
Space Cats Peace Turtles
An unofficial podcast for fans of Twilight Imperium and other strategy board games. Each episode is a humorous analysis of mechanics and strategies for new and experienced players alike!
Latest episodes

Nov 9, 2022 • 1h 23min
272: The Veiled Masters Review (w/ Absol197)
Hunter's got the week off while Matt and Absol talk about the third and final novel in Tim Pratt's Twilight Imperium series! All of the main characters from our first book are back in this spy adventure and this might be the best book of the whole set! Save for some Arborec nits Absol desperately needs to pick, this book has a lot of fun in it and feels more political than any of the previous entries. Our first half is a spoiler-free review if you'd like to check the book out, and after that we break the book down more in-depth for those less sure they'll have the time to give it a read.
Music provided by Ben Prunty. Find more at benpruntymusic.com or benprunty.bandcamp.com
To learn more about our Discord, Twitter, Patreon, Merch, and more, visit https://spacecatspeaceturtles.com/

Nov 2, 2022 • 1h 29min
271: Alliance Mode
The Galactic Council decided it wanted us to spend some time this month playing and researching Alliance Mode, the variant provided in Codex 2. It's a silly variant that isn't even fully play-tested, so expect hiccups and a lack of rules clarity. But if you're willing to allow your Twilight Imperium to be fun, instead of a serious no-fun cage match, it's probably worth checking out! Although it's not for those looking for a shorter playtime. (without some modifications that we recommend)
Music provided by Ben Prunty. Find more at benpruntymusic.com or benprunty.bandcamp.com
To learn more about our Discord, Twitter, Patreon, Merch, and more, visit https://spacecatspeaceturtles.com/

Oct 26, 2022 • 1h 46min
270: Super Naalu Collective Guide
With this episode, we put a sort of wrap on Codex 3 required update episodes! A few factions drastically changed, and none more than the Naalu Collective. Naalu's "ranking" amongst the factions has been quite a roller coaster, but with these recent additions the snakes are back on top. So, how do you wield the raw power of such a strong faction? How much gas is too much?? Similar to our recent Win From Ahead episode, we're going to talk a lot about tempo and how to pump the breaks today...
Music provided by Ben Prunty. Find more at benpruntymusic.com or benprunty.bandcamp.com
To learn more about our Discord, Twitter, Patreon, Merch, and more, visit https://spacecatspeaceturtles.com/

Oct 19, 2022 • 1h 8min
269: Clash of Cultures, Innovation, and more! (Featuring Shelton and Shawn)
It is a wild one this week. Matt has been away on vacation and so Hunter has been left to his own devices! So obviously, it's beach episode time. Hunter brought his buddies on to just talk about various board games we like as if this is some normal boring regular cool podcast.
Music provided by Ben Prunty. Find more at benpruntymusic.com or benprunty.bandcamp.com
To learn more about our Discord, Twitter, Patreon, Merch, and more, visit https://spacecatspeaceturtles.com/

Oct 12, 2022 • 1h 33min
268: Super Win From Ahead
This is us revisiting a classic SCPT topic. When we first asked "How does one win from ahead?" I don't think we even fully knew what being "ahead" truly meant. Not only that, but an expansion and multiple codices have released since then, so it seemed an important time to make another attempt at an answer. More important, winning from ahead seems harder than ever and it's time to get to the bottom of WHY
Music provided by Ben Prunty. Find more at benpruntymusic.com or benprunty.bandcamp.com
To learn more about our Discord, Twitter, Patreon, Merch, and more, visit https://spacecatspeaceturtles.com/

Oct 5, 2022 • 1h 36min
267: Tournament 5 Announcement and Asynchronous TI
Oh my dear, another year is upon us. It is officially sign-up season for the next SCPT Patreon Twilight Imperium Tournament. The first half of this episode is most of the things you need to know about the upcoming sign-ups as well as new Patreon Goals, followed by a discussion of our experience with the Asynchronous TI Discord server (https://discord.gg/vY3nBkegkn)
Async TI begins at 42:47
Music provided by Ben Prunty. Find more at benpruntymusic.com or benprunty.bandcamp.com
To learn more about our Discord, Twitter, Patreon, Merch, and more, visit https://spacecatspeaceturtles.com/

Sep 28, 2022 • 2h 16min
266: Guide to Exploration
We've been taking some time recently to revisit old topics deserving of an update. One of those is surprisingly recent: Exploration. We've only had this mechanic since Prophecy of Kings was released, but we've learned a lot since we first introduced it, and it's about time we cleaned up our thoughts a bit. So, here we'll read the exploration cards for every deck, including Frontier and Relic, and analyze what a player is meant to do with all of that.
Music provided by Ben Prunty. Find more at benpruntymusic.com or benprunty.bandcamp.com
To learn more about our Discord, Twitter, Patreon, Merch, and more, visit https://spacecatspeaceturtles.com/

Sep 21, 2022 • 1h 12min
265: Twilight Inscription Review
We're big time important kids and our opinions matter. That's why we were sent a copy of Twilight Inscription to give our unbiased, unfiltered, uncompromised, objective review. You came here for hard hitting journalism and boy howdy I tell ya that's what we're here to deliver. Game Journalism matters A LOT, and we take our roles very seriously.
Music provided by Ben Prunty. Find more at benpruntymusic.com or benprunty.bandcamp.com
To learn more about our Discord, Twitter, Patreon, Merch, and more, visit https://spacecatspeaceturtles.com/

Sep 14, 2022 • 1h 48min
264: Super Xxcha Kingdom Guide
We're making our way back through all of the factions, starting with those that got recent updates in Codex 3. Xxcha only received a new hero, but it seems that simple change was enough to make us reconsider everything about this faction. It's now an economic powerhouse if you play it right and it's time to explore how to do that and what it means for the faction!
Music provided by Ben Prunty. Find more at benpruntymusic.com or benprunty.bandcamp.com
To learn more about our Discord, Twitter, Patreon, Merch, and more, visit https://spacecatspeaceturtles.com/

Sep 7, 2022 • 1h 13min
263: Root - The Marauder Expansion
It's been so long since we've tuned into Root, and there's been a new expansion out for a while now! This isn't a strategy guide, but we do intend to do some down the road. Instead, this is an overview of all of the things that came with the Marauder Expansion, as well as what Root even looks like these days. There's more than just these big box expansions and it can all be a bit hard to follow, so consider this your guide to Root in 2022!
Mentioned in the show:
Woodland War Machine Podcast
Weird Root YouTube and Twitch.
GIVEPAUSE hobby
Also not mentioned, but we love him: Lord of the Board
ALSO ALSO check out: NitroRev and Nevakanezah
Music provided by Ben Prunty. Find more at benpruntymusic.com or benprunty.bandcamp.com
To learn more about our Discord, Twitter, Patreon, Merch, and more, visit https://spacecatspeaceturtles.com/