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Spiel Essen´24 Debriefing

Assault Games at Essen 2024

On the Autobahn to Essen.

It was 3 October when the three of us, Michael, Erich and I, set off on the Autobahn to Essen. After about 9 hours travelling by electric car, we arrived at our accommodation for the next three days. As you can imagine, we had used this long time to prepare ourselves for the upcoming action in Essen. Michael and I had already attended this exhibition the last few years. For Erich, it was his first visit to Spiel in Essen. On the evening before our first day at the fair, we took advantage of the quiet surroundings and went for a walk in the countryside, where we were able to mentally prepare ourselves for the hustle and bustle.

Michael´s dream about his own castle.

The next day was the day. We set off shortly after 8 o’clock in the morning to drive to the exhibition centre. As we were exhibitors, we were allowed to park directly under the exhibition halls and were able to enter an hour before the official opening. As every year, we were flashed by the thousands of games on display. Every year, the publishers try to outdo each other with their exhibition stands. Just strolling through these halls is worth a visit. You can find all genres from children’s and family games to tabletop and historical games. But what about wargames? Yes, that’s right, wargames or ‘conflict-free’ in Germany called ‘Konsim’… although I prefer to use the term historical games in future.

Well, I have to say that the number of participants has unfortunately decreased over the last few years. It’s difficult to say why. Perhaps the ratio of effort to benefit? Maybe the date just doesn’t fit into the calendar of these publishers? Or is there a loss of interest in this game genre?

I can’t judge that definitively. These types of games are certainly outnumbered in Essen every year – but there are still glimmers of hope!

And this star on the horizon, or to put it more appropriately. The banner of this great type of historical games was definitely still held high by Sound of Drums GmbH (SOD). And we, the Assault team, were allowed to be there as co-operation partners! As a short interlude, we have now concluded a co-operation agreement with SOD for just under a year to place the publishing work for the Assault System in the hands of Uwe Walentin. This gives us more time to write such texts or, more importantly, to develop new ideas.

Yes, and this flag for historical games was now flying high in Hall 5 on Stand 5G100 – wow!

From left to right: Marc von Martial (Art Director SOD), Erich Rankl (Designer), Wolfgang Klein (Designer and Owner Assault Games), Uwe Walentin (Designer and Owner SOD).

Now I could also abbreviate this report and end with the words. Wow! Great time! A lot of interest in our new module Assault Sicily 43- Gela Beahhead. And all the stand copies were sold out…

But I would like to colour in our experiences a little more. So if you still want to read more, then go on…

First day, Friday, 4th October:

After Erich and I arrived at the SOD stand, Michael had already disappeared into the hallowed tabletop halls to use the time before the official rush for his private purchases, we were the first ones there. And then we started to modify the stand so that we could showcase our Assault Sicily 43 – Gela Beachhead. The location of SOD was, in our opinion, not so optimally placed. We were right in the transition area from Hall 4 to Hall 5 and Hall 5 was more for the family games genre… well, we were allocated this space, so we accepted the challenge. And it turned out that this spot was just right for us.

Red circle shows our position.

As the mass delivery of the game was still in transit or in a container on the high seas, Uwe had flown in our versions for food. This meant that we had never held our final product in our own hands before… So this was a bit of a first – like children at Christmas, Erich and I celebrated the moment of unpacking. Quickly opening the dispatch box… taking out one of the three games… phew! I needed both hands because the game actually weighed a hefty 5kg. And up onto the gaming table…

And there was this absolutely beautiful historical game on our table. We were impressed. The cover design alone by our art director Marc von Martial makes us want more. We opened the box in a Blitzkrieg-style raid – it should be noted that the shrink-wrapped lid was slightly protruding – so that it would later sit properly on the base in its unpunched state.

A proud Erich.

What we saw was more beautiful than expected. The two ring-bound books with a matt finish. A huge pile of punchboards for the 700+ counters and markers. Underneath, the double-sided mapboards, beautifully fitted into the transparent inlay. And under the transparent inlay the two sorting boxes for all the markers, cards and dice. This is how we would have liked our purchased games to look in the past. After all, how often did you buy a game for 80 or more euros and then have to pay good money for sorting options? This has now come to an end with Assault here and now… according to the motto: ‘Once there, everything in!’.

Yes, it is so beautiful.

So! Enough raving. Without further ado, we prepared a small game situation on the table and placed the box cover in the direction of potential visitors’ paths as an eye-catcher. After that, our time was up!

— A short throw-in in between —

While Erich and I were busy preparing, Uwe came to the stand and told us that on the first day of the fair (Thursday, 3 October), during the rush for SOD, someone somehow managed to steal an Assault Sicily 43 box. Unfortunately, the thief could not be caught. Apparently our box is so attractive that it is worth stealing. Nevertheless, I wish this person a lot of fun with our system and if there is justice – friends of the thief will find their way to our webshop.

— end. —

So now back to the actual story… how should I tell it? Well, as soon as we had agreed on how to stage Assault, the first interested visitors came to our table. The dice rolled across the battlefield in Sicily. Hands were shaken… The day disappeared into endless conversations and explanations of the Assault system and very satisfied faces of our visitors… twice I was even asked to give two live interviews, one for the biggest Italian games magazine and one for a German Youtuber (Herr der Spiele). That was new territory, but as Erich always says as an old Panzergrenadier: ‘Dran, drauf und drüber!’. A great honour for me!

Marcel Torz a German reviewer (Herr der Spiele) discusses about Assault.
My first and only short video shot during day 1… too busy.

I looked at my watch and it was late evening. A real madness. I didn’t have a chance to stroll through the other halls myself… But we were proud to realise that we had sold almost half of the games available at our stand and to be honest – Erich and I hadn’t expected so much encouragement and positive feedback. An overwhelming first day… what else could surprise us the next day? Completely overwhelmed by the impressions of the day and the many conversations, we retired to the restaurant after the end of the fair and reviewed the day. Later, we fell contentedly into bed so that the alarm clock could send us off to the next day.

Second day, Saturday, 5th October:

Our second day began as usual with breakfast, a trip to the car park and the walk to the exhibition stand. The routine of the previous day began before the official start of the trade fair and Erich and I were already back in the battle (in a positive sense) with interested parties.

Crowdy… not more to say.
Erich in action with Norman from https://www.instagram.com/spassamspielen/

A positive side effect was to see how Erich’s dusty English skills were suddenly reactivated to explain our Assault System to two guests who had travelled from the UK… a few minutes turned into a long time and the friendly response and many questions testified to a high level of interest and approval for our game. The conclusion of the two die-hard wargamers from the UK was overwhelming… they talked about their varied experiences with numerous other tactical systems, but quickly came to the conclusion that our Assault System would be an excellent choice. Yet another box changed hands. ‘Chris and Pete! Thanks a lot for sharing thoughts and supporting our dream. Have really much fun with our system! Greets go to UK! Probably see you at Punchedcon’.

Our new friends from UK took a signed version home.

Erich was at the table explaining the game when two gentlemen from Germany stopped by. After a brief greeting, I was allowed to argue our three main arguments in favour of the Assault System, dynamic campaign play, customised dice and formation cards – i.e. sandbox character… well, despite his own purchasing restrictions, Rolf did make his case. Fun fact… the second gentleman came back to our stand later and also wanted to buy an Assault game. Dear Rolf, I wish you both a lot of fun with our game and look forward to your participation in the next Assault tournament. If you have any questions about the game, just get in touch with me.

Rolf. A new German fan of Assault…
…and later his friend with Uwe!

I don’t want to forget another visitor. Like every year, Michal from Poland visited us again this time. He is busy travelling to report on this genre of games (The Boardgames Chronicle). And by now we can safely call him a friend of the Assault System. Our first work Assault Red Horizon 41 caught his attention and now he was one of the first backers to pick up the new box directly from the stand. We were even able to use the time to familiarise ourselves with the new v2.0 close combat rules. After a few examples and a few dice rolls, his questions were now clearly answered. Dear Michal, thank you for your visit. We look forward to the next tournament games with you – there are still some unfinished scores – see you online.

Michal, backer number #10 gets his copy

When it got quieter in the halls, I looked at my watch… it was 19:00 and that was the end of this day at the fair. There were still two Assault Sicily 43s left on the counter… and one more day left at the fair. We gratefully closed the stand and accepted Uwe’s invitation to have dinner together.

Second from left: Marcel Torz aka Herr der Spiele will do a next interview and playthrough about Assault.

This was the last day in Essen for the three of us and on Sunday morning we got back on the motorway and headed home. Back to real life – family and work. You could go into raptures and the thought of only earning a living with board games is a nice one… But then it would be a job like any other and the question is, would it still be as much fun as it is in the current situation?

But everyone has to answer this question for themselves. For me personally, it would be attractive.

We, the three of us who have been actively developing the Assault System for more than 10 years now, are grateful and proud of our families and the support we have received from all sides in order to live our hobby.

Our thanks go to Uwe, who holds up the flag of historical games in Essen and thus offers a safe harbour to many interested people. Thank you for allowing us to be there!

And of course we, Sound of Drums included, would like to thank all the supporters of our projects. From our customers to all those who contribute their time and skills to the development of these beautiful titles.

Personally, I would like to thank my two friends Erich and Michael for their endless patience in listening to my explanations and for our endless discussions about the Assault System – that’s the only way it became what it is. I am grateful for that.

With this in mind! THANK YOU ALL!

Wolfgang Klein (Designer and Owner of Assault Games)

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