Saturday is supposed to be the busy crowd’s day. The day that you can barely walk through the waves of the crowd, the day that merchandise disappears from the vans and stockage areas. This was apparently not that day. It was definitely calmer than expectations (some publishers were alleging even calmer than Thursday), to the great disappointment of those who still have stock to sell. Those who sold everything on the other hand (like Chaosium), will have a genuinely more relaxed Sunday drinking their coffee while providing information, closing deals and, let’s be honest for a moment here, buying merchandise from other publishers.

Euro Crisis is a satyrical simultaneous selection boardgame about the current financial crisis. Satyrical does not mean light or comical however, there is a real game here about winning points, making money and stuffing up your opponents by returning privatised companies under state control. Seeing how both designers are mathematicians, the game makes perfect sense. If you are a European citizen and understand the context and theme, it might (or might not) make even more.

Danny O’Neil’s Hammerdog Games’ next big thing hits US stores in three weeks and is nothing less than The Grande Temple of Jing, an I-lost-the-page-count megadungeon, tribute to the trickster god who was extremely pleased with the kickstarter results. The voluminous tome is dripping with the sweat of millions of tortured characters in an gigantic adventure that is as whimsically old-school as it gets. Even though not all Pathfinder rules are thrown out of the window, the game embraces wackiness and quick resolution over formality and endless battles. Amongst the many highlights that Danny showed me was the forest within the dungeon within the forest within the dungeon and the Slime Lords of level 6, where the slimes think they are humans, and more precisely, mobsters from the prohibition era. Imaginative as I may be, I am not making this stuff up! ‘It’s epic meeting meta meeting stoopid!’, we excitedly exclaimed in unison, as I kept on reading the tome. Dismiss it as a joke and the joke is on you: in addition to Danny of World’s Greatest Screen fame, other contributors to the project include but are not limited to Jonathan Tweet, Monte Cook, Skip Williams, James Ward, Stan! and many more. Apart from the wackiness you will find a 10.000 word epic poem, instructions for scaling things up, down or even going more freeform and many more. This project ties in with mini screen inserts and additional specialised tables in postcard form coming out for the present project as well as future material.

Mindclash Games’ wildly successful Trickerion has been published and is for sale for the first time in this Essen Spiel. The response from the crowd was very strong - I wouldn't wait for the last hours of Sunday if I were you. The company is now working on Anachrony, its next worker-placement effort which will hit kickstarter in spring 2016. The mechanics are 90% completed, only however 10% of the illustration has been done. Seeing how gorgeous Trickerion is and knowing that the art director is again Villő Farkas, I’d be all happy to wait as much as needed for the result to be as engrossing.

Petersen Games’ Cthulhu Wars continues taking over the world. After the successful English and French kickstarter some time back (the French version will be out in January 2016), the company is now in discussions to bring the game to Japanese, Polish, German, Spanish, Italian and R’lyehian audiences. Before that however 22 expansions (15 known and 7 new) will hit kickstarter on the 19th of October. By autumn 2016 the survivors of Onslaught Two will be enjoying all this, always provided that the earth is not destroyed.

These are not however the only project that these guys are working on. Orcs Must Die! and Dicenstein will both hit stores next summer.

Again however, these are known projects. Sandy has a lot in mind for Glorantha following The Gods War which is expected for March, and in particular a different board game for each age of Glorantha. That would mean four games overall. Each will be supported by a different mechanic and a totally different feel, all four however will share the same rich world.

Plaid Hat Games was the very friendly surprise of the day with its designers being as chilled out and informative as a designer can be. Isaac Vega (Dead of Winter) described to me with great passion his ideas and vision behind Ashes: Rise of the Phoenixborn which came out in GenCon 2015 and is already doing extremely well. Even though it is an expandable and not a collectible game itself, it is a cardgame harkening back to Isaac’s past as an M:tG player. It includes both a battle field and spellboard, with characters having a main action and a side action as well as unique, beautiful dice at their disposal. The game will be well-supported, with the first expansion in February and a new one coming around every three months after that. The first two ones will be called The Frostdale Giants and The Children of the Blackcloud. Are we experiencing another Netrunner in the making? Isaac is also currently developing a Dead of Winter standalone expansion, slated to come out in GenCon next year. It will enhance not only existing mechanics, giving players more of everything, but will also include new ones.

Jerry Hawthorne (Mice and Mystics) showcased the beautiful Tail Feathers, a game thematically linked to his previous work. Like before, the RPG elements are obviously there in a boardgame with components that only a professional camera could do justice. This time the rats are using carrion birds while the mice allied themselves with songbirds in order to carry out their missions. Four small expansions are expected in 2016 including a squad, heroes and even a roach hero, while free scenarios are provided in the company’s site.

WBS reminded me where great games come from: where you don’t expect them! We Were Brothers is a WWII infantry warfare board game with stunning visuals and 3D terrain, as well as over a hundred plastic miniatures at 1:72 scale that pits teams of men against each other in the backdrop of WWII in Italy. Wargamey as all this might sound, the mechanic appeared exquisitely streamlined for even more casual gamers that would like to enjoy a historical game harder than Memoir ’44 or Tide of Iron without needing to take care of inhuman levels of simulationist detail or deal with chits. Expansions are already in the way covering vehicle warfare, as well as other games covering the Pacific, the Eastern Front, and even Modern Warfare, from Vietnam to the Iraq Wars. In an unparalleled classy move, designer Carlo Amaddeo is also working on a resource management game with the refugees on the forefront. Seeing how each wargame might inadvertently glorify war, I found his focus refreshing. He definitely has long, grinding work in front of him.

One more day to go. What will take place in the dark, gloomy corridors of Essen Spiel? Probably more gaming, but then one can never be sure.