Well, I was going to enter a recent Garrett's Games and Geekiness contest, but never got around to recording myself talking about the games I'm looking forward to at this year's Essen.  Since I missed the deadline, I figured that at least I could make this into a blog entry, so here we are...

Anyway, I've not really been all that hyped up about the International Spieltage 2008 to be held in lovely Essen, Germany (not that I've ever actually been there, but I'm sure that it's just got to be lovely).  I've not been in the modern boardgaming community all that long, but there doesn't seem to be as much excitement in general floating around our online gathering places this year.  And in fact, after looking through all the pre-Essen lists I can at BGG, there are only about 5 games that I'm really excited about:

1) Ascendancy - I actually did a little playtesting for this quick, space-domination game, and I can't wait to see the final product.  I've already preordered it from JKLM, in fact.  Overall, the playtest version I played felt a lot more like Antike than Twilight Imperium, but still had a lot of well-integrated, savory space theme infused throughout.  They added in a modular board system after I played it, and I'm sure there were several other tweaks to make it even better.  All that and with a play time of as little as 60 minutes, too!  I can't wait!!!

2) Space Alert - I love me some space theme, and this one has cooperative play as well!  The idea of using a CD to introduce challenges and missions is really cool and innovative, and I like the real-time element as well.   

3) Ghost Stories - It's cooperative, looks great, and I've heard tons of good stuff.  Unless the buzz flips around on this one, I'll own it the first chance I get.

4) Dominion - Definitely the hype-monster of the show, if half of what I've heard about this from the Gathering and other playtests is true, then I and my game group will absolutely love it.

5) Race for the Galaxy: The Gathering Storm - We love Race at Hypermind, and we've been waiting for this since we started playing.  We're actually planning a Race for the Galaxy tournament after this is released.

Also "on the radar":

After the Flood - I desperately want to play Tinner's Trail based on all that I've heard about it, which has made me interested in the whole Treefrog line, and I tend to like Martin Wallace in general anyway... plus, the theme is pretty interesting.  Given that it will be difficult to get ahold of and is for 3-players only, though, I'll wait to hear more. 

The Princes of Machu Picchu -  I like Gerdtz pretty well, and the theme is interesting.  Plus, I want to see how the "rondel that isn't a rondel" design works.

Cavum -  I love Kramer, but the theme is a little meh for me.  Want to hear more...

Heads of State - Doug Garrett said that this was great, but its theme and overall mechanics seem a little tired to me.

Tulipmania 1637 - It's about Tulips, man!  And it's designed by Scott Nicholson!  Tulips!!!