No Mobile Internet …or at least as random as you would expect it to be in an expo hall with another 40.000 people. Now you know what to expect for the next few days from my twitter account: delays! To more important things, and in alphabetical company (or product) order, here are the highlights of the day.

Chaosium is in Essen! I never thought I’d live to see the day! There are a billion exciting projects that I can’t wait to see. HeroQuest and Glorantha will continue being fully supported. The (huge) Chaosium/Reiner Knizia cooperation for two different board games that was announced two days ago is already well-underway: three months of work have already been secretly (or not so secretly) conducted. After all it was not yesterday that all these fine actors met; history will forever record that initial contact was established around 15 years ago in a Gloranthan convention through a Gloranthan fan. The two games will differ in scope. The first, tied to Glorantha, will be addressed to the whole family and will contain Dragon Pass elements, ‘with an emphasis on cows’. That quote is real, mind you, and comes from as high up as you can think. The second game will be historical, dealing with the political intrigue of Versailles and the court of the Sun King.

What equally excited me however were the news about Credo, a game about the Council of Nicaea that effectively defined Christianity. It is many years since 1993 when the game was first (and last) published. With a modern engine behind it and some extreme playtesting being run as we speak, this will be the game that ‘Richard Dawkins, the Pope and the Ecumenical Patriarch would love to play!’. Again, real quote from high up, but who cares about those guys? What is important is that I want to play (and review!) this game!

There will be quite a few additions to the lines not related to Cthulhu. Mythic Iceland v.2 is on the works for a project that will become its proper line. Two additional books have already been commissioned, a companion and a campaign.Go Iceland! Another line, detective oriented this time, is in the works. Its working title is Dark Detective, but apart from that I didn't manage to pry more information from Chaosium. I guess they would have had to kill me afterwards.

Drawlab Entertainment’s new Essen presence is not limited to one game only like the old-school Spells of Doom from last year. Teaming up with Artipia Games they produced the incredible looking, real-time Project Elite coop. Finally, a real-time alien infestation game with monsters coming from every direction! Two expansions are already published, and I am confident that we will get to see all of them soon. Catering mostly to the RPG segment, its new Legendary Metal Coins are simply breathtaking. In three colours resembling gold, silver and bronze, these zinc beauties come out in 39 (!) different designs (13 per colour), from pirate to elven and from historical to dwarven. Good grief, I want to review all of them… but I will contend myself with two packages only, masterfully chosen by Evangelos Foskolos of Spells of Doom fame. I am not keeping them for myself only, we will see them together during the year.

Grublin Games came to Essen this year not with a game but with an accessory: the beautiful Terralith 7-dice set (dice also sold separately). Forget the standard shapes you know, these are all instruments of death. My mental image of caltrops has been irrevocably changed, you do not want to ever step on any of these. If you are worried about their durability, I suggest you worry about your table instead. Later in the year we will examine two different varieties together, namely the galvanised and the battle dice.

One thing I did not know about Grublin is that each of their games is also a beer. Don’t start complaining that Terralith isn’t; it will become one any time soon. What doesn't have a name on the other hand is the dual coop/competitive survival horror game that will go on kickstarter at some time in January 2016. Expect modular boards, exploration, resource gathering, monsters and different levels. What would you be looking forward to the most: this game or the beer that will be named after it?

Modiphius’ MUTANT YEAR ZERO series continues to expand with the Screen and the Saurians supplement. The Dust RPG will be available (and reviewed) sooner than you think, while Mutant Chronicles is already available on pdf form. I won’t even mention the Thunderbirds coop, seeing how fast it is selling. Chris Birch was very cryptic about a mega-announcement that will take place tomorrow evening, but unless I overheard wrong the company concerned is… Nah, I am not saying that. We will all know tomorrow evening.

Private Eye’s English library will continue growing. Eine Tödliche Wette, it’s first ever 56-page adventure in German will be published in English in 2016. Patently good news for the lovers of all Victoriana!

Prodos Games is not basking in the glory of its newest Aliens Vs Predator release. Warzone Resurrection will see a new iteration of its rules. The fog of war might or might not obscure our fields of vision, card decks might come out for particular battlefields like Mars or Venus, there is no need for alarm however. All rules will be once again free of charge on the company’s website while nothing is supposed to change miniature-wise (no miniatures will be rebooted or kicked out). If anything, minis will be added to the mix. AvP holds a more introductory position to the wargaming hobby, this does not mean however that it will not see dedicated packs and rules that will take it to the next level for those who wish to wargame in it. As to when all this might happen, patience. You know the processes behind IP franchises.

Q-Workshop’s Pathfinder metal dice kickstarter is proceeding fantastically by any reckoning, theirs included. I suspect they are not lying, seeing how extremely busy their lovely PR lady is. I am looking forward to get my hands on these dice once they reach the market, until the fulfilment of that ks however in a few months time, they have another three sets of metal dice that fans can contend with: the steampunk, the dwarves and the tech set. Heavy!

Z-Man Games has not one, not two but four dedicated booths in Essen Spiel this year. Does this have anything to do with their extremely aggressive new game release schedule? I counted not one, not two but twelve new releases, at least for the European markets: Pandemic Legacy (there are no differences between the blue and the red box, get over it), Code of Nine, Apocalypse Chaos (a 3D coop), the dice-heavy Dragon Farkle, the solo Castellion, Stallion Canyon (a dexterity game), Monster My Neighbour (think Love Letter meets Werewolf), Carcassonne: Over Hill & Dale (another Carcassonne flavour), Skyliners, Tail Feathers (an area control game with incredible minis), Specter Ops (imagine a more gamist version one the premise of Mr X) and Ashes of the Phoenix Born, a 2-player game which, I understand, will see a lot of support and numerous expansions in the following year.

If you are a Pandemic fan imagine a booth totally dedicated to your favourite game only. From the original game with its numerous expansions to Cure and to the modern Legacy Season 1, it’s all there. As to Pandemic Legacy Season 2, 2017 will be the year to start looking for it.

My one-on-one with Shadi Torbey, creator exclusively of solo games like the excellent Onirim as well as Sylvan and Castellion (we will see both, amongst others, during the next few months), was very revealing. First, ideas need to both mature and have time devoted to them. In that sense, Sylvion was in development for years. Second, it is quaint that so few people take solo game design as seriously. Shadi’s games, and taking the Oniverse theme which they share out of the equation, have really nothing to do with one another when it comes to mechanics. Onirim is hand management, Sylvion is Space Invaders on a board with a dreamy theme, while Castellion is tile-laying. I am wondering what is next for 2016. A solo dice game maybe? You heard it here first!