It happened exactly as I had foreseen in my previous post. SPIEL 2024 came and went so quickly, and despite my best efforts to document the events after every day, I faltered to fatigue and overwhelming impressions of the myriads of inputs, and basically went to bed, gaming or a bit of both. Promising myself that "I'll do it later".
The funny thing is that there's usually never a perfect later, except the one you decide to make; so today I wanted to sit down and share the immediate impressions and highlights for the diary of my journey to SPIEL 2024, and how it was all again such an amazing experience! Again, this is mostly for myself; if you have fun reading about it or looking for recommendations as a first-time-goer, maybe you will have fun with it as well?
For those who didn't read my previous post; this was my third year at the event known as SPIEL in Essen, Germany. One of the biggest, if not the biggest, boardgame convention in Europe. I found my love for it, when I went on a whim back in 2022 and it has been the highlight of my year ever since.
This year was in no way any different, and I was so excited to go and see again some of the fantastic stalls and events taking place. So, long story short; was it as fun as I had hoped? Definitely yes; and in a way, I am glad that I had acknowledged beforehand that it wouldn't be as amazing as the first time. Not to say that I didn't have fun, but it was definitely my first time feeling like a more experienced guest, rather than a novice.
Day One:
The first day is always the most exciting, and this one no exception. I had honestly this year thought about going before they open their doors at 10:00, but a combination of sitting up too late and playing Satisfactory and at the same time not feeling 100% well made me be there at 11:00. Still a very respectable time, and I was prepared for an absolute rush of people, seeing how it was a public holiday in Germany. And packed it was.
My approach to SPIEL, I've found out, is a consumer first, socializer second, and gamer third. I'm there to get nice stuff, and it definitely affected my game plan for this year. As I entered, the halls were buzzing loudly with thousand of people throwing dice, playing cards (needless to say, there was a big line already at the Lorcana stalls) or chatting about new products. I knew that Hall 1 and 2 tend to be the ones with the most sellers, whereas 3-6 gravitate towards playing, so I marched resolutely through to get to the first ones on the line.
I had a quick stop at the UNO stall (because after my wife introduced me to that game, it's on my radar, and apparently it's possible to play some serious asshole UNO now with some of the expansions...) but made it to the Games Workshop area quickly. This was very calculated. Geedubs is one of those that get a lot of attention very quickly, as you could already tell by the line there. My advantage this year, however, is that since I dropped out from Age of Sigmar, I was really only looking for Old World models. GW tends to bring models to SPIEL that are online only, so it can save you a bit of a shipping and time since you're there anyway. I was surprised at how nice their Old World selection was; I managed to get both a Bretonnian Damsel, a dwarf thane with a gun (been looking forever for that model for my Thane-Wick builds) and a pegasus knight in metal. Mostly just for metal lulz and anyway found out it was missing its head in the packing when I got home...
Next was Titanforge. I love these guys and they have an incredible range of minis. It was fun to be there this early and see them all, because usually they get sold so quickly. I was mainly looking for Bretonnian models, but also anything for my Alternate-Empire project. One thing that did strike me, especially after I started opening my eyes for 3D printing, is that the price of the models is still very much up there. I did end up getting a very nice alternate model for my Elisse Duchard; on a sale, even, as it wasn't price-labeled.
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I swung by Warlord games afterwards, on a whim, and luckily found out they had basically all the bases I was also looking for. That was one of the things I was worried about not finding, since I just needed some plain wooden ones. But these guys to the rescue.
Another classic was of course Safe and Sound. I've spent a lot of money with these guys. They make army transportation material, and my bag and all magnets on my miniatures are from them. I had made a very specific list of magnets I needed for my brets, and the guy there took it with a very straight face, as he carefully counted out all the packs and handed them over. I can really recommend them if you're in the market for base-magnets and army transportation; they are super friendly and I love the quality of their material.
I stumbled on this booth called Minis for War, which is basically living out the dream many painters have of selling pro-painted armies. I've often gone on rants about how pro-painted is thrown around way too casually, but these people deliver. They offered up beautifully painted armies for a steep price; definitely a place to check out if you have more money than time. Furthermore, you can also just buy bases from them - they had a "junk basket" of nice bases for 2 euros, from which I even got my new base for Kolec Suneater. But suffice to say, it was the only thing I walked away with from there. A very solid idea, hopefully one they will make click.
And of course Vallejo. They don't need any introduction. They're nice, they're sweet and helpful and very popular, so I just got a few paints I know I need and then left. I'm not sure whether I'm again late to the party about this, but apparently they have this (to me) new brand called "Model Color" which I tried getting a few of, comparing them to Game Color. I have to say I really, really like them.
Of course there is also Microartstudios; back in the day I went to buy bases from them, but since I'm on the squarebased wagon now, the main pull was their Discworld miniatures. I love them so much and so far have bought the whole Watch range as well as most of the Unseen University (seeing how they're my two favorite Discworld factions) - The models are gorgeously painted of course, and while I haven't gotten seriously around to it, I aspire to use them as painting exercises for myself to improve. They're good quality with enough details to challenge you, so I will have to get back with pictures of them.
I did some free browsing after that; you find lots of the usual run-of-the-mill stuff now. T-shirts and dice and so on. I stumbled on PK-Pro also having a stall. They're selling the Krautcover, my absolute favorite basing material these days, and had a nice talk with them and also tried getting a pack of their putty-material. Just in case I would later feel inspired to do some terrain making.
Archon Studios was the last stop. I always visit them, just to check out their dungeons and lazers. I just love looking at their stuff, some of their d&d minis are super nice, and their stall is a pretty good quality with very soft floor and beautiful colors.
After that it was time for a break. I started feeling pretty tired at that point, and as mentioned, I wasn't completely at the top of my game. I tired out quicker than I thought, but the food was nice as well as the sugar-rush. The nice and charming thing about SPIEL is that it has countless of small corners to sit and be left in peace, and I found a good spot at the south entrance to get my bearings.
This is a good point to say that all this up until now was just from Hall 1, and I probably didn't get to see everything I wanted anyway, but I decided it was time to move on anyway. I wanted to also get around seeing Hall 2 at least. The crowd was in no way less here, so I had to navigate around a fair bit to make progress, and I started having a somewhat hard time to actually make sure I maintained a structure to how I proceeded. I usually make my way first around the edges of the hall and then start criss-crossing systematically down the isles in the middle, but there were simply so many people that I had to wing it a bit more.
It led to a good result though, as I found a stall selling vintage D&D books. Not only d&d books, but a revised version of the old Fighting Fantasy "Out of the Pit" - as well with lots of lore of the Fighting Fantasy world of Titan. For me those books were my absolute introduction to Fantasy, after my mom gave me one as a child, so it was a must-buy. It's so fun to actually sit and read about the world now, and it even gives instructions on how to start up your own Fighting Fantasy tabletop group with the rules now. How I would have loved such a book as a 13 year old GM back in the day!
Also, I finally found a copy of the Art of D&D; I've been wanting that book for so long.
This is probably a good time to start bringing in some of the Zombieland-inspired Rules for Spiel. Be mindful about buying books. They add weight, and lots of it. Those two bricks really started to be felt in my bag. In this case, know there is a wardrobe section. I am not sure whether they take bags, since I'm one of those paranoid people that never leave my jacket or bags with other people. So I paid my price by carrying them around for the rest of the day, which absolutely didn't do wonders for my tiredness.
Me, being an absolute idiot, decided that the obvious thing to do now was to get more books and went to the third hall. At this point, I was in wandering-mode, I admit. I was tired, overwhelmed with impressions and there were people everywhere. I went to the third hall, hoping there would be less people, but it turned out to be just as big a mass as everywhere else. I did know, however, what I was looking for there and sought out Chaosium. They're the people behind the Call of Ctuhulhu RPG; a system I have a great love for, and they had a series of new very nice releases. I've been really wanting to get into this system again, as it's my favorite D&D break, and I had a nice chat with them about my experiences with the game and got a few books of their prewritten scenarios.
At that point I started getting to my limit; it was 17:00 and I didn't feel I was enjoying it as much as I probably should, so I decided to call it a good day and go home to rest a bit. It was a great start.
Day Two:
Feeling much rejuvenated and fresh I went on the second day to continue where I started. Whereas day one was shopping, day two is exploration, and I continued in Hall 3 where I left off. Hall 3 is a strange hall to me; it's right next to the galleria and hall 1 and 2, making it super crowded. It also kinda has both games and shops in one go, so it's a hall of basically a bit of everything.
At this time it also seems prudent to talk about the cosplayer element there, which I mentioned in my first post. They were definitely there; I didn't take many pictures because I always want to ask first. I saw many Astarions, a few Gales, many pirates and vikings, one Helldiver, one Jack Sparrow, one Johnny Silverhand and lots of people who realized they could save one euro entrance fee by putting on a wizard hat. And lots and lots of people with cat-ears and tails. My absolute favorite by far was the Jawa, however.
Many of the stalls I saw had interesting stuff like terrain and such. I also got to look at the market for board-game storage; those lazercut boxes to store your huge Mansions of Madness collection in. I don't think I'm quite there yet, and since none of them had anything for Descent: Journeys in the Dark 2nd edition, I called it quits and went to the bar to hang out a bit. I met a few nice people there and it was honestly a brilliant concept to have a boardgame bar in the middle of the hall.
After talking a little bit more with the Chaosium people again (like for real, absolutely nice people) I visited my friends at Blackfire. They have an amazing stall there and are so friendly; it's a yearly tradition to go and hang with them a bit. It's so funny to hear about how much is going on behind the scenes, with them setting up and deploying all the stall and wares, and talk to the game presenters and hear how much effort they really put into the game. I spent a fair amount of time there, before I started getting tired again and headed home. I had promised myself to leave Hall 4-6 to experience with my wife the day after.
Day Three:
We always have the day that we go together and just try out board games we want to get. This year we got there a bit late, around 14, meaning we only had around five hours to try. In Spiel terms, this is not a lot. You usually have to search for a game, wait for a table, try it out and then decide on whether you want to buy it. Pro tip number 2; check beforehand whether it's still even available. It kinda sucks to fall in love with a board game and then realizing its on back-order the next six months.
We went to Hall 6 and just jumped on the first thing we found. We had some lessons from last year, in the sense that we don't really bother much with those huge ones with tons of tokens. We already have quite a few board games waiting around, so it was to be something rather simple and fun for us both.
We found this really interesting one called Backstories. It's basically "Choose your own adventure" in card format, and you build a story together, hoping to make it end well. You add and remove cards as the result of your actions, and I'll say - it was a lot of fun! I have this notion that if the game-presenter only talks to me for two minutes about how to play the game and then leaves, the game has to be able to deliver by explaining itself to me immediately after that. Way too many times last year did we get an introduction (and frustration that we didn't speak German) for one minute and then thrown a 10 page manual at us. It's not really what I enjoy; knowing perfectly well that these people are super tired on the third day. But Backstories really did a great job; it was super intuitive and fun, and we ended up getting it.
We tried out the new UNO games as well; again, I was absolutely right about how big of an asshole you can now be in it. We tested out a game called "Ice Cool" in which you basically skate your penguins through an icy cave. It was refreshing because it wasn't really about dice rolls, but how good you were with your finger to flip the little penguins just long enough for them to land where you want. Penguin-Golf, if you want.
The rest of the day went by visiting Asmodee. We had a naive hope that maybe we could find a copy of the Bridgerton boardgame, but alas; after going through our share of unfriendly Germans, we finally were informed it wasn't there and had to leave it at that.
At least the day ended with ice cream!
Day Four:
The last day was by far my most tired one, and the one where I really felt this wasn't like the first year that I went. And that's okay. I was expecting it somewhat to happen, because it had been so concentrated and by now, I had seen more or less everything there was to see. Everything now was repetition after all.
I was there alone so I decided to just round up whatever and see where it would take me. I went again to Games Workshop to inspect the Golden Demon entries, which were downright amazing. I also realized that they apparently had restocked some of their Old World stuff, which was odd, but I guess it pays to be diligent, and managed to get a dwarven pony just for good measure, as well as some washes that I anyway needed.
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| I mean, come on...seriously? |
Keeping with tradition, I also got my annual Spiel dice from JY. I aim to collect one for every year; basically a dice made of some kind of cut mineral as I feel they make for excellent souvenirs.
The rest of the day was spent by visiting the stores, trying to do some bargain hunts. You can get lucky and land yourself some sweet deals on terrain and stuff the retailers just want to get rid off before heading out. You can do some good haggles for boardgames too; but again, most of those little stalls only sell them in German, which is still such a shame. But don't get me started on that one again.
I had possibly hoped to maybe find a good painting-lamp, since the ones I've been using from Amazon are starting to get a bit stale, but without luck. Also, at that point, I felt I was staying around just to stay around, with no real purpose. My original intent was to stay until they closed, because there is this very special feel of them being so happy that it's over. But thought again, there is also a very special feeling of being able to actually catch a train or a bus that isn't completely overrun with people trying to get home, and I decided for the latter.
Afterthoughts and conclusions:
As stated in my previous post, I went into Spiel 2024 with some hesitation but also excitement to see how it would turn out after you had grown accustomed to it. And it more or less went in the extend that I foresaw, and never in a bad way. They do say that one of the biggest parts of joy is the excitement that goes before, of course, but basically everything I hoped for it to be came true.
I mentioned earlier that it didn't have the same impact as the first time, last year, when I had the full blown tour. And neither was it meant to; there is a reason why there is a thing such as the first time. It does make me think how it will be eventually in the consecutive years, and when you talk to those hardcore veterans that have been there for ages. I definitely feel you come more with a purpose, but for me, a huge part of that purpose will just be to exist there, you know. Even this time, with me not feeling 100% well, I still so enjoyed sitting still in a random hall corridor and watching the people, the stalls and just enjoying the atmosphere. A friend of mine, who also attended, compared it to this monumental family-gathering, in which everyone is very distant cousins. I feel this is such a fitting comparison and how it describes this massive feeling of belonging I have, in a country where I feel like I don't.
The regrets that I have is how I wished we'd had more time trying out games. I feel, even when you book an all-week pass, that there will be a hardcore limit to how much you can actually try out. It is simply impossible to get around everything, but you do need to dedicate at least a day to it and try out. Even now, I see pictures people took of some stalls that I didn't even know were there? I could swear I never saw it. It does lend itself to excitement again, as next year, on the 23-26 of October, we will be going back.
And I am already so excited for it!
