"Come on, man. Don't tarry. The game's afoot ... Poland!"
Karl Bernhardt
Poland
Wrocław
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Apologies for the title but I am just reading the "new" Sherlock Holmes novel by Anthony Horowitz.
As 2011 draws to a close, so does Poland's first Presidency of the European Union. Next year sees the European football championships hosted jointly by Poland and the Ukraine and earlier this autumn Wroclaw, the city where I live, was chosen to be European City of Culture in 2016. Whoopee! Well, at least our elected representatives will now have ample excuse to jolly off on factfinding missions to the Caribbean to see how to organise all these beanfeasts.
I thought a Geeklist was in order to celebrate all things Poland. So here goes ...
10 games (sort of) with a Polish theme (sometimes kicking and screaming).
Feel free to comment or add.
Happy 2012 everyone!
Nedzhik
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Karl Bernhardt
Poland
Wrocław
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A game celebrating the Communist utopia!
This is a new take on Happy Families where you have to queue. Oh joy of joys! But don't be fooled that shoes can be found at the shoe shop. It always pays to check the food store first.
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Karl Bernhardt
Poland
Wrocław
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Based on the book by Norman Davies. A game of infighting Polish style.
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Karl Bernhardt
Poland
Wrocław
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OK, so this is the same game as God's Playground, but now with new and improved go-faster stripes and a 4-player variant. The fact that it is all in Polish just adds to the confusion (sorry, fun). After all, those Polish noble families never really did understand what they wanted, so why do we need to understand the rules of the game?
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Karl Bernhardt
Poland
Wrocław
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A game of derring-do as the knights of Poland bid to defeat the dastardly warrior-monks of the Teutonic Order.
1410 - the date of the Battle of Grunwald - is also a very popular burglar alarm code in these parts. Bear this in mind if you ever feel like some light-fingered fun over here!
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Karl Bernhardt
Poland
Wrocław
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All about the Warsaw Uprising. A horrific time in modern Polish history. Just glad I didn't have to go through it.
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Karl Bernhardt
Poland
Wrocław
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A new game with lots of reviews on this site.
Wieliczka is a UNESCO-listed salt mine just outside Krakow and definitely worth a visit.
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Karl Bernhardt
Poland
Wrocław
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Krakow is the cultural heart of Poland. People in other Polish cities dispute this, of course.
The city has a wonderful town square (the one in Wroclaw is better but I am biased), castle (with dragon - I kid you not), medieval university and more churches than you can shake a stick at.
Oh, and I shouldn't forget the giant steel works that friend Stalin kindly donated.
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Karl Bernhardt
Poland
Wrocław
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A game surrounding the Polish-Soviet War of 1920.
This year saw Jerzy Hoffman's new film on the subject "Bitwa Warszawska 1920" - The Battle of Warsaw. This is sometimes called the Miracle on the Vistula, when Marshal Pilsudski managed to defeat the Red Army. Poland saves Europe again from tyranny. Sobieski had done the same in 1683 when he helped defeat the Turks and raise the siege of Vienna. Is there a game in that?
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Karl Bernhardt
Poland
Wrocław
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Accepted, Poland is a non-playable feature of this game. But any chance to see the Swedes squirm has to be good.
The Great Northern War of the early eighteenth century is the backdrop for this game and it sees the decline of Sweden's imperial ambitions in the region. Several kings of Poland had been Swedes.
On a personal note, I spent 6 months working in Linkoping and had a wonderful time and can confirm that the locals are friendly and nothing like their eighteenth century forebears!!!!!
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Karl Bernhardt
Poland
Wrocław
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This really is kicking, screaming and scratching, too!
The Four Hills tournament is coming up so I couldn't resist including this one. Ski Jumping is big news here and everyone is pinning their hopes on Kamil Stoch with the retirment of the great Adam Malysz.
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David Reed
United States
College Station
Texas
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While the things have been abstracted a bit, the underlying theme of this game is clearly rooted in the legends behind the construction of St. Mary's in Krakow.
When my wife and I visited Poland in 2005, I did not get much free time away from our parish tour group to check out the gaming scene, but I have picked several excellent games (including some on this list) by Polish publishers and designers in the years since. Hopefully, the next time we go, we'll be able to do a bit more of game shopping (and make it to Wroclaw)!
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Horsham
West Sussex
I bought "Na Grunwald" in our [too] brief stop in Wroclaw, driving home last year
Nice line in humour too
Wrocław
Horsham
West Sussex
Indeed - our daughter, just 6 months old. As you may guess then my wife is Polish, and co-incidentally was also an English teacher. She now teaches Maths in a school here
I always try and keep an eye on Polish games and pick them up on our trips back (it was K2 and Drako last time; Mali Powstancy - from the museum itself - and Na Grunwald the time before)
Leiden