS]. If they are not switched on, it’s as if they’re not on the board at all.

field, it moves to the other Jump field on the board, and moves on according

CROSSROAD - at the crossroad the

to the arrows there.

FORCED

Impulse picks the first

on the given crossroad.

At-

tention! The black arrows on the Crossroad and some other fields are there in case the field arrows turned out to be too small and unreadable. Just like any other arrow in this game, they show you the way the Im-

-

the Impulse has to

Path to the left or to the right, according to the little arrows

PATH

go the way the big arrow points to. If it’s not possible (e.g. the Path has been rendered inactive by some other active rule), go along the smaller arrows,

just

like

in the case of a regular Crossroad.

gular crossroad, but it can be blocked by p l a c i n g one of the three tokens on it. From this point on all the Paths leading directly to the Resistor field are considered inactive, and are to be ignored as if they were not there.

Note: Each Resistor is blocked by a separate token, so if you choose to block all three of them, you’ll have to use all of your tokens.

FUSE - a regular

SWITCHES

quarter change their direction

has

D I R E C T I O N

to the opposite.

Note: The DS doesn’t affect

gone through it, it becomes

SWITCH [DS]- the

the Forced Path nor Jump.

inactive. Mark that fact with

board is divided into

OFF - two of the

an additional token(not one

four quarters, with 4 Direction

quarters sport an

of the three you start with).

Switches. After turning on the

OFF switch. After

The inactive Fuse is treated

given DS all the Crossroads

switching

in the same way as a blocked

(also - Forced Paths, Resi-

the whole quarter is disabled,

Resistor.

stors and Fuses) in the given

and all of the paths leading

crossroad, but after the

Impulse

it

on,

directly to this quarter are to be ignored, as if they were not there.

BLACK PATHS SWITCH [BPS] - after turning on the BPS, the Black Paths are active, and act like White Paths.

Toxic clouds rules allow you to modify the basic NST rules to change the gameplay a bit. The rules are very simple and introduce some interesting options in the game. Wether you will use them in your games or not is up to you.

Toxic clouds

EXTORTION

SWITH

[ES]

- after turning on the ES, the Forced Path fields are treated as regular Crossroads, meaning the Impulse moves by the small arrows.

A very interesting, yet dangerous phenomenon can be observed once again over the barren, empty lands of Radiated States. Toxical, gaseous clouds move majestically through the dirty skies. They apperar from nowhere, and no one knows where they dissapear to, but one thing is sure - their pass leaves a trail of bodies, belonging once to those too foolish - or perhaps too slow - to move out of the way.

IGNORE FIRST PATH SWITCH [IFPS] - when the IFPS is on, the Impulse picks not the first, but the second available Path to the left or right. This often means it goes back using the same route.

SINGLE SHORT CIRCUIT BOUNCE [SSCB] - if this switch is on, and the Impulse reaches the Short Circuit field, the Impulse bounces off and goes back the way it came from. After a single use the SSCB becomes inactive for the rest of the Impulse’s movement (you need to remove the token).

txt: Adrian Tyrakowski illustrations: Mateusz Bielski, Tomasz Górnicki

Are the nimbus one of Moloch’s tricks or maybe they came into being due to atmospherical factors? Or maybe it’s the pollution?

Description: The clouds can be thick and viscous, leaving a tary residure on everything they touch. The black film causes all mechanical elements to jam, and it clogs the gas mask’s filters. Othertimes, the clouds are jolting with electricity, frying the robotic circuits, or with bacteries, causing lethal damage to all living organisms.

Those clouds, they’re damn dangerous.

Toxic clouds in play: Putting into play: The cloud covers a radius of 3”. Right after setting the battleboard and units, each player places a token, numbered respectively 1 and 2, within 6” from the middle line (but no closer to the edges of the battleboard than 6”).

Next, the active player rolls a k20, and determines which of the tokens represents the cloud (1-10 - token 1, 11-20 - token 2). Then s/he rolls out the type of cloud that will appear.

Movement: At the beginning of each turn you need to determine how the nimbus behaves:

If the cloud moves in a randomly chosen direction, each model standing in its way receives damage as if it was within its range.

To determine the direction of the movement, you need to take a look at the die after you rolled to determine the how far the cloud will move. The direction is shown by the top of the triangle with the number on your k20 die.

Illustration 1.

The roll result showed that the cloud moves rapidly in a randomly chosen direction.

The roll determining the the distance will simultaneously determine the direction.

The result on the die is a 4, so the cloud moves by 3” in the direction the top of the triangle points at.

Types of clouds Toxical gas Each unit coming into touch with the edge of the cloud, or being within it, rece-

ives a light wound (armour modifiers do not apply). Moloch’s units, due to the heavy pollution nad effacing of the mechanical parts, also recieve light wounds. The cloud obscures the vigilance field in the same way a smoke granade would.

Additionally, each round every model within the cloud has to roll a Constitution test. If the test is failed, the unit loses one action due to asphyxiating, nausea and other unpleasant effects of the deadly toxin being in the air.

Moloch’s units are immune to poison, so they don’t have to make a Constitution test.

Radioactive fallout Place a token in each spot the cloud stops at. Each unit within a 3” radius from the token receives light damage and loses one action per round for the rest of the game, due to nausea. Moloch’s machines are immune to the radiation effects.

Powerstorm Electric discharges constantly take place within the cloud - but although they look vicious, they do no harm to organic units. Unfortunately, Moloch’s units within the cloud (or on its course), recieve light wounds. Additionally, the powerstorm has a negative effect on the robots: within 5” from the epicenter of cloud they lose 1 Operativity point due to heavy static. The effect is in game untill the next round, unless the unit stays within the range of the negative influence.

Biohazard This cloud is not only toxic, but also a pesthole. Any living unit that enters the deadly

fume must roll an additional Constitution test - if failed, the unit is infected by the virus, and recieves a -1 penalty to all of its statistics until the end of the game. Moloch’s robots are immune to viruses.

Power Pack The cloud doesn’t charge the Power Pack or Reaction points. The only way the cloud interacts with the Power Pack is if you choose to use the Power Pack Effect „Breeze”. The nimbus doesn’t dissolve, like regular smoke, but you get to roll for a cloud Movement.

To order Neuroshima Tactics figures, visit the following stores: Noble Knight – http://www.nobleknight.com Bizarte – http://www.bizrate.com FRP Games - http://www.frpgames.com Battlefield Berlin – http://www.shop.battlefield-berlin.de NST models are also available at Amazon, Amazon.uk and e-bay.

If you’re a shop representative and would like to order NST figures, please contact our distributor at sales@rebel.pl, or write to us directly – nst@wydawnictwoportal.pl