So Very Wrong About Games

A sprawling tour of recent tabletop plays, from SETI’s front-loaded scoring and Container’s fragile economy to Altay’s streamlined civilization building and The Red Cathedral’s dice-driven tensions. Mage Knight gets a thoughtful accessibility makeover through Rune Stride. Plus, upcoming Horizon Wars news, Games Workshop revivals, and a heated debate over whether Pokémon culture is behind convention thefts.

A whirlwind tour of recent board games covers space economies, frenetic trading, cooperative puzzles, dice-driven goats, Lovecraftian conflict, and classic area control. The feature turns to a fast, asymmetric battle in Rokugan, exploring colorful order cards, clan powers, sudden achievement-based victories, shifting map dynamics, and whether clever systems survive uneven factions and frustrating decisions.

A whirlwind tour of tabletop gaming, from Thunder Road’s toy-fueled chaos and Imperial Assault’s Hoth campaign to Blood Rage’s refreshed battles and Falling’s collapsing-tower tension. The discussion also tackles cooperative wordplay in Alibis, resource conversion in Opera Magna, quirky dexterity puzzles, mushroom expansions, and the enduring challenge of making a game feel truly satisfying.

A whirlwind tour of dexterity challenges, dice-driven astronomy, factional combat, robot races, and tiny object-grabbing games leads to a deep dive into The LOOP. Its charming art, flexible cards, time-travel premise, clones, and paradoxes spark lively debate over cooperative planning, randomness, and whether the mechanics truly feel temporal. Also: a heartfelt celebration of Arkhipov Day.

Canadian measurement quirks and regional terminology kick things off before a wide-ranging tour of tabletop games. Highlights include cyberpunk cooperation in Deckers, economic tension in Salton Sea, expanded card play in Regicide Inferno, and tactical Star Wars campaign memories. The discussion also covers elegant two-player design, frustrating pacing, upcoming releases, and the story behind Arkhipov Day.

A whirlwind tour of recent plays spans castle-building, Napoleonic tactics, hidden identities, underwater exploration, and slippery penguins. News covers expansions, a Blitzkrieg successor, The LOOP’s return, and Arkhipov Day. The spotlight lands on Toy Battle, a compact clash of tile timing, tactical pressure, area control, and comeback potential that divides opinions on its depth and clarity.

We cover the gamut of historical figures this week, from shy spiders, Thor, the Italian Masters, Iggy Pop, Terry Bogard, and one underexamined and grossly underappreciated figure in the form of Vasily Arkhipov. He made your life possible, so you owe him at least a day. 01:07 AYURIS: D.E.I.: Divide et Impera (Tommaso Battista, Ludus Magnus Studio, 2022) Games Played Last Week: 04:01 -Patchistory (Yeon-Min Jung & Jun-Hyup Kim, Deinko Games, 2013) 07:04 -Grabble (Naoki Fukuda, CMYK, 2026) 10:47 -Creature Caravan: Wanderers (Ryan Laukat, Red Raven Games, 2024) 15:59 -Blood Rage: Valhalla (Eric M. Lang, Tycoon Games, 2026) 23:39 -Star Wars: Super Teams (Max Gerchambeau, Zygomatic, 2025) 27:09 -Claustrophobia 1643 (Croc & Laurent Pouchain, Monolith, 2019) 32:04 -Igloo Pop (Heinz Meister & Klaus Zoch, Zoch Verlag. 2003) 34:57 -Entropy (Tommaso Battista, Simone Luciani, & Nestore Mangone, Board&Dice, 2026) 41:36 -Rumble Nation (Yogi Shinichi, Hobby Japan, 2017) 44:25 -Tag Team (Gricha German & Corentin Lebrat, Scorpion Masqué, 2025) News (and why it doesn't matter): 47:53 Arkhipov Day! In recognition of Vasily Arkhipov saving the entire world on October 27, 1962, we celebrate Arkhipov Day on October 27th. 48:53 Tag Team expansions: Arthur's Legacy and SNK Arcade Legends (!). Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

To paraphrase Sir Mix-a-Lot (O.B.E.), I like big bears and I cannot lie! Fat Bear Week is upon us. Let these corpulent kings of ursine excellence strut their stuff, and let us admire in awe at their tangible gains. These bears do not skip leg day. Some people have mukbang--we have out fat bears. Games Played Last Week: 01:05 -Panda Spin (Carl Chudyk, Moon Gate Design 2024) 05:04 -Brightcast (Nicholas Forker & Hugh Kramer, self-published, 2025) 09:10 -Landfall: A Cozy Volcano Island-Building Game (Evan Katz, Zachary Lee, and Josh Roberts, Evan and Josh's Very Special Game Company, 2026) 14:08 -Leaps and Ledges (Uncredited, MindWare, 2014) 16:44 -Spaggetin (Franco Spardo, Alley Cat Games, 2026) 20:24 -Othello (John W. Mollett, Lewis Waterman, and Goro Hasegawa, Tsukuda Original, 1973) 27:26 -Cyberpunk Trading Card Game (Chris Solis, WeirdCo, 2026) 33:50 -Floral (James Newman, Edition Spielwiese, 2024) 36:00 -Drillers (Roman Bednář & Adam Španěl, CGE, 2026) 41:31 -Jibber Jabble (Cassie Sikes, Allplay, 2026) News (and why it doesn't matter): 48:33 Got Five: Ghost! 49:26 Opera Magna: Throwback theme, novel distribution? 50:43 It's Fat Bear Week! https://explore.org/fat-bear-week 51:11 Feature Game: How to Save a World (Yuval Grinspun, Burnt Island Games, 2025) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

A rapid-fire tour of recent tabletop adventures, from cooperative trick-taking campaigns and accessible deduction to fragile negotiations and endlessly replayable card play. They debate sprawling designs, clever two-player systems, auctions, area control, wordplay, and whether bigger editions lose their focus. Brief news covers AI art controversy, expansions, and new titles.

The SVWAG Canon (https://www.sowronggames.com/svwag-canon) is an elite list of games that Walker and Mark both very much enjoy. Walker is nervous around recommendations, per se, and the imitations on an ideal game library or somesuch is subject to many practical constraints--so instead SVWAG has an unruly list of games that are greatly enjoyed by both the hosts. And it is time for that list to be updated! 02:08 AYURIS: EGO (Reiner Knizia, Bitewing Games, 2025) Games Played Last Week: 04:52 -Dwellings of Eldervale (Luke Laurie, Breaking Games, 2020) 09:10 -Brumble Quest (J. Arthur Ellis, Plaid Hat Games, 2026) 13:53 -Endless Winter: Paleoamericans (Stan Kordonskiy, Fantasia Games, 2022) 16:31 -Banana Governance (Mukai, Mukai, 2025) 23:06 -Avalon: The Riven Veil (Jamie Jolly, Shadowborne Games, 2026) 30:26 -Cats Knocking Things Off Ledges (David Killing & Sen Foong-Lim, The Op games, 2026) 35:37 -The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers--Trick-Taking Game (Bryan Bornmueller, Office Dog, 2026) 38:06 -World Championship Russian Roulette (Anthony Burch, Tuesday Knight Games, 2017) News (and why it doesn't matter): 43:57 Please support us on Patreon! www.patreon.com/svwag 49:17 Glorious Listener Survey over 46:07 Concept Kids to Concept: Stories 47:00 Mass market, big box store versions of Scout and now Dro Polter 47:54 Wizards of the Grimoire (aka Bookie Bookie, Pew Pew) 3 48:24 Topic: Canon Update Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices