So Very Wrong About Games

Warning: there is some implied discussion of the existence of the health care field in this week's review. No jokes were made about current viral events, though, and given the general low-brow nature of this podcast that's a minor miracle. The only jokes about current affairs are related to hip hop, and even those references are dated to over twenty years ago. Games Played Last Week:-Street Masters: Aftershock 2m47s (Adam Sadler & Brady Sadler, Blacklist Games, 2019)-Stephenson's Rocket 4m55s (Reiner Knizia, Pegasus Spiele, 1999)-Lorenzo il Magnifico 9m19s (Flaminia Brasini, Virginio Gigli, & Simone Luciani, Cranio Creations, 2016)-Mardi Gras Madness 12m50s (Mark Burlet, Arthur Franz IV, & Ben Jennings, Uplink Underground Games, 2020)-Horizon Wars: Zero Dark 18m25s (Robey Jenkins, Self-published, 2020)News (and why it doesn't matter):-Walker Watches Steamwatchers 21m52s-Ginkgopolis Reprint 23m53s-Clean Queen Kickstarter? 24m48s-Coronavirus Cancellations: CMON Expo 26m46s-Uwe Rosenberg's New York Zoo 27m46sFeature Game: Clinic: Deluxe Edition 28m42s (Alban Viard, AVStudioGames, 2019)Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Some of you might be unfamiliar with the traditions surrounding birthdays in Canada. They are savage affairs, drenched in blood and feats of suffering. I mean, there's the cake, sure, and that part is pretty benign--except for the baking of it, come to think of it, where the birthday girl or birthday boy is expected to remove the cake from an oven with their bare hands and devour the thing whole; then comes the declaration of threats, where the horribly burned, frosting-seared celebrant mounts a nearby table and screams doom to their enemies. Let's not get started on what kind of gifts are considered appropriate. AYURIS: Stephenson's Rocket 1m36s (Reiner Knizia, Grail Games, 2018)Games Played Last Week:-Empyreal: Spells & Steam 3m44s (Trey Chambers, Level 99 Games, 2020)-Egizia: Shifting Sands 11m05s (Acchittocca, Flaminia Brasini, Virginio Gigli, Stefano Luperto, & Antonio Tinto, Stronghold Games, 2019)-Root: The Underworld Expansion 13m39s (Patrick Leder & Cole Wehrle, Leder Games, 2020)-Pax Renaissance 18m58s (Matt Eklund & Phil Eklund, Sierra Madre Games, 2016)-The Estates 21m42s (Klaus Zoch, Capstone Games, 2018)-Assault on Doomrock 25m11s (Tom Stasiak, Beautiful Disaster Games, 2014)News (and why it doesn't matter):-Into the Spider-Verse for Marvel United (Walker's obsessed) 27m54s-The Liberaion of Plaid Hat Games? 29m23s-Toy of the Year! Pictionary Air 30m44s-The Next Game that Matters: Phantom Division 32m09sTopic: Playing for Second 33m03sAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Would you like a job at Asmodee? Well guess what, if you need any replacement parts from them, you've just been drafted to work as their support staff. Best of all, your salary is nothing! Are we doomed to become ever more curmudgeonly, rambling to young gamers about how "back in my day, we got replacement parts just by sending an email" and the the young 'uns would be all like "Ok, Millennial, but what's an email?"Games Played Last Week:-Quartermaster General WW2 2m25s (Ian Brody, Ares Games, 2019)-Mars Open: Tabletop Golf 5m19s (Dennis Hoyle, Bellwether Games, 2018)-Imperial Settlers: Empires of the North 7m53ss (Joanna Kijanka & Ignacy Trzewiczek, Portal Games, 2019)-Blitzkrieg! 10m57s (Paolo Mori, PSC Games, 2019)-SEAL Team Flix 15m47s (Pete Ruth & Mark Thomas, WizKids, 2018)-Empyreal: Spells & Steam 17m50s (Trey Chambers, Level 99 Games, 2020)News (and why it doesn't matter):-Secret Operation: Social Deduction Robots 24m10s-Asmodee's Parts Replacement Policy 25m33s-Scooby-Doo Escape Rooms 30m40s-Stefan Bruck Retires 31m23s-Zen Garden Grows 32m16s-Epic: The Card Game Digital 32m55s-Walker Is Dubious About Marvel United 35m15s-More Batman, More Plastic 36m05sFeature Game: Posthuman Saga 36m49s (Gordon Calleja, Mighty Boards, 2019)Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

On must acknowledge that in many instances, pre-judgment is an adaptive advantage--I don't mean with respect to people, but in terms of being able to sift through the endless data with which we are constantly bombarded. Most of our concepts are pre-fabricated little categories that we can shove sense data into in order to make sense of the world (there's your Kantianism in three seconds for you). In boardgaming, were seventeen releases hit the market while I was typing this sentence, it can be handy to use heuristics or prejudice--I won't play games by designer or publisher X, for example. Then again, it is our thankless task to submerge ourselves wholesale into the hobby's output without fear or favour, and so we must try to overcome such self-imposed limits when we can.AYURIS: Battle for Rokugan 2m07s (Molly Glover & Tom Jolly, Fantasy Flight, 2017)Games Played Last Week:-Troyes 4m11s (Sébastien Dujardin, Xavier Georges, & Alain Orban, Pearl Games, 2010)-Hanabi 9m40s (Antoine Bauza, ABACUSSPIELE, 2010)-The Shipwreck Arcana 9m40s (Kevin Bishop, Meromorph Games, 2017)-Top Gun Strategy Game 11m08s (Prospero hall, Mixlore, 2020)-Pipeline 16m18s (Ryan Courtney, Capstone Games, 2019)-Northern Pacific 21m48s (Tom Tussell, Rio Grande, 2013)-Sakura Arms 23m55s (BakaFire, AEG, 2016)News (and why it doesn't matter):-Ghost Adventure 27m01-Cindr: Date a Dragon 28m05-Sonora: "Flick and Write" 29m28s-Waiting on Siege of the Citadel 30m18s-Coronavirus Uncertainty 31m36-Dragon Dice Refuse to Die 33m38sTopic: False Expectations 35m32sAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

One must learn as a child that just because something is difficult does not mean it isn't worth doing. Sometimes we here at SVWAG feel that the corollary for adults is that just because something is difficult doesn't mean it is worthwhile. Some hard things should just be avoided. It's hard to drive a nail through your own skull, but it doesn't follow that it's necessarily a prime opportunity for self-improvement that ought to be pursued. Unrelatedly, Vital Lacerda games.Games Played Last Week:-Street Masters: Aftershock 2m32s (Adam Sadler & Brady Sadler, Blacklist Games, 2019)-Isle of Skye: From Chieftain to King 6m11s (Andreas Pelikan & Alexander Pfister, Lookout Games, 2015)-The Resistance 7m40s (Don Eskridge, Indie Boards & Cards, 2009)-Warhammer Underworlds: Shadespire 10m25s (David Sanders, Games Workshop, 2017)-Food Chain Magnate: The Ketchup Mechanism & Other Ideas 13m49s (Jeroen Doumen & Joris Wiersinga, Splotter, 2019)-Imperial Settlers: Empires of the North 21m36s (Joanna Kijanka & Ignacy Trzewiczek, Portal Games, 2019)-Pretense 24m13s (Jason Tagmire, AEG, 2015)News (and why it doesn't matter):-Pay extra for early access to Kanban EV? 28m42s-Brick and mortar retail for Renegade early access? 31m36s-Walker wonders about Wonderland's War 32m58s-SHUX 2020: Oct. 16-18 36m06s-Marvel United 37m08s-Mindclash's Perseverance 38m43s-Nuremberg Toy Fair 2020 miscellany 39m20sFeature Game: On Mars 41m19s (Vital Lacerda, Eagle-Gryphon Games, 2020)Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

My best friend's sister's boyfriend's brother's girlfriend heard from this guy who knows this kid who's going with the girl who saw Ferris pass out at 31 Flavors last night. I guess it's pretty serious.AYURIS: Level 7 [Omega Protocol] 2m34s (Will Schoonover, Privateer Press, 2013)Games Played Last Week:-Guards of Atlantis II: Tabletop MOBA 6m38s (Artyom Nichipurov, Wolff Designaa, 2020)-Las Vegas Royale 11m13s (Rudiger Dorn, alea, 2019)-Tiny Epic Tactics 12m59s (Scott Almes, Gamelyn, 2019)-In the Hall of the Mountain King 16m20s (Jay Cormier & Graeme Jahns, Burnt Island Games, 2019)-Die Macher 21m06s (Karl-Heinz Schmiel, Spielworxx, 2019)News (and why it doesn't matter):-More toys for Era: Medieval Age 26m58s-Kickstarter Police: Wherefore art thou? 27m56s-Banning Golden Bell, that's where 29m39sTopic: Virtues of Popularity 31m33sAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Rarely has a game been as deeply, frighteningly cynical as Imperial. We are sadly inured to the notion of vast military conflicts; and we are sadly inured to the corrupting influence of enormous wealth; but never before has a game combined the two and posited the Schlieffen Plan as a gambit to improve the marginal rate of return of someone's portfolio. Oh, my RRSP is Russian firepower, by the way.Games Played Last Week:-Papillon 1m42s (J.B. Howell, Kolossal, 2019)-Talon 3m47s (Jim Krohn, GMT Games, 2016)-On Mars 7m20s (Vital Lacerda, Eagle-Gryphon, 2020)-Deception: Murder in Hong Kong 10m34s (Tobey Ho, Grey Fox Games, 2014)-Principle Dilemma 12m37s (Joe Tanowski, Self-published, 2019)-Las Vegas Royale 21m14s (Rudiger Dorn, alea, 2019)-Sushi Roll 23m22s (Phil Walker-Harding, Gamewright, 2019)-Cthulhu: Death May Die 25m43s (Rob Daviau & Eric M. Lang, CMON, 2019)News (and why it doesn't matter):-Wiz-Kids' Clash of Cultures 28m23s-Grimslingers Two 30m14s-Marvel United 31m39s -Hansa Teutonica Big Box, Eventually? 33m01s-Tortuga 2199 34m24s-Truffle Shuffle, for some reason 35m03s Feature Game: Imperial (Mac Gerdts, PD-Verlag, 2006)/Imperial 2030 (Mac Gerdts, PD-Verlag, 2009) 35m32sAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Eventually a charge becomes so tired and rote that it becomes accepted without critical thought--but so often these hackneyed claims are false. Knizia games are themeless is a good example. Canadians are polite is another. The one that rears its ugly head this week is Walker's insistence that he is bullied, which has definitely got to count as attempted gaslighting at this point. On the plus side, a New Year's resolution is made and then immediately fulfilled in the same episode! That is efficiency.AYURIS: Gaslands 5m23s (Glenn Ford & Mike Hutchinson, Osprey Publishing, 2017) Games Played Last Week:-Blue Moon 8m32s (Reiner Knizia, KOSMOS, 2004)-Barrage 11m08s (Tommaso Battista & Simone Luciani, Cranio Creations, 2019)-Corporate America 14m54s (Teale Fristoe, Nothing Sacred Games, 2013)-Papillon 16m34s (J.B. Howell, Kolossal, 2019)-Secret Hitler 20m53s (Mike Boxleiter, Tommy Maranges, & Max Temkin, Goat Wolf & Cabbage, 2016)-Reavers of Midgard 22m40s (J.B. Howell, Grey Fox Games, 2019)-Cthulhu: Death May Die 29m49s (Rob Daviau & Eric M. Lang, CMON, 2019)News (and why it doesn't matter):-Repos Productions Swallowed by Asmodee 32m43s-Smooth Rollout for CMON's Time Machine 33m06s-From the Root Team, Oath 34m04s-Foundations of Rome 34m40s-Breakout in TO: March 20-22 35m19s-Star Realms Goes Huge 35m49s-Société des Auteurs de Jeux on Bernard v. Mythic Games 36m48s Topic: 2020 New Year's Resolutions 42m11s2019's Resolutions 42m27s2020's Resolutions 48m27sAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The podcast covers a range of topics including game reviews like Blood Rage, Battle for Baternia, and Istanbul. They also discuss their personal top 10 games of 2019, game components that stood out, and board game disappointments and pleasant surprises of the year.

Look, it's hard enough to remember games without them injecting too many dates into their titles. Claustrophobia 1643 I keep misremembering as 1648 (Treaty of Westphalia), Ausburg 15whenever is as forgettable as the game, Pulsar 2849 barely sticks in my mind, and now Caylus 1303. I'd be tempted to just try and parse the game as "Caylus 13XX," but it's not about trains, now, is it? Games Played Last Week:-Karate Tomate 3m01s (Reiner Knizia, AMIGO, 2018)-Telestrations: 12 Player Party Pack 5m10s (Uncredited, USAopoly, 2011)-The Shipwreck Arcana 6m59s (Kevin Bishop, Meromorph Games, 2017)-Yellow & Yangtze 9m22s (Reiner Knizia, Grail Games, 2018)-Marvel Champions: The Card Game 10m05s (Michael Boggs, Nate French, & Caleb Grace, FFG, 2019)-Maracaibo 14m42s (Alexander Pfister, Capstone Games, 2019)-Aristocracy 21m09s (Reiner Knizia, Tasty Minstrel Games, 2019)-Flotilla 23m24s (J.B. Howell & Michael Mihealsick, WizKids, 2019)-Era: Medieval Age 24m46s (Matt Leacock, eggertspiele, 2019)News (and why it doesn't matter):-Rococo Deluxe 27m17s-Kanban EV 27m59s Feature Game: Caylus 1303 29m01s (William Attia, Space Cowboys, 2019)Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices