

Space Cats Peace Turtles
Matt Martens and Hunter Donaldson
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!
Episodes
Mentioned books

May 4, 2021 • 1h 30min
191: Learning the Vagabond - Expansions
What a fun treat for you all today. Long ago we promised a follow up to our Learning the Vagabond episode where we would discuss the 3 expansion classes of Vagabond. But that’s not the treat, that’s just the typical episode you’re getting from Matt and Hunter. No, the REAL treat is after that, where we are joined by our friends Jake, Sam, and Kyle from Woodland War Machine! This one was an absolute blast, so join us while we rag on the Vagabond
Woodland War Machine podcast by Good Time Society
And find our wonderful guests on Twitter:
@thejakemichels
@SamDeRoest
@kyle_acheson
@goodtimesociety
Music by Brian Kupillas. Find more at wanderinglake.bandcamp.com
To learn more about our Discord, Twitter, Patreon, Merch, and more, visit https://spacecatspeaceturtles.com/

Apr 27, 2021 • 2h 12min
190: Argent Flight Introduction
It’s back to back Faction Introductions! This time, Matt tackled the Argent Flight answering the question “What if Base Game Xxcha was good and fit Matt’s playstyle?” These are wonderful little birds that have a wide range of possibilities but are perhaps best served by leaning into their strengths and playing up some “win-more” mechanics.
00:00 - Mahact Gene-Sorcerers Errata
16:09 - Argent Flight Overview
49:55 - Strategy Cards
1:12:09 - Tech
1:23:46 - Exploration
1:25:49 - Trade/Meta
1:50:39 - Victory Points
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/

Apr 20, 2021 • 2h 4min
189: Mahact Gene-Sorcerers Introduction
Kneel, they say. Former rules of the galaxy, they say. Well, with such powerful lore, you may have expected a more imposing faction. But instead, the Mahact Gene-Sorcerer’s are perhaps best known for their winslaying prowess and their rules tomfoolery. Let’s take a closer look and figure out how this faction can help themselves win without tripping over pedantic technicalities along the way!
13:04 - Mahact Gene-Sorcerers Overview
42:55 - Strategy Cards
1:02:13 - Tech
1:10:12 - Trade/Meta
1:21:49 - Commanders
1:31:55 - Exploration
1:34:57 - Victory Points
1:47:27 - Our Messy Hero
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/

Apr 14, 2021 • 1h 43min
188: Victory Points and Objectives Part 2
The conclusion to last week’s cliffhanger, we wrap up discussion on every objective in the game, and spend some time analyzing what the structure of all of these points means for the pace of winning. When and how should you be trying to score your 10 victory points? What is a “free” point? Also there’s some errata at the beginning here about the Galactic Council episode we recently published and the...disagreements that have grown around it.
0:40 - Errata for 187 “Is Arborec the Worst Faction?”
15:37 - Tech and Economy Objectives
34:47 - Miscellaneous Component Objectives
52:35 - Battle and Other Objectives
1:17:55 - Analysis
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/

Apr 13, 2021 • 1h 6min
187: Is Arborec Still the Worst?
Lot of assumptions in that title that I'm sure will get some responses on its own. Regardless, this is our first Galactic Council episode in our new format! This is an unprepared episode where Matt and Hunter blindly approach a topic and see where the conversation takes them. It was wildly fun to do, so we hope you enjoy it and look forward to future Galactic Council episodes.
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/

Apr 6, 2021 • 1h 41min
186: Victory Points and Objectives part 1
The fact that we’ve never done an episode specifically about Objectives and Victory Points is either a huge misstep, or completely unnecessary. But here’s one anyways! This is part one where we go over all of the types of victory points, and cover our first section of objectives: Control Objectives. We talked way too much, and so this episode turned into a two-parter.
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/

Mar 30, 2021 • 2h 10min
185: Naaz-Rokha Alliance Introduction
With all of the recent episodes about Exploration and Relics, we were clearly building up to SOMETHING. And that something is finally here. The Naaz-Rokha Alliance are white hot right now, so we’re already overdue for introducing them. Spoiler: they’re a really good faction and you probably didn’t even need us to tell you how to do well with them.
Patience’s Tech Path Guide
4:02 - Root: Underground Duchy Errata
14:30 - Naaz-Rokha Alliance Overview
55:25 - Strategy Cards
1:16:59 - Exploration
1:26:09 - Technology
1:48:05 - Trade/Meta
1:58:46 - Victory Points and Conclusions
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/

Mar 24, 2021 • 1h 56min
184: Root - Learning the Underground Duchy
Today we get to complete the meat of our Learning Root episodes (don’t worry, we have more planned!) by learning the Underground Duchy. A faction of order and structure, fittingly, has many detailed ways of playing. Here, we cover what we believe to be one of the safest and easiest to pick up Duchy strategies, saving some of the more complicated stuff for the future.
6:30 - Ep 183 Errata (Relics and Legendary Planets)
15:40 - Learning the Underground Duchy
20:34 - Setup and Abilities
30:28 - Turn Structure
48:55 - Opening Ideas
55:48 - Crafty Corner: Base Deck
1:14:58 - Crafty Corner: Exiles and Partisans
1:35:50 - Pitfalls
1:41:40 - Where do we find our victory?
Music by Brian Kupillas. Find more at wanderinglake.bandcamp.com
To learn more about our Discord, Twitter, Patreon, Merch, and more, visit https://spacecatspeaceturtles.com/

Mar 16, 2021 • 1h 43min
183: Relics and Legendary Planets
Exploration has been sufficiently covered, but we left Relics on the table. There’s only a handful of them to cover, so to round out the episode, we’re also squeezing Legendary Planets into the discussion for today’s component episode. Stick around to make sure you hear about all 13 relics in Prophecy of Kings!
7:21 - Nomad Introduction Errata
15:54 - Legendary Planets
42:03 - Relics
1:14:21 - Still talking about Relics
1:29:15 - Our affinity for Prophecy of Kings and all its new cool stuff
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/

Mar 9, 2021 • 2h 15min
182: The Nomad Introduction
We’ve done a close look at the Nomad before, but that was back in the before-times when we were only being given a teaser of them by Dane. Now we’ve had time to sink our teeth in, and so, we can now present our Introduction to the, by far, coolest new faction in the game. They drive a Volkswagen around the galaxy while traveling through time, what more could you ask for?
4:36 - Exploration Errata
12:49 - The Nomad Introduction
17:22 - Overview
57:37 - Strategy Cards
1:18:07 - Problems
1:19:42 - Technology
1:44:31 - Trade/Meta
1:55:17 - Exploration
1:57:11 - Victory Points
2:05:20 - Final Thoughts
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/