First thoughts after Essen

One week has passed since our return from Spiel Essen and besides one day of full rest and another one dedicated entirely to gaming the follow-up was more intense than the fair itself. We had to do it because the memories of all the meeting are slowly fading away and our mind starts to focus only on the biggest things.

I guess that the biggest thing in Essen 2013 was a larger booth with more people visiting us than in the previous two years together.

A view from the top with NSKN and Ventonuovo together

Exodus demo and lots of people watching

The other big thing is that we had this games giveaway contest which attracted a larger crowed with every passing day. I have personally seen someone wearing 6 (six) NSKN pins to be more visible to our guys with the freebies. I do not know whether he won or not, but I sure think that he deserved to win. 

Wild Fun West winners

Exodus Revised Edition winners

Unlike in 2011 and 2012, in Spiel '13 we had our full team of NSKN people in Essen and four extra guys who were the best addition to our teamm better that I could have hoped for (thanks guys!). We no longer had a problem to present games in German, which is a big sign of respect for the people hosting the fair.

It was also the first time for NSKN to show not only published game, but also prototypes. Our focus was on Praetor - the game we plan to publish next, but Perfect Storm and W - The Board Game have also had a good audience, nice feedback and many people asking if they can buy them on the spot or sign up for preorders.

In the middle of Perfect Storm

Surrounded while playing Praetor

We have also had partners this year. I am talking about Ventonuovo Games, very nice Italian guys with a passion for war games. They've displayed two impressive games and it was a perfect combination between our strategy and euros and they heavy war games.

Ventonuovo's Blocks in the West and Blocks in the East

I guess that there's a lot more to say about Spiel 2013, but these are the most striking memories, the images that I have very fresh in mind today. 

__________________

Find out more on the NSKN official website | Facebook  | BGG |  ScoopIT Magazine 

Follow us on Twitter: @NSKNGames

Space battles (or Spiel Essen - days 1,2 and 3)

It has been so busy here in Essen that we've kept postponing the daily updates... until now. These three days of Spiel 2013 were probably the toughest in the history of NSKN Games but also the most fun we've had since the very beginning of our board games adventure.

Once again, we'll let the pictures do the talking...

From day 1 we had the gaming tables full of happy gamers 

Demos from 10am to 7pm 

The revised edition of Exodus got most of the attention

Crowded... that's a happy publisher

Space battles @ Exodus 

Perfect Storm got it's share of attention

The third day was again about strategy, technology and ... space battles

Tired but happy, we'll give you the final update tomorrow!

__________________

Find out more on the NSKN official website | Facebook  | BGG |  ScoopIT Magazine 

Follow us on Twitter: @NSKNGames

Spiel Essen - day -2 - playing and preparing

Spiel '13 Essen in only two days away, but I guess that's old news for the true gamers. For the past weeks we've been doing nothing but preparing and yesterday we finally arrived to Germany to have a team reunion.

The top priority was to... play! I know, what else a bunch a gamers could do? This is what happened...

Perfect Storm was the game of our choice.
Throw in some food and beer and you have the recipe for a fun evening 

This is how Perfect Storm looks from the top, and this is still a prototype

Oh yes, before playing we went to IKEA and bought a shark

...and figured out to get the shark involved in the game

After a 10-hour drive from Poland, that's all we could handle for one night. We had a quick sleep - this is what Essen in about in the end, playing rather than sleeping - and woke up eager to play more.

It's a new day, let's keep on playing. These are the available choices, but how to decide?

Did I mention that we also had cats? So why not let them decide for us...

Eisenhower (that's the name of the black cat) was less than interested.
We decided to go for Praetor. But that's a story for tomorrow.

That is how the story of NSKN at Spiel '13 started. We invite you to visit our website and get the latest info.

__________________

Find out more on the NSKN official website | Facebook  | BGG |  ScoopIT Magazine 

Follow us on Twitter: @NSKNGames

Preparing for Spiel '13 Essen

NSKN Games is hitting yet another milestone this year. With our third presence at Spiel Essen, we are entering a new era because, for the first time, we are able to do it according to our imagination. Let me explain why...

Every other year we managed to bring one or two new games to the fair, play them and sell them and we made a good buzz. But we never managed to bring along final prototypes of the new games.

2013 come with good news. We have three games already play-tested, with the graphic art ready and made into nice looking prototypes. We also booked a larger space so that we have one playing table dedicated to each game. This way everyone will have the chance of testing, enjoying and giving feedback on the game we plan to release in 2014.

The three final prototypes I mentioned before are Praetor, a worker placement tile laying game for 2-5 players, W - The Board Game, a strategy game about American politics for two players and Perfect Storm, a lightweight Euro-game for 2-5 players.

We'll also bring along the games which we already have in stock. Warriors & Traders will be present at the fair for the third year with a significant discount, Wild Fun West will see its second Spiel Essen and last but not least we will release the revised edition of Exodus: Proxima Centauri. This is our most expected release and we have already talked about it in a previous post and we will bring more news as we get closer to the opening of the fair.

All in all, we are hoping that 2013 will mark a new beginning for NSKN at Essen. We will focus on playing, with up to 5 simultaneous sessions and we do hope that many of you will join us in Germany.

__________________

Find out more on the NSKN official website | Facebook  | BGG |  ScoopIT Magazine 

Follow us on Twitter: @NSKNGames

How to chose your holiday destination

Long time no hear! After two years of working like crazy I felt that the line has been crossed. The winter in Poland was absolutely out of the ordinary this year. The first three months were OK. Winter, you know, cold, snowy, rainy and so freakishly dark outside most of the day. Anyway, this would be still acceptable if only after all this winter sadness ... less winter came. However mother nature had a different plan and it brought us more winter sadness! It was the end of March when the temperature dropped to -10°C with heavy snowfall and wind outside our windows, letting us know that winter was not going to leave us neither easily nor soon. And you could feel that your heaters are on the limit! They may be able to get you to April... but then what? 

I have to be honest with you, I am completely weather dependent. When it's sunny outside, birds are singing and there is a rainbow on the sky - oh yeah! I feel the power! (and yes, I do sing "I got the power!", when I wake up with this picture outside of my window).

So I went to discover the sunny side of the earth, with the sneaky thought in my head: "When I come back it should get better in here. Maybe", and here comes the bold thought, "there will be Spring already in Poland."

(Just as a spoiler I will tell you now that when I landed back in Poland I sang "I got the power" again.) 

However, choosing holidays destinations was not easy. The winter was long, so you can imagine that I've played quite many board games and you know how they work - they move one's imagination! 


?? Should I go to Mexico and see Chichen Itza, Palenque, Uxmal, Tikal, Yaxchilan, as while playing Tzolkin I hanged on all those new places to discover?  This game, Tzolkin, put so much curiosity in my head! 

?? Maybe some place with nice beaches, white sand and palm trees? - Thank you Merchants & Marauders! Thank you Hawaii!

?? Or, or... I know ... something more exotic! Like in Ming Dynasty... Asia?? Asia!!

?? For adventure in dungeons with torches and magical blue potion in one pocket and a silver dagger in another I was not ready yet! Who knows, maybe in the summer... Winter and dungeons sounded too extreme in my head. Thou Descent: Journeys in the Dark filled the gap perfectly!

?? For Cosmic Encounter and Race for the Galaxy I was totally not prepared. What do I know about cosmos? What if Exodus will come and hey! what will you actually do if you discover a new form of life? Space definitely seemed too much to handle.

So Asia it was, without my gaming preferences I needed sun and I needed it immediately. Long story short - the trip was wonderful. It was long enough to detached from all the responsibilities, clear my mind and see things from a new perspective. I am now loaded with new ideas, my mind is nearly exploding! This year will bring a Perfect Storm and Praetor and W: The Board Game at least. We're planning to fit in all this also re-dressing of Exodus: Proxima Centauri this year. So, as I said, long story short - let me get back to work... I wanted to share with you that there are wonderful board games coming up this year from NSKN. And yes, I am genuinely smiling while writing this... ha! Wait till you play them!

Now, all our thoughts are focused on the preparation for the UK Games Expo 2013 on the 24th - 26th of May in Birmingham. We are printing, cutting and gluing prototypes so you can enjoy playing freshly made prototypes with Andrei and I there. Many more thing are going on at the same time.. World is never asleep and especially board gamers! So I hope to see you there!

As a conclusion of my adventure I want to share with you this picture. Some of you maybe have seen it already, as I shared it a few seconds after taking it ;-). However it is so mind blowing... imagine seeing this in reality!

Enjoy! And let your mind wonder!

Captured while wondering on the streets of Yogyakarta

__________________

Find out more on the NSKN official website | Facebook  | BGG |  ScoopIT Magazine 

Follow us on Twitter: @NSKNGames

Perfect Storm, yet another board game from NSKN

Do you like fishing? If you do, that's great news, you will enjoy our new prototype. If you're not sure, this is a great opportunity to learn.

Prototype of the map

Perfect Storm is a game for 2-5 player about fishing in the Bering Sea, one of the toughest places on Earth to have a job.

You are a young entrepreneur with a fishing boat and dreams of getting rich. So, you will hire a captain and a crew and send them fishing in those dangerous waters.

The weather in Bering Sea is the greatest challenge. It can be sunny today, but tomorrow your boat will face 25 ft tall waves and a storm you only get to see once in a lifetime. But it's not all bad news, the bigger the waves, the easier it is to catch the best seafood in the region, the Alaskan King Crab.

Perfect Storm is a game of risk management and every player will have to calculate his decision to fish for the most valuable prey without exposing his crew and cargo to unnecessary danger. In the end, the winner will be the player who will find the best balance between his boat, crew and captain, the place to fish and the risk to face bad weather.

More news after a few sessions of play-testing.

__________________

More about NSKN Legendary Games on the website | Facebook | Twitter | BGG |  ScoopIT Magazine | Blog

Warriors & Traders can also be found on its own website | Facebook |  BGG
Exodus: Proxima Centauri: website | BGG
Wild Fun West: website | BGG

Follow us on Twitter: Agni, Alexandra, Andrei and Vlad