Wyrmspan's Designer Is Officially Unveiling a New Cozy Board Game at Essen

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Published Oct 6, 2026, 12:00 PM EDT

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Tideward trades dragons for baby turtles

Connie Vogelmann studied bees to design her 2023 hit board game Apiary and put a fantasy spin on Elizabeth Hargrave’s birdwatching game Wingspan with her 2024 game Wyrmspan. Nature is inspiring Vogelmann again with her new game, Tideward, which will be available to demo at the Essen Game Fair in Germany on Oct. 22.

Tideward tasks two to four players with avoiding hungry predators as they guide freshly hatched sea turtles from the beach to the safety of the algal mats beneath the water. On each turn, they can take a total of three actions to hatch eggs, gather food to fuel a turtle’s journey, or move the hatchlings. Each algal mat scores differently based on how turtles are arranged. Players also have secret quest cards with their own goals they can pursue to earn extra points. Once a player gets all their turtles in the water, the game ends and the player with the highest score wins.

"The game is lighter than Apiary and Wyrmspan, but there is a lot of strategy,” Vogelmann told Polygon via email. “The idea for Tideward came about as I was walking the halls of Gen Con. I had been working on a more complex game with interlocking rondels, and something just clicked. Specifically, what if I cut out the complexity and focused the puzzle purely on automated movement? From there, it was a very short hop to baby turtles, and the game was almost completely formed in my mind by the time I made it across the convention hall.”

Wyrmspan designer wants to bring in new gamers with Tideward

While Wyrmspan and Apiary are meant for players 14 and older, Tideward is designed as a relaxing family game accessible to ages 10 and up.

“I'm a firm believer in letting the game tell you what it wants to be,” Vogelman said. “I never want to add complexity for its own sake, and Tideward never wanted it. I was interested in making a lighter game. Bringing new gamers into the hobby is one of my biggest joys in designing games."

Tideward will be available to demo for the first time at the Avalon Hill and Hasbro booth at Essen, the world’s largest board game trade fair, which runs from Oct. 22-25. It will be sold for $39.99 at local game stores and other retailers beginning Jan. 16, 2027.

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