Welcome to the Official Zulu’s Board Game Cafe Newsletter!
It is a new year at Zulu’s and we are starting off with a Bang!
Last week we hosted pre-release for the new Magic: The Gathering set, Lorwyn Eclipsed, with hundreds of people visiting the ethereal plane filled with mystery and intrigue. Next week we will see the first wave of the Ascended Heroes Pokémon products releasing, featuring nearly 300 new cards and some fan favorite monsters and characters to chase. All of this is happening along with our regular organized play events and gaming meetups.
This month we shine the spotlight on the newest hidden European board game gems we brought back from Essen. Ethan, our board game category manager, explains more about Essen Spiel and recommends some of his favorites from the show.
We also take a look at our community for the squad-based Warhammer 40k game Kill Team. Miniatures games expert Christian highlights the speed and excitement of this fast-paced skirmish game.
The store is as busy as ever with releases, events and fun. We hope we’ll see you at our tables soon!
Hello everyone!
Since 2019 we have sent crew members to Essen Spiel in Essen, Germany every October to import Euro games that aren’t available in the US. The main goal when we visit the world's largest public fair for board games is to stock our PAX Unplugged booth with imports and have some titles that intertwine with the PAX First Look area. Another goal is to have these games available in our stores and on our website for all of our customers to have a chance to get their hands on. Many of these games would otherwise be much harder and more expensive to acquire.
Due to the popularity of board games, we were able to send 3 buyers in 2025! They waded through the sea of more than 220,000 attendees, all trying to see as much as possible within the 7 giant halls. They spent 4 days looking, demoing, researching, and networking to find the best games that we could import into the US. These games span from the hottest Euro games that will eventually come to the US all the way down to self-published titles that are absolutely hidden gems!
Every year we find new ways to improve this process to make sure we are scouting the best games at the show. We have a lot of plans for next year’s Essen Spiel that should help us streamline our process even more and ensure we are getting the best games out there for our community.
Medievallons - This small card game is full of hilariously cute art, but the gameplay is cutthroat competitive multiplayer at its finest! It has a simple goal: be the first to play down 3 different guilds. The problem is, your opponents will use their cards to ensure that you don’t achieve that goal before them. There are so many different actions in the game that can all manipulate the game state that it’s almost impossible to predict what your opponents will do. Outwit them and play your guilds at the right time to claim victory. Lightweight, fast and most importantly, very fun!
Fintastic Sea - Don’t underestimate this small card game; it packs a lot of gameplay into a little box! Play fish cards to manipulate a coral reef full of other fish to get the cards that will earn you the most victory points by the end of the game. But beware, you could be playing fish that your opponents want. This game features 9 fish with different abilities and they are numbered 1 through 9 to determine what fish they can capture. Oh yeah, the board also moves every round depending on the way the current is flowing. Say goodbye to the fish that are too far away from the coral reef! This is a great light- to mid-weight game that won’t break your wallet or take up a lot of space in your collection.
Grunlings - This game may be adorable, but it’s also incredibly well designed and not as easy as it looks! Your goal is to acquire Grunlings, these adorable fruit creatures. You score will depend on the cards you end the game with, but beware as you can only keep 10 cards total. The scoring is different for each type of Grunling. To make things harder, there are also “Visitor” cards that can be played for 1 time abilities like taking cards from another player. On top of that, there are random events that may or may not help you. Be sure to watch out for Darklings as they are worth negative points and can’t be discarded through normal means. Grunlings can be played with up to 5 players, is fairly lightweight and can be played in under an hour.
-Ethan Lind
Hello, present and future Kill Team enjoyers.
I’m Christian Barcafer, and I’m excited to be running the miniature scene here at the Zulu’s Event Center. While I love many miniature games, I am particularly fond of Kill Team, both for its competitive gameplay as well as its ease of access. I often drive to tournaments all around the Puget Sound, from Bremerton and Tacoma to Bellingham and even Ellensburg. The Pacific Northwest has an awesome community of Kill Team players that is always growing.
For those of you who are unfamiliar, Kill Team is a tabletop skirmish game that Games Workshop produces alongside Warhammer 40k. While it shares the same aesthetic and story of Warhammer 40k*, as well as many of the models, Kill Team differs fundamentally from 40k. Unlike in 40k, where players move their whole army for their turn, players activate one model at a time in Kill Team, leading to a more chess-like game. This leads to a more reactive game, where players need to recognize what their opponent is doing and react accordingly. In addition, Kill Team tends to have more reliable dice, with almost everything in the game hitting on 3’s or 4’s, and high access to rerolls, making the game very enjoyable for both casual and competitive players.
(Pictured here is Diego Scott’s Voidscarred Corsair Exarch taking a shot at Wendi Pennington’s Goremonger Skullclaimer. Photos taken December 20th 2025 at a three-round tournament.)
Kill Team has rapidly grown in popularity following the release of the 3rd edition at the end of 2024. A large part of the success of the game is due to the game’s ease of access. One box of models is enough to get started with a game, and while many teams may require a second box for all the options, the barrier to entry is much lower than some of the larger alternatives.
(Pictured here is Max Wigley’s Nemesis Claw Screecher charging and fighting a Canoptek Circle Macrocyte Warrior. Photo taken at December 20th 2025 Tournament.)
We host open-play meetups at the Event Center every Thursday, and players start gathering around 6PM. All you need to do is show up, and you’ll be guaranteed a game.
Here at the Event Center, we carry Starter Sets with two Kill Teams, the core book, tokens, and some terrain to learn to play with a friend. We also carry most of the Kill Teams that are in rotation as well as core books, equipment packs, and tac-op cards (mission cards).
If you’re just wanting to try the game out, you don’t even need to bring (or own) anything. We have extra tac-op decks, tokens, and even loaner teams here at the Event Center and I am more than happy to teach the game. In addition to open-play, I often run tournaments with prizing. The next one will be scheduled for the end of February. Keep an eye out on the Zulu’s Discord server for the announcement and a link to sign up through Best Coast Pairings. I look forward to seeing you here at the Event Center!
*(And for those of you who prefer a fantasy aesthetic over sci-fi, come by for our Seasonal Spearhead Leagues!)
- Christian Barcafer
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