Debuting at the show for AEG was War Chest ($50), a war-themed abstract strategy game with what they call a bag-building element. Like the quintessential game in this category, Chess, each type of piece moves and fights in a different way. But rather than trying to capture opposing pieces, the goal here is to control a set of board spaces. Also, the pieces themselves are Poker chips (nice heavy, solid ones too). An important part of the game is choosing which pieces to put in the bag, because only those drawn from the bag can be activated and moved on the board.
Hitting retail later this month will be Greedy Kingdoms ($25), a bluffing and resource collection game for AEG’s Big in Japan line. The goal in Greedy Kingdoms is to build palaces. Each turn, players select and reveal three of nine character cards simultaneously. Any that match are blocked. Those that aren’t produce resources, which can be used to build, buy upgrades, and even upgrade character cards.
Planned for an Essen release is Scorpius Freighter. This one’s about smuggling in a science-fiction setting and has players upgrading their ships, hiring crew, and taking on contracts. Moving one of the central ship pieces is what allows a player to do something with their own ship. But for each rotation that central ship makes, a cargo piece is added to its hold, and when that hold is full, the government will clamp down on smuggling and the game is over.