More ESSEN ENVIE: Covenant, The Druids of Edora, Railway Boom, and Tax the Rich

I’m not at Essen Spiel, but I’ve been spending a lot of my free time watching and listening and reading the coverage from board game content creators, travelers, and publishers. 

Someday I’ll get there. Someday. 

This would have been a good year to go, because there are a lot of interesting games that I’ve seen covered so far, some that did not make my Top Twenty Essen Envie games list: 

https://boardgamegumbo.wordpress.com/2025/09/29/essen-envie-…

If you have played any of these, let me know your thoughts, because I’m going to try and seek them out at BGG.CON next month if not before. 

First up on my watch list is Covenant, a game designed by Germán P. Millán and published by Devir Games.I’m not sure how I skipped over this one as an Envie game, because it’s got a few of my favorite elements. It’s a worker placement game with dwarves. That should have been enough already. 

But, since I’m seeing lots of pictures on the intertrons, I went back and looked at some preview and review videos (like the excellent video from Board Game Ramblings that you can find on the BGG page for the game), and I like the twist that the worker placement is really for your plans, without affecting others, with lots of chances for bonuses and final scoring. Sure, that means it’s less interactive than worker placement games usually are, but it’s nice to experiment with the genre.

Another one I cannot believe I missed is The Druids of Edora, from Stefan Feld and alea / Ravensburger. Some claim that Feld does his best work when he designs those 60-90 minute euros from alea, and it’s hard to argue when you think about The Castles of Burgundy and Carpe Diem (although Aquasphere wasn’t an alea game to my knowledge.) 

I’ve been seeing lots of pictures, and the posts I’ve read about the demos and gameplay suggest that it’s a return to Felds’ medium-light decision space, with lots of ways to score points. Point salad, you say? Done by a designer at the top of his game? I’m in and I’m definitely going to try to find a copy at BGG.CON.

Next up is a train game from a designer that I don’t think of when I think about train games. I’m talking Railway Boom by designer Hisashi Hayashi. First off, it’s got that classic look from Ian O’Toole (reminiscent of the Capstone Games’ Iron Rails series of cube rail games). Second, it looks like a cube rail adjacent train game — in other words, it’s got auctions and laying track, but it does not seem to have the other elements. 

Railway Boom looks gorgeous and different, and that’s two things I like to have on my gaming table. 

Finally, I have been seeing people carrying around copies of Tax The Rich, a trick-taking game designed by Kristian Amundsen Østby and Kjetil Svendsen and published by Alion (who made a game that did make my Envie list, Recall.) 

I love what I’ve read and seen about this game. It’s a trick-taker, with a cool twist — you bid on the trump and how many you think you can win, and then try to meet the goal. But if ever one player has a hand full of cards with flags, you can call for a revolution, and all of the values flip. That sounds awesome. 

All right, that’s a quick list of four games that have caught my eye from the loads of coverage I’m seeing all over the internet at Essen Spiel. Are there any games that I’ve missed that I should check out at BGG.CON? They usually have a good selection of the Essen Spiel games there, so there is a good chance I can find the game and give it a whirl. 

Until next time, laissez les bon temps rouler! 

— BJ from Board Game Gumbo