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BoardgameTonic

@boardgametonic

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🎲 #boardgames since 2019
👩🏼‍🤝‍👨🏻 @tanjasoenke80 & @marcosoenke
🇩🇪 Frankfurt / GER
📰 BoardgameTimes / @boardcouture.shop
🥃 Cynar Tonic, Tequila Soda

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After a lazy summer, we tried to get back on track with board games in September. 32 plays is okay, but we can do better. 😄 We mostly played lighter or midweight games this month.

🛤️ RAILROAD TILES (including expansions) is still a lot of fun, and we also got another round of RIFFWELTEN to the table.
@heidelbaer_de
🌄 PANORAMA was a cute surprise. It’s a fast-playing game where you build a landscape by drafting tiles. Definitely lighter than the games mentioned above, but also more compact — we finished a game in about 20 minutes.
@scorpionmasque

🃏 BLOOM KINGDOM and HAUSHOCH are currently our card games of choice.
For roll, flip & write games, we had a game-night play of HADRIAN’S WALL and brought TRAILS OF TUCANA back to the table after quite some time.

@Bretterbude_Boardgames introduced us to YONDER (@sinisterfishgames), and @Brettballet came along for a short visit. We played BEAN TO BAR, a new game from @Spielworxx. We enjoyed both games, but neither made us want to add them to our collection.

We also finally played HOUSE OF FADO, which was okay, and ZHANGOU, which seems to be more interesting with more than two players.

And since Tanja had only played ENDEAVOR: DEEP SEA once so far, we decided to give it another go — three times, actually. 😅
@frostedgames

The month was rounded out by: Grand Austria Hotel Dungeon Designer Trinket Trove Reforest Honeypot Tutto Excalibur

And then there was our first play of AQUA GARDEN. We’ve had this one on our list for quite some time and backed it in the latest Kickstarter for the Garden Trilogy.
It certainly looks beautiful, but our first plays were a little disappointing — especially with just the base game, which felt like it was missing some tension for us. The BEACH COMBING expansion adds a bit more to the game, but we’ll need a few more plays to see if it’s a keeper.
@uchibacoya

🎲 What were your highlights from last month?
 #brettspiele #boardgames #boardgamers #gamenight #boardgaming taken in Frankfurt, Germany by @boardgametonic

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21 hours ago

Alumni, assemble! 🧑‍🎓

In 1,5 Wochen ist es endlich wieder soweit: das Boardgame-Business trifft sich zur @spiel_messe 2026. Neben den Neuerscheinungen des Jahres, bekanntermaßen auch das große Klassentreffen der Brettspiel-Szene.

Und wer klar machen will, dass er zur absoluten Essen-Elite gehört, der kommt zum Beispiel einfach in unserem passenden Master-Merch, dem Boardgame University-Shirt (Abschluss-Urkunde nicht inklusive).

Dieses und viele weitere Shirts, bei Bestellung bis 15. Oktober, garantiert noch vor der SPIEL geliefert ▶️ BOARDCOUTURE.SHOP

Pro-Tipps 💡

1️⃣ für mehr als 55 € bestellen und sich die Versandkosten sparen

2️⃣ Option "Abholung auf der Spiel Essen" beim Checkout wählen und Ware bequem auf der Messe abholen (PEKTIS - Halle 3)

#boardcouture #boardgametonic #SPIEL2026 #boardgames #boardgamers taken in SPIEL Essen by @boardgametonic

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4 days ago

🌵 GO WEST – DER WILDE WESTEN BAUT SICH NICHT VON ALLEIN! 🤠

Staubige Straßen, endlose Landschaften und irgendwo zwischen Goldrausch und Größenwahn entsteht deine eigene Siedlung.

Doch wer glaubt, im Wilden Westen reicht es, einfach ein paar Gebäude in die Prärie zu setzen, hat die Rechnung ohne seine Mitspieler gemacht. 💰

In GO WEST von Skellig Games werden Gebäude geplant, Landschaften erschlossen und Dollar verdient.

Aber Vorsicht: Nicht jeder Bauplatz ist Gold wert – und manchmal entscheidet die richtige Nachbarschaft über deinen Erfolg.

🎲 BoardDrift packt aus und erklärt!

Wir werfen einen Blick auf das Material und zeigen euch, wie aus ein paar Gebäudekarten eine florierende Westernsiedlung werden soll.

Also: Sattel festziehen. Wir ziehen nach Westen! 🐎

💰 GO WEST – MEHR ALS NUR STAUB UND DOLLAR!

Wer im Wilden Westen etwas aufbauen will, braucht drei Dinge: Land, einen guten Plan und natürlich jede Menge Baumaterial.

Und genau davon hat GO WEST einiges im Gepäck! 🤠

🏜️ Vier unterschiedliche Landkarten bilden die Grundlage für eure Siedlungen. Dazu gesellen sich zahlreiche Gebäudeplättchen, Karten, bunte Holzhäuser und ein ordentlicher Stapel Dollar.

🏦 Besonders charmant: die kleinen Tresore für euer Geld. Denn was wäre ein Western ohne eine Bank, die man am liebsten gleich ausrauben würde?

🎨 Die Gebäude sind liebevoll illustriert, die Landschaften abwechslungsreich und die gesamte Gestaltung versprüht echtes Western-Flair.

Hier wird nicht einfach nur Material auf den Tisch gekippt – hier wartet eine kleine Pionierstadt darauf, zum Leben erweckt zu werden.

Aber schöne Gebäude allein machen noch keine erfolgreiche Siedlung.

👉 Auf dem nächsten Slide schauen wir uns an, wie aus den Karten tatsächlich eine Stadt entsteht.

🃏 GO WEST – ERST PLANEN, DANN BAUEN! 🌵

Im Wilden Westen wurde nicht jede Stadt an einem Tag errichtet. Und bei GO WEST schon gar nicht! 🤠

Über vier Runden versucht ihr, eure Siedlung Stück für Stück wachsen zu lassen.

🏗️ Schritt 1 – Der Kartendraft

Zu Beginn jeder Runde werden Gebäudekarten verteilt. Ihr wählt jeweils eine Karte aus und gebt die übrigen weiter.

So entsteht nach und nach eure persönliche Kartena taken in Köln, Germany by @boardgametonic

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5 days ago

Another Intermezzo.

Headlines with a Meta-Level only boardgamers understand.

Headlines written by humans.
Pics made with AI, obviously. taken in Frankfurt, Germany by @boardgametonic

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9 days ago

Eingespielt & ausgestattet!

Nach dem diesjährigen Sommer(spiele)loch, haben wir die Schlagzahl auf dem Weg zur @spiel_messe wieder deutlich erhöht. Irgendwie müssen die Cynar Tonics des Sommers ja wieder abtrainiert werden, damit wir auch wieder brav in unser Messe-Dress passen 😂

Sam trägt unser retro 90-210 Playtime-Shirt in Cotton Pink, because real players wear pink, während Tanja in unserem kuscheligen BG-Type-Sweater über der Playmat thront.

Wenn ihr noch auf der Suche nach eurem OOTD für Essen seid, hier gehts lang ▶️ BOARDCOUTURE.SHOP

Jetzt noch bis 15. Oktober bestellen!

✅️ Garantierte Lieferung vor der SPIEL ESSEN
🚚 Versandkostenfrei ab 55 € Bestellwert
🛍️ Persönlicher Pickup auf der SPIEL (PEKTIS - Halle 3 / Option bei Checkout)

#boardcouture #boardgametonic #SPIEL2026 #boardgames #boardgamers taken in SPIEL Essen by @boardgametonic

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10 days ago

After a lazy summer, we tried to get back on track with board games in September. 32 plays is okay, but we can do better. 😄 We mostly played lighter or midweight games this month.

🛤️ RAILROAD TILES by @heidelbaer_de (including expansions) is still a lot of fun, and we also got another round of RIFFWELTEN to the table (@strohmanngames), that‘s growing on us.
🌄 PANORAMA by @scorpionmasque was a cute surprise. It’s a fast-playing game where you build a landscape by drafting tiles. Definitely lighter than the games mentioned above, but also more compact — we finished a game in about 20 minutes.

🌻BLOOM KINGDOM (@deepprintgames) and 🏠HAUSHOCH (@allgogamescom) are currently our card games of choice.
For roll, flip & write games, we had a game-night play of HADRIAN’S WALL and brought TRAILS OF TUCANA back to the table after quite some time.

@bretterbude_boardgames introduced us to the cute YONDER (@giant.roc), and @brettballett came along for a short visit. We played ☕️BEAN TO BAR, a new game from Spielworxx. We enjoyed both games, but neither made us want to add them to our collection.

We also finally played 🎸HOUSE OF FADO, which was okay, and ZHANGOU, which seems to be more interesting with more than two players.

Since Tanja had only played ⛴️ENDEAVOR: DEEP SEA (@frostedgames) once so far, we decided to give it another go — three times, actually. 😅

The month was rounded out by: Grand Austria Hotel Dungeon Designer Trinket Trove Reforest Honeypot Tutto Excalibur

And then there were first plays of 🐟AQUA GARDEN. We’ve had this one on our list for quite some time and backed it in the latest Kickstarter for the Garden Trilogy.
It certainly looks beautiful, but our first plays were a little disappointing — especially with just the base game, which felt like it was missing some tension for us. The BEACH COMBING expansion adds a bit more to the game, but we’ll need a few more plays to see if it’s a keeper.

🎲 What were your highlights from last month?
 #brettspiele #boardgames #boardgamers #gamenight #boardgaming taken in Frankfurt, Germany by @boardgametonic

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13 days ago

@spiel_messe PREVIEW PART 2

We pre-ordered WILDSCAPE right after Berlincon. @karma__games already has two top titles under its belt, „Clans of Caledonia“ and „Millennia“, this one looks very promising too.

GO WEST is on the list out of personal interest—for the umpteenth time: Marco did the artwork, but it’s also a really good game, blah blah blah.

Also preordered:
TORII VALLEY, it’s beautiful and apparently only available in limited quantities.
BEAR NECESSITIES, same here, we let the visuals sway us on that one.
KALYPSO, the deluxe version is apvailable in the Pegasus shop.

INTERESTING

GREENWOOD IS A LIE was a „must-have“, but after friends in our gaming group got to try it out and their reactions were lukewarm, we’ve become cautious. The cover art is still appealing, though, so we’ll take another look at it.

We hadn’t really considered CARL VON LINNÉ, but early feedback landed it on our list. That said, it’s not necessarily something you have to buy at the fair.

With ETERNAL DECKS, we can’t tell if it’s our kind of game, but it sounds interesting and looks great.

SNOW PLANNER, from the Japanese publisher @14games_jp („Elementica“), looks stylish. You build your own winter sports resort. Could it be a hidden gem?

The theme of JISOGI is appealing, though it’s hard to say if the gameplay holds up.
TIMESPAN also made the list recently. As for civilization games, we really enjoyed „Millennia“ lately. However: it costs €65 at the fair, whereas online pre-orders are around €56 shipping in November—so we’ll probably wait on that one.
LADYBIRD is a tableau-building game featuring beetles that looks interesting, though a „take-that“ element is a drawback. It will be hard to find, as it comes from a small Scandinavian publisher.

The Mix, Raas and Seagrass have already been crossed off the list, as their gameplay simply doesn’t sound appealing enough.

Have we overlooked anything essential, or is the overall lineup still quite manageable this year? We’re optimistic; last year, we skipped most of Hall 3 to focus on Halls 4 and 5, and we still managed to find a few surprises there.

#brettspiele #boardgames #boardgamers #gamenight #boardgaming taken in Frankfurt, Germany by @boardgametonic

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15 days ago

SPIEL PREVIEW PART 1

As it is tradition, we’re sharing our preview for the @spiel_messe. However, we don’t have a huge number of „must-haves“ on our list just yet. So, we’re starting with expansions and the „Maybe“ games we want to check out. Part 2 will cover the titles we’re more excited about.

-60°
Pfister is always interesting, but it remains to be seen if it’s good enough to justify the €80 price tag.

CHRONOCRITTERS
Visually, it doesn’t appeal to us at all, but we’ll take a look anyway.

THE MIX
We really like the theme and artwork, though we’re a bit hesitant since „Distilled“—which shares a similar theme—was a disappointment. That said, Haba is an interesting choice for a publisher, and they’re offering the game at an attractive pre-order price for the fair—something hardly anyone else does.

PRAG - IM VERBORGENEN / CARL VON LINNE
We initially overlooked both of these, but they could turn out to be interesting

KANO / TORII VALLEY / SEAGRASS / KALYPSO / RAAS / GROW SKY
All medium level games that really appeal to us visually but don’t know much about yet — we might well pick up one or two of these. We are not resistant to beautiful games 😁

SPACE LAB
From the creators of „Faraway“, so it’s of interest.

LOOP 40
No SPIEL is complete without an Oink Games title.

TERRAVISTA
Looks a lot like „Trails of Tucana“ but we’re always up for a roll-and-write.

Tanja has some additional picks like:
LEDA, Elementica, High Moon, Ährensache oder Seoul Journey

EXPANSIONS (Brief overview):
+++
New packs for „Auf wilden Wegen“
Viticulture: Bordeaux

++
Endeavor
Pixies
Tornado Splash – Character Skill

+
Arnak surprise delivery
Smart 10 – 90s
Wer stiehlt mir die Show?

Current titles we’ve already played (let us know in the comments if you’d like feedback on any of these):
Ayar
Bean to Bar
Bloom Kingdom
Container
Covenant
Emberleaf
Go West
Goa
La Cuenta
Natera
Pilgrims
Railway Porters

That’s it for now. Do you have any of these on your list, or are there any surprises in the mix?

#brettspiele #boardgames #boardgamers #gamenight #boardgaming taken in Frankfurt, Germany by @boardgametonic

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20 days ago

Things were a bit easy on the gaming front over the last two months, we made the most of the weather and got out. Things have picked up again recently, though; here’s a small selection of what we’ve played.

YONDER
A nice worker-placement game with attractive visuals; it offers a few interesting twists without being exceptional. It’s fun, but didn’t quite tempt us enough to buy a copy. Played with @bretterbude_boardgames

HOUSE OF FADO
Bretterbude also lent us the lite version of „The Gallerist“. It adopts a few mechanics from the original game but makes them more beginner-friendly. It plays pleasantly enough, though unfortunately, some of the depth is lost in the process. It’s interesting for maybe 3–5 plays, but after that, I’d rather play „The Gallerist“—which is already one of Lacerda’s more accessible titles.

REFOREST
It’s often hailed as the new—or even better—„Mischwald“ (Forest Shuffle), but it doesn’t come close. There are some similarities, and it looks good, is compact, and plays quite well. However, it doesn’t capture the same vibe as „Mischwald“; that game is in a league of its own.

HONEYPOT
Playing as bear agents, we gather information and equipment by assembling folders of cards for our opponents. They then have to decide which two cards to take. There’s a touch of deduction involved, and the ultimate goal is to score points by completing sets. Good for larger groups and quite fun.

HAUSHOCH / GRACHTENPAND
A snappy „Absacker“ (Closer) game featuring drafting, where we build colorful houses along a Dutch canal. We actually picked this one up at the SPIEL fair two years ago.

PANORAMA
A lovely tile-laying game where we construct a panorama featuring various landscapes. We draft tiles from a central rondel, similar to the style of „Nova Luna“. It relies a bit heavily on luck, but plays quickly.

CONTAINER
Sold after just one game. Two of the four players maneuvered themselves into such a dead end that they were virtually unable to take any action for half the game. Mistakes can happen, of course, but the game isn’t complicated, and we didn’t spot any rule errors.

#brettspiele #boardgames #boardgamers #gamenight #boardgaming taken in Frankfurt, Germany by @boardgametonic

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23 days ago

Aus gegebenem Anlass und als Reminder für uns alle:

MIT RECHTEN SPIELT MAN NICHT! ❌

Daher gibt es bei uns ab sofort zu allen Bestellungen einen Button gratis dazu, solange unser Vorrat reicht!

➡️ boardcouture.shop

#boardcouture #gegenrechts #mitrechtenspieltmannicht taken in Frankfurt, Germany by @boardgametonic

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a month ago

The good weather has kept us outside more than at the game table over the past few weeks, so there hasn’t been much to report lately. But we did get to play a few of the games from Berlincon several times.

🌊 RIFFWELTEN (@strohmanngames ) At first, we were a little too quick to dismiss this as a Cascadia copy, but after several plays it proved to have enough of its own identity to earn a spot in our collection. And there’s room for both! It’s a similarly challenging tile-laying puzzle with multiple layers. This time, you’re building a reef with corals and fish. It looks great and offers plenty of long-term challenges, especially with the expansion. If you like Cascadia, you really can’t go wrong with this one.

🐝 WUSELIGE WIESEN (@frostedgames ) Don’t let the cute artwork fool you here either: underneath is another challenging tile puzzle, where you want to combine the tiles as cleverly as possible to attract bees and have them pollinate your flowers. Easy-to-learn rules, but plenty of depth. It also plays quickly and comes with lovely components. Very nice!

🌸 BLOOM KINGDOM (@deepprintgames) This one has already hit the table several times, too. A very entertaining card game where, over three rounds, you play 4 of your 6 cards and use the remaining two for scoring. Since everyone is playing cards, the tableau is constantly changing, which also changes the value of the cards. So you have to think carefully about your choices. We’re especially enjoying this one with larger groups.

🍎 MARKET FRESH (@hasbrogaming_deutsch) The first thing that catches your eye is the lovely presentation with all those fruit crates. It’s enjoyable for several plays, but compared to the other games, it started to lose some of its appeal a little sooner. After a few games, we felt like we had seen pretty much everything. That said, it’s by no means a bad game, and the majority scoring adds a bit more interaction. Check it out.

#brettspiele #boardgames #boardgamers #gamenight #boardgaming taken in Frankfurt, Germany by @boardgametonic

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2 months ago

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3 months ago