This member of The Meeple Guild was rather excited when Enso arrived for review a short while ago.
There were a couple of reasons for that excitement.
To begin with, Enso is a new offering from designer Dieter Stein.
Stein is simply one of my favourite active game designers, at least when it comes to abstract strategy games, which are an admitted favourite of mine. He has created some of the best games in the genre this millennium, with titles such as Volo, Ordo, Urbino, and Fendo immediately coming to mind. (You can check out his excellent website at spielstein.com.)
Secondly, the game hitting our table comes from publisher Kanare_Abstract. Regular readers will recognize the name. Kanare_Abstract has published a veritable cornucopia of abstract strategy games that come in small boxes, easy to store and carry, with attractive cloth boards and wooden pieces. Most are at least solid experiences, and several are worthy of the top shelf.
So, Enso arrived with fairly high expectations for such a small box.
From a production standpoint, it delivers exactly what we’ve come to expect from Kanare_Abstract, so that’s a definite positive.
But how does Enso play?
The rules are straightforward, although they take a bit of time to fully grasp, as the movement of pieces is somewhat unusual, not a new approach for Stein, who also created Mixtour, a game known for its unique movement parameters.
In Enso, the possible moves for a piece depend on its adjacent state: a piece next to an enemy must capture; a piece adjacent only to allies can move more freely; and positioning becomes a key part of decision-making.
About Author
Calvin Daniels is a Saskatchewan-born, self-taught journalist. He is currently Editor of Yorkton This Week, with 35-years in the newspaper business.
More to Consider on Each Move Than Initially Imagined
This member of The Meeple Guild was rather excited when Enso arrived for review a short while ago.
There were a couple of reasons for that excitement.
To begin with, Enso is a new offering from designer Dieter Stein.
Stein is simply one of my favourite active game designers, at least when it comes to abstract strategy games, which are an admitted favourite of mine. He has created some of the best games in the genre this millennium, with titles such as Volo, Ordo, Urbino, and Fendo immediately coming to mind. (You can check out his excellent website at spielstein.com.)
Secondly, the game hitting our table comes from publisher Kanare_Abstract. Regular readers will recognize the name. Kanare_Abstract has published a veritable cornucopia of abstract strategy games that come in small boxes, easy to store and carry, with attractive cloth boards and wooden pieces. Most are at least solid experiences, and several are worthy of the top shelf.
So, Enso arrived with fairly high expectations for such a small box.
From a production standpoint, it delivers exactly what we’ve come to expect from Kanare_Abstract, so that’s a definite positive.
But how does Enso play?
The rules are straightforward, although they take a bit of time to fully grasp, as the movement of pieces is somewhat unusual, not a new approach for Stein, who also created Mixtour, a game known for its unique movement parameters.
In Enso, the possible moves for a piece depend on its adjacent state: a piece next to an enemy must capture; a piece adjacent only to allies can move more freely; and positioning becomes a key part of decision-making.
About Author
Calvin Daniels
Calvin Daniels is a Saskatchewan-born, self-taught journalist. He is currently Editor of Yorkton This Week, with 35-years in the newspaper business.
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